Eastenders actor Larry Lamb has admitted that he based his portrayal of the evil Archie Mitchell on his ‘monster’ dad.

Revealing the years of abuse that he suffered at his father’s hand, Archie told The Sun:

“I based him on my father, Ron. The man was a monster. It’s the only word for him.

“Nowadays, he’d probably be diagnosed as a manic depressive. But none of that was any use to me.

“He was a psychological bully who’d put me down at every opportunity. Whatever you did, or so he’d tell you, you didn’t realise how lucky you were to have a father like him. It was real old Victorian bull.”

“He was a tortured man and so dangerous that my mum ran away from home with my baby sister when I was nine.

“My elder brother and I had to stay with Dad, though, because the court granted him custody when they heard he was going to move back in with his mother.”

“For the last 15 years of his life, we had no contact whatsoever. Do I regret that? No.

“I didn’t even go to his funeral. Do I regret that? No. You make your bed, you lie on it.”