Danny Dyer's 'EastEnders' co-star Rose Ayling-Ellis praises his 'deaf awareness'

EastEnders actor Rose Ayling-Ellis has praised co-star Danny Dyer's "deaf awareness", revealing he walks backwards with her to set so she can lipread him.

Ayling-Ellis joined the soap last year as Frankie Lewis, the show's first mainstream deaf character. It later transpired she was the biological daughter of Dyer's character Mick Carter who had been sexually abused as a child in care by Frankie's mother Katy (Simone Lahbib).

Speaking about Dyer, 43, to Inside Soap magazine, she said: "Danny made me feel at ease right from the start. His deaf awareness is top notch, and he even walks backwards with me to set, just so I can see his face, which says a lot about him.

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"We get on really well and I’m always excited to share scenes with him."

"Having him as my screen dad is amazing! I couldn’t believe it when I was told," she went on. "I was so nervous about meeting him and was worried if I would be able to lip-read him.’

Ayling-Ellis was introduced to the soap last year as long-standing character Ben Mitchell (Max Bowden) experienced temporary hearing loss after the cataclysmic Thames boat incident, and she encouraged him to embrace the deaf community.

Ben has been seen wearing hearing aids over the years, across multiple actor changes, after becoming deaf in one ear as a baby due to meningitis.

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While Dyer's on-screen character welcomed a new addition to the family in the form of Frankie, the man himself has had good news recently as daughter Dani gave birth to a baby boy.

The tot, who’s been named Santiago, is the first grandchild for the Mean Machine actor.

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