It is a row far more serious than any of the arguments that regularly reverberate through the Queen Vic.
Now actress Tamzin Outhwaite has waded into the controversy about the gender wage gap on EastEnders by demanding that its female stars are paid as much as the men.
The 47-year-old’s forthright comments, made in an exclusive interview with The Mail on Sunday’s You magazine, come as she prepares to return to the top-rated soap after 15 years away.
She says: ‘The one thing we need to sort out is the pay gap between men and women, which has completely shocked me. I think we all knew about it but it was never out in the open. Now it is and we can see it, it’s time to make a change.’
The BBC was accused of sexism earlier this year after it was forced to reveal the wage bands of its highest-paid stars.
OUTSPOKEN: Tamzin Outhwaite pictured for You magazine
The figures showed that while Danny Dyer, who plays Queen Vic landlord Mick Carter, is being paid up to £249,000 a year, long-serving actress Gillian Taylforth receives less than £200,000. BBC director-general Lord Hall has pledged to close the salary divide by 2020.
Ms Outhwaite first appeared in Albert Square as Mel Owen in 1998. She quit in 2002 but says she can’t wait to return next year. ‘To be stepping back into Mel’s shoes nearly 20 years after I first started feels perfect,’ she adds.
After EastEnders, she went on to star in TV shows including Red Cap, New Tricks and Hustle, and the movie 7 Seconds.
But she has also been in the headlines for her personal life. In 2014, she split from Miranda star Tom Ellis after eight years of marriage when he admitted cheating on her.
Ms Outhwaite took nine months off work in 2015 but is now relishing a return to the limelight.
And she is adamant that she won’t be undergoing any procedures to try to disguise her age.
‘I want to look like myself and who I am at this age,’ she says.
‘I’m an actress and I have to be able to express emotions. You can’t do that if you have Botox.’
Ms Outhwaite took nine months off work in 2015 but is now relishing a return to the limelight