Inside EastEnders Nasty Nick star's life - music career, BBC soap snub and sexuality
dailystar.co.ukEastEnders Nick Cotton star star John Altman celebrated his 70th birthday this week.The actor, real name John Clarkson Stewart, was among the show's original cast members appearing in the first episode in February 1985 and appeared on the show on and off as a recurring character.His character, the son of Walford icon Dot Cotton (June Brown), was killed off in the 30th anniversary episode of the show which aired in February 2015.The soap star has also appeared in several films, television series and stage productions.In 2010, he became the new frontman of the band Heavy Metal Kids following the death of former frontman Gary Holton in 1985.As John turns another year older, Daily Star has taken a look into his career.Making his acting debut in the 1979 film The First Great Train Robbery, John also appeared in Quadrophenia and American Werewolf in London before being cast as Nasty Nick in EastEnders.The Albert Square bad boy was involved in a number of grisly storylines including killing Eddie Royle, drug addiction, causing the death of his son Ashley and several murder attempts on his own mother.Nick was responsible for the BBC soap’s first ever murder, with the body of his victim Reg Cox being discovered in the opening episode.John had a record six separate stints in the show over the years, appearing in the first episode in 1985 and continuing for another 30 years.Since leaving the soap in 2015, John has claimed that EastEnders is losing viewers because it has lost the ability to tell new stories or break new ground.The actor thinks most of the big shocking storylines have been done.He said: "EastEnders had dramatic divorces, drugs, it opened with a murder."It also had different cultures, different races, I don’t know if.
