Former EastEnders star could have 'no income for a year' due to coronavirus

Former EastEnders actor and theatre star Aaron Sidwell has shone a light on the current crisis facing jobbing actors during the coronavirus lockdown, saying that many in the industry were falling through the cracks.

The Steven Beale star – who is currently working on the online Bard From The Bard series which is a modern take on Shakespeare speeches and moments – fears that he could go at least a year without any income.

He tweeted: ‘Is hard to keep smiling when everything I’ve worked so hard to build for 13 years could be taken away because I had 3 successful financial years.

‘I could, quite seriously, earn £0 in 12 months. #SelfEmployed #FallenThroughTheCracks #FatherOfTwo #AlwaysPaidTax (sic)’

With theatres unable to open, many actors are unable to continue work, with even many TV stars struggling despite the cautious restarting of production on some programmes.

The actor recently told Metro.co.uk: ‘One of the things that really struck was me that I saw an actor post that he was working an a supermarket which I so admire him for. One of his reasons was that he doesn’t think the world needs actors need now.

‘So why I chose to do Shakespeare is because the last time we had a lockdown in this way was when he was writing – during the plague, they were locked out of theatres and during that time he wrote Macbeth. This is a time more than ever that they need actors – there’s dangers of mental health with self isolation and one of the reasons is losing routine of EastEnders not being on four times a week.

‘For us, it’s more important to give them something instead – we can’t provide the normal but it’s something to offer and it’s tricky.

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