Former EastEnders star Matt Lapinskas has revealed he was dropped from the soap just moments after joking about losing his job with a co-star.

The actor appeared on the BBC soap between July 2011 and August 2012 as Anthony Moon.

Anthony was introduced alongside brother Tyler – played by Tony Discipline – who were the sons of Eddie Moon (David Essex).

However, his stint on Albert Square was cut short when a new producer was brought in and axed his character.

During an appearance on Simon Gross’ online series Get Gossy with Grossy: An EastEnders 40th Celebration podcast, the 35-year-old star recalled being given the news just minutes after making a joke about being handed his P45.

‘The new producer came in, and everyone was having meetings with her, and I remember it was my time to go and have a meeting with her,’ he said.

‘I’d written down a load of ideas for myself, I just had a whole new wardrobe done as well, they spent a lot of money on my new clothes, and I remember going up there walking past Ricky Norwood, Perry [Fenwick] a few others, and they were like joking about it, “Oh, [are you] off to go and get your P45, Matt?” I [jokingly] was like, “Oh, yeah”.

‘I went up there, and that was it.’

Matt continued: ‘She said, ‘Yeah, we’re letting you go’, and I had to go back downstairs.

“I had two or three scenes to do that day, as well, so I had to go back down and told Tony. I said, “Mate, I’m going”.’

In an interview following his exit, Matt said: he was ‘quite disappointed’ when he found out Anthony would be leaving.

‘I’d have liked to do a lot more stuff with him. It’s a shame to not be a part of what’s coming up,’ he told Inside Soap.

After leaving EastEnders, Matt went on to finish runner-up in the 2013 series of Dancing on Ice, where he was paired with professional skater Brianne Delcourt.

In 2022, he appeared in an episode of Hollyoaks that was filmed in Mallorca as a character called Alex Ramsdan.