Ben Hardy on exit from EastEnders: 'Battling it for a year'

Ben Hardy recently got candid about his time on the 2013 long-running soap, EastEnders.

The 33-year-old actor, who played Ian Beale's misguided son Peter on the show, claimed that it felt like he was losing himself in the process of becoming one of the show's biggest stars.

Speaking to The Independent's Ellie Muir, the Unicorns actor explained: "I had been battling it for a year, how to make things work."

Referring to his former co-workers, Hardy continued: "I have so much respect for everyone who works on that show. [But] I felt myself getting lazy as an actor, I felt myself constantly going 'This scene doesn't work'. Like I was trying to make a diamond out of something that can't be a diamond. That laziness scared me. I [said], 'I have to get out of here'."

After exiting the show in 2015, Hardy went on to portray the role of the evil, metallic-winged Angel in the superhero sequel X-Men: Apocalypse.

And while he signed up for diverse roles, he played Queen drummer Roger Taylor in the Oscar-winning biopic Bohemian Rhapsody.