From the archives : BBC bosses back ‘dogger’

Paul Sharp

25 Jun 2011

8th August 2005 – Via The Sun

EASTENDERS bosses were standing by actor Steve McFadden last night after he was embroiled in a lurid dogging scandal.

Ex-flame Angela Bostock alleges McFadden ? Phil Mitchell in the soap ? forced her to take part in the perverted sex craze for ten years.

She claims they trawled car parks and service stations in his camper van for strangers to have sex with.

EastEnders chiefs will hold a crisis meeting today to discuss her shocking claims.

McFadden, 46, recently signed a megabucks deal to return to the BBC soap after a two-year absence.

But last night an insider insisted: “There is no talk yet about sacking him. At the moment these are the claims of a former girlfriend. If the police become involved that is another matter.”

They visited car parks in London, Surrey, Essex, Hampshire and Norfolk, as well as some in Europe.

She said the star wore “bizarre disguises” ? including a spiky blond wig from Peter Pan where he was playing Captain Hook ? so he wouldn’t get recognised by fans.

He also sported dodgy glasses and adopted an Irish accent before signalling to other doggers with torches.Angela claimed another time McFadden “demanded” she have oral sex through a car door with a stranger.
The tearful blonde, who met Steve when she was 19, told our sister paper the News of the World: “The father of my children is a pervert. He is addicted to dogging.

“Steve loved dirty old men watching us having sex in car parks. It disgusted and terrified me but he told me that it was normal ? and that if we didn’t do it he couldn’t guarantee staying faithful to me.

“I clung on to the hope he would be there for me and our kids.”
Angela said it was only after The Sun exposed soccer star Stan Collymore’s dogging that she understood what they were doing.

They would drive to dogging hot-spots, including one in Borehamwood, Herts ? near the EastEnders set.

The couple also headed to car parks off the A3, in Epping Forest, Essex, near her parents’ home in the New Forest in Hants, Paris and service stations.

She said his sickening pursuit of public sex continued even after he started dating then co-star Lucy Benjamin ? who played his on-screen love Lisa Fowler.

Speaking outside her flat in Highbury, North London, last night, Lucy, 35, said: “I have already heard about it and I’m sorry, but I have nothing to say.”

The pair split after four years in 2004 when McFadden fathered a child with Angela.

There was no answer at his home in Highgate, North London, yesterday. His spokesman Scott Mitchell said: “Steve is seeking legal advice over the story.”
Angela, who lives in nearby East Finchley, was also lying low. EastEnders viewers will see McFadden return as Phil in the autumn, alongside screen family Barbara Windsor, 68, and Ross Kemp, 41.

McFadden has already had to confess his criminal past to bosses, including cannabis possession, actual bodily harm and drink driving.

Last year soap chiefs axed Dirty Den actor Leslie Grantham, 57, after he filmed himself on a webcam naked and aroused in his EastEnders dressing room.