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EastEnders star Shane Richie has told of how he went to his GP to discuss a prostate check just days before he was told his character would be diagnosed with prostate cancer.
Last year, fans of the BBC soap saw medics tell Walford legend Alfie Moon he had the disease.
He has since successfully undergone a prostatectomy and subsequent treatment.
Appearing on Wednesday’s edition of This Morning, Shane admitted the storyline hit close to home for a number of reasons.
Shane Richie discussed the storyline on Wednesday’s This Morning (Picture: ITV/Shutterstock)
Speaking to hosts Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard, Shane said: ‘I got called up from Chris Clenshaw, our producer, and he said they were going to do a storyline with Alfie.
‘I said “Of course, what a great story to play”… But it reminded me how old I was.
‘The week before, I’d actually gone to see my GP to talk about having a test done.’
He continued: ‘We did that one scene in the Queen Vic where Alfie unfortunately wets himself, and I remember sitting down with the story producer where I asked if we could play that. Sadly, it happened to a friend of mine at a golf club. And so, we got a chance to play that.
‘It was really interesting, the reaction that we got, not just from social media, but emails coming in saying thank you for doing the storyline.’
Alfie was diagnosed with disease last year (Picture: BBC)
Kat and Alfie recently reunited (Picture: BBC)
In the last few days, Alfie has had a romantic reunion with ex-wife Kat Slater (Jessie Wallace), and Shane revealed how the soap will also explore how Alfie’s prostatectomy affects his libido.
Shane also told of a return visit to see his GP where they told him of the tangible impact of Alfie’s storyline.
‘About three months ago, I had to go to my GP for a check-up. He doesn’t really watch the show, but he said, “I understand your character has done a story on prostate cancer.”’
‘“Why’s that?” I said,” Shane continued. ‘He said, “Because we’ve had an influx of gentlemen coming in to get checked because of what you did on the show.”
‘If we can save one person’s life, we’ve done great,’ Shane added.
EastEnders airs Monday to Thursday at 7.30pm on BBC One and from 6am on iPlayer. This Morning airs weekdays at 10am on ITV1.
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Source:: Metro
