A clip of Danny Dyer discussing Oswald Mosley has gone viral, after it aired in a documentary the actor presented on late playwright Harold Pinter.
The Sky Arts programme, Danny Dyer on Harold Pinter, follows Dyer in a retrospective of his friendship with Pinter as a young actor.
During the documentary, Dyer examines Pinter’s childhood as a young Jewish boy living in the East End of London during the Thirties, surrounded by Nazi sentiments and Oswald Mosley’s blackshirts.
These surroundings helped inspire Pinter to become an anti-fascist campaigner, who regularly joined marches and demonstrations.
It was a segment on the Battle of Cable Street – the clash between the Metropolitan police, Mosley’s British Union of Fascists, and anti-fascist protestors on 4 October 1936 – that has particularly captured viewers’ attention.
“My East End was full of love,” Dyer began, “but it sounds like young Harold lived with hate.”
He continued: “Everyone down here knows about the Cable Street riot in 1936, when Oswald Mosley and his blackshirts – not a boyband, but a bunch of fascist slags – came goosestepping down the street.”
Dyer then showed a photo of Mosley, referring to him as a “melt”.
He explained that, “us EastEnders, we won’t stand for terrorism".
“Everybody came together and they gave the Nazis a good kicking,” he said.
After the clip was shared on social media, Dyer’s name began to trend on Twitter, as fans called for him to be commissioned as a presenter for future documentaries.
“Petition for someone to commission a documentary about working-class histories presented by Danny Dyer,” one viewer tweeted.
“Danny Dyer calling Oswald Mosley a melt is what I didn't know I had always wanted to see,” another said.
Danny Dyer on Harold Pinter received largely positive reviews from critics.
