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The actor, famed for playing evil Nick Cotton, thinks its stars are so good they should win awards.

He said: “During the first major lockdown, I was flicking through the channels and I started watching Corrie.

“There are some great performances. It was pretty powerful stuff. It was extraordinary. I was actually hooked on it.”

He said: “I know Ian, so when I saw him on the show I was intrigued. I know him as an actor. But I found myself watching the character.

“I thought, ‘What a b******!’. It was probably the same way people felt watching me as Nick Cotton. I ended up watching the entire storyline. His performance was so good. He deserves awards for it.”

While Corrie is still telly’s most popular soap, EastEnders has suffered a ratings crisis in recent years.

John, who starred on the BBC show for 30 years, reckons it is because storylines are so repetitive.

He said: “It must be hard to keep up the interest in a programme for that long. It has been going for 35 years. It’s difficult to do that without repeating storylines.

“Another problem they’ve got is there are so many channels now. Back in the good old days we didn’t have Netflix and Sky.

“I occasionally pop in and see what’s going on. But I don’t recognise most of them now. I don’t know who half the people are.”

Meanwhile, as we reported last week the EastEnders icon is making a move on the music charts.

John has launched a bid for pop stardom.

He told the Daily Star Sunday : “I thought because there is so little going on at the moment, this would be of great interest to people.

“I play guitar and drums and I am a songwriter.

“I have a reputation from my days on EastEnders, so people probably wouldn’t have thought I’d do this.”

John says his style is influenced by superstars including Jimi Hendrix, David Bowie, The Who and Queen.

He added: “I was brought up in the 60s and there was some great music around then. My stuff is quite eclectic. There are elements of everything from punk to blues.”

John’s new single Love of My Life is based on real-life heartache.

He said: “I wrote the song when I wasn’t seeing anybody. That’s not the best way to be in a lockdown.”