John Altman thinks Nasty Nick is hurting his love life

John Altman thinks his past as EastEnders\' \'Nasty\' Nick Cotton is hurting his search for romance.

The former soap star - who appeared as the Albert Square villain on and off for two decades between 1985 and 2015 - admitted his famous role could "confuse" people who can\'t separate him from his job.

He told the Daily Mirror newspaper: "I\'ve debated whether to join a dating site. What\'s putting me off is, people can get confused and think they\'re getting a date with Nasty Nick.

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"They take one look and don\'t know if I\'m going to bite their head off. So they think, \'Maybe I won\'t approach him, just to be on the safe side\'.

"I\'d love to find a soulmate. You get a bit more fussy as you get older and don\'t want to date someone just for the sake of it. But I\'m going about it the natural way rather than online at the moment."

Online dating might not be the best plan for John, who revealed he accidentally exposed his underwear during a recent Zoom call.

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He added: "I was invited to a Zoom party for an album launch. So that evening I had a shower and just put a nice shirt on because they\'d only see the top half of me sitting at my desk.

"As the party went on, someone asked what time a show was on and I stood up to get my diary.

"There was a gasp from all the boxes on the Zoom call because there was my underwear for all to see. Luckily I did have underwear on."

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The 68-year-old star admitted he has "quite a list" for his dream woman.

He said: "Blimey, it\'s quite a list really. Blonde hair and blue eyes. Petite and good sense of humour.

"A love of the arts, music, movies and swimming - that\'s very important. Fastidious, tidy. And a love of the great outdoors. Adventurous spirit. It\'s not too tall an order, is it?"