Danny Dyer is set to return to EastEnders in "weeks not months", a BBC source has said.

The actor, who plays pub landlord Mick Carter, is currently taking a break from filming the BBC One soap, following reports he had been suffering from exhaustion.

The soap insider added that the reasons behind Dyer's time off screen will become clearer as his character's storyline progresses.

A spokesperson for the BBC denied reports Dyer had fallen out with the show's producers.

"Danny is on a short break from EastEnders. This was not enforced by bosses nor has he quit the show."

His character recently rekindled a possible affair with his daughter-in-law Whitney (played by Shona McGarty), who he kissed in the soap last year and again earlier this year after Albert Square's horrific bus crash.

His on-screen wife Linda (Kellie Bright) is currently away from Walford, visiting her mum in Spain. Off screen the actress has been on maternity leave, after giving birth to her second child in November last year.

Dyer recently hit headlines when he discovered he was related to royalty during an episode of BBC genealogy series Who Do You Think You Are?.

He discovered that William the Conqueror, Edward III and Thomas Cromwell were among his ancestors.