Actor Ryan Sampson has detailed a memorable night out with Danny Dyer in Bulgaria, which culminated in Sampson waking up with a minor case of Bell's palsy. The incident occurred during the filming of the BBC series "Mr. Bigstuff," where Sampson and Dyer are co-stars.
Sampson, 40, recounted the experience on Harriet Rose's "By The Way" podcast, describing how the night involved a dramatic encounter with local police. "I woke up from this night out and I slept on the bathroom floor, the marble floor of this hotel room and I woke up with a Bell's palsy," Sampson said. "I had half my face like that, a very minor one."
The evening took a turn when Sampson, Dyer, and other members of the production team were at a restaurant in Sofia. According to Sampson, Dyer became agitated when the bill was taking an extended period to arrive, suspecting they were being deliberately delayed. Dyer then initiated a sudden departure from the restaurant without paying.
"We're like 'What do you mean Dan?', 'mugging us off.' You can see he's angry. You don't know at first, 'Not having this. Come on. We're f*cking going,'" Sampson recalled.
As they left the restaurant, they encountered the police. "So in the street we walk out and the police car there immediately, it's one of their mates or something like this, stopped us and he's having this showdown and I was just like 'this is unreal,'" Sampson said.
Later, the producer of the show revealed that he had to pay off the police to resolve the situation, a detail unknown to Sampson and Dyer at the time. "Cut to three years later, the producer goes to me, 'Oh yeah, and by the way, I had to pay triple because I paid the police off as well in the end.' Without us knowing, he had to pay everyone off."
This encounter occurred when Sampson first met Dyer while filming a guest appearance on the ITV2 series "Plebs." Sampson and Dyer later reunited for "Mr. Bigstuff," a BBC series that follows two estranged brothers. In the show, Dyer plays Lee, an alpha male character with a prescription drug addiction, while Sampson portrays his brother Glen.
Sampson also recalled a separate incident during filming for "Mr. Bigstuff" where Dyer ran through a British council estate completely nude for a scene. He described the moment on Heart Breakfast last year, noting the surprise of a local resident who spotted Dyer during the filming.
"Like, I thought we were going to shut the road down or something. Actually, nope. It's just a real suburban street!" Sampson said. "So, I'm stood at the other end of the street and he's running, and there's this man on his phone. Danny is running down, and this man goes - he's outside the house - and he goes on a phone, 'Sorry babe, I'm going to have to get back to you, because there's a man running down the street naked, and I'm not being funny, he looks like Mick from EastEnders.'"