EastEnders star Witts is minted

EastEnders newcomer David Witts has revealed he carries a packet of mints on set for when he gets fresh with the ladies.

The soap hunk has just arrived in Albert Square as gangster Derek Branning's bad boy son Joey and is wasting no time romancing the Walford women, starting with tearaway teen Lucy Beale, played by Hetti Bywater.

David told The Sun: "Everyone says you must love the kissing scenes but it is hard work.

"It's just part and parcel of the job and you'd be a bit of a twit if you got a cheap thrill out of that.

"I will admit I keep Trebor Extra Strong on me just in case. I always have mints before a kissing scene. It's only polite, you don't want people saying bad things about you."

And the actor revealed mint fresh breath is even important for fight scenes.

He said: "It's not just kissing scenes - you can be right in somebody's face threatening them, with spit flying everywhere or anything. It's only right you're minty fresh."

David promised there was much more to Joey than meets the eye.

He said: "Joey's billed as a bit of a lothario figure, a bit of a ladies' man. But there is far more to him than that. In some scenes you will see him be really dark and quite a nasty guy. Then he'd help an old lady across the road."