Getting naked on TV sparked my eating disorder ..I felt I'd failed if I wasn't thin

However thin he got, Angus Castle-Doughty always felt like a failure who wasn't working hard enough on his fitness and body shape.

- CHRISTINE SMITH

The former Hollyoaks actor now realises he had body dysmorphia, a struggle he kept silent about for five years while working in the soap and in other small-screen roles.

Angus, 29, evil Eric Foster in the Channel 4 show, says his obsession was triggered by being asked to do a nude scene as Mikhael in the 2019 Netflix series Shadow and Bone.

Determined to achieve zero body fat, despite no one asking him to lose weight, he began skipping breakfast and going to the gym twice a day... only for his naked scene to end up being edited out.

Angus, 29, told the Mirror: "I have been suffering from an eating disorder and muscle dysmorphia for five years. Up until recently, I felt like I had failed myself if I wasn't thin.

"I've denied myself many memories I could have enjoyed because of my obsession with food and exercise." Angus has finally changed the way he views his body by writing a fictional film, Dis-Morph-Ick.

He also says his partner of two years, Hollyoaks star Niamh Blackshaw, 25, has been a great support.

According to the Priory Group, a leading provider of mental healthcare, an estimated 1.25 to 3.4 million people in the UK suffer from an eating disorder. Around a quarter of them are men, it says.

Angus says of the job in Shadow and Bone, including the naked scene in a Roman bath spa: "I was so pleased to land the role and to this day, it was one of the best jobs I've ever done. But it was the first time I was going to do a naked scene and with that came its insecurities."

His obsession to banish his body fat became overwhelming.

He ate just two meals a day chicken, couscous and vegetables, plus a bag of nuts and only between the hours of 1pm and 8pm.