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<\/p>\nActor Cliff Parisi, who played Minty in EastEnders and is back on our screens in the new series of Call the Midwife, and says he feels the best he has in years<\/p>\n
19:30, 07 Feb 2026Updated 22:44, 07 Feb 2026<\/p>\n
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Cliff before his 5st weightloss<\/p>\n
Call the Midwife actor Cliff Parisi is looking and feeling great after losing an incredible five stone on weight loss jabs. \u201cMounjaro – it\u2019s incredible, magic. When you\u2019re heavy, exercise is painful and bad for your joints. So losing the weight is double hard. I tried everything before,\u201d says Cliff, 65, who has played fan favourite Fred Buckle in the BBC<\/a> show since 2012. \u201cI\u2019m springing up the stairs again. I feel 30 years younger. And I’m still going. It\u2019s quick too – I lost a stone in a month. The downside is that it’s expensive.\u201d<\/p>\n And that\u2019s not his only costly hobby. Cliff, recently announced as an ambassador for Optegra Eye Health Care<\/a> after having lens replacement surgery, has been learning to fly. \u201cI don\u2019t like flying so I tried to conquer it by learning. It\u2019s helped,\u201d says Cliff, who played Minty Peterson in EastEnders<\/a> from 2002 to 2010. He says: “Having my eyes done has been a game-changer for both my life and my career.”<\/p>\n READ MORE: David Jason slams BBC over ‘too much swearing’ after moaning to bosses<\/a><\/p>\n But there\u2019s one person who you\u2019ll never catch on his plane – his wife of 15 years, TV producer Tara Wyer. The couple live at home near Saffron Walden, with his two youngest children, Patrick, 10 and Indigo, 16. He says: \u201cI used to fly over Elstree, and over EastEnders, and text Perry (Billy Mitchell) and say, \u2018Look up!\u2019<\/p>\n Cliff and wife Tara<\/p>\n “When I first started flying, I surprised Tara with a trip to France. But we had to do an emergency landing at Manston, near Broadstairs. \u201cThere were protesters on the runway, arguing about the airport\u2019s closure. So when we landed, surrounded by fire engines, we were live on the news. It didn\u2019t impress her at all. She never went flying with me again.\u201d<\/p>\n The latest series of Call the Midwife began in January, and Cliff says it\u2019s the best yet. \u201cIt just gets better, doesn\u2019t it? People used to shout \u2018Minty\u2019 in the street, but now they ask me about Fred Buckle. It\u2019s comforting, warm, with toys that you remember as a child, cars that your dad had.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a familiarity of that point in time. If you\u2019re old enough to remember the 60s and 70s – everything was so much simpler. We didn\u2019t have as much – and there wasn\u2019t as much to have!\u201d<\/p>\n Cliff entered the jungle in 2019 on ITV<\/a>\u2019s I\u2019m A Celebrity, admitting later that his appearance was to pay a hefty tax bill. \u201cIt was kind of weird<\/a> for me, and I didn\u2019t give the best of myself. I had whiplash and on strong pain killers.<\/p>\n That, coupled with the lack of food, I was off my nut. The whole time I was having a sort of outer body experience, like being at a weird festival. But I loved it. You could tell what time of day it was by what animals were making noises. And everything bites.\u201d<\/p>\n Newly slimmed down Cliff feels 30 years younger<\/p>\n Cliff has had his eyes lasered too, with Optegra<\/p>\n Slimmed down Cliff is waiting for the Strictly call. \u201cTwo years ago I\u2019d have said no, but I could keep up now,\u201d he says. And there may well be a Minty return on the cards. \u201cOf course I\u2019d return to EastEnders. There\u2019s nothing wrong with revisiting something that you love – and seeing all my old mates! I\u2019m still friends with Steve McFadden. We had a lot of fun. Who knows what the future holds.\u201d<\/p>\n *Cliff had his lens replacement surgery at Optegra Eye Health Care<\/a> which has 19 hospitals<\/a> around the UK offering vision correction and cataract surgery. Find out more at optegra.com<\/a> or call 0800 054 1971<\/p>\n![\"Cliff](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/0_unnamed-18.jpg\")
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