Los Angeles, Mar 9 (IANS): Actor-singer John Altman, who played the role of Nick Cotton on the show EastEnders, says the writers' job on the show was challenging, because it is tough to develop new storylines year after year.

"It's hard. I wouldn't want to be a writer on it, to come up with something that hasn't been repeated before -- like a murder, a divorce, drug addiction, burglary. You can't avoid repeating old storylines with different characters," he says, according to femalefirst.co.uk.

However, Altman is confident that the long-running show will be on air for years. In fact, he admits that he is still earning money from the repeat episodes.

"Back in the early days, 'EastEnders' used to have an omnibus every Sunday and we'd receive 80 percent of our original fee. Very nice! Last year I got about £25 for some old repeated episodes of 'EastEnders'!" The Sun reported Altman as saying.

Meanwhile, Altman recently released his album, Never Too Late To Rock And Roll, and also has a new single, Looking For The Love Of My Life.