Phil Daniels

By Stephen Mills

Monday 5 July 2010 10:53, UK

Former Eastender Phil Daniels gives skysports.com his favourite memories from World Cup history.

Quadrophenia star and former Eastender Phil Daniels gives skysports.com his favourite memories from World Cup history

National acting treasure Phil Daniels has got into the World Cup spirit in an unusual way this year. The Quadrophenia star and former Eastender teamed up with Sky to design a limited edition football-themed Sky+HD 1TB box - a must have for any football enthusiast looking to soak up every detail of World Cup drama. Fashion designer Wayne Hemingway and celebrated illustrator Gerald Scarfe have also produced a print to adorn the Sky+HD 1TB box, but Daniels explained the inspiration behind his design. He said: "Initially I thought about England, but I thought it was a bit clichéd to do the flag of St George or the Three Lions. "So I thought about when I worked in South Africa 20 years ago. I had a wooden hut out there and I got some Zulu guys to paint it in their colours. It looked fantastic."

World Cup memories

1966 - Happy holidays

I was eight years old and I remember we went on holiday on the day of the World Cup Final. We went to Paignton in Devon and I remember we got off the train and it was deserted. We arrived at our guest house and everybody was round the TV. We watched extra-time and saw England win the World Cup. That got me into football I suppose.

1970 - 'Flaming Bonetti'

I remember Brazil being absolutely fantastic, but England were a good team as well and we got pipped by Brazil (in the group stages), who went on to do amazing things in the final against Italy. And then of course it was all about flaming Peter Bonetti against the Germans when we were 2-0 up. That memory is awful. I couldn't watch that again now.

1986 - Poaching praise

We didn't have a great team that year, and I remember Ray Wilkins getting sent off for throwing the ball at the referee. The refs all seem to go a bit weird when they go to a World Cup don't they? I can't believe the ref let Maradona get away with the Hand of God either, but it was well done. I used to be a bit of a goal-poacher myself and I played in a game once when I scored six, but put three in with my hand. The ref never got it. It was sneaky.

1990 - African Lions

I remember going up to Manchester to watch some boxing and we stopped off to watch Cameroon versus England. I was with Ambrose Mendy and a lot of boxers and it was very mixed over who they were supporting. The African Lion and all that. To be fair, Cameroon were the better team that day.

1998 - The perfect blend

This is when we started calling David Beckham world class and Michael Owen world class. Well, we weren't world class. What I do think is they had a good blend of players back then, but I'm a bit worried about the blend this year. I think Scott Parker might have been good for this World Cup, for example. I don't think we should be playing 4-4-2 and while I hope we might win, in my heart of hearts I can't see it.

2006 - Better than Brazil

I thought this was a terrible World Cup; the football was poor and the teams were poor. I think Chelsea would have beaten any of those teams and that's the problem with having international club sides now. I worry about the World Cup a little bit because Real Madrid were better than Brazil. Let's hope that this one's a better World Cup!