An 'EastEnders' extra has been given the sack after they allegedly stole a phone from the cast and stashed it in their sock.

Bosses of the popular long-running soap have been forced to dismiss a member of staff, who has reportedly worked on the show for a years, and ramp up security backstage after they were caught snatching a valuable belonging to one of their famous co-stars, whose identity is not yet known, while they were doing a scene on set a few months ago.

A source told The Sun Online: "The man had taken the sim out but the phone had a tracking device and he was caught with it in his sock. He denied he stole it but if you take the sim out and have it down your sock, you're not giving it back. But now all the extras are worried about their belongings.

"Some of the extras have taken to taking their phones with them on set. He was chucked off the show, the agency dumped him. All the extras leave their phones in what I can only describe is like a garden shed because they're not allowed to take phones on set because if it goes off it ruins the scene.

"Some of the extras are demanding lockers and are taking their phones on set."

Meanwhile, the soap has hit the headlines recently as former star Ross Kemp - who was known for playing bad boy Grant Mitchell - accused the now-former executive producer Sean O'Connor of running the cast into the ground.

He said previously: "He reminded me of a sort of schoolteacher of a kind of third-rate public school.

"That's not really what you want for the cast of 'EastEnders'. You write it well, you cast it well and you do the right things -- and you don't abuse certain members, i.e. you don't work them into the f****** ground, which is what happened. The cast are earning more than the executive producers, which makes it a very odd power balance, doesn't it?"