A photo of a Hampshire couple has gone viral online – because of their resemblance to two soap stars.

Craig Moylan, 53, from Lordshill, Southampton has been told that he looks like EastEnders’ Phil Mitchell on more than one occasion by his partner Sally Darley’s son Kieran.

It wasn’t until Sally, 46, had a haircut a few years ago, that the resemblance to Phil Mitchell’s on screen partner Shirley Carter became apparent.

Kieran Hinton, 24, said: “They’ve been told of the similarities for a few years now ever since my mum came back from the hairdressers. Craig has looked like Phil ever since they first got together ten years ago.

“They went out on Saturday night for a few drinks and one of my mum’s friends took the photo, and her daughter posted it online. It’s absolutely blown up.

“We think it’s great, such a funny comparison and although we’ve been making it for years, it’s amazing to see the public think so too.”

The tweet has been liked more than 60,000 times since its original post and has been retweeted on almost 20,000 occasions.

The EastEnders pair have been in an on and off romance since 2006 and are played by Steve McFadden and Linda Henry.