‘What a legacy’: EastEnders fans say goodbye to Danny Dyer as star leaves soap after nine years

‘Danny Dyer and Kellie Bright were electric together,’ posted one viewer

EastEnders fans are waving goodbye to Danny Dyer after the Christmas Day episode, as the actor leaves the soap after nine years of playing Queen Vic landlord Mick Carter.

The 45-year-old joined the cast of the BBC One soap on Christmas Day in 2013, shortly followed by his on-screen wife Linda Carter, played by Kellie Bright.

Warning: spoilers ahead for the Christmas Day 2022 episode of EastEnders

In last night’s episode (25 December), Mick learns the truth about his pregnant new wife Janine Butcher (Charlie Brooks) and everything she’s done to his ex-wife Linda.

Mick then professes his love to Linda, and Janine attempts to flee the country.

Chasing after her, Mick and Linda follow her to the seaside where they confront her. Janine and Linda end up going over the edge of a clifftop into the ocean.

Linda urges Mick to rescue pregnant Janine, and he does before rushing back into the water to save Linda.

While she manages to get out, Mick disappears into the waves.

Danny Dyer (Jeff Spicer/Getty Images)

Many viewers believe that Mick has not actually died – and that he’ll be back in some way in the future.

“I low-key think Mick has survived and we won’t find out until/if Danny Dyer decides to come back,” tweeted one fan.

“So, we’re all agreed that we’ll definitely see Danny Dyer in EastEnders again at some point?” posted another.

“Can’t wait for Danny Dyer to turn up on Albert Square next Christmas with a French wife, having swum to Calais to start a new life,” joked a third.

Others shared how sad they were to see the actor leave the soap, and reflect on his “legacy”.

“Mick and Linda Carter will go down in history as one of the greatest TV dynamics of all time. Danny Dyer and Kellie Bright were electric together. We were so lucky to have them for so long,” posted one fan.

“Danny Dyer and Mick Carter have been the heart of EE for a decade, he has raised awareness of so much; acceptance, depression and anxiety, male childhood abuse, his feud with Stuart and Linda’s rape and alcoholism. He’s been brilliant and will be so missed,” added another.

See more reactions below.

In a recent interview about his departure from EastEnders, Dyer said TV producer Dominic Treadwell-Collins “took a risk” hiring him to appear on the show almost a decade ago.

“I didn’t think I’d last nine years. I came into the show and I was a car crash, I can’t believe I got given a shot,” he said.

“I mean my career was on its a***. I’ve said this before, I was going to nightclubs waving off a balcony and saying hello to people to pay my f***ing mortgage.

“I’d made a lot of bad decisions, I was in a bad place. Dominic Treadwell-Collins took a risk on me and Kellie, although Kellie was a bit more well-behaved than me.

“We came in together and we was always on trial to start, a new family to take over the Vic. We just got our heads down... and we loved it. We loved the material, we loved the characters.

“I didn’t think I’d last as long as nine years, not in a million years.”