EastEnders star Danny Dyer has looked back on his almost 10-year stint on the Square as Mick Carter.
The soap actor is bowing out this month with an explosive exit storyline for Mick, entangled in fiancée Janine Butcher’s (Charlie Brooks) plotting and scheming while still harbouring feelings for his ex-wife Linda (Kellie Bright).
Speaking to RadioTimes.com and other press at a Q&A, Dyer explained the decision to leave, also going back to the troubled beginnings of his soap career.
“I’m very attached to the show,” he said. “It’s been a long – it’s been a third of my career – about 30 years I’ve been knocking about in our industry, for nearly 10 I’ve been in the show and to make the decision I made I didn’t make it lightly, you know.
“It’s a huge job to walk away from and I thought long and hard about it. And I just wanted it to be a fitting end.”
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When asked if he thought he would last nine years on the show, Dyer answered: “No, I did not think I would last nine years. Listen, when I came into this show I was a f**king car crash. I can’t believe I got given a shot. My career was on its f**king arse. It was.
“I’ve made a lot of bad decisions. I was in a bad place. [Producer] Dominic Treadwell-Collins took a risk on me.”
Dyer also touched upon the relationship with his on-screen wife Kellie Bright, as well as Maddy Hill and Sam Strike who portrayed the couple’s children, Nancy and Johnny.
“We had so much work, we just got our heads down, we drew on all our experience,” Dyer said, adding: “We loved it. We loved the material. We loved the characters.”
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Of the on-screen family’s bond, Bright added: “We loved each other.”
And while the Carters’ era as we knew it may soon come to an end, Dyer said he is “proud” of the work they’ve done together.
“I’m so proud of that era that we had and it’s sad to think that all could come to an end, obviously. I really did appreciate all the years that we had, and we did some really strong beautiful work [but] the show has to change and has to move on.”
Read more:
- EastEnders cast: Who is joining, leaving and returning to the soap?
- EastEnders boss Chris Clenshaw reveals why Lola Pearce has to die
- 11 EastEnders Christmas 2022 spoilers: Exits, lies and manipulations as Jada returns
- EastEnders’ Janine is ‘fearful’ of Jada’s surprise return
- EastEnders’ Kellie Bright: ‘Linda’s let Mick go’
- EastEnders teases clifftop drama ahead of Mick Carter exit
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