Former EastEnders star Danny Dyer has revealed that a storyline involving his character, Mick Carter, was turned down by producers.
The actor appeared on the BBC soap for nine years before his departure on Christmas Day in 2022, with the character last seen going underwater as he attempted to save his wife, Linda.
Though there may have been several dramatic storylines along the way, Dyer revealed in an interview with GQ Magazine that he had originally envisioned Mick’s departure playing out in a different way altogether.
“I wanted to do a suicide storyline, where you [the audience] see what’s really going on with Mick but the way he presents himself to everyone else [is different],” said Dyer, referencing the façade people can use to mask their pain.
“No one really lies about being depressed, they lie about being happy. I’ve known a few people that have [died by] suicide – men who I knew well, and I didn’t have a clue. I wanted to go out on something that really shakes the whole soap world and makes people go: ‘Wow, that shit happens – this isn’t even far-fetched.’
“They [the producers] to-and-fro’d with it,” he continued. “I begged them. I was like: ‘Please, if we do it right we don’t have to see it – but the build-up to it, I think it’s f**king important’. [But] they didn’t do it.”
Dyer, who will soon be seen in Marching Powder, recently spoke about the prospect of reprising his role as Mick, explaining an ideal storyline for the soap’s upcoming special live episode, which is being broadcast to celebrate the show’s 40th anniversary.
“I would be up for going back for the 40th anniversary, but nobody’s contacted me,” he said.
