Danny Dyer addresses potential EastEnders return with explicit five-word verdict
EastEnders star Danny Dyer has spoken out about a possible return to Albert Square as Mick Carter, after initially turning down requests from the BBC soap's bosses
In the world of soap operas, any ‘d.e.a.d’ character can always make a surprise return as long as their demise isn’t explicitly shown on-screen. EastEnders is a case in point, with monumental comebacks by the likes of Leslie Grantham as Den Watts and Gillian Taylforth as Kathy Beale.
Nonetheless, despite viewers not witnessing his alter ego Mick Carter’s watery demise, Danny Dyer has put those return rumours to rest: “Look, I take it as a compliment that people want me to go back. Who knows? If there’s no closure there, then maybe I would come back for a dream sequence. I don’t think Mick could just rock up covered in seaweed!”.
Danny’s been shrugging off comeback talks from EastEnders’ execs for some time, but now he’s expressing gratitude towards the series for revamping his career: “It saved my b****y career,” he remarked to Closer magazine, cheekily adding, “I’d be f***ed without it.”
Dyer arrived as Mick Carter on the Square in 2013, after declining a different character in 2009. He had famously declared in his 2010 memoir Straight Up that he wouldn’t join the show until he was “fat, bald and fifty.”
He won’t reach his fiftieth birthday for another three years, so the possibility that he could make good on his threat is still there. But he’ll certainly soon be back on our screens in the second season of Jilly Cooper’s Rivals.
Portraying Freddie Jones, the self-established tech tycoon with the air of Lord Alan Sugar about him, Danny sports a quirky 1980s moustache and has unexpectedly turned into a heartthrob.
Jilly, the author behind the bonkbuster novel that sparked the Disney+ series, gushed to Red Magazine about her “orgasmic with excitement” anticipation for the show’s expected 2026 comeback and expressed being “utterly sex-static” upon learning that Danny and the rest of the cast have commenced filming.
Danny experienced a significant boost in his career, thanks to an event he wasn’t directly involved in. His popularity soared after his eldest daughter Dani triumphed on Love Island in 2018, leading him to comment: “I was Father of the Year when Dani won.”
Family means the world to Danny, who believes: “You’re nothing without family. When the door closes, it’s just you and them.”
However, he admits that his actions made life challenging for Joanne, his wife of nine years.
He credits Joanne with keeping him down to earth, confessing that she had to kick him out of their house when fame got to his head and he struggled with substance abuse: “I was a p***k and she deserved better.”
Danny opened up about his past behaviour, saying: “Sometimes, I’d go out, get off my head, take drugs; I wouldn’t come home for three days. She had every right to throw me out. She controls everything now.”
This weekend was a momentous one for Danny and Joanne as they celebrated their daughter’s nuptials. A beaming Danny had the honour of walking Dani, 28, down the aisle to wed West Ham footballer Jarrod Bowen.
Danny jokingly remarked: “I have met every single boyfriend that has walked through my door – and then she brings home the West Ham captain. I have gone from the lying scum, and I hate them, to a man who I would not mind tonguing myself!”.
In videos of the reception posted on social media, Danny can be heard encouraging the guests to chant “Bowen’s On Fire – and he’s married Dani Dyer” to the melody of pop star Gala’s hit Freed from Desire.
