Danny Dyer first breezed into Albert Square as Mick Carter on Christmas Day in 2013, and now, as fans prepare to see his exit from EastEnders on the same day nine years on, the actor bluntly admits, with his trademark candour, that when he began he was “a f***ing car crash”.
The 45-year-old star credits the BBC soap with saving his career, and admits that leaving has been a huge wrench.
He says: “It’s very emotional for me. I’m very attached to this show.
“It’s been a third of my career. I worked it out. Thirty years I’ve been knocking about in this industry and for nearly 10 I’ve been in this show.
“To make the decision I made, I didn’t make it lightly because it’s a huge job to walk away from. I thought long and hard about it.”
If he was emotional, Kellie Bright, 46, who plays his screen wife Linda, was even worse, distraught when he announced he was leaving and crying buckets in the five months before they filmed their final scenes in November.
Danny believes Dominic Treadwell-Collins, the show’s producer back in 2013, had taken “a risk” with him and Kellie as the new landlords of the Queen Vic and it had paid off.
He says: “I didn’t think I’d last nine years. When I came on to the show I was a f***ing car crash.
“I can’t believe I got given a shot. My career was f***ing on its arse. I was going to nightclubs, waving off balconies and saying hello to people to pay me f***ing mortgage. I had made a lot of bad decisions, I was in a bad place.
“Kellie was a bit more well-behaved. We came in together and we were obviously on trial – a new family to take over the Vic. We had so much work. We just got our heads down.
“I think the Carters had our era. I am so proud of that era that we had.
“All good things come to an end, obviously. I really do appreciate all the years we had, but the show has to change and move on.”
Kellie, who is staying on as Linda, says ending her partnership with Danny has been difficult. She adds: “Nine years playing husband and wife is almost like nine years being husband and wife on a show like EastEnders.
“You do see this person daily and they go through all your real-life events with you. Danny was at my wedding, he’s gone through IVF with me.
“There’s stuff we’ve shared that makes saying goodbye very hard. I didn’t do well. I cried from July until November. In the end, I was sort of relieved. I was like, ‘I have no tears left’.”
Danny was still questioning if he had made the right decision to quit Albert Square right up to his leaving do.
He says: “There was a lot of love for me in the room and there was a part of me that wanted to just duck out, because it was emotional for me.
“I just thought it would probably be easiest to leave by the back door, but actually Kellie organised something.
“Everyone turned out for me. It was very emotional. I did a little speech. There were a lot of tears.”
His leaving present from the cast was a neon sign spelling out one of his sweary catchphrases, which his wife, Jo, refuses to have in their house. Danny says: “Basically, before each scene, I’d say, ‘Shall we shoot the c***?’.
“I know it’s unpalatable, but it’s something that I would say. I’ve had some issues with my wife trying to put this sign up in the house.”
At a screening of the hour-long Christmas special this week, Danny admitted nicking a stool from The Vic as a memento, which came as a surprise to producer Chris Clenshaw.
Danny says: “I had a stool in my dressing room for years so I took that.”
A showreel of his and Kellie’s time in Walford made him feel old. He says: “The thing about being on a soap, f*** me, you see yourself age. It’s awful.”
Kellie agrees: “I think that’s what sent us over the edge, watching our journey back. We looked so young.”
Producer Chris is pleased with how Danny leaves the show. He says: “I think Mick Carter is not the kind of character that goes out in the back of a black cab. So I am very grateful to Danny for staying a little longer and giving us a Christmas Day exit.”
Danny also loved the explosive storyline, which involved stuntmen and women and a location shoot.
He says: “We’ve done a lot of Christmas episodes over the years. We came in at Christmas.
“It’s a massive platform. Everyone wants to sit down and watch EastEnders at Christmas.”
For the exit storyline, Mick is seeing Janine Butcher (Charlie Brooks), while his now ex-wife Linda is out in the cold.
But viewers know lying, scheming Janine has been up to her old tricks to get Mick where she wants him. Over Christmas, her lies unravel and Mick chases her out of Albert Square.
Danny thinks the viewers will like it. Well, most of them. He says: “I hope so. You can’t please everyone. You know what the f***ers are like.”
Danny, who has filmed a new drama in Australia for Channel 5 since leaving the soap, admits he is “very intrigued” by how Linda will carry on without Mick.
He says: “What f***er are they going to put her with?”
Like the rest of us, he will just have to wait and see.
EastEnders is on Christmas Day, on BBC One at 9.25pm
