As far as soap villains go, EastEnders has had some great ones!
There have been cold-hearted rapists like James Willmott-Brown and Archie Mitchell and more recently, Nish Panesar.
There have been murderers including Gray Atkins and Lucas Johnson. Of course there's been no shortage of crooks from the days of Dirty Den, to Annie Palmer, Steve Owen and the Mitchells.
There's even been the bonkers but chilling brilliance of unhinged abuser Stella Crawford.
But right now, I can't help thinking that Dean Wicks should take his place on the leaderboard of EastEnders baddies. He's definitely one of the best soap villains there have ever been!
Dean's never been nice. Not even in his early days on the Square when he was dropping date-rape drugs in Stacey Slater's drink, and getting involved in petty crime with stepsister Chelsea.
And that's why he's so great - in villain terms. Because as viewers, we've watched Dean grow up from a sulky young man who thought the world and everyone in it owed him a favour.
I stumbled on an old clip of Dean on social media recently - it was the arrival of Ronnie and Roxy Mitchell in Walford. Dean was in the pub with Bradley Branning, giving him relationship advice.
"If women don't give you what you want," Dean sinisterly told his mate, as he locked eyes with Roxy - the woman he'd one day try to rape. "Just take it."
Dean's transformation into the controlling, manipulative rapist he is today was signposted from the moment we met him.
We just never expected him to be SO bad!
We knew about his issues with his family - so it was no surprise when he proved to be so envious of his brother, Mick Carter.
He wanted what Mick had and so he took it. He raped Mick's wife Linda and left her broken. And now he's tormenting her again by showing up in Walford.
He wanted to get to know daughter Jade, despite her mum Shabnam's misgivings. And now he's taking that, too. He's tampering with Jade's medicine to keep her too poorly to fly to Pakistan - even though he knows he's risking her life.
Dean's very good at playing the victim and manipulating how people feel about him and he is, without a doubt, a terrible person. He absolutely belongs in jail. I desperately want Linda to get justice for her ordeal. I want Jade to be safe.
But at the same time, I'm really glad Dean is in Albert Square, causing trouble for everyone he crosses paths with because it makes for great drama!
EastEnders usually airs Monday to Thursday at 7.30pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer. Check our TV Guide for more information.
