EastEnders legend Danny Dyer has confirmed that his serial drama days are behind him, ahead of the release of new comedy series Mr Bigstuff.
Danny, who played Mick Carter on the BBC soap, left the role in 2022. In dramatic Christmas Day scenes, the character went missing at sea after jumping in to save
Linda Carter (Kellie Bright).
Now, he is starring as Lee in new Sky Max comedy series Mr Bigstuff, alongside the show’s writer, Ryan Sampson, who is taking on the role of Glen.
Danny and Ryan recently sat down with Metro.co.uk to tell us all about the show, and how the stars aligned for Danny to take on the role.
‘I wrote Lee for Danny,’ Ryan revealed – but things didn’t go totally to plan at first, as he explained.
‘I poured myself into it, furiously writing it, gave it to a producer and he was like, “Yeah, it’s good and everything, but do you realise that Danny is in EastEnders for the foreseeable future? What have you done? You’ve wasted your time.” And I genuinely had not realised that had happened.
‘I was talking to my friends about it, they commiserated me, we went on a big old night out, and I came home in the morning. And on the very morning of me leaving this night, I drunkenly went past a newsagents and on the front of the Daily Express was “Dyer quits ‘Enders”.
Danny was quick to tell me that this was the first time he’d heard this story, but joked that it may have been the reason he left EastEnders.
‘I didn’t know this, but I feel that maybe Ryan had some sort of Voodoo doll, because I did just wake up one night and go, “I must leave EastEnders! It’s been nine years now, I’ve done 1100 episodes. There’s something out there calling me…”’
On a more serious note, Danny went on to explain why he really made the decision to leave the soap after 9 years.
‘I was coming to the end of my run, I had a wonderful time there, but I felt I needed to go out and try some other stuff, if there’s any other stuff out there – nothing was guaranteed – and this script landed on my lap. It really confirmed to me why I’d left.’
Unfortunately for soap fans, Danny went on to admit that his time in serial drama has come to an end, joking that even Coronation Street was off the cards.
‘Ooh no, don’t fancy a stint in Corrie,’ he joked.‘[EastEnders] was a big chapter of my career – almost a third of my career, to be fair.
‘No, I’m ready for new challenges now. I think the beautiful thing about what we do as actors is that you just don’t know what’s around the corner.
‘That’s what keeps it petrifying and exciting at the same time. You can’t plan it. You’re not guaranteed anything in our industry so it’s just about praying that you get opportunities.’
