EastEnders star Danny Dyer has addressed the fate of Mick Carter after almost two years of speculation from fans.

Mick, as viewers of the BBC One soap will recall, vanished at sea over the Christmas period in 2022 when trying to rescue one true love Linda Carter (Kellie Bright) from the treacherous waves

after pregnant Janine Butcher (Charlie Brooks) drove them into the water.

The Queen Vic landlord, under Linda’s instruction, saved Janine and their unborn child first before returning to the ocean to retrieve his L, unaware of the fact that she had safely made it to shore.

A body was never recovered, with fans hoping that such a thing leaves the door open for a potential return for Mick one day, much in the vein of Neighbours legend Harold Bishop, who famously vanished at sea in 1991 only to return to the Aussie soap five years later.

Flash-forward three decades and Harold remains a firm mainstay on Ramsay Street, with 86-year-old star Ian Smith still portraying the role. Could a similar sort of future – and longevity – be in the pipeline for Mick?

Addressing the possibility of a return, actor Danny Dyer admitted that fans keep asking him when he’s set to return to EastEnders but, unfortunately, he had some bad news regarding Mick’s fate.

‘He’s dead’ he told Heatworld.

‘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!

‘I think if they did it right, with the 40th anniversary coming up, if they came up with an idea of maybe Linda drunk or hallucinating, then I would come back and do some scenes with her.

‘You know, because I do miss Kellie [Bright, who plays Linda], and I think maybe that would stop people asking me when I’m f**king going back!’So there you have it. Danny reckons that Mick is definitely dead.

Fans, however, will likely hold out hope for a return because – as everyone knows – the number one rule in soapland is that if there’s no body, there’s every chance of a comeback.