EastEnders fans have recently been expressing their opinions on this week’s scenes involving Dean Wicks (Matt Di Angelo) and Linda Carter (Kellie Bright) – but what is their complicated and dark history?
Dean made his return to Walford a few weeks ago much to Linda’s horror. He explained his daughter Jade is poorly and in a hospital nearby, so he’s moved back to Albert Square and invested in Ian (Adam Woodyatt) and Cindy’s (Michelle Collins) new pie and mash shop so he can continue supporting his child.
‘In all honesty, Dean doesn’t want to come back’, said actor Matt Di Angelo.
‘He’s sort of forced back there because his daughter, Jade is very ill. She has cystic fibrosis and needs a transplant, which has to be done at the hospital nearby.
‘Dean has to live there so he’s on call for her appointments and in case the transplant comes through, and they need to move fast. He’s reluctant because he knows the repercussions of returning, but ultimately, he has to help his family.
Matt has played Dean on and off since 2006, meaning the character has history with a lot of Walford residents but as the focus is currently on Linda, let’s look into that.
What happened between Dean and Linda?
Dean’s return in 2014 saw him interact with the new owners of the pub and Shirley’s (Linda Henry) relatives – the Carter family.
Unaware that Mick (Danny Dyer) was actually his brother at the time, Dean started obsessing over his wife Linda.
Dean’s warped mindset saw him attempt to have sex with Linda and when she refused, he raped her in the kitchen in the pub.
Traumatised by the ordeal, Linda’s behaviour was picked up on by Stacey (Lacey Turner), who was in a relationship with Dean at the time.
A rape victim herself, Stacey gently encouraged Linda to tell Mick and she did so on Christmas Day in 2014 – the same day Shirley revealed Mick and Dean are siblings.
What happened this week in EastEnders?
The opening of Beale’s Eels was sabotaged this week when Dean, Cindy and Ian found the word rapist graffitied outside.
During a confrontation, Dean was slapped by George Knight (Colin Salmon) after refusing to leave Linda alone, and ended up in hospital after falling down the stairs.
Since then, Dean has been threatening to go to the police, which would leave George facing prison time thanks to his suspended sentence.
However, Dean offered Linda one way out of saving George, which was to tell everyone that she had lied about him raping her.
After initially refusing, Linda changed her mind and agreed to Dean’s plan.
As she followed his lead and told him exactly what he wanted her to say – that she had lied about being raped because she was scared that Mick would find out she slept with Dean – she didn’t realise that Dean was recording everything she had said.
In the aftermath, Linda made it clear that she had no intentions of forgiving Dean for raping her, and that she had only said what she did because he had blackmailed her.
When Dean said it was too late to take it back, Linda revealed that she didn’t care what he believed, because he couldn’t hurt her anymore and he had no hold over her family anymore.
But will this be enough for Dean to leave Linda alone?
