EastEnders icon Danny Dyer is making a highly-anticipated comeback to The Football Factory, according to reports.
The beloved landlord of the Queen Vic, as viewers know, vanished at sea without a trace over the festive season last year, very much in the vein of Neighbours’ Harold Bishop.
His intentions for getting into the treacherous waves were honourable, as he set out to save his beloved soulmate Linda Carter (Kellie Bright), after a pregnant Janine Butcher (Charlie Brooks) drove the pair of them into the water.
Mick, under Linda’s instruction, saved scheming Janine and their unborn child first before returning to the ocean in order to retrieve his one true love, unaware of the fact that she had safely made it to shore.
Before EastEnders, Danny’s other notable role was Tommy Johnson in 2004 sports drama The Football Factory, and with the film celebrating its 20th anniversary next year, it looks like the hardman is reprising his role.
An insider told The Sun: ‘It’s full steam ahead for Football Factory 2 and filming is due to start in January.
‘The hope is they can turn it around quickly enough so it comes out in 2024 – in time for the 20th anniversary.’
They added: ‘It’s a real passion project for Danny who can’t wait to get his teeth back into the role.’
Danny’s soap exit brought to an end a hugely popular era for EastEnders, leaving fans devastated to lose such an iconic character.
Danny, 46, has now discussed his reasons for leaving the show, commenting that it was largely due to the decline in standard.
‘The first few years we f***ing smashed it,’ he said of his earlier storylines. ‘It was powerful s**t. The viewer listened to us more than these f***ing c* politicians.
‘I was blessed with some amazing storylines, some s**te ones as well.
‘They f***ed it up towards the end. It’s a shame it had to come to an end but I’d f***ing had enough.’
EastEnders, meanwhile, has gone from strength to strength under the leadership of new boss Chris Clenshaw, who has largely restored the BBC One soap to its former glory.
Since Chris took the reins, the long-running serial has won an unprecedented number of awards, picking up the Best Soap trophy – in addition to several others – at the British Soap Awards, the NTAs and the Inside Soap Awards.
Metro.co.uk has reached out to Danny Dyer’s reps for comment.
