EastEnders have announced the exit of an icon from the show with their final scenes already wrapped.
The BBC soap took to social media to confirm that Matt Di Angelo is leaving the soap again as his character Dean Wicks’ murder trial for the killing of Keanu Taylor comes to a conclusion.
Dean is of course in fact innocent of the murder despite his less than savoury past, with the Walford Six framing him for the murder to protect the true killer, Linda Carter.
While the trial is yet to conclude Matt’s exit has been confirmed and the soap shared a tribute to the incredible actor’s work as Dean in their post. It read: “Farewell to the marvellous Matt Di Angelo AKA devious Dean Wicks. From all the cast and crew at # EastEnders … thank you, you’ll be missed!”
Dean is on trial for the murder of Keanu Taylor (
BBC/Jack Barnes/Kieron McCarron)
A video accompanying the post saw EastEnders’ Executive producer Chris Clenshaw wish Matt all the best for the future as he said: “I just wanted to say a huge thank you to Matt for giving us one of the most vile characters, one of the most hated characters in Britain and on British TV. Thank you for coming back and playing out this next chapter of Dean’s story.”
Matt was seen holding his last script in the clip as he told the camera: “This is it. Dean’s final scenes. Shot, sealed, delivered… it is done!” The video also showed a snippet of Dean being dragged to his cell while a defiant Linda strolled past before it showed Matt saying farewell to his colleagues with a speech.
Matt – who first joined the soap in 2006 – said: “I really, really appreciate all your work. They’re long days and you’re a class bunch, you really are. So, thank you for helping me and I appreciate it. Thanks very much.” He then hinted that maybe one day he will be back again as he added: “It is done. He is no more. “Good riddance! He’s fun to play and this is an amazing place to work and I do genuinely love everyone here. Thank you for having me and until the next time?! Bye!”
The past week has seen a dramatic turn of events on screen where Dean finally admitted that he raped Linda back in 2014 after years of denying the horrifying assault. The case which previously saw him walk free has now been marked as a mistrial due to the new evidence.
Scenes earlier this year even saw Dean manipulating Linda into falsely confessing that he had not raped her while he secretly recorded her to use the admission to make her look like the liar. Meanwhile, the six – Linda as well as Stacey Slater, Cathy Beale, Denise Fox, Sharon Watts and Suki Panesar – have all been taking the stand to share their version of events from the night Keanu was murdered as Linda plunged a carving fork into his back while he was strangling Sharon.
