by Joe Allan
Paul Flynn posted an article on the Guardian website calling the scenes between Mick and Johnny ‘exceptional’, before branding Danny ‘the daddy that every gay teenager might secretly wish for’. Joking aside, Flynn was keen to stress how simple and powerful the sequence was, rejoicing in the fact the show ‘took [the gay issue] right into the heart of the family’, and was trying to show a common, but unexplored, truth: ‘that dads sometimes have an easier time of their children coming out than mums’. He stated, ‘The scene achieved the holy grail of soap opera – it felt real.’ Flynn’s praise for Danny was unreserved, highlighting his casting as Mick Carter, and all the hype and expectation that came with hiring the Danny Dyer, meant that he was playing wonderfully against type, which in turn meant he had been ‘gifted an atypically masculine soap superpower of being able to speak with his heart before his fist’. He ended, ‘When Mick took his teenage son Johnny in his arms last week ... encouraging him to come out through both of their stifled tears, the hairs on the back of my neck stood upright.’
Audiences and critics alike were blown away by Danny’s performance, and any lingering doubts about whether he had made the right move by joining the EastEnders cast must have evaporated instantly as Danny received the kind of glowing reviews he’d craved, but had largely been denied, for much of his twenty-year career.
Viewers were most definitely seeing the evolution of Danny as an actor first hand, and the character of Mick Carter was undoubtedly challenging many notions about not only Danny, but EastEnders and East End men in general. Despite having been exposed to some fairly extreme viewpoints during his childhood, Danny has never been shy about sharing his acceptance of gay people and their lifestyle, having always maintained an open mind and taken a fairly positive stance on the subject, even if, at times, it seems completely at odds with what many might expect from him.
Talking about his upbringing, he told Attitude, ‘People are set [in] their ways really, and some were quite homophobic. It’s never really what I was about. I was proud of my roots, because it’s where my family is from, but I always saw the bigger picture. Going into acting and liking drama, I was [thought of] as being gay.’ This was perhaps just one reason for his acceptance of gay people.
With any controversial storyline, there are bound to be elements of the general public who will get upset, and Danny’s core fan base was no exception. It became clear very quickly that some couldn’t cope with Danny’s involvement in a gay storyline, let alone such a sensitive and well-balanced portrayal of a gay man coming out to his family. A few of his, and the soap’s, fans took to the internet to vent their outrage. Many were up in arms about the show’s decision to even think about including a story tackling the subject, while others were simply disgusted by Danny’s involvement.
Danny became an easy target for several homophobic comments via Twitter and Facebook in the hours immediately following transmission. One viewer tweeted, ‘#EastEnders was a disgrace. No wonder it was on after 9. Kids watch this program. Being gay is wrong and it shouldn’t be promoted.’ Another Danny fan said, ‘Danny Dyer’s son............ Is gay? Never cringed so much from EastEnders! That’s not good. Poor Danny.’ This was just the tip of the iceberg, and some of the comments were significantly more offensive.
Unsurprisingly, Danny was appalled by what he read. He told Attitude he was shocked at the response: ‘95% of the reaction was love, and people saying beautiful things and people saying “thank you” for doing it. But 5% was to the point of nasty.’ In typical Danny style, his response was unapologetic and suitably blunt: ‘Here’s a little message for some of the homophobic pr*cks who are tweeting me........happy new year,’ before he uploaded what looked like an ordinary medical text book diagram, but on closer inspection was a rather more interesting visual guide on where the homophobes could put their opinions on the subject. He joked with Attitude, ‘I’ve had that picture for ages. And I thought, “I’ll need that one day.” And it was just perfect. The moment before I tweeted it, I thought, “Ooh, should I tweet it?” ... I thought, “Have that. Eat it.”’ He went on, ‘[Then] I see it go insane, everyone backing me going, “well done.” I just don’t think those people should be allowed to get away with that.’ The press immediately reacted to his reply, speculating it would land him in hot water with his new BBC bosses – a rumour Danny was quick to dispel. ‘They backed me completely,’ he said. ‘I think it got 15,000 re-tweets. I gained, like, 100,000 [Twitter] followers that night.’
In the end, it was all good publicity for Danny and, more importantly in the BBC’s eyes, for the show. The BBC’s official statement, reported via the Mail Online, while not explicitly condoning Danny’s response, was obviously supportive: ‘The storyline has been largely positively received. Out of the 8 million viewers that tuned into the episode, we only received two complaints.’
Danny was getting particular praise for his sensitive handling of the story among the gay press and within the gay community – it goes without saying that his already substantial gay following increased exponentially overnight. He had for years enjoyed a sizeable fan base in the male gay community, as a portion of his earliest work featured gay elements, including his turn in Borstal Boy and on stage in Peter Gill’s Certain Young Men. Nick Love’s enduring fascination with the bonds formed between men – even if all the male characters are actually straight – also held an appeal for this audience.
Interest in Danny among the gay press increased during his run of Love-directed movies, particularly after the release of The Business. The images of Danny topless and in tight shorts turned him into a gay icon almost immediately, and in the summer of 2006 he gave a frank and revealing interview to Attitude magazine. The photo shoot accompanying the article was almost as revealing as the text. Danny discussed his own sexuality, asserting he was completely comfortable around gay people and, despite what people might think, had no problem with the lifestyle. Danny even hinted he’d had plenty of opportunities to engage with the same sex, teasing, ‘I’ve had [my] moments . . . We’ll leave it at that.’ The photo shoot bore several images of a shirtless Danny, cheekily blowing smoke from his cigarette at the camera. One shot of him lying smoking naked in bed, barely covered by the sheets, would become one of the defining images of his career.
What might seem like a foolhardy decision to bare all, physically as well as verbally, proved to be a smart move, one which Danny was eager to defend in an interview with the Independent. ‘I liked the idea, and I just got on with it. And actually it did me a lot of favours, especially with gay people, who assumed I was homophobic. They read the interview and saw that clearly I wasn’t.’
Interviewed by Jonathan Ross on his chat show, Danny explained the importance of EastEnders’ gay storyline among young men who related to his screen son and were going through similar situations. ‘A lot of young gay men, who hadn’t come out yet, they saw that scene and I was getting letters from these guys saying they came out the next day because of it – that’s a powerful thing, you know . . . I was really proud to be associated with that.’
In the weeks and months following its airing, everyone involved in the EastEnders story received countless messages of support from youngsters who had found the courage to admit to themselves that they were gay, tackling their need to talk about their fears and worries about their own situation. Many stated it was thanks to the amazing work Danny, Sam Strike and the EastEnders writing and production staff had put into the storyline that they had made positive steps towards coming out themselves. Talking about the response, Strike told Attitude, ‘It helped people to find a voice to come out to their parent and come out to their friends, which is the best response you can hope for because you feel like you’ve actually genuinely helped someone.’
In the same interview, Danny stated that, even months later, he was still a little overwhelmed by the reaction. ‘I’m getting wave after wave of it. They’re saying that immediately after the show they came out and it was the most liberat
ing thing.’ Danny was touched by the courage of his new fans and genuinely moved he’d given them the confidence to act, revealing that this was definitely a unique response to his work: ‘I’ve had people come up to me after Human Traffic in clubs and go, “I took my first E because of you” or, “I head butted someone because I watched Football Factory.” I’ve never had anything like that – really heartfelt.’
Talking to Digital Spy, Danny looked back at the impact of the story, keen to stress it had resonance outside of the gay audience, too: ‘I’m very proud of the impact that Mick and Johnny’s scene had. It didn’t just have an impact on the gay community, but people in general. I’m an actor playing a character, but because of my media persona, people might have assumed that I’m homophobic or that Mick would have reacted to Johnny coming out in a completely different way.’
On the show, as the story unfolded, it would be Linda Carter who would now steal some of the limelight, as her struggles to come to terms with her son’s sexuality caused her to do an enormous amount of soul searching, and created plenty of friction upstairs at the Queen Vic. It was yet another credible and very genuine situation, with outstanding performances from both Danny and Kellie Bright. It added one more layer to the developing relationships in the Carter household, and showed more proof, if any were needed, that the Vic, as well as the future of EastEnders itself, was in safe hands.
Over the coming weeks, further branches of the Carter family tree would be revealed to the audience at home – Mick’s Aunt Babe would turn up unexpectedly, the precursor to the arrival of Mick, Shirley and Tina’s estranged father, Stan. Played by veteran British actor Timothy West, he was quickly revealed to be a sly manipulator and would soon become a destructive and domineering presence in all of their lives. Shirley’s son, Deano, a popular returning character, would bring Matt Di Angelo back to Albert Square after an absence of four years, and Mick and Linda’s eldest son, Lee, a soldier who had served in Afghanistan, would come home under mysterious circumstances.
It was clear there was going to be no rest for Danny and, in the ongoing world of the soap, there is very little opportunity to bask in the glory of one’s achievements. His extraordinary journey was set to continue for some time to come.
In his Guardian article, Paul Flynn commented that the arrival of the Carter family and their subsequent introductory storylines had, despite the hype surrounding Danny’s casting, been a masterstroke in their avoidance of typical soap excesses. He stated, ‘In a soap landscape of hellfire and brimstone, of explosions, serial homicides, train, plane and car smashes, the Carter family had arrived on nothing more histrionic than a note of shared intimacy.’
The ‘coming out’ scenes between Danny and Sam Strike and the teamwork and love he shares with his screen wife, Kellie Bright, were proof the new owners of the Queen Vic were a force to be reckoned with. The strength of their bond as a couple, as well as their unflinching instinct to protect their children, set them apart from most of the other characters in the current cast and helped the show reignite its unfolding dramas elsewhere. It was this connection to the central characters, and the ability to relate to them on a very basic level, that was winning back a lot of disillusioned EastEnders followers and converting a good number of new fans for Danny.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
SOAPY BUBBLE
While the Carters’ introduction may not have turned EastEnders into the ratings juggernaut it once was, it undeniably stopped the rot and created a much more solid foundation on which to rebuild the series. By mid-January, ratings were up by a million on the previous six months, and over the next few weeks EastEnders started to compete for the number one spot with Coronation Street again, the shows frequently exchanging the poll position. Everyone at EastEnders HQ deemed the whole exercise ‘mission accomplished’.
Danny had scenes in every episode for the first month after his arrival. It was an intense period of work for him, and a full-on start to his new job. As the shockwaves created by Johnny Carter’s ‘coming out’ story slowly subsided, the writers used the lull to add layers to the newly introduced characters, revealing more of the Carter clan’s back story. Mick was becoming a truly three-dimensional character as Danny hit his stride, and he was able to start introducing even more elements of his own natural charisma and humour into the role.
On his return to work after a well-deserved three-week break, the show’s focus had shifted to the other major plotlines that needed to be tied up before the scriptwriters embarked on their next big task – the build-up to EastEnders’ biggest storyline in years: who killed Lucy Beale?
This slight let-up in workload allowed Danny to take a bit of time out to promote the show, keep interest in the Carters simmering and introduce his new audience to the real Danny Dyer – possibly the first time his newly acquired EastEnders fan base would actually get a glimpse of the man behind his new character.
As previously mentioned, Danny signed up to appear as a guest on The Jonathan Ross Show at the beginning of February 2014. This would be Danny’s first major television interview since joining the EastEnders cast and, while it was still in a post-watershed slot, it signified another major move into the mainstream for Danny. It was the perfect opportunity for Danny to address some of the issues haunting him from the past, rehabilitate his image and let people see there was more to him than the clichéd hard-man image he was starting to shake.
Eager to talk and quick to share his rekindled enthusiasm for acting, Danny was typically candid about balancing his new job with looking after a newborn, before touching on the increased scrutiny he now found himself under. He confessed to Ross, ‘I didn’t realize actually, I’ve had a bit of fame for a while but since I’ve been in EastEnders it’s gone onto another level.’
The interview was characteristically light-hearted, with Ross gently mocking Danny’s recent film output, saying, ‘Some of them weren’t the best movies ever made.’ Danny responded with mock fury, saying, ‘How f*****g dare you.’ He noted, ‘I remember one year I did eight films. I cannot remember one of them.’ Ross was quick to reply with a wonderfully deadpan response, ‘Unfortunately, I can.’
On the whole, the episode was another baby-step in the revision of Danny’s bad-boy image. This was, however, still a post-watershed chat show, and the real test would come the following month when Danny, along with his screen wife Kellie Bright, was invited to join Chris Evans and Fearne Cotton as guests on the BBC’s early evening entertainment and current affairs programme, The One Show. We can only imagine the cold sweats in the production gallery as Danny went live, hoping he would maintain the show’s family friendly tone.
Appearing relaxed, Danny became animated when the subject turned to EastEnders and his relationship with his on-screen family. Sam Strike and Maddy Hill were also in the studio audience, Danny revealing that the whole Carter family was heading out for dinner after the show wrapped. This is a striking illustration of the dramatic change from the Danny Dyer of old, where a TV chat show appearance might lead to a night at the casino, followed by a tabloid-baiting bender. Kellie Bright (figuratively and literally) kept a tight hold on Danny throughout the broadcast, and steered him away from saying anything too controversial, while the hosts joked that they had a mystery guest who would be able to keep Danny in check should he turn potty-mouthed. When the mysterious guest was revealed to be Miss Flynn, his first drama teacher from his schooldays, Danny was visibly moved and, hard as it seems to believe, struck virtually speechless. He hadn’t seen her in over twenty years and looked a little shocked when she joined them on the sofa.
Danny, of course, was able to refrain from using any expletives, and there was no need for the apology that Evans and Cotton undoubtedly had ready and waiting on the autocue.
Back on the EastEnders set, although the workload was no longer quite as heavy as in his first few weeks, Danny was still finding it a considerable challenge. A second wave of Carters was about to hit the square, but what he didn’t know was
that the groundwork was being laid for the family’s next big storyline, and for the time being the writers and production team decided to keep Danny well and truly in the dark about what they had in store for Mick.
The extended Carter family made their debuts in the spring of 2014. Mick’s father Stan, as played by Timothy West, is forced to recuperate at the Queen Vic after a bad fall, bringing with him Mick and Linda’s eldest son, Lee, supposedly on leave from serving as a soldier in Afghanistan. It is soon revealed Lee is absent without leave, deeply affected by what he has witnessed on the front line, and has no intention of returning to active duty.
Stan is revealed to be cold-hearted and Machiavellian, soon expressing his twisted views but nevertheless managing to worm his way into the affections of the younger members of the Carter household. Shirley’s warnings about Stan being ‘poison’, and her prophesying that ‘by the end of the week we’ll all be at war’, went unheeded.
Danny particularly enjoyed sparring with Timothy West. A true professional, Danny had nothing but admiration for the veteran actor, admitting he was awestruck by his ability to still deliver. He told Paul O’Grady on his daytime chat show, ‘The mad thing about Tim West is he struggles with his dialogue, he’s getting on, but the thing is – he nicks every scene.’
The ongoing mystery surrounding Mick, Shirley and Tina’s childhood teases out some very dark and painful memories for Mick, as childhood traumas begin to resurface and questions surrounding his, and his sisters’, time in care begin to have far-reaching consequences in the present. Seeds had been sown, and within a few weeks there would be another explosive revelation to rock the Carter household, but first, the show had to deal with the murder of Lucy Beale.
A surprisingly sinister TV and media campaign appeared everywhere in the spring of 2014, and made EastEnders the most talked-about show on British television once again, with producer Treadwell-Collins teasing that the investigation and eventual uncovering of the murderer would carry the show some way towards the thirtieth anniversary celebrations planned for 2015. While Danny’s character Mick was not apparently central to the story, it appeared everyone in Albert Square was a potential suspect. Mick and Linda’s eldest son Lee, as played by Danny-Boy Hatchard, had a brief sexual relationship with Lucy, and became embroiled in the initial investigations following the discovery of her body, before heading back to join his unit in Afghanistan.