EastEnders has confirmed that Matt Di Angelo has left the soap after almost 19 years in the role of Dean Wicks.
Dean - son of Shirley Carter (Linda Henry) - first appeared in Albert Square in 2006, departing in 2008 before returning in 2014 for a hard-hitting storyline which saw him rape Linda Carter (Kellie Bright), the wife of his half-brother Mick (Danny Dyer).
The character left the Square under a cloud in 2016, having denied the incident and being acquitted at trial, but made a shock return last October as part of 'The Six' storyline which led to the Christmas murder of Keanu Taylor (Danny Walters) at the hands of Linda.
The Six conspired to frame Dean for the murder and he was imprisoned - and at trial this week, in an attempt to prove that he was being set up, he finally admitted that he had raped Linda in front of a shocked courtroom.
Now the BBC has confirmed that those scenes were Di Angelo's last, with a post on the soap's official social media account saying: "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!"
Exec producer Chris Clenshaw added: "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."
EastEnders continues Mondays to Thursdays on BBC One at 7.30pm and iPlayer from 6am.
Neil Wilkes
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