EastEnders Wiki

NOTE: Please do not add content from the BBC iPlayer's early episodes until it has been aired on television, as it is intrusive to our readers who may not have seen the episode on iPlayer. Repeated intentional offences of this rule could lead to a ban, Many thanks the EastEnders Wiki admin team.

READ MORE

EastEnders Wiki
Register
Advertisement
EastEnders Wiki

Dean Wicks (initially known as Deano) is the son of Shirley Carter and Buster Briggs. He is also the adoptive son of Kevin Wicks, as well as being the father of Jade Masood. He made his first appearance on 2 January 2006. He is portrayed by Matt Di Angelo.

Backstory

Dean was born in 1987 as the younger brother of Jimbo and Carly Wicks. He was raised by Kevin Wicks, who he believed was his father, and his mother Shirley Carter. After Jimbo was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis, Shirley found it hard to cope and decided to leave. After his death, Dean decided to nickname himself "Deano" in remembrance of Jimbo.

Storylines

2006-2008

When Deano arrives in Walford in January 2006, he persuades his great aunt Pat Evans to take him in and is soon joined by his adoptive father Kevin Wicks and sister Carly Wicks. Deano causes trouble by spiking Stacey Slater's alcohol with drugs and allowing Bradley Branning to take the blame, stealing The Queen Victoria public house's bust and driving recklessly, crashing a car – behaviour prompted by the anniversary of his brother Jimbo Wicks's death. Deano is unwittingly reunited with his estranged mother, Shirley Carter, during a family holiday in Dorset. Despite Kevin's efforts to stop her, Shirley makes herself known to Deano and Carly and eventually reveals that she is their mother. Deano struggles with this and after seeing Shirley behave promiscuously, he behaves recklessly and crashes a car at high-speed injuring himself, his passenger Chelsea Fox and a pedestrian, Abi Branning. Deano nearly dies from his injuries but bonds with Shirley during his recovery. Kevin is opposed to this and during many arguments, the truth about Deano and Carly's paternity is revealed by Shirley: Kevin is not their biological father. Deano is devastated and threatens suicide by almost setting himself on fire but is stopped before going through with it.

Unlucky in love, Deano has sex with Stacey and has unrequited crushes on Dawn Swann and Chelsea. Chelsea forces Deano into getting involved in a feud against Sean Slater. Deano tries to assault Sean but is conquered and battered. Chelsea and Deano swear revenge and frame Sean for the assault of Patrick Trueman, stealing CCTV footage that would have exonerated him. Sean is imprisoned, but he gets revenge on Deano by having him attacked by a gang of thugs. When Carly finds the stolen CCTV footage, she gives it to the police and Sean is released. Deano and Chelsea are arrested for perverting the course of justice and released on bail. Sean attacks Deano again, flushing his head down the bog. Afraid of spending time in prison, Deano attempts to run away twice before his trial but eventually faces up to his responsibilities and is sentenced to six months imprisonment. He finds prison hard. On visits, his family discover that he is being bullied by the other prisoners and, after getting into trouble, he is denied early parole. Deano is permitted to attend Kevin's funeral under police supervision.

When Deano is released from prison, he has changed vastly, behaving in a morose manner having been traumatised by his incarceration. He brings a prostitute back to Shirley's flat and then forces his mother to pay for her services. He headbutts Sean and when Shirley says she wants to rebuild their relationship, Deano responds with exasperation, violently pinning her against a wall, shouting in her face, showing her his prison injuries, and stealing cash and jewellery from her. After rejecting his mother, Deano leaves Walford. In September 2012, Carly returns to Walford for two days and tells Shirley that Deano is doing well, owns a bar and lives with his girlfriend in Australia.

2014-2016

Dropping his former nickname, Dean returns to the UK and develops a relationship with his maternal grandfather, Stan Carter He follows Stan back to Walford, opening a salon there named Blades, funded by Stan, and briefly dating Lauren Branning. He acquaints himself with his mother's family, who now own The Queen Vic, but is unkind towards Shirley, verbally abusing her for her poor parenting, leading to Mick Carter punching him. Dean slowly bonds with his mother and begins to integrate into his newfound family. He is attracted to, then, later, obsessed with Mick's partner, Linda Carter, who maternally hugs him after Shirley hurts him by stealing from him because she owes Phil Mitchell. Dean breaks into Phil's house, reclaiming the money. Dean also gropes Linda's buttocks during a photoshoot at Blades. Although Dean helps clean Shirley up after she shoots Phil, Shirley's aunt Babe Smith refuses to let Shirley take Dean with them as she flees from the police, leaving Dean distraught. Linda comforts him and Dean attempts to have sex with her. When Linda protests, Dean rapes her. Linda tells no one about the ordeal but is mentally traumatised, more so when she discovers she is pregnant and fears that the baby is Dean's. Dean continues as if nothing has happened and begins dating Stacey after she moves into a flat share with him. Stacey, herself a victim of rape, starts to notice Linda flinch whenever Dean is present and works out what has happened. She ends her relationship with Dean, throwing him out and refusing to believe his version of events; that sex with Linda had been consensual and that Linda's reaction stems from guilt. Stacey persuades Linda to tell Mick, which she finally does on Christmas Day 2014. Mick responds by pummelling Dean and is only stopped by Shirley's confession that Mick and Dean are, in fact, brothers. It transpires that Shirley is Mick's mother, not his sister, as he has grown up believing.

The revelations cause a split amongst the family, with Shirley and Stan siding with Dean and refusing to believe Linda. Fights occur between Dean and the Carters, culminating in Dean being arrested by the police for rape and being released on bail. When the community find out what Dean is being accused of, his social life and business are ruined. He goes to stay with his sister, Carly, in York, but later returns and attempts to exact revenge on the Carters by breaking into The Queen Vic's cellar and trying to set it on fire. He is stopped by Mick, who assaults him so intensely that Mick's daughter, Nancy Carter, fears her father has murdered Dean. When Dean's body goes missing from the cellar, Nancy suspects that Mick has disposed of Dean's body. However, Dean returns two months later in the company of Buster Briggs, whom Shirley has recently revealed to be the biological father of both Dean and Mick. Buster announces that he has booked tickets to Greece for Dean, Shirley and himself to start a new life together. Not wanting a life as a fugitive for Dean, Shirley calls the police and informs them of his whereabouts and he is arrested for breaking his bail conditions. He is released weeks later, without charge, due to a lack of evidence and agrees to remain in Walford with his parents, despite being made a local pariah. After Linda gives birth, Dean insists the baby, Ollie, is his. However, Mick shares the baby's blood type while Dean does not, meaning Dean is not the father. Shortly after, Dean discovers that a one-night stand with Shabnam Masood, years earlier, resulted in her becoming pregnant with his daughter, Roya, renamed Jade Green. Shabnam claims that the baby died, not wanting Dean to know the child has been adopted, but Dean suspects she is lying. Dean confronts Shabnam at her engagement party, then has sex with Roxy Mitchell. Shirley tells Dean that Jade suffers from cystic fibrosis, leaving Dean infuriated that she lied. Devastated, Dean trashes Blades until Buster intervenes, then Shirley convinces him that Jade needs her father, so they carry out a DNA test to confirm paternity. He embarks on a relationship with Roxy. The DNA results prove Dean is the father. He reveals Jade's existence to a contemptuous Mick and Linda.

Linda rejects Dean when he offers to put the past behind them. Buster talks Dean out of trying for custody of Jade, so Shirley decides she will. Dean doesn't know how to relate to his daughter. Jade's visit is a disaster as Dean unknowingly reveals Jimbo died and she rushes out when she overhears. Mick takes her back. Her foster father tells Shirley and Buster they are unsuitable custodians. Roxy tells Dean she wants their relationship kept hidden, but when Roxy's sister Ronnie Mitchell finds out, she forces Roxy to end it. However, they resume it again in secret, and Dean finds Ronnie's hidden spy camera, and sees Ronnie kissing Vincent Hubbard. He deletes a message from Ronnie to Roxy. Dean's insecurity over Roxy's feelings for her missing brother-in-law, Charlie Cotton, leads him to burn her with hair straighteners, and later he cuts a chunk out of her hair. Dean proposes to Roxy to distance her from Ronnie's influence and then reveals to the Carters and Roxy that Ronnie tried to poison him. Dean and Roxy get engaged but when his anger causes her to get a cut on her face, she ends their relationship. Dean refuses to accept her decision and attempts to rape her, only prevented by Shirley's timely interruption. Roxy then flees for the police station, while Shirley attempts to drown Dean in the bath out of desperation, however she is unsuccessful and Dean strikes Shirley. During a heated argument with Linda over Roxy, Dean admits he raped Linda, then flees and hides. The next day, he arrives at Mick and Linda's wedding, where he attempts to kill Shirley by jumping into a lake with her. Mick saves them both, and the police arrive and arrest Dean for the attempted rape of Roxy. The following day, a letter arrives for Shirley from Dean, asking her to visit. Shirley and Buster both visit Dean in prison – where he tells them he needs help getting a good lawyer with the money from Blades. However, Shirley and Buster make it clear to Dean they do not want any further contact with him, and Buster warns Dean he knows people in prison who could make his life hell. One month later, Shirley hears that Dean has his plea hearing so visits him, urging him to plead guilty, threatening to disown him if he does not. However, in court, he pleads not guilty, but, as he has failed to surrender to bail previously, he is remanded in custody until his trial. In August 2016, off-screen, Dean is acquitted of attempted rape and Buster pays him off, warning him not to return to Walford again, which infuriates Shirley.

2023 to present

When Mick disappears on Christmas Day 2022 and is later presumed dead, Dean returns on Halloween the following year and corners Linda in The Vic’s kitchen the same spot that he raped her on 6 October 2014. Dean orders Linda not to scream. Having a long conversation, Dean reveals to Linda that he has gone into business with Cindy and Ian and is trying to move back to Walford as his daughter’s cystic fibrosis is being treated in a hospital near by. It soon becomes obvious that Dean is still in denial about raping Linda and becomes more and more hostile towards her so she grabs a kitchen knife to defend herself and orders Dean to leave to which he does. The residents really around Linda but Dean later confronts Linda outside of the Vic and tells her that people will believe him in time, Dean later sees his ex-fling and sister-in-law Chelsea and attempts to have a conversation with her, however she tells him that she knows that he raped Linda. Dean tells Chelsea that he didn't rape Linda but Chelsea doesn't believe him and walks away. Linda sees Chelsea with Dean just as she's leaving and later talk to Chelsea about Dean, however Chelsea tells Linda that she believes her.

Peter Beale later creates some logos for the pie and mash shop but his sister Gina Knight refuses to talk to him, insisting he's going into business with a rapist. Peter later speaks speaks to Dean and tells him he wants no part of it, to which Dean I'd understanding but later speaks to Peter again and tells him it will cost his parents to find a new logo. Peter agrees to let Dean have the logo but says he won't take any further part in the pie and mash shop, however Gina sees Peter and Dean talking.

When Dean continues to harass Linda she and Alfie begin to put fliers around the square, Dean threatens to sue Linda if she doesn't take them down. Elaine later convinces Linda to take them down to avoid being sued however Gina later spray paints 'rapist' on the pie and mash shop (now named Beale's Eels). When Dean, Cindy and Ian later confronts Linda she denies being behind the spray painting. Gina then admits that she was behind the spray painting, Linda thanks Gina for having her back. Dean later tries to talk to Linda however George and Cindy see him, when Dean tells George to mind his own business and accuses Linda and George of sleeping with eachother George hits Dean, causing Dean to fall down the stairs knocking him out. Cindy initially agrees not to say anything to the police but is later persuaded by Ian not to lie to the police, Linda visits Dean in hospital and begs him not to tell the police what George did. Dean agrees not to speak to the police as long as Linda tells everyone that he didn't rape her. Linda agrees but only tells Dean, however Dean records her saying that he didn't rape her.

Keanu Taylor later squares up to Dean twice after Dean calls Karen the public enemy number one, Dean's daughter Jade visits the square to see Zaair Kazemi's tree. Dean attempts to spend time with Jade but she tells him to leave her alone, angry at Dean for being an absent father. Despite Gina's feud with Dean because of him raping Linda, Gina gets along with Jade as they both relate to one another with having absent parents, Gina later gives Jade one of her bracelets. Dean plays the recording when Dean's daughter Jade discovers Dean raped Linda, this causes Linda to relapse on alcohol and during a conversation with Sharon Sharon tells Linda that Phil is Albie's real dad and not Keanu. Linda later goes to an alcoholics recovery meeting. When Gina overhears the recording she betrays Linda and tells Dean that she believes him, Dean is later informed that Jade has had a match for her transplant however Dean later finds out that the match is no longer viable. Dean believes this is karma for his feud with Linda, Dean lures Linda to the church by texting her pretending to be Mick. Dean says sorry to Linda and admits to raping Linda but Linda can tell he isn't being sincere and tries to leave, Dean grabs Linda's arm and in retaliation Linda punches him and kicks him the stomach. Dean later breaks in to the Vic to drip off a present for Gina, when Linda returns Dean watches her. Elaine notices Gina is texting on her phone a lot but does not make anything of it, however it's later revealed that Gina and Dean have started a secret relationship together. Dean later enters the Vic with flowers and kisses Gina infront of Elaine, George and Linda. Dean reveals he and Gina are in a relationship leaving the three furious. Cindy offers Dean £60,000 to leave Walford and Gina but Dean turns the offer down. Gina later goes to Dean's House for a date but when the two argue Gina tries to leave, Dean grabs Gina's arm and in retaliation Gina punches Dean in the face.

Kill count

Attempted murder victims

  1. Nancy Carter (19 February 2015) - Attempted to kill her and the entire pub, but was knocked out by Mick Carter.
  2. Shirley Carter (1 January 2016) - Tried to drown her but was later knocked unconscious by Mick Carter.
  3. Mick Carter (1 January 2016) - Attempted to drown Mick in a fight but Mick knocked Dean out.

Victim count

Rape victims

  1. Linda Carter (6 October 2014) - Attacked her in the kitchen of The Queen Victoria.
  2. Roxy Mitchell (28 December 2015) (attempted)

Resident history

Address Years
31 Albert Square 2006-2008
18-20 Albert Square 2014-2015
23B Albert Square 2015-2016
Brewery Apartments 2023-

Quotes

  • To Shirley Carter (when she urges him to plead guilty in court; last line before leaving in 2016): You've got to believe me. You are my mum. [...] You know you can do this." (4 February 2016)

See also

Advertisement