EastEnders’ Danny Dyer says it was a "complete shock" to learn that his character is Shirley Carter’s son.
The BBC One soap aired a shocking twist last night (22.05.14) as it emerged that Shirley – played by Linda Henry – is in fact the mother of Mick Carter, who has lived his whole life believing the boozing Walford resident is his older sister.
Danny admits he was left in the dark about the secret, which has reportedly been planned since executive producer Dominic Treadwell-Collins introduced the Carter family last December.
The 36-year-old actor said: "I did not see it coming at all! It was a complete shock to me."
Linda, who plays Shirley, knew about the twist long before Danny and was "thrilled" with the exciting storyline.
The actor told Digital Spy: "When I found out, Linda didn’t know that I’d been told, so I sent her a little text message saying, ‘Hope you’re having a good evening, mum!’ She rang me straight away afterwards so we could talk about it!
"Dominic Treadwell-Collins had put the story to Linda first and he said, ‘If you don’t want it to happen then it won’t happen.’ "
While viewers are now in on the family secret, Danny believes "it’s a while off that Mick finds out".
Producers went to great lengths to keep the shock twist under wraps by censoring scripts and only sharing details of the plot with key cast and crew.
Danny Dyer shocked by EastEnders Mick/Shirley twist
