Deano Wicks

Deano Wicks
EastEnders character
Portrayed by	Matt Di Angelo
Duration	2006–08, 2014–
First appearance	2 January 2006
Introduced by	Kate Harwood (2006) Dominic Treadwell-Collins (2014)
Classification	Former; regular (returning)
Profile
Occupation	Market trader (clothing)
Family Family Carter Mother Shirley Carter Adoptive father Kevin Wicks Half brothers Jimbo Wicks Half sisters Carly Wicks Grandfathers Stan Carter Grandmothers Sylvie Carter Uncles Mick Carter Aunts Tina Carter Nephews Jimmy First cousins Nancy Carter Johnny Carter Lee Carter Zsa Zsa Carter Other relatives Babe Smith

Dean "Deano" Wicks is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders played by Matt Di Angelo. He made his first appearance on 2 January 2006. It was announced on 18 August 2007 that the characters of Deano and his sister Carly (Kellie Shirley) were being axed by executive producer Diederick Santer. Deano made his final appearance on 7 February 2008.^[1] On 15 January 2014, it was announced that Di Angelo was returning to the show as Deano, beginning filming in February.

Storylines

When Deano arrives in Walford in 2006, he is taken in by his great aunt Pat Evans (Pam St. Clement) after he lies that his father, Kevin Wicks (Phil Daniels), has died.^[2] Deano is soon joined by Kevin and his sister, Carly Wicks (Kellie Shirley). In 2006, Deano causes trouble by spiking Stacey Slater's (Lacey Turner) alcohol with drugs and allowing Bradley Branning (Charlie Clements) to take the blame, and later stealing The Queen Victoria (The Vic) public house's bust and driving recklessly, crashing a car—behaviour prompted by the anniversary of his brother Jimbo's (Lloyd Richards) death, which Deano has taken badly. Deano is unwittingly reunited with his estranged mother, Shirley Carter (Linda Henry), during a family holiday in Dorset. Despite Kevin's best 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 (Tiana Benjamin) and a pedestrian, Abi Branning (Lorna Fitzgerald). Deano nearly dies from his injuries, but bonds with Shirley during his recovery. Kevin is opposed to this and amidst various arguments, the truth about Deano and Carly's paternity, that Shirley does not know who their real fathers are after having two affairs, is revealed. Deano is devastated and threatens suicide by almost setting himself on fire, but is stopped before going through with it. Despite initial hostilities, he accepts Kevin as his real father.

Unlucky in love, Deano has sex with Stacey, and unrequited crushes on Dawn Swann (Kara Tointon) and Chelsea. Chelsea manipulates Deano into getting involved in a vendetta against Sean Slater (Robert Kazinsky). Deano tries to attack Sean but is overpowered and beaten. Chelsea and Deano swear revenge and frame Sean for the assault of Patrick Trueman (Rudolph Walker), stealing CCTV footage that would have exonerated him. Sean is imprisoned, but he gets revenge on Deano by having him beaten 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, then released on bail. Sean assaults Deano again, forcing his head into a toilet. Afraid of the prospect 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 discovers 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, he has changed vastly, behaving in a hostile manner, bringing a prostitute back to Shirley's flat then forcing her to pay for her services. He headbutts Sean, and when Shirley says she wants to rebuild their relationship, Deano responds with fury, pinning her against a wall, ripping off her jewellery, and shouting in her face, showing her his prison injuries. 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.

Deano's mother's Shirley is under the impression that her son is working in Australia and is shocked when in January 2014, her father Stan (Timothy West) tells her Deano is much closer to home and is now going by his given name, Dean. He has visited Stan and given him his mobile phone number. Stan gives it to Shirley and asks her to call him. The following week, when she makes the call, revealing who is calling, the line goes dead.

Creation and development

Character creation

In September 2005, an official BBC press report announced the arrival of a new family of characters who would be joining the soap early in 2006. The Wickses were an extension of Brian Wicks's (Leslie Schofield) family, a minor character that had appeared briefly in the 1980s as the second husband of the more prominent character Pat Butcher (Pam St. Clement) and father of Simon Wicks (Nick Berry). The first of the trio of characters to arrive was Deano, played by Matt Di Angelo, branded by the press as a "heart-throb".^[3] Deano was described as "cocky, charismatic [with] an eye for the ladies and doesn't see anyone as out of his league". Commenting on his casting, Di Angelo said, "I can't wait to join EastEnders to play Deano. He's a combination of a young Alfie Moon (Shane Richie) and Del Boy (David Jason). He rates himself quite highly too so he's going to have lots of fun in the square."^[4]

Di Angleo began filming for the soap at the end of 2005 and was first seen on-screen as Deano in January 2006. The character was quickly joined in the soap's setting of Walford by his father Kevin Wicks (Phil Daniels) and sister Carly Wicks (Kellie Shirley). Executive producer Kate Harwood commented, "The Wicks family is going to be a force to be reckoned in Walford".^[5] The characters' introduction was branded by the press as an attempt to "spice up the show", following the announced departures of many popular and long-running characters, such as Sharon and Dennis Rickman (Letitia Dean and Nigel Harman), Chrissie Watts (Tracy-Ann Oberman), Kat and Alfie Moon (Jessie Wallace and Shane Richie), Sam Mitchell (Kim Medcalf), Johnny Allen (Billy Murray) and Little Mo Mitchell (Kacey Ainsworth).^[3]

Storyline development

Following his introduction, the character was involved in few high-profile storylines until September 2006, when his estranged mother Shirley Carter (Linda Henry) was introduced in a special week of off-set episodes, filmed in Weymouth, Dorset.^[6] In the storyline, the Wicks family went on holiday and were traced by Shirley, who liaised with her unsuspecting children and, despite Kevin's best efforts, later revealed her true identity.^[7] The revelation was shown to have a negative effect on the Wicks family, in particular Deano who was involved in a car accident shortly afterwards and was hospitalised after driving recklessly. The storyline progressed further, when it transpired that Shirley was hiding a secret for Kevin, that he was not the biological father of Deano or Carly. When revealed, Deano was shown to "go off the rails". Commenting on the storyline, Di Angelo has said, "I don’t think you can ever forget about things like that. But at the same time, Kevin’s looked after him since he was a baby so why does that make him not his dad, just because he’s not his biological father? In my view, your father is [the person] who looked after you since you were born."^[8] Describing his character's relationship with his mother Shirley in 2007, Di Angelo said, "I think he’s very fond of his mum, he’s a bit of a big kid. He’s not the big tough guy, he’s not aggressive and he’s quite a placid guy. That’s because he does have this longing for a mum that he never had [...] he’d like to get to know her".^[8]

Return

On 15 January 2014, it was announced Di Angelo would be returning to EastEnders.^[9] The actor started filming in February.^[9] Of his return to the show, Di Angelo commented, "It's such an exciting time for the show and the Carter/Wicks family that I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to reprise the role of Dean! I'm looking forward to getting back on the Square."^[9] Executive producer Dominic Treadwell-Collins added "Deano left angry with his mother. The Dean who returns is angrier."^[9]

Reception

Matt Di Angelo was nominated in the "Sexiest Male" category in 2006 and 2007 at The British Soap Awards, for his role of Deano Wicks.^[8] Di Angleo has acknowledged soap fan criticism of his acting and his character in an interview with media website Digital Spy in 2007. He commented, "I'd love for some people that write on Digital Spy to try and act in front of 9 million people a night, and then listen to their own criticism on Digital Spy [...] Digital Spy people say I can't act, very mean [...].^[10]

References

External links

• Deano Wicks at BBC Online