Danny Dyer has revealed that his character Mick Carter will depart EastEnders this Christmas as part of a "dark" storyline.
The actor announced earlier this year that he was leaving the role of the popular Vic landlord after nine years in order to pursue new acting roles, although the timing of his exit had remained a mystery.
Now he has confirmed that it will play out over the festive period - and has also suggested that he wants Mick to be killed off.
"I've got a few more scenes, I'm going out at Christmas. I came here Christmas 2013 and I'm going out at Christmas," he told the Daily Star at Sunday night's British Soap Awards.
"I would like to put a full stop on it for sure. It's all up in the air but I want it to be huge and epic and I want people to be talking about a certain subject that I think's very important and with our platform and we get it right, it reaches a lot of people.
"So I want to go out in a way that gets people debating. It's important and I think it's going to be a shock."
Dyer's departure will come after a year in which at least five characters will have been culled by new executive producer Chris Clenshaw.
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