I think this is the writers way of making us feel for Dean but I think they are sitting in the writers room with delusion. They clearly want to keep the character to create more Carter drama. So we feel pity for him and pity for poor poor 50 year old selfish Shirl for dobbing in her son having defending him for so long because she wants his love.

Its all misguided and I think they could have pulled it off without the rape.

Linda has almost been forgotten about in the story. It reminds me of the baby swap which only showed one side of the story - the wrong side so we can forget that it happened.

I wish the writers would play a story out rather than try to keep hold of an actor. This is whats wrong with the programme. The story should lead the characters not the actors leading the storyline.

Just watching his return episodes now. Why does anybody care about Dean at all? Matt Di Angelo is such a terrible actor that I don't care if he goes to jail or not. He is embarrassingly bad - a bit insulting that he gets the duff duff at the end of an episode that had Jessie Wallace and Shane Richie act their socks off.

I think he is a brilliant actor and the rape storyline - even though it's ruined his character and made a lot of the. Carters unliklable - prove it.I agree on the duff duff part. Kat should of gotten Friday's

People are so besotted by his good looks they are even willing to alter their opinions on rapists to suit how they feel about their beloved Dean.

BIB - I agree.

I'm not bothered who gets the duff duff though.

I may be the only one but I sometimes think things needs to be put in perspective a bit. It's all just a story that was written in a story conference, sometimes I think some can get too emotionally invested in the stories and then it blows up on here, when we are talking about characters not real life people. A soap not a factual documentary.

I don't see any of the Carters as unlikeable as a result of this story. Shirley's dilemma is entirely understandable. I think the reactions have been spot on.

We'll have to agree to disagree on Matt's acting. I find the blank monotone delivery appalling but I suppose some people see it as a sign of his troubled personality.

It's going to be glorious when he's made the prison bitch. With any luck there will be regular beatings, and a do-gooder guard who asks "who did this to you?", to which Dean will always reply "Didn't see nuffin' guv ", before walking off for his appointment with Bubba in the showers.

I disagree. Keith Rice (Finn O Connor) and the guy who played Frank Foster were not bad looking but I hated both characters. It's got nothing to do with the actor's looks. It's the way Dean is acted and written.

I don't think an eye for an eye is the answer here. It was Dean's first prison stint with the bullying and cigarette burns which partly led to his violence (beating up Shirley, raping Linda) and misogyny in the first place. While it's only right that he serves prison time for his crime, exposure to more violence/brutality in prison would either destroy him or brutalise him.

If Dean was raped in prison, I think it probably happened during his first stint. He's seemed very scared of the idea of going back in on a number of occasions since then, so clearly something happened to him then. I'd guess that the reason he's having trouble in there now is because someone is threatening him and he isn't coping well.

I still think it would be an interesting turn if we found out exactly what turned Dean from a naive, dumb kid into the Jekyll-Hyde character he is now. His initial escape from Mick could have been left out, though, in favor of him remaining in police custody from his earlier arrest.

Well Matt was filming last week so you're stuck wth Dean till June at least.
I wish people would stop speculating on when actors etc leave cos they all have Twitter these days & it's pretty obvious if they've left or stayed on etc.

Thank you for addressing the elephant in the room. It's pretty obvious that some people are defending Deano, a rapist, simply because Matt Di Angelo is "fit". Just imagine if Phil or Ian had been the rapist, I doubt many people would be going to such lengths to justify them remaining in the show. These recent attempts by the writers to generate sympathy for Dean are idiotic and insulting. Doting Deano rushing to his dying grandfather's side - oh do me a favour!

Deano is finished as a character. As long as he stays he is dragging everyone around him down to his level; the Carters have been going in circles for months. And, let's face it, Matt Di Angelo is hardly Laurence Olivier, he will be no loss to the show.

This a million times over.

The end of Dean is nigh. I will continue to make noise until this immoral storyline is put right. I will dance with glee when he is brought to an end. And sing in the sorrowful faces of his rape apologist fans.

I'm sure he'll blame Shirley and (possibly) shoe horn Chelsea in for some reason again. For turning him that way....whatever Dean. That's what he did the last time.

Yes me too. I hope this is soon.

Probably because soaps are not realistic slices of life - they are more like fairy tales and people want, for the most part, the baddies to get their comeuppance. If the writers stop doing that then in the long term soaps will just decline even more in viewers.

Hold up...

Is DTC seriously trying to make us feel sorry for him? He's messed up if he is.

At the moment, that's what the spoilers indicate....

God. DTC's got me hanging on a thread... It's annoying because I've started watching EastEnders religiously, not because I enjoy it. I'd rather enjoy it.

I've got a feeling we're going to hear that he's been raped in his first prison stint and we're supposed to think 'poor Dean that's why he raped Linda'. I'm sorry but nothing that happened in prison or for that matter any time in his life gives any kind of defence for raping someone

Rape is the crime that has no defence in my opinion, there is NEVER EVER any excuse for it and I hope the Eastenders writers make a point of this

Dean shouldn't go around raping people! I have little sympathy for him. I wondered if he would do it again but atm he is incarcerated so women are safe. Horrible, seedy little man.

If it had been Phil or Ian I'd have been a bit more interested as they are both well developed characters played by excellent actors, rather than a one dimensional plot device played by a pretty boy who has barely mastered "smell the fart" acting.

But yes, agree that there is absolutely no way forward for Dean as a character - if DTC thinks it's important, he can just find another bland pretty boy who can't act to save his life, create a new character for Stacey to flirt with and move the hell on!

I'm sure Dean does still genuinely care about his grandad but obviously it doesn't change the fact that he is now a rapist. Just because the writers have chosen to show a different side to Dean rather than make him one dimensional and evil, it doesn't mean they are excusing, justifying or condoning the crime.

Rape would not fit in with Phil or Ian's characters anyway. Besides, Ian is generally a weasel though I am sorry for him at the moment given that Bobby killed Lucy and Phil is a bore most of the time.

I did wonder if he would become violent to another person, I don't think they would have him rape another character but they have shown us that people get hurt when Dean is angry and when he is released from prison, he is going to be angry.