Linda Carter’s Traumatic Ordeal – Eastenders

As one rape storyline comes to a close on Hollyoaks, we’re thrown head first in to another one over on Eastenders after Dean Wicks overpowered and violated Linda Carter in the kitchen of her own home, above The Queen Vic this week.

Kellie Bright’s portrayal of Linda, as the character struggled through the following day was tough to watch, especially as Linda felt she couldn’t confide in anyone. We saw her come close to opening up to best friend Sharon, but backing down as she worried what the truth would mean for her relationship with Mick and her kids.

Because of her decision not to speak up, we see this grimm juxtaposition of Linda going through absolute hell as everyone around her continues to go on with their day-to-day tasks, completely unaware as to what has happened, which really hits home that we never know what torture someone might be going through in their own heads.

eastenders linda dean

To make the whole situation even worse, we then see that Dean is entirely oblivious to what he has actually done, thinking that himself and Linda have had consensual sex, thus spurring him on to text her and corner her in the pub, urging her to continue the affair. This must be incredibly tough for actor Matt Di Angelo who knows his character has done this monstrous things, yet must play the part as if nothing major has changed.

Not only is it a huge storyline for Kellie Bright and Matt Di Angelo, but it’s yet another big event for Danny Dyer when his on-screen counterpart Mick Carter finds out what has taken place. Dyer rightfully picked up the Best Actor gong at this week’s Inside Soap Awards and after seeing how Mick supported his son Johnny when he came out at the beginning of the year, we can only hope Mick will be able to show Linda the same support.

eastenders mick johnny

It is quite surprising, and somewhat worrying, that a substantial amount of complaints were made over BBC airing scenes of rape before the watershed, despite viewers never seeing anything take place, as it was all very much implied rather than being particularly graphic or visual. So many people are subjected to and affected by sexual assault that it’s important for soaps to address these issues as they have such a broad audience, so personally I applaud the cast and crew of Eastenders for tackling the subject, and hope they can continue to explore such serious issues in the future regardless of their detractors.


Source: The Soap Pundit