EastEnders: Kellie Bright pays tribute to Danny Dyer after Mick's death

EastEnders star Kellie Bright has paid tribute to her on-screen husband Danny Dyer after he left the soap on Christmas Day.

For nine years, Bright and Dyer played Linda and Mick Carter, but Mick appeared to drown during the soap's annual Christmas Day special.

Read more: EastEnders’ Danny Dyer rules out 'Dirty Den'-like return after Christmas exit

Following Dyer's much-publicised departure from the show, Bright has paid tribute to him on social media.

She wrote: "My Mick…. It was only a matter of time… but who would have thought that it would have taken 9 years for Mick and Linda to finally come to an end."

Bright continued to praise her co-star: "It has been, without a doubt, the best years of my life so far… for many reasons, but YOU @officialdannydyer are definitely one of them."

Posting a photo of the two of them, she added: "This photo was taken on our last day on set together (we were both a bit puffy eyed from the water tank) but it really sums us up. We made each other smile. Every day. I will always be grateful for that."

She signed off by saying: "See you in the real world very soon."

After some viewers speculated that Mick was not really dead as no body was recovered, Dyer squashed any possibility of a return, saying: "I don’t want to come back."

He also talked about his decision to step away from the soap after nine years of playing Mick: "Thirty years I’ve been knocking about in this industry and nearly 10 I’ve been in this show.

"To make the decision I made, I didn’t make it lightly. It’s a huge job to walk away from. I thought long and hard about it and I wanted it to be a fitting end, so hopefully, it is."

Watch below: Danny Dyer mobbed by fans in London.