Former EastEnders child star "lost his purpose" after his character's shocking death plot

EastEnders star Bleu Landau has revealed the devastating effect leaving the BBC soap had on him. The child actor starred as Dennis Rickman for five years until his character was brutally killed in 2020.

Ian Beale locked Dennis in a room below deck on a boat to confront him after trolling his son, Bobby Beale, relentlessly online.

At the same time, however, Phil Mitchell and Keanu Taylor got into a fight with the boat captain, causing it to crash and begin to sink.

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While Ian released Dennis from the room, he still became trapped underwater and suffered a cardiac arrest, passing away after paramedics failed to revive him.

Six years on, Bleu has revealed he is embarking on a new career away from acting after feeling like he "lost his purpose" since leaving EastEnders.

Taking to Instagram, he wrote: "For a while, I felt like I'd lost my purpose.

"Growing up, I was lucky enough to live a dream! From a young age, acting was a huge part of my life. Being on EastEnders gave me experiences, opportunities and memories I'll forever be grateful for. But eventually, that chapter came to an end.

"After leaving EastEnders, Covid hit. Productions stopped, opportunities became limited, and an already competitive industry became even harder to navigate. For the first time, I wasn't really sure what was next.

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"I still have an agent, I'm still pursuing opportunities, and I'm working towards landing that next role. But acting is an industry were so much is out of your control. And while waiting for that next opportunity, I started to feel I was missing something. A sense of direction. A purpose, something I could build towards every single day."

He went on to reveal that he is launching a clothing brand called Playa Cala after "months of work behind the scenes".

"I'm still chasing my dreams in acting. But separately, I've found a passion that's given me a renewed sense of purpose," he continued.

Bleu joined EastEnders as Sharon Watts' son in 2015, taking over the role of Dennis from Harry Hickles, who had played the character since 2012.

In the role, Bleu was nominated for Best Young Performance at the British Soap Awards in 2017.

EastEnders airs on Mondays-Thursdays at 7.30pm on BBC One. The show also streams on BBC iPlayer, where most episodes drop early at 6am ahead of their TV broadcast.

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