The subject of Danny Moon’s (Jake Maskall) whereabouts has been raised once more in EastEnders following the unexpected return of brother Jake (Joel Beckett).
Jake, as viewers know, staged a rather shocking comeback to screens this week as part of the ongoing search for Chrissie Watts (Tracy-Ann Oberman), who vanished into thin air after Christmas.
Kat Moon (Jessie Wallace) reckons that Chrissie holds the key to freeing Zoe (Michelle Ryan) – who was arrested on suspicion of Anthony Trueman’s (Nicholas Bailey) murder.
With Jake having previously been in a relationship with Chrissie, Kat begged him to return to Walford and assist her and Alfie (Shane Richie) in tracking down Chrissie and helping them to secure Zoe’s freedom.
Jake, a former regular of the show between 2003 and 2006, had some explaining to do as Alfie long thought he was dead, which prompted as trip down memory lane – with specific interest in Danny Moon and his whereabouts.
The subject was clearly a sore spot for Jake, which begs the question of why? Well, if you’re eager to know everything there is to know about ‘missing’ Danny then you’re in luck so join me for a trip into the days of Walford past for the grim truth.
Who is Danny Moon in EastEnders and what happened to him?
Danny was the troublesome younger brother of Jake, who arrived on the Square with his older sibling way back in 2004.
Their sudden presence didn’t go down too well with Alfie, who had become a stalwart of Walford at the time, given that he previously took the fall after the duo committed credit card fraud, which resulted in the famous Vic landlord serving time behind bars.
The dark truth about their reasons for coming to Walford were subsequently confirmed as Johnny Allen (Billy Murray), who ruled the roost of the criminal underworld at the time, was their boss!
And pretty much all of Danny’s two year stint in the BBC One soap would revolve around Johnny.
After Jake and Danny messed up a job he’d asked them to do, Johnny ordered them to stick around Walford, assigning them instead to work for Andy Hunter (Michael Higgs).
And let’s just say that this position didn’t exactly work out too well, with livewire Danny repeatedly clashing with crime boss Andy.
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In fact, the tension between the two reached boiling point, which led to Andy manipulating Danny – and leaving him in quite a precarious situation. Johnny, however, soon took charge and murdered Andy!
Danny, who later had a brief relationship with Sam Mitchell (Kim Mecalf), feared he’d be next in Johnny’s firing line and, in a bid to demonstrate that he’s not to be trifled with, he set fire to the criminal boss’ home.
Horrified at his brother’s actions, Jake thought it best if they got out of dodge before Johnny found out. But it was too late – Johnny had intercepted their exit plan, driving the brothers to the woods, where he planned to kill Danny. Jake pleaded with Johnny to think twice and, despite it looking like he sought revenge, Johnny ultimately allowed the two to live in what was quite a shock twist at the time.
After a brief hiatus, Danny returned to screens and it swiftly became apparent that he was working for Johnny. In exchange for letting him live, he did the criminal boss’ bidding – and murdered Dennis Rickman (Nigel Harman) in what remains one of the most devastating Walford’s deaths of all time.
In a bid to get justice for their beloved Sharon, Mitchell icons Phil (Steve McFadden) and Grant (Ross Kemp) made it their mission to seek revenge on Johnny. Danny, meanwhile, was tasked with looking after Ruby Allen (Louisa Lytton) while Johnny dealt with the situation and let’s just say that his behaviour grew increasingly troubling – and his devotion to former enemy Johnny left Jake very concerned.
This wasn’t going to end well.
After a showdown with his brother, Danny took the Mitchells hostage in the woods and, with a shovel in hand in order to get rid of their bodies, he sought to kill them.
But as he held the brothers at gunpoint, Jake showed up in the nick of time and shot his own brother dead – though he has claimed on occasion since that he didn’t actually mean to kill him.
Riddled with guilt, he buried his younger sibling in the woods and the situation was essentially never spoke of again, with Alfie completely unaware that his cousin’s fate.
In fact, Alfie actually believed that Jake was dead for decades – but his recent comeback has confirmed otherwise. The question is: will he find out the truth about Danny too?
EastEnders airs Mondays to Thursdays at 7:30pm on BBC One or stream from 6am on BBC iPlayer.
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