List of East Enders Characters (2003) - Jack Dalton

Jack Dalton, played by Hywel Bennett, is a gangster and head of the criminal organisation known as "The Firm". He first appears in EastEnders in May 2003, although the events surrounding the apparent death of the character Den Watts (Leslie Grantham), who was supposedly murdered in February 1989 were then retconned to include him. Dalton is a fearsome gangland boss, and as head of The Firm, he was responsible for ordering Den's death 14 years earlier.

In the late 1980s, Den became involved with "Walford Investments", aka The Firm, and was forced to become the titular manager of Strokes wine bar (formerly Henry's), which was owned by The Firm and was really a front for illegal gambling. Strokes had a rival bar in the form of The Dagmar, fronted by James Wilmott-Brown (William Boyde), who went on to rape Kathy Beale (Gillian Taylforth), the wife of Den's best friend. Den used his connections with The Firm to arrange for The Dagmar to be torched. The fire drew attention to the illegal goings-on at Strokes, and thus greatly angered The Firm. Den refused to take the blame and The Firm believed that he had informed the police about them. Consequently Dalton decided to have Den murdered, and two of their members followed him to Manchester in September 1988 when he went there to seek refuge with a friend. However, he managed to outrun them in his friend's car and handed himself into the police, who remanded him in custody on an arson charge until he appeared in court the following February.

In one of the series' most famous exits, Den (who just hours earlier had escaped after members of The Firm had intercepted the taxi taking him to court) was shot as he walked by the canal by a member of The Firm, who was walking with a woman and had a gun hidden in a bunch of daffodils. Three weeks later, spots of blood were found on the canal towpath and the police identified this as Den's blood, and believed that he had been murdered. However, an initial search of the canal failed to uncover his body. In May 1990, a local boy was fishing in the canal when he discovered Den's distinctive signet ring, prompting another search of the canal which this time uncovered a body which was identified as Den's.

In 2003, it is revealed that Den had indeed been shot, but the shot had only wounded him. Aided by his mistress Jan Hammond (Jane How), Den was able to escape to Spain where he forged a new life. He finally returns to Walford on 29 September 2003. The body which had been found, wrongly-identified and buried had actually been the body of the unseen Mr. Vinnicombe, who was said to have been Dalton's predecessor as head of the Firm during the 1980s. Dalton had been displeased with Vinnicombe's failure to murder Den, and so ordered a member of The Firm to kill him and dump his body in the canal at the location where Den had been shot (his teeth were then bricked out to prevent dental identification) - implying a power struggle for control of "The Firm" at this time. He also dumped Den's distinctive ring in the canal to further increase the likelihood of the body being identified as that of Den. Upon Vinnicombe's demise, Dalton was able to gain firm control of the organisation.

In 2003, Jack is operating from his nightclub; The Imperial Room. During his brief spell on screen, he shows a Machiavellian and ruthless streak. He orders Spencer Moon (Christopher Parker) to be beaten up for using forged currency in his club, although Spencer's brother Alfie (Shane Richie) takes the beating, pretending to be Spencer. Jack then orders the murder of Kate Morton (Jill Halfpenny) after he discovers that she is a police officer working undercover at his nightclub. Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) is able to persuade him to call off the hit but Dalton tells Phil that he now owes him a favour.

Dalton later orders Phil to kill Dennis Rickman (Nigel Harman), one of his most loyal employees, when he begins blackmailing him for money. Unbeknownst to Dalton at the time, Dennis is Den Watts' illegitimate son. Unfortunately for Dalton, Dennis manages to convince Phil that he will murder Dalton himself so the two of them will be free of him. Armed with a gun, Dennis forces Dalton to drive into the woods and to the edge of a railway track where he duly murders him as a train roars past and drowns out the gunshot sound. Before dying, Jack reveals the truth about Den Watts; that he is in fact alive. He begs Dennis that this "has to make a difference" in the hope that he will not shoot him, but Dennis goes ahead and pulls the trigger.

Dalton appears to be somewhat nihilistic. When Dennis tells Dalton that he wants a new life away from a life of crime, Dalton responds "There isn't any new life! Just the old humdrum life bobbing along, making a living, getting old, waiting to die." nonchalantly, echoing Dot Branning's (June Brown) words when she is depressed.