EastEnders star Danny Hatchard announces engagement

EastEnders star Danny Hatchard has announced his engagement to his girlfriend of six years, Kerry Scouler. The actor, who plays Lee Carter on the BBC soap, shared the happy news on Instagram alongside Kerry.

The couple posted a series of photos showing Danny's romantic proposal in Amsterdam while they took a boat ride through the canals. Kerry captioned the pics: "You & me, forever? Don’t mind if ‘I do", while showing off her new diamond ring.

In the comments, Danny's EastEnders dad Danny Dyer gave his congratulations by sending two hearts to the couple. While Matt Lapinskas, who played Anthony Moon, commented: "Yea lad well done congratulations to both of you."

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Kerry previously revealed that she started dating Danny after sliding into his DMs and telling him she fancied Lee Carter.

Meanwhile, Danny is preparing to make his return to Albert Square alongside Maddy Hill, who plays Lee's sister Nancy. The siblings' return comes as Kellie Bright, who plays mum Linda, prepares to make her exit.

Danny has appeared in the soap sporadically from 2019, but his last appearance as Lee was in 2024 during a special episode, which explored what would happen if Linda died from her alcoholism.

Speaking about his big return last month, Danny told Digital Spy exclusively: "Well, I can’t say too much about the timescale of when he actually returns, but what I can tell you is that I'm filming at the moment, and it's a very explosive return.

"It is my most exciting return yet. This is my fourth return, and I've got a lot to sink my teeth into. Let's just say that."

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Danny added that he doesn't even know how his return will factor into Linda's exit, which will happen early next year.

"I think they intentionally didn't tell me how it all happens for a reason, because they probably don't trust that I'm going to keep it a secret!" he joked.

"So no, I don't actually have any idea how it all happens. All I know is that it's going to be very exciting and well worth watching."

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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