Jack Dalton

""There isn't any new life! Just the old humdrum life bobbing along, making a living, getting old, waiting to die.""

- Dalton's most famous quote

Jack Dalton is a fictional character and recurring antagonist of the BBC British soap opera drama EastEnders.

He first appeared in 12 May 2003 and became the show's main antagonist until his departure on 18 July 2003. Despite his short duration on the programme, Dalton served as the central antagonist throughout The Firm's story arc that occurred in between 1985-1989 and the majority of 2003.

History
In the late 1980s, local publican Den Watts 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 Den's rival James Willmott-Brown, who ended up raping Kathy Beale - the wife of Den's best friend Pete. 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.

After initially evading the Firm, Den was shot by a gunmen as he walked down a canal; the gunmen was walking with a woman and had the weapon 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 April 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.

Though Den was later pounced dead, Dalton soon discovers that Den had actually survived with assistance from his mistress Jan Hammond. With her help, Den went on to embark on a new life in Spain for over a decade. The body which had been found was actually that of Mr. Vinnicombe, the Firm's original founder. Dalton, displeased of his boss' failure to kill Den, had Vinnicombe murdered and arranged for his body to be dumped into the canal where Den got shot. Moreover, Dalton had Vinnicombe's teeth bricked out so that dental identification could be prevented - thus stopping the risk of exposing the events of Den's supposed murder. He also dumped Den's distinctive ring in the canal to further increase the likelihood of the body being identified as that of Den. Following Vinnicombe's death, Dalton became the organization's new leader and used his position to establish himself as Walford's reigning crime kingpin.

In 2003, Dalton continues to operate The Firm at his nightclub: "The Imperial Room" - which is located near Walford's community district, Albert Square. Kathy's ex-husband, Phil Mitchell, soon visits Dalton to discuss an incident: one of Phil's neighbors, Spencer Moon, has been using forged currency in Dalton's nightclub. Despite Phil's requests to leave Spencer alone, Dalton orders him to be beaten up - though Spencer's older brother Alfie takes the beating by pretending to be Spencer himself. When Dalton learns that his secretary Kate Morton is actually an undercover policeman, he plans to have her killed by sending his bouncer George Peters to follow Kate to her house - where Peters will rape and murder Kate at Dalton's request. Before giving Peters the task, however, Dalton originally offered Phil to kill Kate - not knowing that Phil and Kate had previously formed a relationship. Phil rejects Dalton's offer, and later rescues Kate just as Peters attacks her in her house. When Phil returns to Dalton's nightclub with Peters, whom he knocked out to save Kate's life, Dalton orders Peters out of the office and demands an explanation for Phil - who is forced to come clean about his past relationship with Kate in a bid to talk Dalton out of having her killed; Dalton reluctantly allows Kate to live, but tells Phil that he now owes him a favor.

In July 2003, Dalton learns that his employee Dennis Rickman is living in Albert Square; Dennis, whom Dalton took under his wing when the former was 16-years-old, had served 18 months in prison for him. This prompts Dalton to order his representative, Andy Hunter, to bring Dennis to him. Andy complies and Dennis meets Dalton at his nightclub. Dalton becomes enraged when Dennis demands £20,000 in compensation for serving his prison sentence, and tries to repay him in alternate ways to no avail. Dalton eventually gives Dennis the £20,000 that he requested, but later has Andy summon Phil to the nightclub with the favor that he promised to carry out: kill Dennis. At first Phil hesitantly agrees, up to the point where he confronts Dennis with a gun. However, he changes his mind when Dennis offers to kill Dalton himself - so that they could be free of him. While Phil reluctantly agrees to Dennis' plan, it soon becomes clear that Dennis is determined to uncover the events of his father's death - at the request of his adopted sister and Phil's girlfriend, Sharon. Later on that night, Dennis confronts Dalton at gunpoint and forces him to drive them to a woods - where the pair argue over the fact that Dennis looked up to Dalton as a father figure, and that Dalton had been grooming Dennis like he was his son. When confronted over Den's fate, Dalton insists that Sharon is lying and that her family is scum. He then reacts in shock when Dennis admits to being Den's son, and continues to point his gun at Dalton - who, by now, has started to grow terrified and fails to assuage Dennis' suspicions about his theory. Unable to convince Dennis to put the gun down with insistence that Andy and the police would come after him, Dalton - in a last-ditch effort to be spared - confesses that Den is still alive, right in the moment Phil calls Dennis to unveil the events of their shared mission. Dalton then states that his confession makes a difference about his fate, but Dennis tells him that it doesn't and - before Dalton can react - proceeds to shoot him, killing Dalton.

Dalton is later pronounced dead the following morning, prompting Andy and the police to investigate his murder; Dennis and Phil are both dismissed from the case. Months later, Den returns and rebuilds his life in Walford - up to the point where he causes Phil to leave the square on the run and starts a feud with Dennis over Sharon, who would eventually learn the truth about Dalton's murder. By then, Andy usurps Dalton's position as leader of The Firm and becomes Walford's newly-kingpin up until he is killed by fellow crime boss Johnny Allen. On that same night, Den is murdered by his wife Chrissie. Following the deaths of Andy and Den respectively, Johnny becomes Walford's next criminal kingpin and soon has Dennis killed for nearly exposing the truth about Andy's murder - thus practically ending the Firm's reign upon Walford. It was then that Phil returned to the square with his brother Grant, and together the pair worked in getting Chrissie and Johnny arrested for their crimes; Chrissie was subsequently convicted to life imprisonment for Den's murder, while Johnny died of a heart attack amid serving the same prison sentence for the murders of Andy and Dennis themselves.

Trivia

 * It is alleged that Dalton's murder of Mr. Vinnicombe was arranged because of a power struggle within The Firm between the two mob bosses.
 * While the character made only 11 appearances throughout his duration, Dalton served as the show's secondary antagonist in 2003 - as his criminal reign contributes to the year-of-events' main story arc concerning the return of Den Watts
 * Moreover, as Dalton is later revealed to be responsible for the events of Den's first exit from the programme in February 1989, the character served as the main antagonist in The Firm's story arc.