Dan Sullivan

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Villain Overview Gallery

Evil-doer
Full Name	Daniel Sullivan
Alias	Dan Sullivan Geezer Dan Mr. Sullivan "Dan the Man" Sullivan "Danny Boy"
Origin	EastEnders
Occupation	Pub landlord (formerly) Illegitimate businessman Mob associate
Powers / Skills	Charisma Mob connections Deception Marksmanship Cunning Intellect Intimidation Strength Combat prowess
Hobby	Threatening and intimidating people. Antagonizing Phil Mitchell and Steve Owen.
Goals	Get revenge on Phil Mitchell and Steve Owen (succeeded).
Crimes	Kidnapping Fraud Assault Conspiracy Racketeering Adultery Extortion Blackmail Breaking and entering Accessory to organized crime Stalking Vandalism Aggravated vehicle taking Sabotage Harassment Attempted murder Unlawful possession of a firearm
Type of Villain	Vengeful Opportunist

“	Do you know Phil Mitchell? You wouldn't wanna know. He set me up in business...even gave me somewhere to live...and he was the only person who backed me up when everybody else was treating me like scum...and right out of the blue, he had me over. You know the fact that the money didn't bother me, it's the fact that somebody can betray you and never even give it a second thought. But then, that's a lesson for everyone, ain't it. Never trust anyone...especially your best mate!	„
	~ Dan Sullivan talking to Richie Stringer's henchman in the car about his history with criminal hardman Phil Mitchell, explaining how their friendship turned into an intense rivalry.

“	Dan: We're both very alike you and me. We both love being in control, don't we, Phil. Phil: You don't know nothing about me. Dan: That's where you're wrong. Things are out of your control now. Phil: Nah, you're finished. I'll make sure of that. Dan: Finished? I ain't even started yet.	„
	~ Dan taunts Phil in the latter's nightmare from 2001 promo.

Dan Sullivan is a major antagonist of the BBC British soap opera EastEnders; appearing as the secondary antagonist from 7 June 1999 to 16 August 2001.

In his characterisation, Dan is an alpha-male hardman who originally appeared as the new boyfriend of established character Carol Jackson before having an affair with her eldest daughter Bianca due to his previous romantic acquaintanceship with the latter prior to his own arrival; Dan's actions consequently led to both Carol and Bianca, along with the latter's husband Ricky Butcher, all being written out of the show.

From then onwards Dan embarked on an intense feud with Ricky's stepbrother Phil Mitchell, who ended up becoming his sworn arch-nemesis despite the two initially having a close friendship due to their business partnership in The Queen Victoria public house. By then, Dan had developed a similar conflict with fellow enemy Steve Owen due to a non-lasting relationship with the latter's future wife Mel Healy. Soon enough, Dan's rivalries with both Phil and Steve further escalated in a high-profiled storyline dubbed "Who Shot Phil?"; the scenario saw Phil framing Dan for the shooting and Steve conspiring to gather evidence against him, but in the end Dan was found not guilty and he took revenge on both Phil and Steve by kidnapping Mel for a £200,000 ransom.

He is portrayed by actor Craig Fairbrass, who is also known for playing Pat Tate in the Rise of the Footsolider series and Lincoln Burgess in Avengement.

Biography

Dan Sullivan first came to Albert Square at Walford, a fictional borough in East London, from June 1999. He started as a dodgy bloke who cheated on his girlfriend Carol Jackson by having an affair with her daughter Biancia. Once Carol discovers this, she ends her relationship with Dan and aborts his baby in retribution. Carol and Bianca would both later depart the square separately.

Soon afterwards, Dan formed a close friendship with the square's criminal hardman Phil Mitchell after becoming roommates with him at his house. On Christmas Day 1999, Phil sold his shared ownership of The Queen Victoria public house to Dan for £5 - with the former wanting to spite his mother Peggy for favouring his brother Grant. At first Dan attempted to talk Phil out of it, but he eventually relented at Phil's insistence. This soon led to Dan coming into conflict with Peggy as they contested for supremacy over The Vic.

By then, Dan found himself at loggerheads with Bianca's estranged husband Ricky Butcher over the affair. Their dispute continued up until April 2000 when Dan caused Ricky to leave the square. Coincidentally, Dan was disliked by Ricky's father Frank Butcher for ruining his son's marriage and for trying to pursue Ricky's wayward sister Janine Butcher behind their backs. They later got into an argument in which Dan taunted Frank over his parenting, which in turn prompted Frank to punch Dan in response.

At some point, Dan learned that Phil had been running a motor scam with Frank's business partner Roy Evans. It was at this stage that Phil and Dan had a falling out after Phil began to regret selling The Queen Vic to Dan and demanded that he relinquish his share, but Dan refused to back down. Later on, Dan conducted a plan to get Phil back on his side by reporting him to the police over the scam before "covering up" the situation to make himself appear to be their hero. This worked successfully and Phil agreed to give Dan another chance, during which Frank and Peggy decided to call a truce with Dan in the end.

During this time, Dan had been embarking on a relationship with local barmaid Mel Healy. This was nearly threatened when Dan began wooing fellow neighbour Teresa Di Marco, much to the disapproval of her brothers Beppe and Gianni. At one point, Gianni notices Dan womanizing with female punters in front of Teresa and confronts him about it; he chucks a drink over Dan and they nearly have a brawl until Mel separates them and orders Gianni to leave the pub. Dan then dumped Teresa and proceeded to win over Mel with his charisma.

When they later go out on a date, Dan confides to Mel about how he tipped off the police about Phil's scam and played the hero in covering up their involvement. Mel subsequently told her best-friend Lisa Shaw about this, and the pair nearly fall out due to Lisa's relationship with Phil and her growing suspicions about Dan. Soon enough Dan planned to turn Phil against Lisa and even manipulate him in expanding their business partnership. This nearly worked as Phil contemplated on getting his solicitor Marcus Christie to arrange for his partnership with Dan to be expanded. However, Lisa eventually reveals to Phil about how Dan grassed him up to the police over the scam; Phil thereafter planned to get payback on Dan and make him leave the square for good.

The next evening, Phil arranged for Dan to attend a poker game with Frank and Roy - though not before inviting Mel to observe the event as well. Tensions soon come to a head when Phil confronts Dan for what he did, after which the pair go all-in from the final round. In the end Phil wins the poker game, effectively conning Dan into losing everything for good; Dan thereupon left the square with nothing, but not before vowing revenge on Phil.

Before he lost the poker game, however, Dan deduced that Mel is partially accountable for this and their relationship ends when he blames her for what happened. Dan later confronts Mel the following night and starts threatening her until her former love interest, Steve Owen, intervenes on her behalf; Dan squares off against Steve until they see a few residents walking past them, and Dan decides to leave again as Mel embraces onto Steve for coming to her defence. Dan soon begins harassing Mel with threatening phone calls and even breaking into her home. When Steve discovers this, he confronts Dan with a gun and forces him to apologize to Mel in a phone call. Dan is forced to comply with his demand and thereupon Steve orders him to leave Walford, threatening to kill him if he ever gives Mel a hard time again; Dan thereafter departs Walford and has seemingly left the square for good.

In 2001, Dan returns to Walford so he could get revenge on Phil. When Phil is shot on the night Steve and Mel get married, Dan becomes a prime suspect and many of the residents assume that he is the shooter; however, the shooter is later revealed to be Lisa. While Phil recuperates in hospital, Dan plans to extort money from Phil and begins terrorizing the latter's godson Jamie in order to proceed with his intentions; Jamie's efforts to stall Dan prove challenging for the youngster, and Dan even beats up Jamie at one stage when the latter refuses to give in to his demands. At the same time, Dan also forces Phil's cousin Billy into working for him against Steve on some occasions - even though Billy is currently working for Steve as his personal errand boy.

Eventually, Phil recovers from the shooting and confronts Lisa for her actions. That same night, Dan confronts Steve for grassing up his involvement with Phil to the police and they threaten each other until Jamie confronts them both about Phil. By the next day, Phil has resolved to put both Steve and Dan out of the picture for good - plotting to frame Dan for shooting him and then incriminate Steve as an accessory. This is set in motion when Phil contacts Dan's old mob boss, Richie Stringer, and they agree to work together in getting Dan sent down for the shooting; Richie also notes that he is "not impressed" with Dan lately.

The next day, Dan is summoned to meet Richie in his car; Richie gives him the gun that Phil gave to his henchman and orders him to kill Phil should the latter refuse to give in to his extortion demands. Dan later confronts Phil at gunpoint, before threatening Jamie when he intervenes on his behalf. However, armed police soon turn up and Dan is arrested for Phil's shooting; he is later charged for the crime after Phil implicates him as the assailant. A few months later, Dan is put on trial for the shooting. The trial soon ends with Dan being found not guilty of attempted murder.

Following his exoneration, Dan resolves to get revenge on both Phil and Steve for good - having deduced that Phil framed him for the shooting before learning that Steve had went along with the plan over personal reasons; Dan is later convinced that Steve was the one who shot Phil after this realization. Dan sets his plan in motion by blackmailing Billy into getting leverage over the pair, which works after Billy is forced to tell Dan about Steve's illicit activities and the fact that Phil had a one-night stand with Mel before she married Steve. Upon realizing that Mel is the key to his revenge, Dan kidnaps her and holds her captive in an unknown tower block.

Soon enough, Dan contacts Phil and Steve to demand that they each give him £100,000 - thereby rounding up to £200,000 in total - in exchange for Mel's safety. Phil and Steve manage to acquire the ransom money for Dan, who in the meantime reveals to Mel the extent of Steve's criminal activities and Phil's shenanigans. He also points out that Steve had killed his ex-girlfriend Saskia Duncan before framing his young employee Matthew Rose for the crime, and that Phil had forced Mel's first husband Ian Beale into financial bankruptcy as well as clashing with Lisa's future husband Mark Fowler on earlier occasions.

By the next day, Dan forces Phil to deliver the ransom money in exchange for Mel's safety. Phil plans to kill Dan and eventually disarms him. Phil then prepares to execute Dan when Mel switches off the lights, allowing Dan to overpower Phil and then handcuff him to a radiator. Having got his revenge on both Phil and Steve at last, Dan leaves with Mel to drop her off near the square. They part ways before Dan then drives out of Walford with his £200,000 ransom, never to be seen again.

Elsewhere, Phil escapes from captivity but is too late to confront Dan once more. Mel also realizes Dan was telling the truth about Steve and breaks up with him. She later attempts to move forward by romancing with her new boyfriend Nathan Williams, but in the end Steve manages to woo her back into forgiving him for his involvement in Dan's wrongful conviction. When Steve is later killed in March 2002, his funeral takes place and Mel receives a note from Dan telling Steve "Gotcha".

It is then Dan is last heard to be hiding in Spain, but with many brushes from the law as he did in Albert Square. Dan's last reference comes in 2018 when Steve and Mel's son, Hunter Owen, comes to learn the truth about her father from Phil's eventual wife Sharon Watts - after she comments about the extent of Mel's relationship with Steve before mentioning Dan as well, whom she addresses as a "wrongun".

List of Victims

• Carol Jackson: Cheated on by Dan when he slept with her daughter Bianca behind Carol's back..
• Bianca Jackson: Seduced by Dan to the point where their affair destroyed both Bianca's relationship with her mother Carol and also her marriage to husband Ricky Butcher.
• Ricky Butcher: Betrayed by Dan after he seduced Ricky's wife Bianca and the pair had an affair behind the backs of both Ricky and also Carol Jackson, the latter being Bianca's mother and Dan's fiancé.
• Mel Owen: Tormented her on the phone and later ended up being kidnapped by Dan.
• Jamie Mitchell: Assaulted him and later threatened him at gunpoint while trying to extort money from him and his godfather Phil Mitchell.
• Billy Mitchell: Coerced him to give him leverage against Billy's cousin Phil Mitchell and boss Steve Owen.
• Steve Owen: Blackmailed him to give £100,000 after kidnapping his wife Mel that afterwards resulted in Steve having financial problems in part thanks to Dan's kidnapping scenario.
• Phil Mitchell: Knocked him out after escaping gunpoint and later tied him to a pole and gagged him around the mouth before leaving the apartment with the $200.000 from Mel's ransom and he successfully gets away with it.

Quotes

“	I'm warning you!	„
	~ Dan's catchphrase.

“	Don't say I didn't warn ya!	„
	~ Dan threatening Phil as they confront each other in Steve's office.

“	You're gonna regret it!	„
	~ Dan vowing revenge against Phil.

“	I'll get you later, Jamie boy.	„
	~ Dan threatening Phil's godson Jamie Mitchell when he knocks on his doorstep.

“	You don't know Phil Mitchell and what he's like! The man's twisted and he's off his head! He's tried to ruin everyone's life one way or another, including me own!.	„
	~ Dan ranting about Phil's character to the jury when he is cross-examined for the latter's shooting at his own trial.

“	Help me.	„
	~ Dan Sullivan sarcastically begs to Phil Mitchell at gunpoint before Dan knocks out Phil with one punch after disarming him.

“	You just saved my life!	„
	~ Dan thanking Mel Owen for saving him when he was held gunpoint by Phil after she learned her husband Steve Owen framed Dan for shooting Phil.

“	Don't spend it all on once, Eh?	„
	~ Dan's final words to Mel Owen before leaving in a car with the $200.000.

Trivia

• Dan Sullivan is one of the few villains in British Soap to get away with his crimes scot-free and never get his comeuppance for it.
• He made a total of 149 appearances throughout his time on the show.
• He is one of the few people to have got one over Phil Mitchell