Peter Dean (born 2 May 1939) is a British actor, best known for his roles as Pete Beale in EastEnders, Jeff Bateman in Coronation Street and Sergeant Jack Wilding in Woodentop.
[1] Dean decided on a career in acting after actress Prunella Scales witnessed him rehearsing Shakespeare in Petticoat Lane Market and advised him to take drama classes.
Film credits include: Up Pompeii (1971), Murder by Decree (1979), Sweet William (1980), The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu (1980), P'tang, Yang, Kipperbang (1982), and as a bouncer in The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle (1980).
Since his departure, he has publicly slammed the producers for culling his character and did an exposé with the Sun newspaper, where he revealed some of the show's secrets and his opinions about former co-stars.
[4] Since leaving EastEnders, Dean's television credits have been few, although he has made guest appearances on Channel 4 sketch show Bo' Selecta!, Banzai and Little Britain.
In 1993 he was due to tour in the play Entertaining Mr Sloane with Barbara Windsor but left during rehearsals and was replaced by John Challis.