Reinvention is a rife in the film world. Think of Matthew McConaughey going from those awful rom-coms to serious lead roles – the so-called McConaissance. Or, think of how Brendan Fraser plucked himself from obscurity of some years to win an Oscar for The Whale. Or, even how Hugh Grant went from jovial oaf to playing up his more leery side as villains and unlikeable with Heretic and Paddington 2. All of which lead to critical acclaim. But there's one that few people talk about. That's the reinvention of Daniel John “Danny Facking” Dyer.

It's hard to fully believe that in the past ten or so years Danny Dyer has gone from a laughing stock to national treasure. But, it's true. For a long time Dyer was the cockney hard man known for starring is low-rent movies for Vertigo releasing. Perhaps best of all he was known for his working relationship with writer-director Nick Love. The pair worked together four times: Goodbye Charlie Bright (2001), The Football Factory (2004), The Business (2005) and Outlaw (2007).

It's not that all of Dyer's work during this period was awful. His work in The Football Factory is actually very good, and it's a film that shows the hostility and brutality of football hooliganism – something Nick Love is a little too fond of. He also had roles in great works like Human Traffic, Adulthood and underrated horror-comedy Severance as well as a guest spot in lauded tv series Skins. But, Dyer had a bit of a reputation for being a “lad”.

You see, what Love and Dyer represented was a specific time in the British culture. In the mid-00s there was a boom in lad culture. Magazines like Nuts, Zoo and Fully Loaded, where geezers were allowed to look at barely dressed women and casual sexism was allowed as well as homophobia. It was a very specific time in the culture and the films Dyer made – works like The Business – played into that.

It has to be said that during this time as well Dyer did forge a longstanding working relationship with legendary playwright Harold Pinter, acting in Celebration as well as revivals of No Man's Land and The Homecoming. But, Dyer's career hit set backs like the critically and commercially dismal Pimp, as well as his foray into comedy with Run For Your Wife. He also courted controversy for suggesting in the pages of Zoo magazine that someone should disfigure their ex-girlfriend so no one would want her.

But in 2013, something strange happened. Despite claiming that he would only join if he was fat, bald and fifty, Dyer joined the cast of EastEnders. The long running soap opera introduced Dyer as Mick Carter the new landlord of the Queen Vic pub. It's here that Dyer showed he was an actor of some depth and versatility. During his ten years on the soap Mick Carter became one of the show's stand out characters, along with his pink clad wife Linda (Kellie Bright), he and his ever growing family became part of the fabric of Albert Square.

Over time Dyer would get to show his actual knack for comedy with Mick bantering with classic characters like Ian Beale (Adam Woodyatt) as well as showing his dramatic chops. It's here that Dyer pushed himself as an actor, storylines involving Mick's strained parentage with Linda Henry's Shirley, the sexual assault of his wife by his half brother, financial struggles, issues with his children, and him reckoning with sexual abuse in his childhood all showcased that Dyer wasn't just the geezer wide-boy that people had thought he was.

It lead to Dyer getting awards for his performances, and rightly so. The soap helped show that Dyer was actually someone of great talent, something that his previous for for Vertigo often failed to do. This reinvention also lead to Dyer becoming something of a national treasure, not least when on Good Evening Britain, he went of a profanity laden rant about David Cameron having his “trotters up in Nice” before loudly calling him a “twat”. The clip is still popular on social media, and it's not hard to see why.

Dyer's public persona, having changed from a geezer is lads movies to an actual talent and funny personality meant that he was given the job of hosting new BBC One game show The Wall, Prime Time on Saturday Night. The Wall involved asking questions and dropping balls down a large wall into slots for cash prizes. While hardly revolutionary, the show was made charming by the pairing of Dyer and Angela Rippon as the voice of the wall itself. In hosting, Dyer showed his gift for bantering with different people, turning the charm up to 100. There was more than a hint of the Mick Carter persona in how he hosted The Wall.

After leaving both EastEnders and The Wall, it's been clear that Dyer isn't keen of squandering the good will he's built up after that time. Diversifying his work with Tv shows like Heat, a psychological thriller, as well as playing more comedic roles in things like Mr Bigstuff and Rivals. But, it's interesting that Dyer has been away from the Big Screen for a decade. That's about to change with Marching Powder, a return to film and the work of Nick Love.

Marching Powder, while still full of all the Nick Love-isms certain people will love, does allow Dyer to show off his acting prowess. More so than other works of his, it shows that ageing can change you and despite being billed at a romantic comedy, Marching Powder has some interesting things to say about the ageing process, and how we can't hold onto our youth. Not bad for a guy who once threatened to headbutt Mark Kermode.