EastEnders is a British soap opera that has aired on BBC One since 19 February 1985. Several spin-off shows have been made, some of which use the narrative of flashbacks to look at the history of the characters such as "CivvyStreet". Others have been a lead-up for a character's eventual return to the show such as "Return of Nick Cotton", and some have followed characters who had departed from the show in another setting such as the 2016 spin-off series . With the exception of "CivvyStreet" which was set within Albert Square during the Second World War, these spin-offs take place in a different setting. Documentaries have also aired, particularly for the anniversaries of the show looking back at the history of the show's inception, its characters and storylines.
In October 2009, a 12-part Internet spin-off series entitled was announced. The series was conceived by executive producer Diederick Santer "as a way of nurturing new, young talent, both on- and off-screen, and exploring the stories of the soaps' anonymous bystanders."[1] E20 features a group of sixth-form characters and targets the "Hollyoaks demographic". It was written by a team of young writers and was shown three times a week on the EastEnders website from 8 January 2010.[1] A second ten-part series started in September 2010, with twice-weekly episodes available online and an omnibus on BBC Three. A third series of 15 episodes started in September 2011.
On 4 April 2015, plans for a BBC One series featuring Kat Moon and Alfie Moon were announced. The six-part drama, , was created by executive producer Dominic Treadwell-Collins and started in May 2017. In the series, the Moons visit Ireland where they "search for answers to some very big questions."[2]
See main article: CivvyStreet. "CivvyStreet" is a spin-off episode of EastEnders broadcast on BBC1 on 26 December 1988. The episode is a flashback to World War II and is set at Christmas 1942. It was watched by 7 million viewers.
This episode first aired on 1 October 2000 and was a lead-up to the return of Nick Cotton as a regular character later that year, more than two years after his last appearance. It was written by Matthew Graham and directed by Chris Bernard. The episode followed Nick as he has just been released from prison. Fast forward to 10 weeks later and he was living in a squat in North London. He then had a dream where his dead father Charlie appeared and warned him that something terrible is about to happen to him. He was told by a black gay couple living in the squat with him that seeing your own dead relatives in your dreams was a bad sign but Nick was not worried. He then decided to meet up with his son Ashley and ex-wife Zoe and went to Zoe's brother Eddie to ask for her address. He also had some mean-looking thugs on his trail, a father and son named Colin and Little Col, who had a score to settle with him from their time in prison. He met up with Ashley who revealed he and Zoe were living with Zoe's new boyfriend. The thugs discover Nick's whereabouts and show up at Zoe's house trying to break in. The police arrive and arrest Colin and Col. To escape them Ashley and Nick got into a stolen convertible car and drove off. Zoe pleaded with Ashley not to go with Nick knowing he would be a bad influence but Ashley did not listen. Then just before the end of the episode Nick and Ashley were discussing where to go from here and Nick says "Let's hit the road for a bit, and then just maybe...we'll go and see Ma," and they decided to travel around for a bit before their eventual return to Walford.
This two-part episode aired on 13 and 20 May 2002, originally these episodes were planned to air over the Christmas period in 2001 but filming was delayed due to Patsy Palmer's pregnancy.[3]
This two part special was a lead-up to Ricky Butcher's return later that year as a regular character. It was written by Simon Ashdown. The episode saw Ricky reunite with his ex-wife Bianca Jackson and son Liam in Manchester. Bianca had been in Manchester doing an arts degree for the past two and a half years and was struggling to look after Liam.
Ricky discovered she had been working in a nightclub and had stolen money from the manager Vince. Ricky ended up getting caught in the middle of all of this along with his new girlfriend Cassie. After he got Bianca out of trouble, they had a one-night stand during which Bianca conceived their daughter Tiffany. Ricky told Cassie he didn't really love her, he was still in love with Bianca. Cassie managed to manipulate Bianca into thinking that she and Ricky would never be happy together, and Bianca made the difficult decision to leave Liam with Ricky, feeling that he'd be a better parent than she would, and left in a taxi.
Nancy Banks-Smith of The Guardian described the episodes as, "A cynical way of shooing Ricky back into Albert Square. [...] These let's-do-the-show-somewhere-else specials tend to be tiresome. This one seems to be a way of easing Ricky back into EastEnders.[4] Pete Shelley of the Daily Mirror said, "A shot of a pasty-faced, grumpy-looking orang-utan told us that this episode marked the return of Bianca... I won't bore you with the details of Simon Ashdown's plot, suffice to say that it was worthy of a Brookside Christmas video starring Lindsey Corkhill."[4] Simon Edge of the Daily Express said "EastEnders spin-offs usually set off the cringe alarm. But this one is a hoot, mainly because Patsy Palmer is sending herself up something rotten - normally only drag queens can manage a falsetto squeal that high - and because she and Sid Owen look so pleased to be there."[4]
Tina Baker, for GMTV said "The Ricky and Bianca spin-off didn’t quite work, It just wasn’t quite as good as when they were in Albert Square with all the other characters. It’s a bit of a danger when characters have already left the soap and then they return in a spin-off."[5]
This episode first aired on 2 January 2003 and followed Dot Branning (June Brown) to Wales to visit the family she stayed with during World War II. Through a series of flashbacks, we see Dot being evacuated, and her experiences of evacuation. Her guardians Gwen and Will are featured in the episode.
This episode aired on 21 September 2003[6] and followed Frank Butcher as he set up a seedy nightclub and a car valeting service in Somerset after returning from Spain where he was last seen in 2002. When Frank is sent a car to valet by the local gangster named Reg Priest, his assistant finds a dead body in the boot. Frank and his club staff try to find a way to avoid the police asking questions and fall foul of Reg so they throw the body into the water over the side of the pier. The episode was written by Tony Jordan.
This feature-length episode first aired on 1 April 2004 and revealed what caused the feud between Pat Evans and Mo Harris that lasted until Pat's death in 2012. Pat and Mo meet at the grave of Pat's brother and Mo's husband, Jimmy, and reminisce about old times through a series of flashbacks. Mo's brother, Stan Porter, also appeared in the episode. Young Pat was played by Emma Cooke and young Mo was played by Lorraine Stanley, who would go on to play Karen Taylor thirteen years later.
After being sent to prison for his wrongful involvement in the death of Stella Crawford, Phil Mitchell finds himself the reluctant mentor to a new prisoner when he runs afoul of the top dog.
This episode first aired on BBC's Red Button service on 11 January 2013. Abi Branning (Lorna Fitzgerald) tracks down her step grandmother Dot Branning (June Brown), who has been living away from Walford with her granddaughter Dotty Cotton (Molly Conlin), following the revelation that her father Max (Jake Wood) has a secret wife, Kirsty (Kierston Wareing) and the fallout it had caused for her family, including Max's current fiancé/ex-wife and Abi's mother Tanya (Jo Joyner). She convinces Dot to return home to Walford when she recognises how she is lonely, starting the 'next chapter' in Dot's life. It acted as the return of June Brown to the role of Dot after six months away.
This episode first aired on BBC's Red Button service on 8 November 2013. Bianca Butcher (Patsy Palmer) is studying to become a beautician in Manchester for six weeks, away from her family in Walford. She meets the charming Terry Spraggan (Terry Alderton) and they fall for each other and eventually start a relationship. The episode led to the eventual introduction of Terry and his family when they returned to Walford with Bianca when the six-week course ended.
Several documentaries have been made about EastEnders, usually broadcast on BBC Three. Since February 2010, Watch started repeating various EastEnders documentaries. Since then, they occasionally show documentaries on Saturdays and Sundays.
EastEnders Revealed is a factual entertainment programme that looks back at the storylines, characters and stars of EastEnders. It first aired in December 1998 as part of the new BBC digital channel (BBC Choice) line-up and last aired in March 2012. EastEnders Revealed was the only BBC Choice programme to last the entire life of the channel, and was carried over to its replacement BBC Three where it continued until 2012. It has been presented by Gail Porter, Harriet Saxton, Jayne Middlemiss, Edith Bowman, Colin Murray, Melanie Sykes and Tracy-Ann Oberman.
The episodes are 30 or 60 minutes in length and, on occasions, have been broadcast on the BBC's flagship channel, BBC One. This is usually after a major storyline has been taking place in EastEnders, for example when Leslie Grantham (Den Watts) returned to the show in 2003, when Wendy Richard (Pauline Fowler) left and when Barbara Windsor (Peggy Mitchell) left.
EastEnders Xtra was an interactive entertainment series based on EastEnders. It was first available to viewers in February 2005, which coincided with the 20th anniversary of EastEnders. Television viewers could watch the show by pressing the red button on their television remote, at 8.30pm on Monday nights. The programme was presented by CBBC presenter Angellica Bell and was approximately 15 to 20 minutes in length. It was primarily aimed at younger fans of EastEnders. It featured games and interviews with cast members, looked behind the scenes and allowed viewers to take part in quizzes on their mobile phones. The series was produced by Simon Hall. The theme and music used within the show was a rocked up version of the EastEnders theme tune.
The series ran for ten weeks, featuring ten episodes. Each episode featured an EastEnders star as a co-presenter. In the first episode, Tracy-Ann Oberman who played Chrissie Watts explained that The Queen Victoria pub uses exterior and interior sets for filming. Perry Fenwick who plays Billy Mitchell took part in "Extractor", a part of EastEnders Xtra which asks cast members a series of questions. The other co-presenters were Nabil Elouahabi (Tariq Larousi), Pooja Shah (Kareena Ferreira), Jemma Walker (Sasha Perkins), Natalie Cassidy (Sonia Fowler), Ameet Chana (Adi Ferreira), Cliff Parisi (Minty Peterson), Joe Swash (Mickey Miller) and Mohammed George (Gus Smith).
EastEnders: Back to Ours is a series which aired on BBC iPlayer and BBC Red Button. The first series contains six episodes, made available over the course of 27 January–12 February 2015 as part of the show's 30th anniversary celebrations. On 18 September 2015, a second run of two episodes was announced, to be shown on 28 September and 2 October 2015.[7] It returned for a third time on 1 January 2016 for a one-off special. It features several cast members, past and present, looking over their greatest moments on the show, in a format similar to Gogglebox. The first series attracted 2.8 million requests.[7]
EastEnders: The Real Stories is a series of six short episodes that was made available on BBC Three from 6 July 2018 to tie in with episode 5737, in which Shakil Kazemi's (Shaheen Jafargholi) funeral takes place after he is stabbed and killed.[8] The episodes feature real people talking about their family members who were murdered.
EastEnders: Secrets from the Square is a documentary series hosted by Stacey Dooley on BBC One. The programme was broadcast as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic which led to the suspension of production on EastEnders.[9] The series includes Dooley interviewing cast members such as Adam Woodyatt, Letitia Dean, Diane Parish, Kellie Bright and Danny Dyer about their experiences on EastEnders.[10]
EastEnders: The Six is a two-part documentary series hosted by Joe Swash, who previously played Mickey Miller on the soap from 2003 to 2008 and 2011. The programme was broadcast in response to the build-up and resolution to the overarching 2023 storyline, dubbed The Six, where a flashforward took place in February 2023 which saw Linda Carter (Kellie Bright), Suki Panesar (Balvinder Sopal), Kathy Beale (Gillian Taylforth), Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner), Denise Fox (Diane Parish) and Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean) gathered among a dead body of a man on Christmas Day 2023. The documentary series highlighted the potential motives of each of the six characters and the revelation of who committed the murder.[11] [12]
Just Another Day was a six-part documentary series presented John Pitman that looked at places which are part of the British way of life. The first episode, broadcast on 14 November 1986, went behind the scenes of EastEnders.[13]
EastEnders Family Album was a special documentary which first aired on 13 February 2000 to coincide with the 15th anniversary of EastEnders. Narrated by Wendy Richard (Pauline Fowler), the documentary looked back at some of the most memorable storylines and characters in the show and featured interviews with past and present cast members.
EastEnders: The Whole Truth was a series of five documentary episodes, three pre-recorded and two live, broadcast every day from 2–6 April 2001, presented by Gaby Roslin. The first three, pre-recorded episodes were broadcast at 12:00pm, whereas the two live episodes were broadcast before the main EastEnders shows on those days. EastEnders: The Whole Truth examined the "Who Shot Phil?" storyline, including interviews with several cast members. Episode 5 was broadcast before the assailant, Lisa Fowler (Lucy Benjamin), was revealed to the public, and episode 6 gauged the reaction the following evening.
A-Z of EastEnders was a documentary broadcast on the twentieth anniversary of EastEnders in 2005 and presented by Jonathan Ross.
Since 1 December 2006, a new style of behind-the-scenes programmes have been broadcast on BBC Three, and on BBC Red Button following the closure of BBC Three. These are all documentaries related to current storylines in EastEnders, in a similar format to EastEnders Revealed, though not using the EastEnders Revealed name. The include clips from the series and interviews with the show's cast and crew as well as TV critics such as Sharon Marshall. Documentaries have included:
In 1993, a Children in Need charity special crossover between EastEnders and the science fiction television series Doctor Who, Dimensions in Time, was transmitted for the 30th anniversary of Doctor Who. It ran in two parts on 26 and 27 November 1993 and was filmed on the EastEnders set. It featured several of the stars of the programme at the time. Another Children in Need special, Pudding Lane, was broadcast in a series of five-minute instalments throughout the 26 November 1999 telethon. It relocated the then current EastEnders characters to Pudding Lane in 1666, during the events leading to the Great Fire of London.
In 2003, a three part special was made for Children in Need named OzEnders, which saw the characters in a spoof remake of The Wizard of Oz.[32] June Brown starred as Dorothy Cotton, Jon Culshaw as Ozzy Osbourne, and Adam Woodyatt as Ian Beale, and employed the rest of the cast of EastEnders, Merseybeat and Casualty.[32]
In 2005, the characters Peggy Mitchell (Barbara Windsor), Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner) and Little Mo Mitchell (Kacey Ainsworth) appeared alongside Catherine Tate's character Lauren Cooper for a Children in Need sketch. Various EastEnders cast members have also appeared in sketches for Children in Need, performing songs with various themes. In 2007, they sang songs from The Beatles' Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band, in 2008 they performed songs from West End musicals and in 2009 they performed renditions of classic songs produced by Motown Records. In 2011, they performed songs by Queen and recreated famous scenes from their videos.[33] In 2013, the cast performed various styles of dance to different versions of "Get Lucky" by Daft Punk.[34]
In EastEnders get Mile Ready on 15 March 2010, the cast of Eastenders do a fun run around Albert Square.[35]
EastEnders and rival soap opera Coronation Street took part in a crossover episode for Children in Need on 19 November 2010, called "East Street". The EastEnders cast who took part in the mini-episode were Laurie Brett (Jane Beale), Charlie G. Hawkins (Darren Miller), Kylie Babbington (Jodie Gold), Nina Wadia (Zainab Masood), John Partridge (Christian Clarke),[36] Diane Parish (Denise Johnson), Nitin Ganatra (Masood Ahmed), Jamie Borthwick (Jay Brown), Shane Richie (Alfie Moon), Jessie Wallace (Kat Moon), Ricky Norwood (Fatboy) and Shona McGarty (Whitney Dean).[37]
In 2014, EastEnders made two specials for Children in Need; one being Grease-Enders and the more well known episode "The Ghosts of Ian Beale". The short followed Ian Beale (Adam Woodyatt) in a coma-like state exploring Albert Square and enchanting the women who had died from his past. Pat Butcher (Pam St Clement) was in The Queen Vic, Kathy Beale (Gillian Taylforth) was working at the café, and Cindy Beale (Michelle Collins) was cooking in the kitchen of Ian's house. It ended with him finally getting to say "Goodbye" to his daughter Lucy Beale (Hetti Bywater), part of the "Who Killed Lucy Beale" storyline, which was still being broadcast at the time of the special being aired.
For Children in Need 2017, the cast took part in "EastEnd meets WestEnd", a performance of West End songs including "Step in Time" (Mary Poppins) and "Who Will Buy" (Oliver!).[38] The special was shot differently to standard episodes of EastEnders which are filmed in high definition, instead it was filmed in ultra-high definition to give a cinematic feel.[39] It was filmed on a Saturday in a single day and choreographed by Matt Flint.[39] [40]
For The Big Night In in April 2020, most actors who were in lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom appeared in a sketch via webcam in character ready to play a virtual quiz night hosted by Ian Beale (Adam Woodyatt). The sketch also received a cross over appearance from Coronation Street character Liz McDonald (Beverley Callard) who appeared to have been connected to the wrong video chat. This marked her second appearance in a sketch with some of the EastEnders cast as she had previously appeared in East Street. In another sketch, Prince William also declares that he is "missing EastEnders" due to episodes being cut.
On 10 August 2001, the BBC threw a gala party at the Television Centre in West London, which was attended by many EastEnders cast members. Part of the event was documented by the hour-long television show EastEnders: It's Your Party, hosted by Jonathan Ross. It featured several interviews with the cast. This was in celebration of the series' incoming fourth weekly episode.[41]
Two musical themed Christmas specials, both titled EastEnders Christmas Party, aired on Christmas Eve 2003 and 2004, which had the cast and crew, both current and former of EastEnders singing, dancing and performing short comedy sketches.
A one-off special episode of the quiz show A Question of Sport called A Question of EastEnders was broadcast on BBC One on 15 February 2000 to mark EastEnders 15th anniversary on 19 February 2000. The special was hosted by Gaby Roslin, and had two teams, each led by a team captain; Wendy Richard (Pauline Fowler) and Adam Woodyatt (Ian Beale). On Richard's team were Blue Peter presenter Katy Hill and stand-up comedian Harry Hill. Woodyatt's team consisted of Michelle Collins, who previously played Cindy Beale in EastEnders, and Jeremy Spake, who became famous for appearing in the television docusoap Airport. There were eight rounds and Woodyatt's team won with 36 points to Richard's 16.
There have been three special editions of The Weakest Link relating to EastEnders, on 1 March 2001,[42] 26 June 2008,[43] and in February 2010 for EastEnders 25th anniversary, which featured past and present EastEnders cast including Adam Woodyatt (Ian Beale), Larry Lamb (Archie Mitchell) and John Partridge (Christian Clarke).[44] It was won by Laurie Brett, who plays Jane Beale.
An EastEnders-themed episode of Pointless Celebrities aired on 8 September 2018, featuring cast members Natalie Cassidy (Sonia Fowler), Dean Gaffney (Robbie Jackson), Perry Fenwick (Billy Mitchell), Emma Barton (Honey Mitchell), Lisa Hammond (Donna Yates), Luisa Bradshaw-White (Tina Carter), Jamie Borthwick (Jay Brown) and Madhav Sharma (Arshad Ahmed).[45]