1. CHRISTMAS DAY, 1986
“Thanks for the best Christmas ever, Den.”
And, to be honest, Angie Watts spoke for all of us on December 25, 1986.
More than 30 million tuned in to see the Christmas-Day showdown between duped Dirty Den and not-so-terminally-ill-after-all Angie.
Which meant that more than half the country’s population at the time choked on our sprouts when Mr Watts beckoned his tipsy wife through to the back of the Queen Vic and gave her a Christmas present she never expected.
We sat agog in front of this festive showstopper as Den wrought devastating revenge on Angie for lying to him that she was terminally ill in order to save their marriage.
Leslie Grantham was at his snarling best as he delivered the divorce papers personally, with “Merry Christmas, Ange!” the perfect pay-off line.
Poor love, she never saw it coming.
But we did, and that’s why it attracted what’s still a record audience for any soap.
Mind you, the producers weren’t prepared for the hysterical reaction that followed as people in the full throes of “Den and Angie mania” realised their favourite screen couple would soon be no more.
2. SHARONGATE
You know a soap moment’s good when it gets its own “gate”.
The 1994 love triangle between Sharon Watts and both baldy Mitchell brothers was always going to be an explosive storyline but even we didn’t see this coming.
Sharon unwittingly confesses on tape to having an affair with Phil while married to Grant, who then picks the perfect moment to play the recording in a packed Queen Vic at a party to celebrate Phil’s engagement to Kathy.
More than 25 million of us tuned in to watch the fists fly as Kath clobbered Shazza and Phil gets a good kicking from his little bro.
3. TREVOR’S IRONED OUT
Trevor was a magnificent baddie, how we hated him for his campaign of domestic violence against defenceless Little Mo.
Well, defenceless until the gravel-voiced Scot pushes Mo too far as she babysits little Louise Fowler on New Year’s Eve, 2001 and she grabs Pauline’s handily-placed iron and cracks it off his skull.
It’s believed astronauts orbiting the Earth in the International Space Station heard a distinct cry of “Yes!” as they passed over the UK at that precise moment.
4. ARTHUR’S AFFAIR
Now, we’ve seen any number of EastEnders have an affair but Arthur? ARTHUR FOWLER?
You could have knocked us down with a feather when we realised the dullest man on Earth had been doing more than pruning Mrs Hewitt’s petunias in 1992.
Best of all was Pauline going absolutely berserk at her philandering ’Arfur, cracking him a good one across the face with a convenient frying pan.
What is it with these people and household items?
5. TIFFANY TRAGEDY
How did EastEnders usher in New Year’s Eve in 1998?
Well, Grant snatches daughter Courtney to stop Tiffany taking her away, presumably to Scotland after learning of her husband’s affair with her mother Louise overhearing them discussing it on a baby monitor.
The lovely Tiff, played by Martine McCutcheon, takes to her heels in chase, only to be mown down by a speeding Ford Sierra driven by none other than Frank Butcher who I’m guessing didn’t then shout “Runaround!” in a gruff, Cockney voice.
6. SAM AND RICKY ELOPE
Walford’s answer to Kylie and Jason, Samantha Mitchell and Ricky Butcher perhaps didn’t have the glamour of their Australian counterparts.
But then the Neighbours pair didn’t have a storyline that saw the teens elope to Gretna Green (actually filmed in St Albans) pursued by her furious big brothers and an apoplectic Peggy.
This 1991 storyline was Peggy’s debut but it was Jo Warne playing the Mitchell matriarch, Barbara Windsor taking over three years later.
7. ETHEL’S DEATH
“Help me, Dot, before it’s too late.”
Every so often, EastEnders gets something just right, such as this poignant and controversial story of death, grief and guilt in 2000.
Riddled with cancer, and with just days to live, Ethel implores her best friend Dot to end her suffering on her 85th birthday.
So after blowing out the candles on Ethel’s cake she was actually 86 but had always lied about her age Dot helps her take the morphine pills she’d been stockpiling for weeks. Many tears were shed.
8. JANINE KILLS BARRY
“If only he’d worn slip-on shoes!”
No one was fooled by conniving Janine Butcher’s crocodile tears after she pushed hapless Barry Evans off a Scottish cliff in early 2004.
She’d led him there for a sham wedding and, after sitting and watching the mortally-injured Baz die instead of summoning help, inherited his wealth and car business.
Shaun Williamson was one of Albert Square’s best-loved stars, Charlie Brooks one of the most hated, so their fake relationship was a fans’ delight.
9. ZOE FINDS OUT
“You ain’t my mum!”. “Yes, I am!”.
Zoe Slater thinks Kat’s her older sister until she announced plans to live with Uncle Harry, played by Michael Elphick.
Then the shocking truth emerges Kat was abused by Harry, became pregnant at 13 and her parents brought up Zoe as their own.
This 2001 cracker is just one of a series of the fine “two-hander” episodes EastEnders has become known for.
10. DEN BACK FROM THE DEAD
Den Watts was killed off in 1989, being shot and falling into a canal after crossing criminal gang The Firm.
Or did he?
EastEnders creators Julia Smith and Tony Holland quit over whether he should return, but rise from the dead he did 14 years later, greeting stunned daughter Sharon with the immortal line: “Hello, princess.”
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