We all know that soaps are usually full of highs and lows – love stories and weddings, death and devastation, and perhaps that’s why we love them. Since the first episode of EastEnders aired in 1985, we’ve met hundreds of characters, visited the Queen Vic for a good old knees-up too many times to count, marvelled at the sheer size of Pat Butcher’s massive earrings, watched Kat Slater sobbing as Zoe shouted “You’re not my Muvva” at her, and sat open-mouthed at the duff-duff moments. Since then there’s been plenty of tragedy in Walford, so much in fact that it was hard to pick our top 5! It was a tough choice, but here are our favourite tragic ‘Enders moments…
The Mitchells have long been the top dogs in Walford. The blonde bombshell sisters have certainly made an impact since they popped onto our screens in July 2007. Often described as ‘fire’ and ‘ice’, with Ronnie being the ‘ice’ and Roxy the ‘fire’, the Mitchell sisters have done it all; weddings, drugs, fights, babies, sexual abuse, affairs, stalkers and even murder. They’re a soap writer’s dream!
In 2016 rumours surrounding the sisters impending demise began. Then, on New Year’s Day 2017, fans finally discovered that they had drowned, and it was a real tear jerker. After Ronnie’s wedding to Jack Branning, the girls decided to take a celebratory dip in the hotel pool, but Roxy died from a heart attack after entering the pool. Ronnie attempted to rescue her but was overwhelmed by her long wedding dress and both sisters tragically died. Maybe they should have waited an hour after having the wedding cake before they went swimming!
In 1999 viewers witnessed the tragic death of the beloved character, Tiffany, played by a young Martine McCutcheon. After Tiffany suffered for months at the hands of a brutal Grant Mitchell, she finally announced her plans to escape to Spain with their baby girl, Courtney, but in a tragic turn of events, and in true EastEnders style, she left the Queen Vic on a dark January night and was hit by a car driven by ‘Enders fave Frank Butcher, played by Mike Reid. Ah well, at least it gave Martine a chance to go off and forge a singing career (remember ‘Perfect Moment’ anyone?), and snog Hugh Grant. Oh, and star in yoghurt adverts.
One of the soap’s longest serving stars, Ian Beale, has seen his fair share of tragedy during his time in the soap, but in 2014 viewers witnessed some extremely harrowing scenes as Ian discovered his favourite twin, Lucy, had been brutally murdered and dumped on Walford Common. Police arrived at Ian’s house to deliver the tragic information that his daughter’s body had been found. The pain continued as Ian then had to break the news to Lucy’s twin brother, Peter. The anguish and heartbreak captured by actor Adam Woodyatt was tough for viewers to watch, but audiences praised his acting prowess. However, if ever a storyline was milked until it was completely dry, it was this one. By the end, I’m not sure if anyone really cared who Lucy’s killer was. (SPOILER ALERT: It was her half brother Bobby, by the way, who turned out to be a bit of a wrong ‘un.) Still, perhaps it was better than the plot where Ian temporarily became a tramp. But only a bit.
The episodes setting the scene for the grand finale of the great fire of Walford were spread out over a week in September 2010 and lead up to Peggy Mitchell (Barbara Windsor) leaving the show after a 16 year run. Phil Mitchell was suffering with his crack cocaine addiction and Peggy was desperate to help him. She had imprisoned Phil in The Queen Vic, forcing him to go cold turkey. During these episodes Peggy discovers that it was Stacey Branning who had murdered her abusive husband Archie, but before Peggy can report her findings to the police, Phil escapes his prison in the pub and sets it on fire. Peggy is seen wailing in despair as her beloved pub burns with Stacey and her young daughter Lily inside. Luckily, the pair are rescued by Ryan Malloy. Peggy decides not to report Stacey and leaves the Square, leaving her family to sort their own problems and jets off for sunnier skies in Spain. The current residents of the Square’s pub, The Carters, are currently worried about finding the money to pay for a leaky roof, so there’s a Walford workman out there doing some shoddy work. You’d definitely expect the re-built roof to have lasted a bit longer than just 7 years. Time to get onto Rogue Traders we reckon!
Our final tragic moment is an emotional classic and a rather controversial euthanasia storyline. It was just one desperate friend asking another for help. Dot Cotton (June Brown) finally agrees to help Ethel (Gretchen Franklin) end her life before she is no longer able to make that choice for herself. When Ethel reaches her 85th birthday, after being diagnosed with inoperable cancer, she is ready to go and Dot makes the agonising decision to go against her strict Christian principles and help her dear friend end her life. Cue a major lump in throat moment as Ethel blows out her birthday candles, tells an emotional Dot, “You’re the best friend I ever had”, then takes the Morphine pills that she has stored up and passes away peacefully wrapped in Dot’s arms. Saying goodbye to this soap legend was a real tear jerker. We also missed her famous catchphrase of, “Has anyone seen my Willy?”
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