EastEnders’ executive producer Chris Clenshaw has teased viewers with some interesting information concerning the BBC One soap’s 40th anniversary next year.
19th February 1985, it’s a date few soap fans will forget – of course, the first ever time we were introduced to the residents of Albert Square and heard that iconic theme tune for the first time.
You may remember the lowkey 15th anniversary celebrations in 2000, when the community gathered in The Queen Vic due to an unexploded WWII bomb.
And I can guarantee we all were glued to our TVs for the first ever live episode in 2010, celebrating 25 years of ‘Enders as Archie Mitchell’s (Larry Lamb) murderer was revealed (it was Stacey Slater, played by Lacey Turner, of course) and Bradley Branning (Charlie Clements) fell from the roof of the pub.
It’s almost become tradition to do a big stunt, or to conclude a long-running storyline around this time – the 30th brought us the revelation that Bobby Beale (then Eliot Carrington) had killed sister Lucy (Hetti Bywater), and back in 2020 the residents headed out on a Thames river cruise, only for it to end in disaster…
There are few original cast that could return (Picture: BBC)
Now, with the fortieth anniversary fast approaching, literally every EastEnders fan is wondering what bosses have up their sleeves to mark the occasion.
‘As we head towards our 40th year, I think the nostalgic element means a lot’ Chris recently told The Sun.
‘Into the autumn and the end of the year, we’ve got quite a few treats coming up.’
Consider us intrigued…
When asked whether we might see an old face or two step back into Walford, he added: ‘Maybe. It all depends on the story and where the characters are. But it has to come from character, it has to come from story.’
Of course, during the drama surrounding Lucy in 2015, her grandmother Kathy (Gillian Taylforth) came back from the dead.
He continued: ‘The 40th has been in the works for quite some time and Christmas is well under way’, which is also leaving us intrigued by how they can top last year’s epic festive murder mystery.
If you were living under a rock last year, you won’t have seen the flash forward scene that teased a death in the pub, with six key women stood around the body.
When we finally reached the big day, it was revealed to be a red herring – whilst the body was Nish Panesar (Navin Chowdhry), he wasn’t actually dead – though minutes later, Linda Carter (Kellie Bright) stabbed Keanu Taylor (Danny Walters) in the back with a meat thermometer.
So many questions, so little answers… and it’ll be a long while before we find out anything at all, I’m afraid to say.
