EastEnders - a soap dynasty of remarkable women

The iconic BBC soap celebrated its 40th anniversary last week with a remarkably touching mother and daughter reunion from beyond the grave. Waking the Dead never felt so good.

HAVE THIS FOR YOU PAT. NOW YOU DIRTY, ROTTEN BITCH GET OUT MY PUB, RIGHT NOW.

The venom pulled and spoken into these words by Peggy Mitchell, Barbra Windsor has to be watched to be believed indeed it can in fact just be heard, it is incredible acting. It makes me wonder where from her own life was she pulling such acted heightened, anger and passion from as she threw the gin and tonic into Pam St Clement, Pat Butchers sparring partner face. These two legendry soap characters bickered and pecked on Albert Square like a pair of eventually old silkie cross bantam hens, both hardy and well preened, fiercely protective of their broods, beloved and in love often with cockerels whom they shared resulting in countless hen fights. I’m so glad that they got that drunken ice cream van scene together away from fighting.

Pat and Peggy in the Ice Cream van

I love Instagram for its circulation of beloved clips, as children who loved to watch Eastenders, the omnibus of episodes on a sunday afternoon before iplayer and endless channels was joy for me and my brother Lyndon. There is something of an often dark, not trying too hard to be a comedy edge to Eastenders that other soaps have never really had, the acting has always been well led, most memorably by a casting of remarkable women.

Alas, both Barbra Walters is no longer with us along with the loss of Dot Cotton, played with effortless spider like spindle fag in hand, scuttling by the wonderful June Brown known to me firstly as Nanny Slag in the BBC’S fantastic adaptation of Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast that aired in 2000. Interestingly Pat St Clement was written out of the soap back in 2012, a poor decision many would argue - A correction to the original piece is that she is indeed still alive in real life !

Wendy Richard as Pauline Fowler, Gretchen Franklin as Ethel Skinner and June Brown as Dot Cotton in EastEnders in 1985. Brown would film some of her best, most poignant, scenes with Franklin.

Lynda Baron, forever the beloved Auntie Mabel to many a late 90’s child appeared with a gusto of champion gritted style, alas all too briefly.

Linda Clarke played by Lynda Baron alongside Christian Clarke played by John Partridge.

For the soaps 40th anniversary EastEnders ultimate reigning Queen, Sharon Watt’s who like a white swan phoenix seems to be able to reincarnate herself from the faded ashes of endless weddings, court cases and deaths and recently a covered up murder, was to be seen battling for her life under the rubble of the exploded Queen Vic Pub. Quite how this building gets insurance time and time again is of pure soap land wonderland.

Sharon played by the marvellous Letitia Dean, has been part of the soap since 1985 being the damsel famously between the Mitchell brothers, Phil and Grant. Letitia believes that her dirty laugh was one of the main reasons she was originally cast.

Anita Dobb’s presenting Letitia Dean with her Outstanding Achievement award at the 2022 British Soap Awards.

Sharon’s lines are best viewed thanks to brilliantly put together clips to be found on the instagram account that is @ wibblewobz ‘Shove ya warning. I loved him! sort your mess out and we’re not getting married after all, get him into George’s car. Sort it, now. Spagetti carbinara tonight! You have to watch these for this to make any sense!

Sharon arrested ... I loved him!

Of course Sharon’s main story line for much of last year involved the incredible all women, wedding dress cover up of the murder of her toy boy, almost husband hunk Keanu. Sharon found herself behind bars for a week due to contempt of court and encountered Chrissie Watts, her ex-stepmother, played by Tracy-Ann Oberman who was serving time for indeed killing Sharon’s dad Dirty Den who was also for a time buried under the Queen Vic.

Sharon and Chrissie in prison

And its summaries like this that make us realise why soap is so universally addictive. The horrors we all know in our own lives are played out to grim affect by characters that we grow to like and indeed even grow love, even though its all fiction.

For the soaps 40th episode, Anita Dobson who played the Queen Vic’s iconic landlady Angie Watt’s who was last seen in 1988 and then her character died of alcoholism in 2002. Angie appeared as ghost at the side of her badly injured daughter, Sharon encouraging her daughter movingly to shout for help and indeed to live another day.

'You're not giving up on us are ya Sharon, Hello Darling!'

For the record, I don’t, thanks to an endless Instagram soap circulation of clips in fact watch Eastenders in the traditional sense anymore, I sort of don’t need to as the best acted bits are in constantly in a doom scrolling reel after reel of delightful availability. I also delight in scanning the Tv mags - Tv quick ect in the Co-op to keep up!

I know Anita Dobson really though more for her appearance in a favourite childhood episode of The Famous Five. She played a brilliant witch of a house keeper who put those snotty bloody kids in good check - ‘Mother puts the milk in first, does she well I put it in last, take it or leave it. You’ll have bread and jam and be grateful. Utterly Fabulous.