48 Fun Facts About EastEnders

On which BBC channel has EastEnders been broadcast since 1985?

BBC One wanted a twice-weekly soap to win the kind of audiences ITV got with Coronation Street, and 17 million watched EastEnders' first episode.

Who created EastEnders with Tony Holland?

Julia Smith and Tony Holland devised all 23 original characters together on a working holiday in Lanzarote.

In EastEnders' opening scene, which character is found dying in a flat?

Reg Cox had been badly beaten and died of his injuries, and 30 years later his attacker died of an overdose in the same spot.

Which EastEnders villain faked his own death in 2014, then died of a heroin overdose months later?

Nick Cotton died after his mother Dot chose not to call an ambulance, leaving fate to decide whether he lived.

What is the fictional postcode of Walford?

E20 was created instead of E8, Hackney's real postcode behind the working title East 8, which casting agents mistook for 'Estate'; a real E20 later arrived for the Olympic Park.

Which real place in Dalston was EastEnders' Albert Square modelled on?

Fassett Square was in a downmarket Hackney postcode, rich in stories and characters, but the real square has since gentrified far beyond Walford.

Where has EastEnders been filmed since it began?

BBC Elstree Centre has been EastEnders' home since 1985, and in 2010 the Queen Vic was burnt down on screen so its set could be refurbished for HD.

Who composed the EastEnders theme tune?

Simon May's famous 'doof doof' drums were an accident: a drum fill between sections that the show's creators happened to hear in the studio and loved.

EastEnders' opening titles were updated in 1999 to add which new London landmark?

The Millennium Dome's exhibition drew only about half its forecast 12 million visitors, but the building survived and now houses The O2.

Which Hollywood star is the younger brother of Laila Morse, who played EastEnders' Big Mo?

Gary Oldman gave his sister her first film role in Nil by Mouth, and her stage name Laila Morse is an anagram of 'mia sorella', Italian for 'my sister'.

What did Den Watts hand Angie in the record-breaking 25 December 1986 episode?

Divorce papers were Den's answer to Angie faking a terminal illness with six months to live, and over 30 million watched him serve them.

Who originally played Angie Watts in EastEnders?

Anita Dobson also sang lyrics to the theme as 'Anyone Can Fall in Love', which reached No. 4 in the UK singles chart in 1986.

In 1989, Den Watts was shot by a gunman hiding his weapon in what?

A bunch of daffodils hid the gun, 24 million watched Den shot beside the canal, and viewers believed him dead until he walked back in 2003.

Who finally killed Den for good in the 20th anniversary episode in 2005?

Chrissie Watts struck the fatal blow after Zoe had already hit Den over the head, leaving Zoe believing she was the killer.

What was the very first line spoken in EastEnders, by Den Watts?

'Stinks in here dunnit?' was Den's line as he, Arthur Fowler and Ali Osman broke down a neighbour's door.

Which actor who played Den Watts in EastEnders had served ten years in prison for murder?

Leslie Grantham shot a taxi driver in a botched robbery in Osnabrück while in the army, and went to drama school after his release.

Which actress left EastEnders as Tiffany and later played tea lady Natalie in Love Actually?

Martine McCutcheon missed many performances as Eliza in My Fair Lady through illness, yet won an Olivier Award for the role in 2002.

Which EastEnders character famously wailed 'Rickaaay!' at her husband?

Bianca's wail followed Patsy Palmer off screen: in 2008 she said someone had shouted 'Rickaaay!' at her every day for nine years, even at her bedroom window.

Which actor played Queen Vic landlord Mick Carter in EastEnders from 2013 to 2022?

Danny Dyer's Mick was last seen diving into the freezing sea to save his wife Linda, and he never resurfaced.

Which instrument did EastEnders' Sonia Fowler famously play, badly, as a running joke?

The trumpet even featured in Sonia's 2025 farewell: she played it as she left Walford one last time.

Who was revealed as the culprit in the 2001 'Who Shot Phil?' whodunit?

Lisa Shaw's unmasking had the BBC ask a Uefa Cup semi-final, Barcelona v Liverpool, to kick off later so fans could see the episode first.

Which actor has played Phil Mitchell since 1990?

Steve McFadden's Phil was at the heart of 1994's 'Sharongate', when Grant played a tape of Sharon confessing their affair to the whole Queen Vic.

Before Barbara Windsor took over in 1994, who first played Peggy Mitchell on screen, in 1991?

Jo Warne's Peggy came in for ten episodes only, for her daughter's elopement storyline, before the role was recast with Barbara Windsor in 1994.

Barbara Windsor was best known before EastEnders for which British film series?

Carry On Camping gave Barbara Windsor her most famous scene, when her bikini top flew off mid-exercise, yanked by a fishing line off camera.

Which actor played Grant Mitchell?

Ross Kemp went from playing a hard man to meeting real ones: his documentary series Ross Kemp on Gangs won a BAFTA for best factual series.

Danniella Westbrook is best known for playing which Mitchell?

Sam went to Danniella Westbrook at 16, but when the character came back, producers recast Sam with Kim Medcalf over Westbrook's personal problems.

Dot Cotton spent most of her Walford years working where?

The launderette was Dot's workplace for most of her years, a role her actress landed after the actor who played Den recommended her.

In 2008 Dot became the first British soap character to do what?

To carry a whole monologue episode, Dot talked into a tape recorder for her husband Jim, in hospital after a stroke.

Who played Dot Cotton from 1985 until 2020?

June Brown left EastEnders for good in 2020, and after she died in 2022 the soap had Dot die off-screen, with a funeral episode that December.

What was the name of Ethel Skinner's beloved pug?

Willy the pug was Ethel's constant companion, and Ethel's final storyline in 2000 saw her friend Dot help her end her life.

Which character is the longest-serving regular in EastEnders history?

Ian Beale was there in episode one, and so was barmaid Tracey, a background extra who has been on the Square just as long without ever being a regular.

Which actress played Cindy Beale, who hired a hitman to shoot her husband in 1996?

Michelle Collins's Cindy changed her mind too late: her husband was shot anyway, survived, and Cindy ended up in prison.

In 2001 Kat Slater revealed that her 'sister' Zoe was actually her what?

Zoe was Kat's daughter, and the truth came out as Zoe screamed 'You ain't my mother!' and Kat cried 'Yes I am!', a line fans still yell at Jessie Wallace.

Which trademark accessory did Pam St Clement say it was time to 'hang up' when she quit as Pat Butcher?

Big earrings were Pam St Clement's own idea: researching the part, she spotted a bus conductress on a number 38 bus wearing the most dangly pair.

Pauline Fowler was killed off in an episode broadcast on which occasion in 2006?

Christmas Day saw Pauline collapse and die, and viewers later learned her husband Joe had hit her with a frying pan.

Which sitcom did Wendy Richard star in before playing Pauline Fowler?

Are You Being Served? cast Wendy Richard as a shop girl after she had paid her drama-school fees working in London department stores such as Fortnum and Mason.

Arthur Fowler went to prison in the 1980s for stealing what?

The Christmas club money paid for Michelle's planned wedding to Lofty, and Arthur's breakdown ended with him wrecking his living room before a spell in prison.

Kathy Beale's 1988 rape storyline involved which wine-bar owner?

James Willmott-Brown was jailed for the rape, and returned nearly 30 years later, in 2017, to confront Kathy again.

In 1987 EastEnders aired British soap's first same-sex kiss, between Colin Russell and whom?

Barry Clark's kiss from Colin wasn't even on the lips, yet the media 'went berserk', and Colin's actor Michael Cashman later became a life peer.

Which executive producer introduced EastEnders' fourth weekly episode in 2001?

John Yorke's new Friday episode went head-to-head with Coronation Street on its very first night, in August 2001.

The 1993 charity crossover 'Dimensions in Time' paired EastEnders with which show?

Doctor Who's 30th-anniversary special trapped the Doctors in a time loop in Albert Square, but critics and fans panned it, and it isn't counted as canon.

Who was revealed as Archie Mitchell's killer in EastEnders' first live episode in 2010?

Stacey Slater was unmasked moments after Bradley Branning, suspected of the killing, fell to his death from the Queen Vic roof while fleeing police.

In EastEnders' 2015 live week, who was revealed as Lucy Beale's killer?

Bobby Beale, Lucy's young half-brother, was the killer, and actor Eliot Carrington was told only that Monday, three days before the reveal.

Which 2010 storyline drew more than 6,000 complaints to the BBC?

The baby swap saw Ronnie secretly exchange her dead son for Kat and Alfie's newborn Tommy, and the BBC cut the story short after the complaints.

What did EastEnders' Little Mo finally hit her violent husband Trevor with?

An iron was Little Mo's weapon on New Year's Eve 2001, and a watchdog ruled the scene too graphic to have aired before the 9pm watershed.

Which EastEnders actress, who played Dawn Swann, won Strictly Come Dancing in 2010?

Kara Tointon won with Artem Chigvintsev, and that year she also filmed Don't Call Me Stupid, a BBC Three documentary about her dyslexia.

Which 2017 spin-off drama took EastEnders' Kat and Alfie Moon to a village in Ireland?

Redwater ended its six episodes on a huge cliffhanger, but in September 2017 Jessie Wallace confirmed there would be no second series.

EastEnders launched at 7pm until a ratings fight with which ITV soap moved it to 7.30pm?

Emmerdale Farm usually took a summer break, but ITV kept it on air with extra episodes, so the BBC gave up and moved EastEnders to 7.30pm.