Q 01/05

On which BBC channel has EastEnders been broadcast since 1985?

A) BBC Two

B) BBC Three

C) BBC Four

D) BBC One

Answer · why

D) BBC One

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.

Q 02/05

Who created EastEnders with Tony Holland?

A) Verity Lambert

B) Phil Redmond

C) Tony Warren

D) Julia Smith

Answer · why

D) Julia Smith

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

Q 03/05

On what date did the first episode of EastEnders air?

A) 3 January 1985

B) 7 April 1984

C) 12 September 1985

D) 19 February 1985

Answer · why

D) 19 February 1985

It went out at 7pm on a Tuesday and drew around 17 million viewers. The launch had slipped from January because of delays to Wogan's chat show.

Q 04/05

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

A) Lou Beale

B) Harold Legg

C) Pete Beale

D) Reg Cox

Answer · why

D) Reg Cox

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.

Q 05/05

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

A) Den Watts

B) Archie Mitchell

C) Nick Cotton

D) Grant Mitchell

Answer · why

C) Nick Cotton

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