title: Boise State Broncos football

text: The Broncos were members of Division I-AA for eighteen seasons, from its inception in 1978 through 1995. They appeared in the I-AA playoffs five times with a record of 8–4, and were I-AA national champions in 1980.


title: Boise State Broncos football

text: The Broncos appeared in the Division II playoffs three times, with an overall record of 1–3; all three losses were to the eventual national champions.


title: Boise State Broncos football

text: In 1977, Boise State (9–2) was undefeated in the Big Sky (6–0) and won another title. Due their regular season not ending until November 26 at Idaho, the same day as the first round of the Division II playoffs, BSU was replaced by runner-up Northern Arizona, who lost 35–0 at home.


title: Boise State Broncos football

text: The Broncos had one appearance in the NCAA College Division postseason, with a victory in the West regional final in the Camellia Bowl in 1971. No semifinals or finals were played in the College Division from 1964 through 1972, a poll followed the four quarterfinals.


title: Boise State Broncos football

text: Since 1970, Boise State has played its home games in Albertsons Stadium (known as Bronco Stadium from 1970 to May 2014), which enjoys a reputation as one of the most difficult places in the country for opposing teams to play. The stadium is well known for its blue artificial surface, which was first installed in 1986 making it the first college stadium field to be any color other than traditional green, as well as the only college to have a non-green field for 22 years (1986–2008). "The Blue," as it is called by fans, is one of the most distinguishing and enduring symbols of Boise State football. Boise State holds a trademark on any non-green field, not just blue. Therefore, anyone (high school, college, or otherwise) must apply for a license from Boise State before installing a football field any color other than green. Boise State is one of 7 college football programs in the United States to have a non-green playing surface. Other schools with non-green fields are as follows: (FBS) Eastern Michigan University (Gray), Coastal Carolina University (Teal), (FCS) Eastern Washington University (Red), the University of Central Arkansas (Grey and Purple), (Division II) the University of New Haven (Blue), (NAIA) Lindenwood University (Red and Grey). Hosei University in Tokyo, Japan also has a blue football field. Boise State recently approved the proposal for a blue field at Luther College (Division III). As of December 7, 2019, the Broncos are 128–9 () at home since the 1999 season. The Broncos won 47 straight home conference games from 1999 to 2011 and were undefeated at home in conference play during their 10 years in the WAC (40–0). The Broncos are 122–7 () in regular season home games since 1999, and had a winning streak of 65 regular season games from 2001 to 2011. Their current home winning streak stands at 0.


title: Boise State Broncos football

text: In 2011, citing a "competitive advantage," the Mountain West Conference banned Boise State from wearing their all-blue uniforms for home conference games as a condition of joining the conference. When questioned about the ban, Mountain West Commissioner Craig Thompson confirmed that either the jerseys or pants could be blue, provided that the other be white or orange. After Boise State decided to not join the Big East Conference and remain in the Mountain West the uniform restrictions were lifted beginning in the 2013 season. The NCAA considered a rule that would have required a team's uniform, either jersey or pants, to contrast the playing surface. The rule would have banned Boise State's all blue uniforms at home and most other teams from wearing all green uniforms as well. The NCAA eventually decided against instituting the rule.


title: Boise State Broncos football

text: In 2012, Boise State granted special permission and an international trademark to Hosei University in Tokyo, Japan for use of the blue field turf for their football field, Tomahawks Field.


title: Boise State Broncos football

text: BSU has had a rivalry with Fresno State University since joining the WAC. The series is 17–7 all time in favor of Boise State. In 2001, the series became a WAC match-up, christened with Boise State's upset over No. 8 Fresno State 35–30. In 2005, the series became the Battle for the Milk Can, and No. 20 Fresno State ended Boise State's 31-game winning streak against WAC opponents with their 27–7 victory. After being played as a non-conference game in 2011, the series continued as a conference game in 2012. The winner of the game receives the Milk Can. Although Fresno State has five all-time wins over Boise State, only two wins have come since they have played each other every year since 2001. In the 2014 season, Boise State played Fresno State twice, winning both times, the second one coming in the Mountain West Championship, which Boise State won for the first time. Fresno State was looking to repeat as champions. They met twice in 2017 in back-to-back weeks as they ended the regular season with a game in Fresno, which Fresno won, before meeting the next week in the Mountain West Championship in Boise, which Boise won. In 2018, Boise State upset No. 16 Fresno State 24–17 to end Fresno's seven game winning streak. Three weeks later, the Bulldogs avenged their regular season loss by defeating Boise State 19–16 in overtime in a snow covered Mountain West Championship Game.


title: Boise State Broncos football

text: The rivalry is no longer an annual affair following the expansion of the MW to 12 football members in 2013. At that time, Boise State and Fresno State were placed in separate football divisions (respectively, Mountain and West). As part of the new scheduling arrangement, all cross-divisional games rotate in a four-year cycle, with two years of play followed by two years off. This in turn means that the game was not played in 2015 or 2016.


title: Boise State Broncos football

text: Boise State had a 40-year in-state rivalry with the University of Idaho, which began with a Bronco victory in the first meeting in 1971. They met every year through 2010, and with the exception of four years (2001–2004), the matchup was a conference game. The rivalry was dominated by streaks as Idaho won 12 straight years from 1982 to 1993, while Boise State won the most recent 12 games between 1999 and 2010, mostly by large margins. BSU leads the rivalry with a series record of 22–17–1 (.563).


title: Boise State Broncos football

text: After Boise State's move to the Mountain West Conference in 2011, Boise State has refused to play Idaho home and home in football. As a response, Idaho has refused to play Boise State at ExtraMile Arena for men's basketball. As of 2021, no future games for football or men's basketball have been scheduled; with Idaho having returned to FCS football in 2018, the football rivalry is unlikely to resume in the foreseeable future.


title: Boise State Broncos football

text: Boise State has a long-standing rivalry with Nevada. Boise State leads the series 30–13. Boise State and Nevada have been conference rivals in the Big Sky Conference, the Big West Conference, the WAC, and the Mountain West. However, the series is no longer an annual affair after the 2013 expansion, as Nevada was placed in the opposite division from Boise State. They play each other only twice every four years. The last game was in 2018 with the next game coming in 2021.


title: Boise State Broncos football

text: The series was played as a non-conference game in 2011 as the teams met in Boise during Nevada's last year in the WAC. Nevada split the WAC championship with Boise State in 2005 as both teams finished 7–1 in conference play. Boise State beat Nevada in the last game of the season in 2006, giving Boise State a berth into their first BCS bowl. In 2007, in one of the highest scoring games in NCAA Division I football history, Boise State defeated Nevada 69–67 in four overtimes. Recently, the conference championship has been decided by the Wolf Pack and Broncos' late-season games. In 2010, Nevada defeated No. 3 Boise State 34–31 in overtime, ending the Broncos' BCS National Championship hopes. The rivalry between the two schools felt as if it had been rekindled after Nevada's win, since Boise State had won the past 10 games dating back to 1998. Boise State and Nevada have played one time in the postseason in the 1990 I-AA semifinal. Nevada won the game in triple overtime 59–52, and would go on to lose in the final.


title: Strapping Young Lad

text: Strapping Young Lad was a Canadian extreme metal band formed by Devin Townsend in Vancouver in 1994. The band started as a one-man studio project; Townsend played most of the instruments on the 1995 debut album, "Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing". By 1997, he had recruited permanent members; this line-up, which consisted of Townsend on vocals and guitar, Jed Simon on guitar, Byron Stroud on bass, and Gene Hoglan on drums, lasted until the band's dissolution.


title: Strapping Young Lad

text: Strapping Young Lad's music was characterized by the use of polyrhythmic guitar riffing and drumming, blast beats and wall of sound production. The band's musical direction was mainly determined by Townsend, whose battle with mental health and dark sense of humor were major influences on his songwriting. Townsend was also noted for his eccentric appearance and on-stage behavior, which greatly contributed to the band's intense live performances.


title: Strapping Young Lad

text: The band gained critical success and a growing underground fan base from their 1997 album "City". After a hiatus between 1999 and 2002, the band released three more albums, reaching their commercial peak with the 2006 effort, "The New Black". Townsend disbanded Strapping Young Lad in May 2007, announcing his decision to retreat from public view while continuing to record solo albums.


title: Strapping Young Lad

text: Strapping Young Lad began in 1994 as a solo project of Canadian musician Devin Townsend. Following his work as vocalist on Steve Vai's 1993 album "Sex & Religion" and its 1994 tour, Townsend believed he had been a "musical whore", spending "the first five years of [his] career working at the behest of other people". During a brief stint as touring guitarist for The Wildhearts, Townsend received a phone call from an A&R representative for Roadrunner Records, expressing an interest in his demos and an intention to sign him. The offer was ultimately rescinded by the head of Roadrunner, who regarded Townsend's recordings as "just noise". He faced further rejection by Relativity Records, the label behind Vai's "Sex & Religion", who saw no commercial appeal in his music. Century Media Records subsequently contacted the musician, offering him a contract to "make us some extreme albums". Townsend agreed to a five-album deal with the record label.


title: Strapping Young Lad

text: Following his tour with The Wildhearts, Townsend began recording and producing his debut album, "Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing", under the moniker Strapping Young Lad. According to Townsend, the recording process took "about a week". Embracing The Wildhearts' anarchist approach, "while focusing on dissonance and just being as over-the-top as [he] could", Townsend sang on the record and performed the majority of its instrumental tracks (with the assistance of a drum machine). A few songs, however, featured local session musicians, including guitarist Jed Simon, Townsend's future bandmate.


title: Strapping Young Lad

text: Released on April 4, 1995, "Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing" was not widely recognized in the metal community. The album sold 143 copies in its first six months, but received favorable reviews from the heavy metal press. Its unusual musical ideas—a synthesis of death, thrash, and industrial metal influences—prompted Andy Stout from "Metal Hammer" to call it "one of the most disturbing albums you'll hear for a very long time". Nevertheless, Townsend has repeatedly expressed his distaste for the recording. He dismissed the album in the liner notes of the record's 2006 reissue, contending it contained only two great songs. He also deemed its production poor in interviews, referring to the album as "basically a collection


title: Strapping Young Lad

text: of demos that were remixed". When Century Media advertised the reissue of "Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing" as the "rebirth of a genre-defying classic", Townsend called it "record company bullshit".


title: Strapping Young Lad

text: Townsend recruited a permanent line-up for the second album: Jed Simon on guitar, Byron Stroud on bass, and Gene Hoglan on drums. "City" was released on February 11, 1997, and received highly favorable critical reception. "Kerrang!" praised the album for its heaviness, claiming it sounded like "sticking your head into the jet nozzle of a Stealth Bomber", while "Metal Hammer" ranked it No. 13 on its "Top 20 Albums of 1997" list. The album soon gained a cult following and a loyal fan base for the band. "City" is considered to be the band's best effort by a large number of fans and critics alike. In 2002, the album was No. 45 on "Revolver" magazine's "69 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time" list, and also appeared on their "Must Have Metal Albums" list in 2005. It also appeared on the "100 Most Important Albums of the Nineties" list conducted by "Terrorizer". Townsend himself stated "City" "is the real Strapping record. That's the ultimate one out of all of them".


title: Strapping Young Lad

text: The band embarked on a world tour in 1997 to promote the album, which included dates in Europe, the US and Australia. On May 30, 1998, they performed at the Dynamo Open Air festival in Eindhoven, Netherlands, then continued touring the next month in Europe. In June 1998, the group released "No Sleep 'till Bedtime", a live album containing songs performed at a 1997 performance at the HiFi Bar and Ballroom in Melbourne, Australia. Century Media was not initially interested in releasing a live record, but impressed with Townsend's production, the label agreed to release it. The band closed the year playing a few more dates in Japan and Australia.


title: Strapping Young Lad

text: At the end of 1998, Townsend placed Strapping Young Lad on hiatus to concentrate on his solo career and on his work as a record producer. He had already released two solo albums, "" in 1997 and "Infinity" in 1998 and produced several other artists' albums. Townsend explained numerous conflicts with Century Media, and his struggle with bipolar disorder (for which he checked himself into a psychiatric hospital in early 1998), contributed to the curtailment of Strapping Young Lad's activities:


title: Strapping Young Lad

text: What happened? I signed a shitty deal, but luckily it was non-exclusive. I got tired of doing Strapping so I said, 'I can't do it anymore.' Then I freaked out and went into a hospital. My lawyer said that I was under mental duress when I signed the contract so the contract is void. At that point it was like, 'I just won't do another Strapping record.' Yeah, I went down saying 'CM was the shittiest label ever.' And they went down as saying that I was 'a complete, arrogant psychopath.'


title: Strapping Young Lad

text: Townsend remained productive between 1999 and 2002, recording two more solo albums, "Physicist" in 2000 and "Terria" in 2001, and producing albums for Zimmers Hole, Stuck Mojo and Soilwork, among others. Although Strapping Young Lad was officially on hiatus, they gave occasional live performances, including an appearance on the Foot In Mouth Tour in 2001 with Fear Factory. During this period, Townsend's bandmates were active musically; both Stroud and Hoglan recorded with other bands, and all three were involved in Townsend's solo efforts as studio musicians and as part of his live band as well. Hoglan and Simon also formed a side project called Tenet with Grip Inc. bassist Stuart Carruthers and Interzone frontman Rob Urbinati in early 2002.


title: Strapping Young Lad

text: In December 2001 Townsend announced, contrary to his earlier public statements, a new Strapping Young Lad album would be released in 2002. He emphasized he was not "forcing" his product upon fans to generate record sales, arguing his band—and its contract with Century—was never a lucrative endeavor. Instead, Townsend's motivation was the "creative anger" sparked by the September 11, 2001 attacks and further cultivated during their 2001 tour. For the first time, the album would be a product of collaborative writing; the band wrote "about half" of the material on the 2001 Foot In Mouth Tour, and the rest at home, starting January 2002. After playing a small number of festivals in 2002, Strapping Young Lad entered the studio in September of that year, to record their third album.


title: Strapping Young Lad

text: The self-titled "Strapping Young Lad" was released on February 11, 2003, and became the band's first charting album, entering "Billboard"'s Top Heatseekers at No. 97. The album received moderate critical success, Nate Smith from Rockzone.com called it a "solid addition to the Townsend catalog", but "not an instant classic", Xander Hoose from Chronicles of Chaos called it "a good album", but also pointed out it is inferior to "City". "Strapping Young Lad" differed from "City" because it was less industrial and more reminiscent of death metal; the humor pervading the previous two albums became more subdued. The song "Devour" would later appear on the soundtrack for the 2005 film "Alone in the Dark".


title: Strapping Young Lad

text: The band toured heavily throughout 2003 and 2004, making stops in the United States, Europe, Canada, and Australia. Although Townsend stated "Strapping Young Lad" might be the last album, the band re-signed with Century Media Worldwide in March 2004 and announced plans for a new album. On November 2, 2004, Strapping Young Lad released a DVD entitled "", which documented the band's January 16, 2004, performance at the Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver. Bonus features included two music videos, "Relentless" and "Detox", and interviews with band members.


title: Strapping Young Lad

text: "Alien" was released on March 22, 2005, selling 3,697 copies in its first week. It reached No. 32 on the "Billboard" Top Heatseekers chart, and No. 35 on the Top Independent Albums chart. Critics praised Townsend's inventiveness and the dynamism of the songs in which "melody and discord meet midway"; Adrien Begrand of PopMatters wrote that "Strapping Young Lad have raised the bar yet again", while Blabbermouth.net's Krista G. called it one of the best albums of the year. Townsend and Hoglan were the primary writers of the album, since Simon and Stroud were busy with other commitments. Townsend explained the experimental noise track "Info Dump" is a reflection on the panicked state of mind that ensued after he stopped taking his medication. The making of "Alien" was documented and made viewable online on Century Media's official site in February 2005. It was also available as a bonus DVD of the limited first edition of the album.


title: Strapping Young Lad

text: "Love?" was chosen as the sole single from the album. Its accompanying music video, inspired by the cult horror film, "The Evil Dead", was directed by Joe Lynch. The video garnered the band wider attention, and helped "Love?" become one of their most recognizable songs. Jed Simon admitted to having produced a video for this particular song because it had "the most commercial potential". "Love?" was originally one of two confirmed songs for an EP that was supposed to contain four new songs and four covers. Although planned for release in 2003, the EP was eventually canceled. A music video was also filmed for "Zen"; the video itself would also appear in the 2007 film "Shoot 'Em Up".


title: Strapping Young Lad

text: The band embarked on a headlining tour in the United States in April and May 2005, then went on to tour in Europe. Starting at the end of June, they toured North America as part of the Sounds of the Underground tour, then joined Fear Factory on the Transgression Tour in the U.S. Throughout the tour, Fear Factory bassist Stroud performed with both bands at every concert. Strapping Young Lad concluded the year with a tour in the UK. While on tour, the band started writing the next album, then continued the work in January 2006, and finished the album by May. In the same month, Townsend announced his intention to "take a hiatus from making records for a while" after the end of touring due to exhaustion from continuous recording and producing for the past ten years.


title: Strapping Young Lad

text: "The New Black", Strapping Young Lad's fifth and final studio album, was released on July 11, 2006. Century Media imposed a strict deadline on the release date of the album; it was to be ready before the 2006 Ozzfest. Despite this, Townsend stated the recording was not rushed, and "The New Black" became a critical, as well as a commercial, success. It was more melodic than any of the band's previous albums and brought back the debut album's tongue-in-cheek humor. Having sold more than 4,000 copies during its first week, "The New Black" reached No. 200 on the "Billboard" 200 chart, No. 15 on the Top Independent Albums, and No. 8 on the Top Heatseekers charts. Stylus Magazine's Cosmo Lee described it as "heavy, catchy, and with no filler", and About.com's Chad Bowar was also positive, stating that "this is a CD that's dense and heavy, but also has some memorable hooks".


title: Strapping Young Lad

text: A music video was shot in late May to accompany the sole single from the album, "Wrong Side". In June 2006 Strapping Young Lad embarked on a short festival tour of Europe, including performances at the Rock am Ring and Rock im Park festivals in Germany and the Download Festival in England, which was followed by a second stage appearance at Ozzfest in July and August, where they played to some of their largest audiences in their career.


title: Strapping Young Lad

text: Townsend recalls that after "Alien", he already knew that he wouldn't want to continue SYL as a project, and that he already wished to abandon SYL after the release of "City" already, considering the project's purpose fulfilled. In an interview conducted by "Terrorizer" in August 2006, Townsend explained why he decided to put the band on hold:


title: Strapping Young Lad

text: At the end of the day, man, I'm just tired, and old, and bald, and fat, and grouchy, and bored. You know? So I was just like, I'm going to make this record, and do this stupid Ozzfest thing, and tell a bunch of stupid jokes in front of a lot of people at Download, then I'm just going to fuck off for a while. The bigger this gets, the less I care, to the point where I just need to go spend some time with my family. I don't wanna bastardise Strapping and all these other projects by doing it for the money. Strapping was about the big middle finger, and it still is, but I don't think it needs to go any further than this.


title: Strapping Young Lad

text: Although Hoglan initially denied the definitive break-up of the band, saying they would go on tour in March 2007, he later stated Strapping Young Lad is on "extended hiatus", and might never reunite again. In May 2007, during a press conference held to promote his new solo album, "Ziltoid the Omniscient", Townsend announced his plans to retreat from public view, including giving interviews and touring, to concentrate on his family, and producing solo albums, as well as other people's music. As a result, Strapping Young Lad were effectively disbanded. Townsend discussed his future projects in a May 2007 "Metal Hammer" interview, where he stated "there may be some stuff I do in the future that is as brutal and heavy as Strapping, it's just not going to be Strapping". At the time, Townsend's decision to dissolve the band caused a rift between himself and the remainder of the band, who considered SYL to be at the peak of their popularity and potential at the time; according to Simon, the rest of the band remained estranged from Townsend as a result for a time.


title: Strapping Young Lad

text: The remastered 10th anniversary edition of "City" was released on June 7, 2007, in similar vein to the 2006 remaster of "Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing", with bonus tracks and extended liner notes by Townsend. A career spanning best of album, entitled "1994–2006 Chaos Years", was released on March 31, 2008, with a bonus DVD of live performances and all of the band's music videos.


title: Strapping Young Lad

text: During his career-retrospective concert "The Retinal Circus" in October 2012, Townsend introduced Jed Simon on stage and performed two SYL songs, "Love?" and "Detox". Townsend has since stated that this was a one-off performance and that he is not interested getting SYL back together or playing songs at future shows. He posted to Twitter that he no longer feels the same connection to SYL's music and that this performance was closure for him and Strapping. In an interview on the Metal Hammer podcast, Townsend said that while he still connects to the music, SYL required him to go to extremes that took a toll on him. On his own website, he reiterates that SYL was a project that he eventually perceived to be harmful to his mental and physical health. In 2013, he played "Love?" at concerts in Mexico and Chile as a "cover song", but later expressed regretting the decision saying it "confuses people".


title: Strapping Young Lad

text: Townsend would occasionally perform an acoustic version of "Love?" during his "An Evening with Devin Townsend" shows through the UK in 2015 and 2019. In 2016, on tour with the Devin Townsend project, he would sometimes play a humorous acoustic version of "Detox". In 2019 he announced that during his touring cycle for "Empath", he would also perform SYL songs, saying that "It's a big part of what I do and it's a big part of who I am, and I think I've denied that for a certain amount of time."


title: Strapping Young Lad

text: Townsend played several SYL songs during the 70,000 Tons of Metal festival, including "Aftermath", "Love?", "Detox", "All Hail the New Flesh" and a live debut of "Almost Again" from the 2006 album, "The New Black".


title: Strapping Young Lad

text: Strapping Young Lad is known for their industrial thrash metal sound while also blending it with elements of black metal, death metal, groove metal, and noise. Many of the band's songs showcased Townsend's versatile vocal style, often changing from screaming and growling to clean vocals or even falsetto within the course of a single song. According to Townsend, the band functioned as his "outlet to freak out", and his two main projects, the more melodic The Devin Townsend Band and the aggressive Strapping Young Lad were "supposed to be the positive and the negative". To achieve a chaotic and cacophonic sound the band utilized complex time signatures, polyrhythmic composition, blast beats, sampling, keyboard effects and intricately layered production. Townsend used the newest technology available, such as Pro Tools, Steinberg Cubase and Logic Pro, when recording, mixing and producing the band's songs. As a self-proclaimed "fan of multitracking", he created an atmospheric, layered "wall of sound", which became a hallmark of the band's production style (with the exception of their self-titled album which featured no samples, or vocal layering). Townsend's musical ideas and production style have drawn comparisons to Phil Spector and Frank Zappa. Strapping Young Lad mostly eschewed guitar solos until "The New Black", which featured a more heightened emphasis on melody than their previous albums.


title: Strapping Young Lad

text: Strapping Young Lad drew influence from a wide range of music genres, most prominently, but not exclusively, heavy metal. Townsend cited, amongst others, Judas Priest, Jane's Addiction, Zoviet France, Grotus, and Frank Zappa as his influences, and also expressed his admiration for Meshuggah on several occasions, calling them "the best metal band on the planet". Simon and Stroud listed classic hard rock bands, like AC/DC, Led Zeppelin and Kiss, and old school thrash and death metal bands, like Exodus, Slayer and Morbid Angel among their influences, while Hoglan's influences range wildly in style from Stevie Wonder to progressive rock drummers like Neil Peart, Terry Bozzio and Nick Mason. Townsend stated his main influences for "Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing" were Napalm Death and Fear Factory, "City" was influenced by bands such as Foetus and White Noise, and "The New Black"'s influences were Meshuggah, and "more traditional metal" like Metallica.


title: Strapping Young Lad

text: Townsend was the band's primary songwriter. While the first two albums were solely his work, subsequent albums featured a minority of "riffs, lyrical ideas, and song titles" by his bandmates.


title: Strapping Young Lad

text: Despite the brutality of Strapping Young Lad's music, their songs contain hints of tongue-in-cheek humor and self-parody. Frequently, Townsend's lyrics approached serious personal or political issues with a morbid sense of humor. He has likened the band's sense of silliness to that of "Weird Al" Yankovic. Townsend's lyrical influences covered a wide range of themes, including warfare, mathematical theorems, and movies. He also used the technique of cross-referencing, repeating lines from his own works, such as older Strapping Young Lad, or solo material.


title: Strapping Young Lad

text: Strapping Young Lad was known for its energetic live performances, mostly owing to the eccentric appearance and persona of Devin Townsend. Adrian Begrand of PopMatters wrote "Nobody in metal today has the same kind of commanding stage presence as the self-professed Bald Bastard, Devin Townsend", and called Strapping Young Lad "one of the best live bands around". Townsend was famous for his on-stage antics; he integrated his ironic and tongue-in-cheek humor into live shows and interacted heavily with the audience. He would deliver comical, and often insulting remarks to them, organize circle pits, and parody heavy metal clichés as well as the genre itself.


title: Strapping Young Lad

text: The band's humorous approach was also evidenced by a song frequently performed live from 1997, entitled "Far Beyond Metal", a parody of classic heavy metal. It became a live staple and a fan favorite, with lyrics changing practically every performance. Although it was recorded live on "No Sleep 'till Bedtime", and on the "For Those Aboot to Rock" DVD, a studio version was not recorded until 2006 during "The New Black" sessions. The band was also sarcastic about their own Canadian heritage, they used "Blame Canada", a comedic anti-Canada song from "" as intro music at many concerts in 2003 and 2004.


title: Strapping Young Lad

text: For a period of time, Strapping Young Lad also played Townsend's solo material live. In 1998, after the release of "Infinity", they began performing both Strapping Young Lad and Townsend's solo songs, as two separate sets. It was not until the 2003 release of "Accelerated Evolution" that Townsend formed a separate band, called The Devin Townsend Band, to act as his full-fledged solo band.


title: Strapping Young Lad

text: Note: The pre-"City" touring line-up consisted of Townsend, Simon, White, Scribner, Sudar and Meyers.


title: Sharon Watts

text: Sharon Watts (also Rickman, Mitchell and Beale) is a fictional character from the BBC One soap opera "EastEnders", played by Letitia Dean. Sharon is one of "EastEnders" original characters conceptualised by creators Tony Holland and Julia Smith. She first appeared in the first episode broadcast on 19 February 1985 as the teenage adopted daughter of pub landlords Den (Leslie Grantham) and Angie Watts (Anita Dobson). The character became prominent in the 1990s due to her becoming the landlady of The Queen Victoria public house, her romantic pairings with brothers Grant (Ross Kemp) and Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) and a feud with their younger sister Sam (Danniella Westbrook/Kim Medcalf). In a storyline dubbed "Sharongate", Sharon married to Grant, has an affair with Phil, climaxing in 1994 with Grant's discovery of the affair, which remains one of "EastEnders" highest viewed episodes - the storyline was reinvented in 2018 when Sharon began an affair with Phil's young employee, Keanu Taylor (Danny Walters). She was named the best "EastEnders" character of all time by the "Daily Mirror" in 2020. For her portrayal of Sharon, Dean won the award for 'Outstanding Achievement' at the British Soap Awards in 2022.


title: Sharon Watts

text: Dean originally quit the role in 1995 after ten years, with Sharon departing following the breakdown of her marriage. In May 2001, Sharon was reintroduced by producer John Yorke. Dean took a break from the show in late 2004, with the character departing on 25 December 2004, returning for one episode to tie in with the shows 20th anniversary and Den's departure before returning in June 2005. Dean departed in January 2006. However, she was later reintroduced by executive producer Bryan Kirkwood in 2012 and later made her on-screen return on 13 August 2012 in a special week of episodes.


title: Sharon Watts

text: In her second stint, Sharon featured in storylines that included a feud with Phil and Grant's mother Peggy (Barbara Windsor); the return of Sharon's father Den, thought long dead, bonding with his second wife Chrissie (Tracy-Ann Oberman) until it has emerged that she killed Den in retribution for sleeping with her friend Zoe Slater (Michelle Ryan); and a forbidden relationship-turned-marriage with her adopted half-brother Dennis Rickman (Nigel Harman), which culminated with his death after the couple ended up feuding with gangster Johnny Allen (Billy Murray).


title: Sharon Watts

text: Sharon’s most recent stint on the show has featured an aborted engagement to Jack Branning (Scott Maslen); battling a painkiller addiction; a reunion and tempestuous marriage to Phil; being attacked in her own bar, meeting her biological father Gavin Sullivan (Paul Nicholas) and her affair with Keanu, sparking the events of the character having a late in life pregnancy; being blackmailed by her business partner Mel Owen (Tamzin Outhwaite) and witnessing her death, her split and divorce with Phil, giving birth to Keanu's son Albie on the same night her other son, Dennis, dies in a boat accident because of Ian Beale (Adam Woodyatt) and attempting to kill herself before later becoming the landlady of The Queen Vic once again. She marries Ian in December 2020, later divorcing him after he is attacked when she finds out his part in Dennis’ death; she poisons Ian as revenge, finding out she has a half-brother, Zack Hudson (James Farrar), a fling with Kheerat Panesar (Jaz Deol) and finding out she has a granddaughter, Alyssa, whom she decides to help raise with Alyssa's teenage mother, Jada Lennox (Kelsey Calladine-Smith).


title: Sharon Watts

text: Adopted at the age of three by Den (Leslie Grantham) and Angie Watts (Anita Dobson), Sharon is raised at The Queen Victoria public house in Albert Square, Walford, where her adoptive parents are landlords. Sharon and her best friend, Michelle Fowler (Susan Tully), compete for the affections of Kelvin Carpenter (Paul J. Medford). This leads to Sharon wanting to go on the pill, which shocks Angie. However, after Angie gets advice from Pauline Fowler (Wendy Richard) and Dr. Harold Legg (Leonard Fenton), Sharon and Angie talk about it and Sharon decides to wait. Her teenage romance with Ian Beale (Adam Woodyatt) ends when Sharon realises she prefers a more experienced man, Simon Wicks (Nick Berry), who ends the relationship when she refuses to have sex (although she eventually loses her virginity to him when she is 18). She seeks refuge from her turbulent home life with church curate, Duncan Boyd (David Gillespie). They plan to marry but Duncan bores Sharon and she ends the engagement. Sharon is torn between her conflicting parents until their marriage deteriorates and, Angie emigrates. When Den gets involved in gangland crime, he is shot and assumed dead. Shortly after Den's death, Michelle confesses to Sharon that Vicki Fowler (Samantha Leigh Martin) is her sister and Sharon is angry and hurt at Michelle. Soon after, Sharon discovers Den's signet ring on a market stall. With Den's body missing, Sharon convinces the police to drag a nearby canal and is devastated when a body is found and identified as Den's. Sharon resumes a relationship with Simon, whom she hopes to settle down with, but the relationship ends when Simon's affair with Cindy Beale (Michelle Collins) is revealed. Hurt and missing her parents, Sharon tracks down her birth mother, Carol Hanley (Sheila White). They meet several times until Carol confesses she has no maternal feelings for Sharon.


title: Sharon Watts

text: Sharon remains at The Queen Vic, working as a barmaid. She starts dating Grant Mitchell (Ross Kemp). A controlling boyfriend, Grant assaults Sharon's boss, Eddie Royle (Michael Melia), when he tries to kiss her. Although Sharon is perturbed by this, she discovers that Grant's violent behaviour results from traumatic experiences as a paratrooper in the Falklands War, and agrees to marry him. Eddie does not approve of their relationship and fires Sharon so she takes him to an industrial tribunal for unfair dismissal. She wins but Eddie refuses to reinstate her. Sharon tells Grant she will only marry him if he gets her tenancy back at The Queen Vic. Grant makes this happen and Sharon becomes the new licensee after Eddie is murdered by Nick Cotton (John Altman). Sharon later marries Grant, but their marriage is tempestuous and rows occasionally end in violence. While Grant wants to start a family, Sharon prefers to concentrate on making The Queen Vic a successful business. When Grant discovers she is taking the contraceptive pill, he smashes up the pub and disappears, leaving Sharon to be comforted by his brother, Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden). Sharon has sex with Phil but chooses to stay with Grant. However, the Mitchells' marriage deteriorates further when Grant torches The Queen Vic in an insurance scam, almost killing Sharon and her dog Roly who are trapped inside. An acrimonious split ensues with Grant hitting Sharon during a power struggle over management of the pub. Michelle calls the police during one of Grant's outbursts and he is imprisoned for assaulting them. While he is in prison, Sharon and Phil reunite and secretly live together as a couple. When Grant is released, Sharon takes him back.


title: Sharon Watts

text: Phil gets engaged to Kathy Beale (Gillian Taylforth). Realising she still has feelings for Phil, Sharon tries to seduce him. Phil kisses her in a moment of passion that he immediately regrets, so Sharon convinces herself she is happy with Grant and considers having children with him. Simultaneously, Michelle's boyfriend Geoff Barnes (David Roper) wants to interview Sharon for a book he is writing. Michelle conducts a recorded interview but then forgets to turn off the recorder at the end and discusses Sharon's affair with Phil. Grant finds the tape and, on the night of Phil and Kathy's engagement party, he plays it to a packed pub. He then attacks Phil and bullies and humiliates Sharon into agreeing to a divorce. She goes to stay with Angie in America but returns to hostility from the Mitchells. She is unperturbed and wins back the respect of Grant who realises that he still loves her. Wanting revenge for her mistreatment, she leads Grant on whilst planning to humiliate him publicly. They have sex and Sharon lets Grant think a public marriage proposal will seal their reunion. Grant attempts this on The Queen Vic's quiz night; Sharon is all set to turn him down but suddenly cannot go through with it and stops him from proposing. She confesses that she no longer loves him, then returns to America alone.


title: Sharon Watts

text: Phil and Grant's mother Peggy Mitchell (Barbara Windsor) sells The Queen Vic and is furious to discover that Sharon is the new owner. Sharon's boyfriend, Ross Fletcher (Ché Walker), joins her claiming that he has left his wife but Sharon discovers he is lying and ends the relationship and rekindles her romance with Phil. Sharon's bombshell that she is infertile following an abortion upsets Phil, and knowing that Phil wouldn't be happy without children of his own, Sharon ends the relationship and returns to the States to be with her mother. After Angie dies from liver cirrhosis, Sharon returns to Walford to bury her mother. This affects her badly and soon she starts dating an old school friend, Tom Banks (Colm Ó Maonlaí). The relationship survives Tom's unstable wife, Sadie (Isobel Middleton) who is sectioned after holding Sharon hostage and threatening suicide unless Tom takes her back. Sharon later sells her share of The Queen Vic back to the Mitchells and purchases a nightclub with Tom, naming it "Angie's Den". When Tom is diagnosed with a terminal brain tumour, Sharon stands by him and they plan to travel after getting married. On the night of their engagement party, however, Tom discovers a fire at the house of fellow neighbours Little Mo Morgan (Kacey Ainsworth) and her abusive husband Trevor (Alex Ferns); after helping Little Mo escape the fire with Trevor's son, Tom attempts to rescue Trevor - but the pair are killed when the fire explodes. A devastated Sharon reels over Tom's death and later organizes his funeral.


title: Sharon Watts

text: Shortly after, Den's daughter Vicki (now played by Scarlett Alice Johnson) returns to Walford. She and Sharon soon discover that they have a brother - Dennis Rickman (Nigel Harman) - who was the product of one of Den's previous affairs. Dennis has links to the same criminal organisation as Den and he discovers that Den is alive, and he tells Sharon of this revelation but she refuses to believe him. Dennis and Sharon fall in love, but their romance is halted by Den's return. He had survived the shooting in 1989, fleeing to Spain and starting a new life there. After years of feeling guilty about disowning Den before his "death", Sharon is thrilled to see him but furious about the unnecessary hurt he caused - although he informs her that he had to disappear and fake his own death in order to protect his family as well as himself. Den, however, is disgusted to discover Sharon and Dennis' romantic relationship and blackmails Dennis into ending it. Dennis begrudgingly dates Zoe Slater (Michelle Ryan), but just before Christmas 2004, he secretly reunites with Sharon. Zoe’s relative Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner) spots them getting out of a cab, holding hands and kissing. Stacey tells Zoe but Zoe does not believe her because she thinks Stacey is jealous and an argument ensues. Sharon and Dennis plan to move to America on Christmas Day, Zoe discovers this and falsely announces to the family that she is pregnant, a ruse she concocts with Den to split up Sharon and Dennis. Sharon refuses to let Dennis abandon his child and chooses to leave Walford, returning briefly when summoned by Den's new wife, Chrissie Watts (Tracy-Ann Oberman), with the news that Den is ill. Chrissie, Zoe, and Sam Mitchell (Kim Medcalf) confront Den about various deceitful deeds, including Zoe's fake pregnancy and his affairs. Disgusted, Sharon leaves, disowning Den. In a rage, Den attacks Chrissie and she hits him over the head repeatedly with a cast-iron doorstop, killing him. Aided by Zoe and Sam, Chrissie buries Den in The Queen Vic's cellar to cover up the murder.


title: Sharon Watts

text: Dennis reunites with Sharon in America and they return to confront Den, but Chrissie claims he has left with another woman. Sharon and Dennis marry, but during their reception, however, Sam is arrested for digging up Den's body to incriminate Chrissie; however, Sam is charged with Den's murder. Phil and Grant return to convince Sharon of Chrissie's guilt, and Sharon and Grant resolve their past grievances, as do Dennis and Phil, and the four work together with Peggy to bring Chrissie to justice. Sharon tries to persuade Stacey to drop her false alibi for Chrissie, so that Sam can be released, but to no avail, following an angry confrontation with Zoe’s mother Kat Slater (Jessie Wallace), who is trying to protect Zoe from prosecution. Eventually, Phil and Grant manage to extract a tape of Chrissie confessing to Den's murder - thus proving her guilty to the police. Chrissie is then arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment. Sharon is stunned to discover she is pregnant, and she and Dennis celebrate the potential of having a child. However, their happiness is threatened when Dennis' resolved issues with Phil leads him to become embroiled in a conflict against his enemy and the square's crime kingpin: Johnny Allen (Billy Murray). When Sharon starts to intervene in Johnny's personal affairs in an attempt to warn him to stay away from Dennis, he throttles her and proceeds to give Sharon an ultimatum; he will kill Dennis unless they leave Walford by midnight on New Year's Eve. Sharon persuades Dennis to leave after confiding in Phil about Johnny's threat. Phil, seeking upmanship over Johnny, informs Dennis about the threat, telling him that Johnny killed his best-friend Andy Hunter (Michael Higgs), and describes how Johnny threatened Sharon. Dennis ends up attacking Johnny, however, on New Year's Day, he ends up getting stabbed. He stumbles upon Sharon's arms and dies, leaving Sharon heartbroken and devastated. She refuses to speak in grief but requests that Phil avenges Dennis' murder. Concerned for her unborn child, Phil persuades Sharon to return to Florida to live with Michelle; Sharon later gives birth off-screen to a son, Dennis Rickman Jnr (Harry Hickles/Bleu Landau). During her absence, Phil keeps his promise for Sharon and persuades Grant to help them get justice for Sharon. They confront Johnny and learn that he ordered his henchman, Danny Moon (Jake Maskall) to kill Dennis; the two are nearly killed after Johnny captures the brothers and orders Danny to execute them, but Phil and Grant are saved when Danny is accidentally shot dead by his own brother, Jake Moon (Joel Beckett).


title: Sharon Watts

text: Sharon returns to Walford asking Phil to help her retrieve Dennis Jnr (Harry Hickles) from her fiancé, John Hewland (Jesse Birdsall), whom she has just jilted at their wedding ceremony. John suggests that he saved Sharon from destitution and kidnaps Dennis but Phil rescues him. Sharon manages Phil's nightclub "R&R" and starts dating Jack Branning (Scott Maslen). Sharon and Jack's romance is complicated by Phil, who wants to reignite a relationship with Sharon. Both propose to Sharon, but she accepts Jack's proposal. Realising he still loves his former wife Ronnie Mitchell (Samantha Womack), Jack cancels the wedding. Phil then persuades Sharon to move in with him but she struggles with Jack's rejection and resumes dependency on painkillers. When Sharon passes out unconscious while looking after Phil's granddaughter Lexi Pearce, he throws her out. The upheaval affects Dennis; he starts misbehaving and clashes at school with teaching assistant Whitney Dean (Shona McGarty). Dennis lies when he falls and grazes his arm, telling Sharon that Whitney has assaulted him. Blind to Dennis's misbehaviour, Sharon reports Whitney to the school board requesting her dismissal but is forced to contemplate the truth when Whitney is exonerated.


title: Sharon Watts

text: Later, Sharon reunites with Phil and moves back in with him. Her trust in Phil is tested when he confesses his part in Dennis' fatal altercation with Johnny in 2005, but she nevertheless remains with him and together they buy a new bar: The Albert. Phil grows resentful of Sharon's preoccupation with The Albert. To re-assert his authority and demonstrate Sharon's vulnerability, Phil hires two men to vandalise the bar, but his plan goes awry when Sharon is attacked by the vandals; she is hospitalised with a ruptured spleen. Phil confides in his ex-lover Shirley Carter (Linda Henry), who helps conceal his botched plan. When Shirley confesses she still loves Phil, he spurns her advances and instead proposes marriage to Sharon after she regains consciousness, which she accepts. Upon release from the hospital, Sharon fears being attacked again. She steals Ronnie's gun for protection but is horrified when Dennis almost finds it. While attempting to dispose of the gun, she overhears Shirley reprimanding Phil for arranging the attack on her. She vows revenge and recruits Phil's former lawyer, Marcus Christie (Stephen Churchett), to help fleece Phil. She later recants when she sees Phil's caring side but, unbeknownst to her, Phil has already discovered her deception. Phil begins an affair with Shirley and vows to humiliate Sharon by dumping her at their wedding so he can be with Shirley. On the wedding day, however, Phil cannot go through with this and after he and Sharon confront each other about their respective deceptions, they agree to marry. Enraged at Phil's rejection and unable to stop the marriage from going ahead, Shirley reveals her affair with Phil. Sharon decides to leave but Phil persuades her that he loves her. Shirley threatens to shoot him with Sharon's gun, but Phil dismisses her threats. In a tussle between the women, Shirley fires the gun and Phil is shot. When he recovers, they decide to give their marriage another try.


title: Sharon Watts

text: When Sharon receives a letter from her birth mother, Carol, she is ambivalent about resuming contact. She eventually decides to reconnect but discovers her mother has recently died. She meets her half brother Kristopher (Jonathan Broadbent) who gives her old letters from her birth father, Gavin, revealing his interest in meeting Sharon. Sharon attempts to trace Gavin and visits Den's former solicitor, Margaret Midhurst (Jan Harvey), who reveals that Den specifically requested to adopt Sharon as he knew her father. Phil is blackmailed into signing The Albert over to Vincent Hubbard (Richard Blackwood), forging Sharon's signature. Sharon is angry but Phil pacifies her by revealing he has traced her father, now going by the name of Gordon Cook (Stephen Marcus). Phil persuades Sharon not to pursue meeting Gordon, but she changes her mind and visits him. When Gordon is unwelcoming and cannot answer Sharon's questions, it emerges that Phil has paid Gordon to pretend to be Sharon's father. She eventually manipulates Phil into admitting the truth. Sharon forces Vincent to return his half of the business, but they agree to become business partners. To pacify Sharon, Phil gives her another address for her father. She sees from his house that he must be wealthy, and realises that the two already lead separate lives; she gives up the search. Sharon believes that Max Branning (Jake Wood) is responsible for the murder of Lucy Beale (Hetti Bywater) (see Who Killed Lucy Beale?) but she soon discovers the truth when Cindy Williams (Mimi Keene) sends her surrogate brother Bobby Beale (Eliot Carrington) a video message on his laptop revealing that he killed her. Ian's wife Jane Beale (Laurie Brett) denies this but when Sharon remains unconvinced, Jane admits the truth.


title: Sharon Watts

text: When Phil continuously messages a person called "K", Sharon suspects that Phil is having an affair with "K" who, unbeknownst to her and Ian, is Kathy. Sharon is reunited with Kathy; she reveals to Sharon that Phil has known that she has been alive for several years, so Sharon leaves Phil and moves into Ian's house. Phil goes missing and it is later revealed that Gavin Sullivan (Paul Nicholas), Kathy's controlling husband, has taken him hostage, although Phil later returns. Sharon arrives home to find Gavin threatening to kill both Kathy and her stepson Ben Mitchell (Harry Reid); he greets her with the words "Hello, Princess" — Den's catchphrase, revealing that he is her biological father. She is disgusted when she discovers that Gavin gave Sharon to Den as a business trade. Sharon discovers that Phil has started drinking again and has become violent. When Bobby starts bullying Dennis (now Bleu Landau), Sharon tells Jane and Ian that she will go to the police about Bobby killing Lucy. Bobby and Dennis's feud leads to Dennis going missing; when Ian and Phil find him, a drunk and distracted Phil crashes the car, leaving Dennis severely injured. Ian takes the blame for the crash in exchange for Phil convincing Sharon not to go to the police. Gavin visits and supports Sharon in the hospital, and offers her a chance to live with him in Hong Kong when Dennis recovers, but Sharon declines. Sharon is stunned when Phil admits he was driving, so she leaves him. She does not believe Phil when he says he is dying from cirrhosis, and she moves into Ian's house until Dennis is discharged. Gavin visits her again, saying he wants a second chance at having a family. Sharon then learns from Phil's daughter Louise Mitchell (Tilly Keeper), that Phil has collapsed and is in hospital. At the hospital, Sharon realises Phil was telling the truth, but he has discharged himself to get drunk. When Dennis is discharged from the hospital, Sharon and Dennis leave to stay with Gavin.


title: Sharon Watts

text: Sharon returns with Dennis for Billy (Perry Fenwick) and Honey Mitchell's (Emma Barton) second engagement party only to find Phil collapsed on the floor from coughing up blood. His family discover at the hospital that unless Phil stops drinking and undergoes an urgent liver transplant, his condition will be terminal. Sharon refuses to reconcile with Phil and he files for divorce to which Sharon agrees. Sharon and Phil receive letters saying their divorce is close to being finalised, but they decide to rekindle their marriage. Sharon is unaware that Dennis has remained in contact with Gavin, but eventually finds out, and Buster Briggs (Karl Howman) tells her that Kathy has gone with Gavin, so they trace her to Gavin's house. As they arrive, Sharon's aunt and Gavin's sister, Margaret, falls to death on Buster's car after being pushed from a balcony by Gavin. Buster and Sharon break into the house to help Kathy, and Sharon urges Gavin to surrender himself to the police, promising to continue their relationship. Gavin decides to comply, but when she lets him out of the room, he tries to escape but is trapped on the balcony. The police arrive on the balcony and he threatens to jump with Sharon but lets her go and is arrested. Sharon returns when she hears that Ben is missing, and she contacts Grant to help find him. She is shocked when Grant's daughter Courtney Mitchell (Alice Nokes) tells her that he is not returning, but she finds him and he tells her that he loves her, but Sharon turns him down. Phil then discovers a letter that Michelle Fowler (now Jenna Russell), sent to Peggy, learning that Grant fathered her son, Mark Fowler Jnr (Ned Porteous), after a one-night stand 21 years previously. To stop Phil from telling Grant that Mark is his son, Sharon tells Phil about Grant's declaration of love. However, Grant finds out the truth, and Sharon confirms it to Mark when he comes to the realisation.


title: Sharon Watts

text: When Phil recovers from his alcoholism, he makes the decision to not have a liver transplant and prepares to die. Sharon stands by his decision but he changes his mind after realising the effect on Dennis and Louise. Phil is placed on a transplant list but gives up hope, telling Sharon the family need to enjoy Christmas without him; she angrily tells him he can die. However, he returns shortly after, and a new liver is found for Phil and his surgery is successful. Sharon is then reunited with Michelle, and at Michelle's leaving party, Sharon overhears Denise Fox (Diane Parish) revealing to Shirley that Phil is the father of her unborn child. Sharon makes plans for her and Dennis to move back to Florida with Michelle until she realises that she and Phil were not together at the time he had sex with Denise. Sharon finds out about Denise's plan to have her son adopted so tells Phil the truth after Phil expresses his wish to adopt Dennis. Phil demands to see his son, and Sharon agrees to help Phil fight for custody but then stands by him when he agrees to the adoption. Sharon is mortified when Michelle tells her that she broke the law in America by having a relationship with a 17-year-old student Preston Cooper (Martin Anzor), while she was a teacher. When Michelle is involved in a car crash after her affair with Preston is exposed, Sharon supports her and she talks Preston into leaving Walford, which infuriates Michelle when she regains consciousness.


title: Sharon Watts

text: Sharon supports her stepdaughter Louise when she believes she was raped by Keegan Baker (Zack Morris) after her drink was spiked at a party. The investigation is dropped when Keegan admits that he lied about having sex with Louise. Phil joins Aidan Maguire (Patrick Bergin) in a robbery but the money they steal from his ex wife Ciara (Denise McCormack) goes missing. Ciara sends her sister-in-law, Mel Owen (Tamzin Outhwaite), back to Walford after sixteen years, to find the stolen money, and Sharon admits to Mel that she took it. Mel tells Ciara and Sharon is forced to return the money. When Phil discovers that Sharon was the culprit, he is initially furious but comes around when she explains that she was stealing the money for him. Their marriage starts to deteriorate and Sharon grows bored and begins lusting over Phil's employee, Keanu Taylor (Danny Walters). After Phil announces he is going to Spain without Sharon, she grows even more tired of his neglect and has sex with Keanu. They arrange to meet again at the canal, but Keanu sees her friend Linda Carter (Kellie Bright) disposing of the gun used to shoot Stuart Highway (Ricky Champ). Sharon pays Keanu to remain silent, however, he posts the money back to Sharon and confesses to the police, leading to Linda's arrest. Despite this, Sharon and Keanu begin an affair and she is stunned to discover that he is 19 and younger than she believed him to be. The age proves too daunting for Sharon and she ends their affair, however, they later reconcile. Sharon starts receiving threats via text from an unknown person regarding their affair. She believes it to be Keanu's mother Karen (Lorraine Stanley) who had spotted them together, but it is Louise. Sharon is able to convince Louise that Keanu has been providing her with fitness lessons and Sharon, scared of sneaking behind Phil's back, ends the affair. They agree to remain friends but they continue to have sex until Sharon goes to Australia to stay with Michelle. She returns and realises that Keanu is now in a relationship with Louise, and turns down Keanu's advances. After Keanu ends his relationship with Louise and pursues Sharon again, she convinces Phil to send him on an errand in Spain, where he is brutally attacked. Karen blames Sharon, threatening to tell Phil about the affair unless he saves Keanu. Phil travels to Spain to help him, and he later returns to Walford, telling Sharon he blames her for what happened and struggles to forgive her.


title: Sharon Watts

text: Sharon later discovers that Dennis has been storing drugs and counterfeit money for drug dealers, which results in her attacking and threatening one of the dealers, Stix Redman (Kasey McKellar). After Louise is kidnapped and found by Keanu, Sharon is jealous when they resume their relationship. Louise later discovers she is pregnant with Keanu's baby and after they briefly reignite their affair, Sharon ends it so Keanu can be there for his child. However, Sharon also discovers she is pregnant but does not know if Phil or Keanu is the father. She settles on having an abortion, but Phil discovers she's pregnant, and Sharon lies letting Phil believe he is the father. When Keanu discovers that she is pregnant and that he could be the father, he decides that he should tell Louise about their affair. Sharon and Karen kidnap him in order to prevent this, in an attempt to scare him by showing him what Phil would do if he found out. After Sharon convinces him that Phil is the father, he returns home, promising not to reveal their affair. Mel's son Hunter Owen (Charlie Winter) is shot dead by S019 officers, after holding Louise at gunpoint, and Phil tells Sharon to refuse Mel from using the E20 accounts to fund his funeral. Mel discovers that Keanu is the father of Sharon's baby and she blackmails Sharon for money and a villa in Portugal, as well as forcing her to sell her half of the E20 club to Ruby Allen (Louisa Lytton). Sharon finds out that Mel is planning on exposing her affair to Phil and follows her, so Mel hastily attempts to reveal it on a phone via Billy. Before she can tell Billy, Mel crashes into another car and falls unconscious. Whilst Sharon rescues Mel from the wreckage before it explodes, Mel continues to hear Hunter’s voice and walks into the road and is fatally hit by a lorry. Lisa, whom Mel confided to, tells Phil that Sharon's baby is not his, and Phil's suspicions are aroused further at Mel's funeral when Lisa announces to the pub that Sharon is carrying another man's child and that she was only paying for Mel's funeral out of guilt, though Sharon denies this. Phil secretly discovers that Keanu is the father and confronts Sharon on Christmas Day, ending their marriage. Sharon is disowned by the Mitchell family, including Dennis. She is taken in by Ian. When Keanu goes missing, Sharon fears that Phil has had him murdered, but Linda tells her that she and Martin Fowler (James Bye) faked his death in order to trick Ben and that there is evidence on Martin’s burner phone. Sharon later breaks into Martin's shed and steals the phone, giving it to the police and leading to Phil and Ben's arrests. Soon after, Dennis drowns in a boat crash, and on the same day, Sharon gives birth to a son, Albie Watts, who Karen names ‘Kayden’ at first. She finds out from Karen that Phil had caused the boat crash whilst fighting Keanu. Sharon contemplates suicide but is stopped by Ian who supports her. Sharon is furious when Phil returns to Dennis' funeral but eventually, bonds with him and they share a kiss. They reunite and Phil promises to buy Sharon The Queen Vic, but Sharon struggles and leaves to stay with Michelle in Australia, without Albie.


title: Sharon Watts

text: Sharon returns and decides to reunite with Phil once more and they move in together. Sharon decides to take Albie from Karen, but Phil is furious and cannot bond with Albie. He forces Sharon to choose between him and Albie, but Sharon chooses Albie and they separate. Ian purchases The Queen Vic for Sharon and she later renames Kayden to Albie. Ian redevelops feelings for Sharon and he is embarrassed when his feelings are not reciprocated by Sharon and he proceeds to harass her. Ian is unaware that Sharon and Phil are working together to murder him for locking Dennis inside the boat, which hindered his escape from the accident. Ian is attacked by Phil, and Sharon lets Ian believe that she loves him and marries him when thinks he is dying. When Phil decides to back out from their plot, Sharon is set on avenging Dennis by poisoning Ian to make him ill. Phil comes around and provides Sharon with a lethal dose of cocaine to put into Ian's food and ultimately kill him. Sharon cannot go through with it, but Ian finds out the truth and confronts Sharon. She attacks Ian by branding him weak and cowardly, causing Ian to eat the poisoned food. Sharon has a change of heart and makes Ian throw up the food, thereby saving his life, and annuls her marriage to Ian who leaves Walford. Sharon becomes sole proprietor of the Vic after Ian's departure and he transfers ownership to her, but she sells the pub back to the Carters after Linda finds out about her involvement in Ian’s attack and blackmails her. Sharon is told by Kathy that Gavin has died, and she finds out that she has a half-brother Zack Hudson (James Farrar). She decides to open a gym and has a fling with Kheerat Panesar (Jaz Deol), which ends when Ben, who is Kheerat's business partner, objects to their relationship. Sharon grows guilty for her treatment of Ian when she sees Tina Carter (Luisa Bradshaw-White) get framed for his attack, leading to her disappearance, unaware that she has been murdered by Gray Atkins (Toby-Alexander Smith). Sharon decides to confess the truth to the police, despite Phil's attempts to stop her, and he is arrested.


title: Sharon Watts

text: A baby, Alyssa Lennox, is left on Sharon's doorstep and she soon discovers that Alyssa was her son Dennis's daughter, after a brief relationship with Jada Lennox (Kelsey Calladine-Smith), before his death. Sharon supports Jada and Alyssa, but Phil encourages Sharon to go for full custody when he believes that Jada is irresponsible. They keep this a secret from Jada, but Zack discovers the truth and tells her, and Jada flees with Alyssa. Sharon disowns Zack but they reconcile when he convinces Jada to return with Alyssa. Sharon discovers that Ben is the "Walford Attacker" when she catches him bludgeoning a man with a pole. She agrees to keep quiet and tells Phil, who asks her to assist his now-fiancée, Kat, in managing his businesses. When Phil's sister Sam (Kim Medcalf) returns to Walford and buys Ruby's nightclub - renaming it "Peggy’s", Phil sacks her for her incompetence and instates Sharon as bar manager instead. Sam threatens to inform Kat about Sharon and Phil's secret prison meetings unless she is reinstated back as bar manager, but Sharon forces her to drop her threats when she warns her of the consequences of crossing Phil. Sharon later learns from Linda that Sam had purchased the club from the money Janine Butcher (Charlie Brooks) had stolen from Linda's daughter Nancy Carter (Maddy Hill) and her boyfriend Zack, to give to Linda who invested it with Denise into her salon 'Fox & Hair', which Denise sold one half of and gave the money to Sam, who was blackmailing her. On the opening of Peggy's, Sharon, Kat, Sam, and Shirley are held hostage by henchmen sent from Phil's old business associate Jonah Tyler (Mark Mooney) to sabotage the event, resulting in Sam getting shot, though they are unaware that Sam had orchestrated the siege. Shortly after, Kat discovers that Sharon has been secretly visiting Phil in prison and sacks her. Sharon continues to visit Phil and is distraught when Phil is presumed dead after turning down protection from the police by refusing to become an informant. It later transpires that Phil had decided to take the offer and he returns, professing his love to Sharon. Their romance is halted when Phil discovers that Sharon had been secretly messaging Grant and he reunites with Kat. Sharon then develops a feud with Kat when Phil continues to entrust her with his business dealings, making Kat jealous. Sharon is devastated when Phil proposes to Kat and plans to sabotage their wedding; when Kat fails to show up, Sharon comforts Phil and reveals her feelings. They share a kiss which is interrupted by Kat who arrives at the wedding, after being trapped in a boat by her ex-husband Alfie Moon (Shane Richie). Phil and Kat do not marry, but Sharon is upset when they move it to another date.


title: Sharon Watts

text: Sharon Watts was one of the original twenty-three characters conceived by the creators of "EastEnders", Tony Holland and Julia Smith. She was originally to be named Tracey, and she and her parents were to be the occupants of the soap's local pub, now known as The Queen Vic. Holland, who had worked as a barman in his youth, called upon his own personal experiences to invent the Watts family and the pub they lived in. Holland and Smith had always been critical of the way pubs had been portrayed on television, feeling they lacked vitality and life, so they were determined that their pub and occupants were going to be more "real". The Watts were seen by Holland as integral to the show's success, partly because he had already guessed that the pub was going to be a monstrous battleground where emotions would run high on a regular basis, and also because the occupants would be providing the majority of the drama.


title: Sharon Watts

text: Sharon's original character outline, as written by Smith and Holland, appeared in an abridged form in their 1987 book, "EastEnders: The Inside Story". In this passage, Sharon is referred to as Tracey and her parents as Jack and Pearl (known now as Den and Angie).


title: Sharon Watts

text: Although Sharon was meant to be fourteen, licensing regulations required the cast actress to be a sixteen-year-old who could "play down." Holland and Smith were looking for a "bouncy, attractive, oddly vulnerable young woman" who would come across as slightly more sophisticated than the character of Michelle Fowler, due to be Sharon's closest peer. Out of the various applicants they had seen, they felt only actress Letitia Dean had all of the qualities they were looking for. As the casting directors were only looking for real East End actors, Dean falsely claimed that she was born and raised in Hackney, east London. The lie paid off and she got the part, clinching the deal because of her laugh, which Holland and Smith have described as "the dirtiest in the world!".


title: Sharon Watts

text: Reflecting on her casting, Dean told the magazine, "Woman", in 2005: "I was 16 when we started filming "EastEnders" and my contract was initially for eight weeks—none of us had any idea it would go on for so long. I nearly fainted when I saw Wendy Richard [who played Pauline Fowler] for the first time, because she was a really big name and I was in awe of her. Anita Dobson who played Angie Watts, [Sharon's] mum, took me under her wing." In the early days of "EastEnders", it was in Letitia Dean's contract that she was not allowed to lose any weight.


title: Sharon Watts

text: Described by the BBC as "slightly spoilt, over-dramatic, blousy, but ultimately kind-hearted", Sharon has been classified by Rupert Smith, author of "EastEnders: 20 Years in Albert Square", as a "drama queen", a "strong passionate [woman] who [goes] to pieces where men are concerned and always [comes] back for more". Early on in her narrative, Sharon was depicted as a mixed-up individual, torn between her warring parents, but spoilt by both; the British press dubbed her "Den's princess," an indication of her spoilt upbringing. Scriptwriter Colin Brake suggested that because of the dysfunctional marriage of her adoptive parents, "Sharon was a fairly troubled teenager. Set apart from the other kids because Den and Angie sent her to private school rather than the local comprehensive, she was a bit of a loner. Spoilt rotten by both her parents, Den's 'little princess' was really a little madam."


title: Sharon Watts

text: As the character progressed into her 20s, she underwent some changes. Colin Brake suggested that, following the discovery of Den's (wrongly identified) body in 1990, it was "time for Den's princess to grow up". In 1993, Letitia Dean discussed the evolution of Sharon from teenager to adult: "She's grown up a lot. Once she got into her stride she got quite strong—not hard, but knew what she wanted." Matthew Bayliss, writing for "The Guardian", suggested that Sharon developed into a character that was simultaneously "vamp and victim", comparing her to another popular soap opera character from ITV's "Coronation Street", Elsie Tanner (Pat Phoenix).


title: Sharon Watts

text: In 1991, author Hilary Kingsley compared Sharon in adulthood to her mother Angie: "There's a lot of her mother in Sharon Watts. There is the warm sympathy and the barbed tongue for a kick-off. But Sharon is more sensible than Angie, less likely to fly off the beer handle in The Vic." Letitia Dean suggested that Sharon was trying to establish her own personality as landlady of The Vic in 1993, but that she was also taking tips from Angie, whom she "admired for her strength of character." In the 1990s, the producers of "EastEnders" wanted to take the similarities between Sharon and Angie one step further; they proposed that Sharon would begin drinking gin, the favourite beverage of her alcoholic mother. Dean was opposed to this development and persuaded the producers not to go down this route with Sharon. In 1993, she explained her reasons: "There was one time they wanted [Sharon] to drink gin because that was Angie's tipple, but I thought that was wrong. Her mother was on a dialysis machine which would have put Sharon off gin for life. She would either follow right behind her or she would make her mind up and say no. And since she had seen Angie in such a state, it really put her off."


title: Sharon Watts

text: Sharon has been described as a "buxom femme fatale" and one of "life's survivors", who has had "many moments of emotional turmoil". Kingsley suggested that despite this, Sharon is "a sensitive, vulnerable girl who is easily hurt. Even so, that doesn't stop her going after something that she really wants [...] Sharon came through to become a nice girl behind the streetwise image [...] with her blonde hair and bright make-up she adds a cheerful touch to drab Albert Square."


title: Sharon Watts

text: Television critic Matt Bayliss, discussed the psychology of Sharon in 2010: "She had a terrible childhood. An alcoholic mother and a father she adored but who treated her mother appallingly. She had a very long subsequent career on the show, falling for the wrong bloke and not realising her own worth. You could see that the way she turned was directly related to her beginnings, to that difficult family situation."


title: Sharon Watts

text: Sharon has topped numerous viewer polls suggesting she is one of "EastEnders"' most favored characters. Critics have praised the character's complex progression from teenager to adult, referencing the investment that viewers hold in Sharon, having watched her grow up on-screen. While Sharon's returns to "EastEnders" have been welcomed by some critics, others received her comebacks as an indication that the show's writers and producers had run out of original ideas. Letitia Dean has defended the decision to reintroduce Sharon, suggesting that long-running dramas such as "EastEnders" need "old blood". On 10 April 2019, Dean filmed her 2000th episode as Sharon.


title: Sharon Watts

text: An early controversial storyline involving Sharon revolved around her desire to take contraceptive pills to persuade Kelvin Carpenter (Paul J. Medford) to date her. According to Holland and Smith, this storyline caused tremendous interest in the UK. Holland and Smith have suggested that it was a daring issue to tackle in the 1980s, as it involved a girl under sixteen, and was to be aired at a time when the issue was prominent in British society. Holland and Smith suggested that people took sides with the issue and Sharon's dilemma became a debate used as a teaching method, both in schools and at home. The creators stated that many families admitted that, as a result of Sharon's storyline, they were discussing taboo topics openly in their homes for the first time in years, or ever.


title: Sharon Watts

text: Sharon went on to feature in a storyline about the ups and downs of a pop group called The Banned in 1986. It featured the majority of teenage characters in the soap at the time. The storyline proved to be a successful merchandising tool for the serial, as it spawned two hit singles in the UK charts. One of the songs "Something Outa Nothing," which was performed on-screen in the plot, was released by actors Letitia Dean and Paul J. Medford. The song was a modest success, reaching number 12 in the UK singles chart in November 1986. The storyline was seen as an interesting and major undertaking in the serial, but one that Holland and Smith felt never entirely worked.


title: Sharon Watts

text: In her teenage years, Sharon's main storylines depicted the plight of a young woman struggling to find her identity while growing up in a broken home and coping with her mother's alcoholism and her father's infidelities. Anita Dobson, who played Sharon's mother Angie, discussed Sharon and Angie's relationship, suggesting that Angie was not a good mother: "I think someone handed Sharon over to her one day, and Angie thought of her like this glistening Christmas present. I think she never really thought it through beforehand. I do believe she really wanted a child and she loved Sharon, but eventually found the competition pretty difficult to deal with in regard to Den's attentions. She was pretty rough on Sharon because of her drinking." Sally Vincent, writing for "The Guardian", has pontificated about the dynamics of Sharon's relationship with both her parents in 2001. She suggested that viewers felt sorry for Sharon "because not only had her [birth] mother given her away, but her adoptive parents were the legendary Dirty Den and the feckless Angie, erstwhile landlord and lady of The Queen Vic, who were always too busy being dirty and feckless, in our opinion, to take proper care of their little girl. We knew enough about family psychology to know that all those presents they lavished upon her were no substitute for presence. We knew what neglect and emotional absence can do to a growing girl." David Buckingham, in his 1987 book "Public Secrets: EastEnders and its audience", analysed the relationship between Sharon and her parents, suggesting that teenage Sharon was suspended between childhood and adulthood. He reflected that Den frequently referred to her as "just a child", but that Sharon herself sought to assert her status as an adult, describing her parents as "immature" or "childish". In character dialogue, Sharon suggested that Den had tried to keep his wife Angie in the role of a baby, but that he himself was a child, stating "I behave more like an adult that you've ever done". During this period, Sharon was shown to question her parents' capability to offer her advice, and both Den and Angie had difficulty refuting her arguments. In one episode Sharon questioned, "How come you two always know what's best for me? You haven't exactly made a good job of your own lives!".


title: Sharon Watts

text: Sharon was shown to share a particularly close friendship with Michelle Fowler in the serial. Kingsley suggested that Michelle was an "important steadying influence in Sharon's life. The two friends are like sisters and, like sisters, they sometimes fight." Following Den's supposed death in 1989, Sharon and Michelle's friendship was tested by Sharon's discovery that her adored father had slept with her best friend Michelle when she was sixteen and that he was the mystery father of Michelle's daughter, Vicki. Sharon discovered this in a special two-hander episode written by Tony McHale, which aired in April 1989. In the episode, Sharon and Michelle spend an evening together drinking wine and reminiscing. After Sharon confesses to Michelle that, in the absence of both her parents, she now views Michelle and her daughter Vicki as her family, Michelle tells her the secret she has been keeping for four years, that Vicki is Den's daughter. However, Sharon is not comforted by this, feeling "hurt, angry and deceived" by Michelle and her father. Brake surmised that Sharon "leaves the flat wishing that Michelle had never told her. Things would never be quite the same between them." The episode returned to a model established by the first Den-and-Angie solo episode, with revelations and major character changes to an important relationship. Brake suggested that it gave Dean and Susan Tully (Michelle) the chance to demonstrate how much they had grown as actresses during their four years on the programme. Brake also claimed the episode was held in high regard by the show's producers, directors, and writers, describing the actors' performances as "superlative".


title: Sharon Watts

text: The arrival of the Mitchell brothers in 1990 heralded a new era for "EastEnders", but also for Sharon. Brothers Phil (Steve McFadden) and Grant Mitchell (Ross Kemp) were introduced by executive producer Michael Ferguson, as he wanted to bring in a couple of young men who would bring an air of danger to the show. Both the Mitchell brothers would prove to be extremely important for Sharon in the following years, most notably when she married one brother, then had an affair with the other.


title: Sharon Watts

text: Sharon and Grant's relationship began in 1990 and by 1991, the couple were installed as the owners of the soap opera's focal establishment, The Queen Victoria public house, Sharon's childhood home. Storyline editor, Andrew Holden, has stated that the decision to promote Sharon from barmaid to landlady of The Vic in 1991 stemmed from discussion about the character's long-term future in "EastEnders". It was felt that because Sharon was the daughter of Den and Angie, "it seemed right that she should succeed them, at least for a time, in running The Vic". Holden suggested that the choice to give Sharon The Vic was part of the reason that her predecessor, licensee Eddie Royle (Michael Melia), was killed off in the serial.


title: Sharon Watts

text: 19 million viewers tuned in on Boxing Day 1991 to witness Sharon and Grant's surprise Christmas wedding. Their marriage was scripted to be volatile, with Grant resorting to violent displays when things did not go his way and endangering Sharon on numerous occasions due to his criminal dealings. Letitia Dean discussed Sharon's attraction to Grant in 1993: "Grant was quite flirtatious with [Sharon] when they first met and he made her feel quite good about herself. He promised to protect her and he promised her the world [...] She wouldn't have gone for Grant if he was just a complete pain in the arse. There are obviously other qualities in him which is why she strives to keep [their relationship] going. There's a lot of reminders — [Grant's] not [Sharon's father] Den, but he's got a lot of characteristics that are pretty similar."


title: Sharon Watts

text: Despite the fact that Sharon married Grant in 1991, former "EastEnders" writer Tony Jordan has revealed in a documentary entitled "The Mitchells — The Full Story" that the love-triangle storyline between Grant, Sharon and Phil had been planned from the Mitchell brothers' introduction, after the writers came to the realisation that Sharon "was perfect for both of them". The plot has been described by former Executive Producer of "EastEnders" and BBC's Head of Drama Serials, John Yorke, as a "Tristan and Isolde story". The storyline was spread out for several years and began with Sharon turning to Phil for comfort during a particularly turbulent part of her marriage to Grant. The episode in which Phil betrayed his brother with Sharon occurred in September 1992 in one of the soap's notorious three-handers, an episode featuring only Sharon, Phil and Grant for the duration. Sue Dunderdale directed the episode and the performances of McFadden, Kemp and Dean have been described as memorable and filled with high-tension drama. Discussing Sharon's feelings for Phil, Letitia Dean said: "Phil was always around for Sharon. He seemed to understand her, and Sharon appreciated that. There's always been something between them."


title: Sharon Watts

text: The storyline climaxed in October 1994 with some of "EastEnders"' most popular and renowned episodes, which have been dubbed "Sharongate". The episodes centred around Grant's discovery that his wife had been having an affair with his brother and they were watched by 25.3 million viewers. On-screen Grant heard Sharon unwittingly confessing to the affair on tape. He reacted by playing it to a pub full of people at Phil's engagement party and then beat his brother unconscious.


title: Sharon Watts

text: The writer of Sharongate, Tony Jordan, has stated that of all the storylines he has penned for the soap, Sharongate is the one he is most proud of. He comments "Three of the strongest characters that have ever been in "EastEnders" are the Mitchell brothers and Sharon [...] when we actually blew that story it was incredible [...] being able to reach that many people with your work is what makes "EastEnders" exciting." Reporter for "The Guardian", Sally Vincent, has commented on Sharongate's success: "It wasn't so much the guilt-stacked, long-drawn-out business of Sharon 'n' Phil's helpless lust for each other—all that unseemly face-sucking while her hubby/his brother, the ape-like Grant, languished in gaol for trying to set fire to everyone—that broke the ratings record, nor was it the ingenious ruse of using the [DJ's tape deck] to broadcast Sharon's poignant little confession to the entire clientele of Walford's Queen Vic [pub]. It was the fact that we'd all watched Sharon grow up. We knew that she was a nice little person, vulnerable, brave, sweet-natured and kind to the dog. We were sorry for her [...] Neither of those Mitchells deserved her, so when one punched the other and half-killed him for tampering with his lady-wife, we didn't much care. We were sorry to see [Sharon] go."


title: Sharon Watts

text: Sharongate has proven to be a popular storyline with viewers. In 2001 it was voted the second "Best Ever Soap Moment" in an ITV televised poll, and it was voted the sixth top soap opera moment of all time in a poll of 17,000 people for "What's on TV" magazine in 2003. In 2010, Michael Hogan from "The Telegraph" ranked it the sixth of the top ten "unforgettable moments" of "EastEnders". In a 2012 nationwide poll of 1,000 people published in "Inside Soap", 'Sharongate' was voted as the greatest soap opera moment of the past 20 years.


title: Sharon Watts

text: Letitia Dean decided to quit the role of Sharon in 1995, having played the character for over a decade. Dean was not the only original cast member to announce their departure that year; Susan Tully (Michelle Fowler) and Bill Treacher (Arthur Fowler) also quit, leaving just Wendy Richard (Pauline Fowler), Adam Woodyatt (Ian Beale), and Gillian Taylforth (Kathy Beale) as the only original cast remaining at that time. Dean, who was aged 26 at the time, has since reflected on her decision to leave, suggesting she went through an identity crisis when she found herself thinking "who am I? Am I Sharon Watts or am I an actress?". Sally Vincent, interviewing Dean for "The Guardian", surmised: "it nagged away at [Dean] for ages until she thought, hell, she owed it to herself, and started telling the producers she'd been thinking about trying new things. In those days, they didn't let you off for the odd panto or anything. It was full-time work. She remembers being dithery and apologetic about it, but her feet were itchy and, though she never really wanted to close the door behind her, she talked about going until one day, much to her consternation, [the producers] said all right then, off you go, lots of luck. They didn't ask her to reconsider, so she thought, 'Ooooh, charmin', and off she went." Dean added, "I felt the need to spread my wings and try my hand at other things. I didn't want to feel there were parts out there I hadn't had a chance to play. When I left I felt this mixture of excitement and fear. I went on the last walk with Susan Tully [who played Michelle Fowler] around the Square, talking quietly, and I felt quite sad. But at the same time it felt like the right thing to do."


title: Sharon Watts

text: Sharon's exit on 6 July 1995 surrounded the continual fall-out from the Sharongate saga. 18 million viewers saw Grant bully Sharon into a divorce in the Christmas 1994 episodes; after a brief hiatus, she returned in 1995 for several months to gain revenge on Grant. The build-up for revenge saw Sharon coaxing Grant into making a public plea for marital reconciliation. However, as Thomas Sutcliffe writing for "The Independent" surmised, "In the end, Sharon recoiled from the full horror of public humiliation in the Queen Vic and conducted a minor-key revenge on the pavement outside. For a while, there seemed a good chance that she was going to leave the series in an ambulance, but Grant kept his temper, so she simply climbed into a black cab, departing not with a bang but a whimper."


title: Sharon Watts

text: The character was reintroduced to the show in 2001 by then producer John Yorke, almost six years after her initial departure. Discussing Yorke's decision to reintroduce the character, a BBC spokesperson said, "It's the producer's job to decide how the storylines are going to go, and he decided to bring Sharon back. And Letitia said she would love to come back." The producer's decision to bring Sharon back reportedly shocked Dean, as she believed the time for a return had passed, particularly as Grant's actor, Ross Kemp, had just left the series. She commented in a 1999 interview, "I can't see how the storyline would work. There's only so much love a girl can have for the Queen Vic." However, when she saw the scripts for Sharon's return, she was convinced.


title: Sharon Watts

text: Dean suggested that Sharon, who had passed 30 years of age on her return to the serial, wanted to get back to her roots and rediscover herself in Walford. Discussing her comeback, Dean said, "It's a wonderful opportunity to breathe life into Sharon again. I found out at Christmas [2000], so it was a fantastic present. Sharon has a great story to tell, having been away for so long. She has some unfinished business to sort out—and has some demons to face as well. I've always held Sharon's character close to my heart. I always said: 'Never say never'. There's nothing worse than making a huge statement about never doing it again, and then going back [...] It was very exciting to be working with new cast members. But seeing members of the cast who I grew up with like Adam Woodyatt (Ian Beale), Todd Carty (Mark Fowler), Wendy Richard (Pauline Fowler) and Steve McFadden (Phil Mitchell) was just fantastic. It gave me some much-needed confidence and reassurance, knowing that I'd have that support." Sharon's return episodes, which aired in May 2001, saw her shocking the Mitchell family by revealing herself as the anonymous buyer of her childhood home (the Vic pub). During the years since Sharon's departure, the Queen Vic had remained in the Mitchells' ownership until Grant's mother Peggy Mitchell (Barbara Windsor) was forced to sell it. Discussing Sharon's return scenes, Dean said, "Her appearance in the Vic is fabulous, and provokes some great reactions. Peggy is astonished, speechless and horrified all rolled into one. It's landladies and their handbags at dawn." Sharon's return was voted one of the top 100 TV moments of 2001 in a Channel 4 poll, and was chosen as the favourite soap comeback by almost one-third of viewers.


title: Sharon Watts

text: The return arc saw Sharon reuniting with her former lover, Phil. Discussing this, Dean said, "[Sharon's] tougher and seems to know what she wants. Seeing Phil throws up vivid memories and strong feelings for Sharon. She's always had a deep affection for him". She added that because Sharon had grown and gained strength and independence while being in America, "she can handle pretty much anything the Mitchells can throw at her". Their reunion lasted until December 2001, when various secrets, including Sharon's confession that she believed she was infertile after aborting Grant's baby, ended their romance.


title: Sharon Watts

text: In 2002, executive producer John Yorke introduced the character of Tom Banks (Colm Ó Maonlaí) as a love interest for Sharon. A love triangle storyline featured initially as Tom battled for Sharon's affections with her former lover Phil Mitchell. In the storyline, Tom was shown to be keeping secrets from Sharon regarding his collapsed marriage, secrets that were unveiled by Phil; when Sharon confronted Tom, he admitted that he was still married, although he and his wife had split up.


title: Sharon Watts

text: In July 2002, following the introduction of a new executive producer, Louise Berridge, it was announced that Tom was being written out of "EastEnders". A spokesperson denied that the actor had been fired, commenting, "He was brought in to play out a specific storyline" and that he was due to "go out with a bang". According to "The Mirror", "EastEnders"' bosses decided that there was nowhere else to go with the character, that they could not work out how to develop him and that he had fulfilled a specific role. Part of Tom's exit storyline saw the character discovering that he had an inoperable brain tumour. Despite the initial upset this caused to his relationship with Sharon, the couple resolved to stay together and marry after Sharon proposed. Discussing Sharon's impromptu proposal, a BBC spokesperson said, "The two of them are messing one day and they decide to swap roles. Tom is supposed to do the washing and cleaning and Sharon takes on the role of a man. It is all supposed to be a joke but Sharon takes it to heart and shocks Tom when she arrives home with a ring and asks for his hand in marriage." However, in a plot twist, Tom was not killed off by the tumour; he instead died in a fire, airing in an episode that paid homage to Halloween, in October 2002. His death coincided with the exit of another character, Trevor Morgan (Alex Ferns). In the episode, Tom rushes into a house fire to save Trevor who is holding his baby and his ex-wife Little Mo Morgan (Kacey Ainsworth) hostage, but despite rescuing Mo and the baby, he and Trevor both die in an explosion.


title: Sharon Watts

text: In 2003, producer Louise Berridge negotiated for Leslie Grantham to reprise the role of Sharon's father Den, 14 years after his last appearance. Part of her motive for doing so was to bring Sharon, whom she described as one of her favourite characters, "right back where she belonged, at the very heart of the show." The character Den had supposedly been killed in 1989 and a body found the following year had been identified as his, so the programme-makers needed to make certain that his return could be plausibly explained. A research team was employed to scour over past episodes of "EastEnders"' to make certain that his return storyline would not have been going against anything that had been shown prior, or that could not have been "faked". In an interview with Walford Web, Berridge discussed how her researchers discovered that there were inconsistencies in the episodes that aired during 1989 and 1990, that could account for Den's death being staged. She commented, "A great deal was made in the show of Den's [signet] ring turning up [as proof that he died]—but if you watch the episode of the shooting you'll see he isn't even wearing it at the time of his supposed death. So how did it get in the canal?". Berridge's writers concocted a story whereby the body that was recovered in 1990 was misidentified as Den's; Den fled to Spain to escape the mobsters and allowed his family to believe he was dead until he was traced in 2003.


title: Sharon Watts

text: Den's return aired in September 2003, with Den walking into Sharon's club "Angie's Den" (named after her parents) and uttering the greeting "Hello princess" to his daughter. Scriptwriter Sarah Phelps, who penned Den's return, has discussed the episodes in the televised documentary "EastEnders Revealed: Dirty Den Returns": "It all had to kick off in Angie's Den because this is the thing that Sharon has built [in] memory of her parents [...] the way she's worshipped them in their death in a way that she couldn't deal with them when they were alive [...] there's a lot of really confused and emotional stuff [for Sharon]". Letitia Dean has discussed Sharon's reaction to Den's comeback: "Sharon put her father on such a pedestal, when she found out that he had been alive for all those years and never contacted her — once — it absolutely devastated her, it rocked her world [...] She couldn't believe that he would be so selfish because she was his princess." Leslie Grantham suggested that the one person Den loved more than himself was Sharon and that she was the reason he came back to Walford after 14 years. Part of Den's return episodes featured a 20-page scene between Sharon and Den, played out in their former home, The Queen Vic. The director required that this scene be filmed all at once, which Dean has described as daunting but exciting. She believed that the long scene helped build realistic tension greatly because both she and Grantham were so nervous about working together again.


title: Sharon Watts

text: Further discussing Sharon's ambivalent reaction to her father's return Dean said, "Sharon is absolutely dumbstruck at seeing her father again. It's like seeing a ghost and she's completely shocked. To see him after all this time when she had accepted his death and got on with her life, is too much for her. Sharon has been through so much in the past 14 years without Den and has had to cope on her own. Although she's pleased to see him, he knows nothing of the life she's had in his absence—he hasn't been there for all the times she's been hurt, like when she was caring for [her dying mother] Angie, or when her fiancé Tom died. She's developed as a woman, and for her, their relationship ended when he 'died' while she was still a teenager. Everything has been turned upside down for her. She's feeling angry and resentful [towards] Den at the moment, but that's only because she loved him so much. He's going to have to tread so carefully with her—he's got some real making up to do in order to enable Sharon to trust him again." Despite initial animosity and hurt, Sharon eventually welcomes Den back into her life and allows him to return to live with her, resuming head of the Watts dynasty.


title: Sharon Watts

text: As a precursor to Den's return and as part of producer Louise Berridge's plan to rebuild the Watts family, Den's estranged son Dennis Rickman (Nigel Harman) was introduced to "EastEnders" earlier in 2003. A "forbidden love" storyline was built into Sharon's narrative, when she embarked on a relationship with Dennis despite him being the son of her adoptive father. Scenes in which Sharon and Dennis succumb to their lust for each other had to be re-edited as the programme's producers deemed them too raunchy to be shown before the 9 pm watershed on BBC1. Discussing the scenes, Harman said, "My character Dennis has been through most of the ladies on the square. But his latest encounter with Sharon is something else. There's lots of banging around as we are ripping each other's clothes off while staggering round the flat. There's also quite a lot of flesh in the post-coital scene! It might shock a few people as she's [Dennis's] sister—not blood sister, though. Bosses had to tone it down and cut a couple of passionate embraces out." According to Harman, Dennis's feelings for Sharon transcended anything Dennis had felt for women before her.