EastEnders in 1986

1986 was *EastEnders'* second year.

## Production

### The Banned

The Banned was a fictional/non-fictional pop group that was incorporated and brought to life on *EastEnders* throughout 1986. The pop group consisted of already established characters Sharon Watts, Kelvin Carpenter, Ian Beale and Simon Wicks. However, new characters were introduced in order to fulfill the band; these were Eddie Hunter and Harry Reynolds played by actors Simon Henderson and Gareth Potter. While not being so successful on the show itself, few individuals achieved some success in the real word with released singles. Nick Berry, who portrayed Simon Wicks on *EastEnders*, carried off victory with his single Every Loser Wins which was written and produced by the shows theme tune composer Simon May alongside Stewart James and Bradley James. His accomplishment was achieved by the single remaining at number one in the UK Singles Chart for three consecutive weeks in October and November 1986, and becoming the second biggest selling single in the UK that year. Letitia Dean and Paul J. Medford (Sharon Watts and Kelvin Carpenter) also achieved similar success to Nick. The two became a duo on the single Something Outta Nothing which itself carried out the same credits for writer and producers. The single reached number 12 in the UK Singles Chart. Both the latter songs were performed during the programme in an important and complicated story about the ups and downs of a pop group. It was an interesting and major undertaking in the serial but one that shows producer and co-creator Julia Smith alongside her co-creator and shows script editor Tony Holland felt never entirely worked.

### Eye-gripping ventures

Originally, the intense and eye-gripping storyline of the new year of 1986 was to consist of popular and favoured character Pete Beale suffering from a fatal heart attack. However, while preparations for this cliffhanger were underway, shows producer Julia Smith had second thoughts on the matter. The already fact that the character of Pete was a typical East-ender, a solid, reliable man, and an anchor of normality in a sea of hysteria, a lynchpin character, caused Julia to conclude that it would be just 'wrong' to lose him.

Because of this, the show needed a massive storyline alteration that would have the same kind of impact that the death of Pete would have had. Ideas and brains were racked. However, Tony Holland realised how much of an impact the character of Den Watts was having on the programme and how popular his role was becoming with the public. From this came along the idea of introducing Den's mistress, the woman on the phone who had no face from the show's inception, but had had a massive impact on the marriage of Den and Angie like no other character. Originally, Den's mistress was planned never to be introduced into the show, but on the 30th January 1986, in Episode 100, the woman with no face made an appearance in The Queen Vic in the shape and form of Jan Hammond, played by actress Jane How. The appearance of the woman began a series of turmoil for both the residents of Walford and the viewers themselves. The Den/Angie/Jan triangle carried on throughout the show for many months. But in November and December 1986 came the biggest storyline of all for the three with the climax of the triangle.

Initially, the idea was to have Den and Angie travel to Venice for their second honeymoon after Angie announces that she only has six months to live. However, Tony didn't seem to have any fulfilment or excitement for this. Claiming that the viewers will see it as more of a tourist attraction show rather than a drama serial. The visibility of the famous masks in Venice brought the essential idea of the year to him: to have Jan also travel to Venice to meet up with her old fling Dario Chimissio, with an oblivious Den discovering that she's there after Den announced to Angie he had ended his fling with her.

While Julia and Tony returned from Venice to London on the Orient Express with the stories already intact, they were immediately worried about how much material they would be able to shoot in such cramped conditions; having planned to shoot Den and Angie returning from Venice on the Express. The lots of poseurs and Japanese tourists indulging in silly dressing up to try and recapture an age of elegance that had gone. They realised that this was yet another form of deception, and so would tie-in with their overall theme. Union troubles nearly meant cancelling the shooting the night before everyone was due to fly off. The camera crew had to be changed, plus baggage and plane tickets. The Elstree based camera operators were not allowed to go, so the shooting was switched from videotape to film.

The press had caught the crew and Leslie Grantham, Anita Dobson and Jane How travelling to Italy, and the next day they were all in the papers. That was the story blown for Julia and Tony; there was no way that Jan's arrival in Venice in the story could ever be a surprise onscreen, so everyone had to go with it. Very little material was shot on the Express itself. All the dining-car and bar scenes were shot at Elstree in a studio set, and very few people were able to spot the difference. To simulate the movement of the train, technicians pulled pieces of string that were attached to the dining-car tables, so that the fringes on the table-lamps rocked back and forth.

Next came along the grand storyline of the year. After Den discovered that Angie was lying about her fatal illness, he prepared a shady and vulgar surprise for her for Christmas Day that nobody was expecting. Christmas Day consisted of two episodes, Episode 194 and Episode 195. The first included the cliffhanger of Den handing Angie the divorce papers, which remains as one of the most famous scenes in British television history. This action-packed, edge of your seat, eye-gripping moment led to the following episode becoming the highest watched episode of a drama serial of all time with over 30 million people tuning in.

### Love is in the air, or is it?

Angie and Den's relationship wasn't the only one in for a rocky ride in Albert Square in 1986. The two other victims were teenage mum Michelle Fowler and timid Lofty Holloway.

Initially, before even the inception of *EastEnders*, both Julia and Tony knew that they wanted the character of Michelle to grow more rapidly than any other teenage actor in the serial. The characterisation of Michelle from the beginning was, to put shortly, the 'spinster' of Albert Square. The previous year it was revealed that Den Watts was the father of her unborn baby, and Michelle was to be a single teenage mum. And as a matter of occurrence, she developed a not so keen but 'practical' relationship with timid barman Lofty Holloway. From the onset of the baby's paternity reveal, it was apparent that Michelle shared no kind of fondness as she did for Den, but this didn't stop her pursuing a relationship she would later live to regret. Michelle's baby was born onscreen in May 1986 and was named Vicki.

Julia and Tony decided to create a storyline that would undercover a developing relationship between a young couple not 'in love' in the conventional sense, meanwhile bringing up someone else's love-child, was an interesting one to them, and one that could not have been anticipated in those far off days.

As a result, Michelle became engaged to Lofty and even made it to the church, but not the altar. The jilting of Lofty was planned way before transmission, and according to Julia and Tony was a nightmare to keep quiet. However, her change of heart and deciding to marry Lofty a month later in a private registry office was a late thought. They came to the conclusion that it was still quite in character for her to have a moment of madness at the church but later felt it would also be right for her to change her mind.

### Cast changes

    One of the biggest and long-standing achievements of cast changes in 1986 was the introduction of Pete Beale's estranged wife and Simon's mother, Pat Wicks played by Pam St. Clement. The idea to introduce Pat to the serial came along when Julia and Tony began to worry that the show was starting to get a bit 'soft', and as a matter of fact a meeting was called between the writers and a decision was made to try and recapture some of the programme's original grittiness that, according to them, seemed to be getting lost in its own success. And as such Pat was introduced to add a new hardness to the atmosphere. She was originally introduced as a guest character in June 1986 but later brought back as a prominent regular in October.

The first prominent character to be introduced in the serial in 1986 was the new area manager of Luxford and Copley, James Willmott-Brown played by William Boyde. Originally a recurring character who would go on to be a great imposture on the show. A character that followed, carrying the same regime, was health visitor Carmel Roberts, originally introduced in June as Michelle Fowler's health visitor after the birth of baby Vicki and later becoming Kelvin Carpenter's girlfriend and permanent fixture on the Square. The year also saw the arrival of the shows first ever regular homosexual character, Colin Russell played by Michael Cashman who moved into 3C Albert Square above the Carpenters and was later followed by barra boy Barry Clark (Gary Hailes) in which the pair embarked on a relationship. Also, potman Tom Clements and Dr Legg's locum Dr Jaggat Singh arrived in the Square.

One of the most famous exits (and only regular exit from the year, excluding Roy Quick) was the death of Andy O'Brien, who was run down by a lorry after saving a young boy who had ran into the road in order to fetch his ball. This was the serials first-ever onscreen death. Ross Davidson, the actor of Andy, was initially in for high expectations on the serial when his character was set to marry Angie Watts and he was to become the officially owner of The Dagmar upon its opening in 1987. However, due to a conflict between him and Julia Smith, Andy was killed instead.

Characters that made guest appearances throughout the year was Dot Cotton's disgruntled husband Charlie Cotton for a short stint. Brad Williams made his first appearance, who would later go on to become a regular fixture in the show with the introduction of The Firm. Tessa Parker, a friend of Harry Reynolds, made several appearances upon the creation of The Banned. Auntie Irene, Lofty's auntie, made an appearance throughout the year along with Detective Sergeant West, the detective who undercovered Arthur Fowler's Christmas club money case, as well as Rezaul Gabir, Naima Jeffery's cousin who was sent by her family to help out in the shop.

Nick Cotton and Mark Fowler returned for short stints throughout the year. Hannah Carpenter and daughter Cassie became more permanent fixtures than they had been previously before; however, Cassie was written out after the Christmas Day episodes. Roy Quick also made a departure throughout the year after his engagement with Debbie Wilkins broke down.

## Viewing Figures

Throughout *EastEnders* history, 1986 remains as the most successful and prominent year for the show in terms of ratings. The year started as it meant to go on. With ratings gradually rising throughout the year with minimal minor dips in between.

The highest watched episode of the year remains as the highest watched episode of all time. Episode 195 transmitted on 25th December as the second part of the two-part Christmas special attracted **30.15 million viewers** leading to the show earning its substantial achievement of holding the highest watched drama serial episode to the present day.

The lowest rated episode of the year occurred on Episode 143 which was transmitted on 13th July, the episode attracted **13.90 million viewers**. The average rating for the year was **20.54 million**.