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00:08I'm Ross Kemp and last summer I did something I hadn't done for nearly a decade I went back to
00:15the set of EastEnders the problem is now I don't actually know where I'm going it's back this way
00:22it's back this way EastEnders Studio A I played notorious hard man and lover Grant Mitchell
00:42since I was last here Albert Square has been knocked down moved and rebuilt which is why I'm
00:50having a little trouble finding it looks amazing
01:15I couldn't find it it's sort of like a different place that's why I couldn't find it
01:19it's fabulous it looks like it's just been picked up and exactly exactly but it's real brick not your
01:26plastic or the doors that yeah there's no wobbling here come around I've come back to find out the
01:39impact EastEnders has had on us over the last 40 years how it's got us talking about difficult
01:45subjects and reflected our changing society bring back memories yeah thousands trying to get car
01:54around that at speed yeah will you take it easy still the only place in London with no parking
02:06restrictions real brick and a few emotional scenes here a few emotional scenes everywhere
02:21that's right that's right and here it is my old workshop jeez
02:32matures autos specializing in crashes not necessarily repairs
02:49I can feel Grant Mitchell on my shoulder all I need to do is put on a black leather jacket
02:55a pair
02:56of two tight jeans and I'd start to worry who I was going to hit what I was going to
03:02set fire to
03:02and who I was going to have an over complicated relationship with EastEnders burst into our front
03:12rooms on February the 19th 1985 ever since it's been serving up colorful characters what do you got me
03:24down as some sort of belchard unforgettable storylines hope you all enjoyed the fireworks and amazing drama
03:35you ain't my mother yes I am you know what they say about turning 40 it's time for a period
03:44of reflection
03:45and while EastEnders changed my life and the lives of people who worked on the show both in front of
03:50the camera and behind it after 40 years of being one of the biggest programs on television I want to
03:58find out what impact EastEnders has had on Britain Queen Vic I set fire to that once number 45
04:20home of the bills one of EastEnders most iconic families who were here when it first started in 1985
04:33it's when viewers first met Kathy Beale a fruit and veg stall and her teenage son Ian
04:48typical bills always leaving the back door open
04:54Adam Gilly hello hello hello hello hello hello where's Adam where is he behind you
05:07I went upstairs as if it will be back here weird yeah oh Jillian tailforth plays Kathy Adam
05:17Woodjat plays her son Ian did you have any idea just how big the show was going to be no
05:24no idea I mean
05:26that first contract was six months with a year's option with the option so yeah show was created by
05:32Julia Smith and Tony Holland in a wine bar between television center and Shepherd's Bush I thought
05:38the cuts worked very well but I think by making those cuts Danny's coming over if it's possible more
05:46unsympathetic than usual Julia Smith and Tony Holland had been asked by the BBC to develop a new soap opera
05:53a hit to rival ITV's Coronation Street Tony had mapped it all out yeah I mean he'd mapped out
06:01years ahead and we were all based on various members of his family I know I know I was based
06:06on his
06:07um nephew are there any similarities between the Kathy that he wrote and yourself um apart from coming
06:15from a big family and there's four girls and one boy in my family all right so and we were
06:20born in
06:21Islington yeah and I used to work up Chapel Street Market my boyfriend at the time had a stall there
06:26so Saturday and Sunday I used to help him at his store they had to be recognizable characters and
06:32that's that's why we had the matriarchs because every family's got a matriarch yeah Lou Beale yeah that
06:37was the first character Tony came up with how important was she she was a whole show and a wing
06:42an amazing
06:43actress lovely and I remember she was one of those coaches nobody ever stood up to her where's the
06:49money coming from to feed the extra mouth you thought of that one while you was gratifying your
06:53lust you're out of bloody work for Tony and Julia realistic characters were the most important part
07:04of EastEnders they wanted people the audience could connect with
07:10the first residents of Albert Square were a community of 23 people
07:18in the basement of the first house is the doctor's surgery he's called doctor leg we have a male nurse
07:25we have a girl who wants to have a career in a bank I'm Naima my husband Saeed and I
07:32live upstairs
07:33we also run the food store which is just around the corner I'm Saeed this is my shop there's my
07:39cat
07:39which Sue runs here's my dad characters from all walks of life just like the real East End and I
07:49told my granddad and my nanny and I just went yeah I've got this park and my granddad said don't
07:54watch
07:54watch it watch Emmerdale I thought I've been lost to a load of sheep lovely how do you like
08:01but 17 million viewers did tune in to watch the first episode including some real EastEnders in a
08:09real East End pub
08:12oh it stinks in here doesn't it Reg he's dead drunk no he's dead it started with who kicked the
08:20doors it
08:21there's Leslie it was there it was then then then and our boots in the door and they go in
08:26and they
08:26find Reg Cox dead he could have been here like this ever since he's been missing we didn't notice
08:31anything he does son he's a cantankerous old man Dan go and get the dock quick right and the best
08:36thing
08:36you can do is go and get dressed oh right what do you think made it so different from the
08:41other
08:41programs I think people could identify with me there was Coronation Street there was Emmerdale
08:47Crossroads but we were the sort of like the slightly rougher ones yeah and I think a lot
08:54more people managed to identify with that natural the people natural the way they talk you know things
09:04that happen in everyday life in the actual East End the locals loved it I mean a lot of problems
09:14about pregnancy getting on with relations parents I mean which is lost problems unemployment things
09:20like that I mean so it's very good to show that it took on subjects other soaps weren't tackling from
09:30from day one but we've done it from 85 to now it's just it is almost like the the thread
09:37that runs
09:37through the program isn't it it's hard to believe that a popular success can be built on unemployment
09:44drugs old age teenage pregnancy prostitution depression murder blackmail but I've cheered you
09:52enough but not everyone was a fan totally unsuitable for family viewing time full of lying cheating blackmail
10:06infidelity I always thought what the audience liked about EastEnders was the hard-hitting and often
10:18controversial storylines and I think that's why people are still talking about it today
10:26EastEnders over the years has dared to take audiences to places other soaps wouldn't go
10:33one of the subjects the show has never shied away from is LGBT plus relationships
10:42hello hello Valvinda how are you I'm good thank you how are you Ross I'm all right um this is
10:49uh
10:49this is all very new isn't it new to me well yeah yeah new to Grant yeah it's new to
10:54well this is uh
10:55EastEnders's first gay bar can you can you imagine that I mean look at the pictures on the wall I
10:59love them
11:02Balvinda Sopal plays Suki Panazal to understand me I will kill you and I will enjoy every second of it
11:10why would I care I'm already dying not fast enough
11:15manipulative sharp-tongued and quick-tempered she's one of the show's new generation of matriarchs
11:22tell me about Suki Suki God Vanessa is a Punjabi wife mother um lover she's very Machiavellian and
11:35manipulative and cunning Suki likes to run her family with an iron fist you know she's like
11:39mafia boss she's the head of the house and what she says goes this game of yours ends here
11:46this game ends when I say it does the Panazals have been given the same kind of importance and
11:54the same sort of prominence as people like the Mitchells or the Slaters we're not just a token
11:59family I also think perhaps it's a different time now right before we'd see a Sikh doctor just walk
12:07past we'd be calling our friends up and neighbors up and just go did you see did you see now
12:11it's not
12:12that it's like people talk about us as part of EastEnders you know we're not just the Asian family
12:17and one of Suki's major storylines has seen this previously married mother of four
12:23become an inspiration to viewers and this is me
12:38she is somebody who has found who she is you know a lesbian later on in life um and we
12:46don't
12:46often see those stories do we so I've got something that I'd like to show you Eve Unwin
12:53I love you so will you do me the greatest honor of my life and be my wife well don't
13:06you hang in
13:06yeah I would love to be your mum
13:12I was worried playing sort of the lesbian strand of it because our communities don't talk about it
13:18so openly you know it's not something that we address or we want to believe happens um or accept
13:26and what's the reaction been like it's been phenomenal I found it quite daunting and overwhelming
13:33actually but that then made me realize that there was a real hunger for this kind of storyline for
13:40this kind of character people were almost begging to see it you know on their screens in their living
13:48rooms four days a week you know what happens to every marriage in EastEnders don't you we're not
13:54going to think about that it brings me great joy to declare that from this day forward you are legally
14:02married Suki's marriage to Eve was a big moment for EastEnders it was the show's first lesbian wedding
14:13groundbreaking moments on EastEnders have enjoyed enormous success they've increased awareness
14:20helped understanding and encouraged public debate and I think that's something that everybody who works
14:27on the show is rightfully proud of
14:31oh
14:32oh
14:33oh
14:33oh
14:33oh
14:34oh
14:34oh
14:35oh
14:36oh
14:39but trailblazers haven't always had an easy ride one character springs to mind
14:46he arrived in august 1986
14:49well have you seen many properties a few but nothing I've liked as much
14:55called Colin he harbored a dark secret he was a middle-class yuppie
15:03well I think I've seen enough I'm on my way to meet a friend Michael Cashman
15:10who swapped Albert Square for Parliament Square
15:29made a lord after a lifetime of campaigning for equality it all began by playing Colin in EastEnders
15:37I got a call to go and see Julia Smith and Tony Holland and their line was this
15:43guy's going to come into the show and he's going to shake things up he's a very ordinary guy
15:50you kind of fade into the background and she said but you know every time we think of the part
15:57we
15:58think of you but we've been trying to cast a straight actor and I went what she said oh yeah
16:04he's gay I think it's very difficult for people now to understand the attitude towards towards
16:12homosexuality it was a weird and dark time illegal in certain circumstances to have a gay relationship
16:19there was rampant homophobia are you trying to tell me that you and Colin are homosexuals sure didn't
16:27you know yeah I certainly did not I mean I thought you was just friends in the 80s when EastEnders
16:35introduced Colin the reaction was rather hysterical but that was nothing compared to what came next
16:43after the first kiss between two gay men on British television that kiss hmm I have on my phone here
16:52that moment here we go ready well it's just as well it isn't you then isn't it now look I
16:58don't want
16:58to get into an argument with you but promise me you'll take the day off and I'll ring your lunchtime
17:02okay I won't know what the score is until I get there now that is a peck on the side
17:09of the head
17:10yeah what happened when that went out oh uh the media went berserk it was called a sex scene um
17:19it uh
17:21there were calls for uh this kind of filth to be taken off our screens so far we've had over
17:2920 calls
17:30from viewers who thought it was disgusting her children will not be allowed to watch it again
17:34absolutely disgusting didn't agree with it repugnant I've had people come up to me to say I remember
17:41watching you on telly and there was one guy and he said and I used to stand behind the sofa
17:46so that my
17:48mum and dad couldn't see me looking at you and he said and I knew I wasn't alone it made
17:57a difference
18:03it was incredibly brave of these sentences to take on a subject that most people thought was
18:08unacceptable to be vilified in the press yet still reach out into people's homes and change public
18:17opinion over 22 million viewers watch Colin kiss Barry it showed how a radical storyline could also be
18:26a popular one stories like these propelled eastenders to huge success and not just here in the UK
18:34tonight the nation that gave us dallas and dynasty can switch on to britain's most popular soap eastenders
18:44it doesn't matter if you live in east london or south boston you'll get caught up in the stories of
18:49the eastenders with its distinct lack of glitz and glamour it was a soap unlike any ever seen
18:56by american audiences eastenders the most popular program in the history of british television
19:02weeknights on wnyc tv 31 what it also has of course is a language barrier and the station here has
19:11come
19:11up with a dictionary of cockney phrases and rhyming slang with it viewers can cop this lot without losing
19:18their rag or going off their trolley the two characters used to promote the show abroad were
19:25angie and den watts they ran the queen vic hello constable come on in and had a dysfunctional home life
19:33yes sharon you've got my earrings on no you have an orange i never said you could borrow them get
19:39them
19:39off they're not yours then you're going to do something about her she's lying cord in the middle was
19:45their adopted daughter sharon who's become a much-loved resident of albert square i mean i know i'm probably
19:53not your type but which bit of me really turns you on hey go on and i should know my
20:03character grant
20:04married her in 1991. let's have a drink
20:11so let's go to number 43 sharon's house tish
20:23oh i've missed you i wore something subtle ross
20:31this is tish in the morning yeah this is exactly how i remember you darling
20:36you look stunning do i yeah good surgeon i'm joking it's all natural
20:44oh did you have any idea that it would see 40 years i think at first ross it it wasn't
20:53received
20:53that one and then it literally just went yeah and i think a lot of that was to do with
20:57den and
20:58angie i always remember that scene when she had a rose and he did like a fireman's lift he loves
21:05me
21:05he loves me not then he doesn't love me oh come on and she pointed it to his nether regions
21:15yes i went
21:17who's a naughty boy then naughty naughty naughty naughty and everyone went oh my gosh tv gold
21:28that really was a special moment and everyone went wow that dynamic was incredible
21:36you were incredibly young weren't you how old were you i think i was 17. i think when it first
21:41started 16 17. i remember my audition and you had to be born within the sound of bow bells yeah
21:47yeah
21:48yeah of course i wasn't i was from herfordshire but i lied so they were very very authentic and
21:54apparently i got cast for my dirty laugh that was my first publicity card wow and my father
22:04it was in fashion made that skirt for me and that was from the first day on the lot on
22:10albert square
22:12when you look back on 40 years is there a particular moment if i'm honest ross i think it would
22:18be
22:18what they called sharon gate with you really steve and me yeah
22:25ain't growing back here i've just phoned he's on his way oh sharon gate was a classic love triangle
22:31a slow burn story it played out over months and months it let the audience in on a secret that
22:38my
22:38on-screen brother phil had slept with my wife sharon but it took over a year for grant to find
22:45out
22:45what you slept with him remember i feel was different why he just was in one minute i was
22:52looking at him in the next ripping each other's clothes off for me that was like oh my gosh i'm
22:59trusted with a huge storyline i mean how many viewers did we have back there 25 million 25 million
23:06it's still talked about to this day yeah i think the best stories in this show particularly are when
23:12they are slow burners and what about our future and it's important so shut up and listen exactly
23:17every time we talk about our future i have to shut up and listen typical
23:22dan and angie's dysfunctional marriage was the first slow burner
23:29millions tuned in every week
23:38anita could you stand by in the studio please anita dobson played angie the tish's on-screen mother
23:45in eastenders for only three years at the height of her fame anita was the second most photographed
23:51woman in britain after princess diana you never really stood a chance not with having ben and
23:58angie as your mum and dad did you no not really i mean she loved her parents equally did she
24:05well you didn't turn too bad
24:10anisa hi i'm lovely to see you come on bring it on baba old school we're old school darling oh
24:21my gosh
24:22what's it like being with your screen daughter wonderful it's absolutely wonderful very emotional me
24:29very happy she looks beautiful i love her to bits anita was like a second mum to me
24:36yeah and she's the baby girl i never had
24:40there's a picture here it's leslie
24:43angie sharon and roly roly and sharon look so similar do you know that dog you would say action
24:51he'd sit up you say cut you relax yeah this was the first time that any british soap had taken
24:57on
24:57a story line where a woman had a drinking issue that was incredibly brave did you have any reservations
25:04about no not at all i'd worked in pubs you know when i was at drama school to pay you
25:10know the money
25:11to in order for me to stay there so i'd seen publicans and their wives and the people that come
25:16in the pubs
25:18it was liberating to show a woman that drunk and i knew what women looked like when they were drunk
25:25it's not pretty um or when anyone's drunk it's not pretty yeah
25:32anita's true-to-life portrayal of an alcoholic was shocking for its time
25:37her less than understanding on-screen husband den was played by leslie grantham
25:42the relationship with leslie he's an incredible actor yeah he used to say your mouth shuts mine
25:48opens my mouth shuts yours is that what he said oh that's wonderful and it's true look den i've got
25:53a million and one things to do it'll have to be some other time okay will you stop doing that
25:56sit down all right all right keep your hair off the stars of the bbc's eastenders soap opera picked up
26:04the trophy for the most popular personalities on british television den and angie were the most popular
26:11aspect of the show well our special guests this morning are anita dobson and leslie grantham
26:17time once more to go over to the elstree studios the home of eastenders eastenders is the most talked
26:23about subject in our classroom they turned eastenders into a runaway success and such was the hunger for
26:31the show and its stars that barely a year after its launch you couldn't turn on the tv or pick
26:37up a
26:37newspaper without seeing or reading something about the cast i've got one today and the headline is
26:46my porn film by eastender star do you worry about what might appear in the press about liaisons from
26:52the past oh no no not really well most of them did the standards at the moment seems to sell
27:03his uh
27:04newspapers because the the fans want everything they can about this program okay move on please to the
27:12public park stay tonight i want to talk no we need to i don't the slow burn deterioration of den
27:22and
27:22angie's marriage reached its peak on christmas day 1986 with an envelope that turned angie's life upside
27:30down this my sweet is a letter from my solicitor telling you that your husband has filed a petition for
27:41divorce happy christmas
27:43it wasn't someone being murdered it wasn't someone being thrown in a pit it wasn't a car crash
27:52it was the handing of an envelope the things she never thought would happen happened yeah and over
27:5930 million people watched it over half the population i didn't think about it i was just i just knew
28:05it was
28:06a good scene the scene worked it was a fantastic scene very great you know and it played well
28:13everybody was pleased with it that's all i needed to know
28:18this episode of eastenders is still the uk's most watched program of all time and anita's portrayal of
28:26angie watts the queen vic's first landlady remains an inspiration
28:33let's go and see what's in store
28:38i've never walked this bit before i must say
28:41not been down roadway two and no i haven't been down roadway two viewers and cast members still talk
28:46about her and longed to see her return to the place that made her name
28:53so i took her back
29:16i've never worked together but i've watched you all the time
29:19i can remember sitting on these stairs
29:49and they look so small now did i actually sit here and you did that you sit you cried you
29:55laughed
29:55and obviously this is where the divorce papers were served yeah right here right here right here
30:01the orange the orange
30:05this was angie's stage
30:10the vic is at the heart of eastenders and central to most of the action
30:16you've got to let me know
30:20should i stay or should i go
30:23right then who's next
30:33some legendary landlords and landladies have walked this hallway onto the stage that is
30:40the queen vic
30:41what's in that
30:42it's nothing
30:46i know when i ran this place you were very much aware of those that had come before
30:52you could um you could feel their presence
30:55still do
30:57they were big characters
30:59but they needed to be because the queen vic well
31:02she's a larger than life character herself
31:12den watts was the first landlord
31:18it's now george knight played by colin salmon
31:22because you're going around
31:26colin hi hi ross how are you good
31:30what about my friend yeah good to see you good to see you
31:35this is the place that most of the story lines develop around isn't it yeah it is because this is
31:41where conversations get had loose lips people drink things gets just the truth that's where often
31:47the truth is spoken what do you think makes a good landlord then in any community he's sort of
31:51privy to most of the things that are going on so he becomes a lynchpin it's a very important role
31:55people around here have lost someone they really loved
31:59so drinks on the house collection on the bar for a family
32:03he's dealing with people when they come in but maybe a bit low
32:06a bit isolated and he sort of makes them feel safe
32:11that was lovely
32:16how important is it to have a black landlord of the queen vic
32:22i think it's really important i think it's uh he's a very
32:26symbolic figure within british culture so i take that very seriously i know there's young
32:32people watching looking at life going this is an opportunity this is a thing i could be
32:36it's it when you see it you can be it
32:41george knight and his family are the first black and jewel heritage household to run a pub
32:47on any uk soap the vic is so iconic and uh yeah it's kind of like walking into a fairy
32:54tale hello
32:55father come and join your dad you're a screen dad my on-screen dad who i always do call father
33:02yeah
33:02that's it's just become a thing wait up he did tell you to pack light he didn't tell us we
33:07were
33:07taking the tube molly rainford plays anna knight one of collins on-screen daughters she arrived in
33:152023 and has become a key part of the show what's it like being a young member of this cast
33:23it's great
33:24honestly i feel like east end does really champion young characters and young people in
33:29this show we all have our own stories and they all hold just as much weight which feels like a
33:35privilege
33:36as a young actor to be able to you know not just be a supporting role for a bigger story
33:41but actually
33:42to be able to go through those motions yourself it's your hair it's how you dress it's how you act
33:49or all smiles and the butter wouldn't melt
33:54you pass anna i pass yeah you could be white
34:02a recent hard-hitting storyline dealt with colorism a type of racism where people from the
34:08same ethnic group are treated differently because of how light or dark their skin tone is
34:15how important do you think it was to cover a topic like that so important i mean you know we
34:20are the
34:20first mixed-race family in the vic and these are conversations you know that happen in every
34:27mixed-race family's life and then all of these conversations are so important and so valid
34:32especially right now i'm just as black as you it's what the world sees you think you're treated different
34:40to me i know it the response i got afterwards was amazing you know parents being like my daughter
34:49looks like you and she had conversations on the playground that day after seeing that and
34:54and that feels like a yeah a blessing for sure you smashed it thanks yeah
35:05stories from everyday life for what fuel eastenders
35:09from overheard conversations to colorful characters inspiration can be found in the most unlikely of places
35:23the seat taken oh hello how are you all right thank you darling lovely to see you
35:31we're all aboard
35:37pam st clement played eastenders legend pat butcher a bit pricey isn't it hardly it's not for a dump like
35:44wolf but you're asking she arrived in 1986 yes oh oh you're digging me a star oh good we know
35:53you
35:53it's been it's been a good few years is that better oh it's what's her name of course it is
35:59oh it is
36:00if you fancy a cup of tea i'll be in the cafe see ya well i never after all these
36:04years
36:06what's her name was only hired for three weeks but her performance as the provocative often scandalous
36:12pat was so popular she remained on the show for 26 years
36:21so pam why are we on a bus oh it's not just a bus oh it's not just no no
36:26no it's a number 38 bus oh
36:29right you see when when i got the part of pat like any actor i decided to do a bit
36:35of the homework and
36:36i saw this bus conductress on a number 38 bus and she was wearing these most dangly earrings
36:45spiky hair around here and dangly oh hang on i've brought some with me oh my god never go anywhere
36:53without them but that is isn't it i mean it's a statement isn't it pat always wears the earrings
36:59to fit her mood that's a jolly one that's a happy day i wonder if the woman on the bus
37:05ever knew that
37:05you based one of the most famous soap characters on her she probably never knows no she won't well
37:11she might now she might know how many earrings did pat's get through let me tell you you know
37:19those toolboxes you can get that fold up yeah yeah and they come out yeah that's obviously i had one
37:23of those and a wall bracket with dangling earrings but the interesting thing is most of them came from
37:33viewers well they said oh yeah oh i saw these in the market and i thought oh they're absolutely right
37:39for
37:39that there's another prize i'd like to present so i'd be grateful if you could stick around for a
37:44minute or two along with her earrings pat is remembered for her feud with my on-screen mum
37:50peggy mitchell played by the late dame barbara windsor their fights over frank butcher the stuff of legend
37:57all it remains for me is to present the prizes
38:09hope you all enjoyed the fireworks goodnight
38:16their love triangle one of the show's highlights
38:23that was part and parcel of what was so great about it particularly the triangle between frank
38:29pat and peggy it felt very natural
38:32we had that sort of
38:36instant something yes there was something about it that you could
38:41you get in there and if somebody said to you this is the aim of this scene this is what
38:46we want you
38:46to do in this scene and we'd play it oh temper temper anyway you're nothing to write over that no
38:54wonder boy can't do it
39:00oh flamey won't kill you
39:03you did it for me you take back what you say you bitch you cow
39:10go get on girl i think she won jerky yeah yeah absolutely you won go but how does it feel
39:19looking
39:20back at that moment now well i miss her i mean basically um message tremendously yeah yeah oh my dear
39:30friend you won't never leave me will you no sweet old not for one single second thank you
39:46pam darling this is my stop oh bye-bye lovely to have seen me lovely to see you again
39:51go on take care love you
39:57pat butcher a character born on a bus and raised in a soap is now wedged deep into our popular
40:04culture
40:06it shows how a look can establish a character's personality
40:11and something else can also help a catchy saying or one-liner
40:19rickie rickie
40:21sausage surprise they can add humor
40:26do me a favor and some live on long after the character has departed
40:31i like more
40:32get out of my pub
40:37and then there are those that signify a complete transformation of character a turning point from
40:44which they will never be the same again you can't tell me what to do you ain't my mother yes
40:52i am
41:01jesse hello hello welcome to cats cabs hello cats cabs hello how are you i'm fine it is uh very
41:09impressive it's very arthur daly isn't it it's a little bit arthur daly yeah
41:18cats later played by jesse wallace arrived in 2000
41:24quick tongued and foul-mouthed so did i tell you i like breakfast in bed in that case you better
41:29sleep
41:29in the kitchen cat is all leopard print leather and lipstick don't wait up will you
41:35get out of here jesse what's it like to be the person that probably said one of the most iconic
41:43lines in soap history um well it's an honor really i mean it's going back 22 23 years ago
41:49and uh it's still said to me now go on go and say it say it yes i am
41:58explain to me the actual storyline for people that don't know at the young age of 13 her uncle harry
42:04which was her dad's brother used to sexually abuse her and got her pregnant you really hate me
42:11don't you hate you no i just think you're a fat old curve when the baby was born she had
42:21to give it to
42:22her mom and zoe grew up thinking that cat was her sister and she had to hide that but that
42:28reveal
42:29how many of everybody involved in this ship how many people actually knew that you were going to
42:34say that line no one just me and michelle that's the thing with this you've got to keep it top
42:40top
42:41secret which is also part of the fun of being in this show i was just supposed to say it
42:45yes i am
42:47but i said to the director no after 18 years of holding that in i would scream it out
42:53and it worked did you realize the impact it was going to have um
43:00no i didn't i was getting a lot of fan mail from from young girls which the same had happened
43:06to them
43:06or was happening to them which was massive impact and something that i had it was hard to deal with
43:13so they were passed on to the nspcc i've got a scene i want to show you okay i just
43:19want you to cuddle me
43:21like i wanted you to cuddle me then where were you dad i was there no you weren't
43:27i needed you so badly then all i wanted was for you to sit me on your lap and say
43:35it didn't matter
43:36and that you still loved me and everything was gonna be all right but you didn't did you dad
43:45you just looked at me with disgust disgust and contempt
43:57amazing how do you feel looking back at that just feel terribly sorry for her
44:04it's just awful she just wanted to be loved
44:08and uh her dad sort of like looked the other way feels like a million years ago does it it's
44:15a
44:15great scene it's a brilliant i never uh i don't watch myself really a lot but i'm i'm proud of
44:20that
44:21so you should be thank you
44:27sorry girls didn't mean to scare you
44:33when i first joined eastenders in the 1990s the public's reaction to certain storylines was very
44:40different from now what was considered controversial then is considered less so today and i think that's
44:47partially because of the issues that eastenders has covered have you um had sex since you think you
44:56may have been exposed what do you think um sorry you are hiv positive
45:06a major recent storyline for the character zach hudson is drawing attention to the stigma around hiv
45:13pharah how are you good how are you good to see you mate how are you nice to see you
45:19you're well yeah
45:19good played by james farrah zach first popped onto our screens in march 2021
45:29sharon by the way zach kathy two beautiful sisters here to say goodbye
45:36he's a lovable rogue cheeky chappy but underneath it always insecure makes some some real mistakes but
45:45then kind of makes up for it through having a really good heart
45:50ah he needed rescuing and cleaned up before whitney sees him known for his colorful love life
45:57i don't know where to look i'm getting my get him a towel linda i've had sex on this couch
46:01the hiv
46:03diagnosis took zach's story in a very different direction it came from an idea of straight people
46:09can't catch hiv which is just incredible quite clearly that's what wasn't where i was but i
46:16certainly didn't realize how effective treatment was and this is one thing that will always stick
46:21with me and it was within the writing but again not shoved down our throats it was
46:26undetectable means untransmittable never knew that so as long as you get on top of
46:32your medication you can then have a sexual partner and not pass it on tell me about how
46:40your character contracted it sharing needles because we were injecting at the gym steroids steroids
46:50for zach's story the eastenders team work closely with the uk's leading hiv and sexual health charity
46:58the terence higgins trust the terence higgins trust came out with stats there was a 75 percent rise in
47:05website visits straight after that episode it's something that our show does so fantastically is
47:12bringing issue led drama to our tv so we're bringing conversations out every single evening i swear
47:19because i was ignorant i honestly thought that i couldn't get hiv and now i'm facing up to my
47:27prejudice and i'm learning and you lot will do two one day what the hell are you doing here we're
47:35having a drink oh no you're not you're leaving right now i'm halfway through serving why are you
47:41doing this you've got aids mark and i won't add that sort of thing in my pub i haven't got
47:51aids
47:53over 30 years before zach's hiv storyline another eastender went on a similar journey what they call
48:06hiv hiv hiv hiv mark fowler was the first mainstream character on british television to be diagnosed with
48:14hiv and 18 million viewers watched as he told his parents this groundbreaking storyline changed opinion
48:23when fear and misinformation was rife the impact that eastenders has can affect us in unexpected ways
48:37even on our national sport let's look at tonight's match with um liverpool in april 2001 some of football's
48:46biggest stars had to wait patiently in their changing rooms our commentary this evening starts in about 15
48:51minutes time the uefa cup semi-final between liverpool and barcelona was delayed by 15 minutes
48:59and it wasn't because of bad weather it was all because of my on-screen brother phil
49:07uefa delayed the match so we could watch eastenders
49:16and find out who had tried to kill phil mitchell
49:26the tabloids were awash with speculation who pulled the trigger they even revisited the crime
49:34scene listing the suspects their motives and their movements just before the shooting
49:49it was a good old-fashioned who done it nothing new there but what was new was the amount of
49:56publicity
49:57it generated papers ran stories about it cast members appeared on chat shows discussing the
50:04likely culprit you could even place a bet on who done it what a waking tv it's been we've all
50:13been
50:13trying to work out who shot phil mitchell mr jupiter's here thinks his terms in althwaite
50:16and julian's fingered martin kemp well they say a criminal always returns to the scene of the crime
50:32so why did you shoot my brother wasn't me
50:43was you it wasn't the bush it was me how are you all right done how are you nice to
50:50see you
50:50nice to see you too oh yeah i mean it was let's have a look what's it's a massive it
50:55was a massive
50:56storyline wasn't it i mean it was there you are yeah lucy benjamin played lisa fowler one of albert
51:04square's most likable characters she was known for being phil mitchell's long-suffering girlfriend
51:11feeling better no i'm fine now we're all told that we were suspects in a big storyline of who shot
51:17phil
51:18but none of us at the point of being told that were told who actually was going to be the
51:22culprit
51:22so we all had to do about you know six or eight weeks of acting like not knowing if it
51:27was us so you
51:27didn't know whether to play guilty or not which i think actually was a was a master stroke people
51:31suspected me the least that's right phil i tried to kill you and you know what i enjoyed it i
51:41pulled
51:41that trigger and it thrilled me the abuse that your character received from phil was quite extreme
51:49wasn't it yeah i mean in terms of the release abuse it was domestic abuse yeah and and in terms
51:55of the
51:55build-up with lisa and phil as their storyline it was all about that coercive control which then
51:59developed into physical abuse um which which is they're hard stories to tell and at the time
52:06i don't know whether there was there was much of that going on on the box and you know
52:09extenders wasn't afraid to tackle that she's soiled goods these days still all i have to do is
52:18kick my fingers
52:23she felt worthless at that point she'd got nothing left to live for that's what i feel
52:27like she she may as well have done it because her life was worth nothing at that point she had
52:32nothing to lose what was it like for you on the streets at that point um oh i think people
52:37used to
52:37pat me on the back really because i think you know because i think they disliked phil so much
52:41remember once in a supermarket someone saying to me didn't do a very good job should have finished him off
52:45i mean people loved it and you want me to do it here yeah go on put me out my
52:54misery over 20
52:56million of us tuned in to watch phil confront his would-be assassin what's that can't you cut it no
53:04more proving this truly was a national event last night's episode sparked the third biggest power
53:11surge on record the winner is the shooting of phil mitchell the hype around who shot phil was
53:19something new for a british soap eastenders used a marketing campaign to boost interest in the
53:25storyline which became a national and award-winning event
53:37who done it's something the show has returned to again and again me yeah the latest is currently
53:45being filmed here in the queen vic we're celebrating the 40th anniversary with another who done it storyline
53:52it's a nod to the first episode it's a nod to what the show was kind of built from
54:01the victim of the latest who done it is one of eastenders most well-known characters
54:06who i've been told is now in wardrobe hello joe how are you mate hey good to see you well
54:13yeah
54:14yeah do that do the 40th documentary mate oh amazing i'll see you in a bit i'll see you in
54:18a bit mate
54:20so this is wardrobe brings back some memories this is where i used to do my quick changes
54:28oh hello hello hello so michelle center of the big reveal for the 40th how's that feel it's kind of
54:40an
54:40honor i suppose to be doing something for the 40th pivotal pivotal yeah and uh and it is a great
54:48storyline so yeah i'm i'm happy you're man enough to come for a burn-up i'll take it slow
54:56michelle collins plays cindy beale who first appeared on screens in 1988
55:03and she's been flirting flaunting it and scheming ever since people love to hate her she's unapologetic
55:12she's not a submissive kind of character she is guided by her emotions and i think she
55:23pisses off a lot of people and doesn't apologize
55:28once a slapper always a slapper
55:34come on gents form an organ queue looks like she's open for business again
55:39when you get to kind of your mid 40s it changes it definitely changes for women and i don't think
55:44it
55:45changes so much for men you start playing the mum or the best friend or the auntie or the granny
55:52so
55:52it's great that soaps are embraced particularly says are embracing that you know yes she's a
55:58middle-aged woman but why can't middle-aged women have their own lives strangely there is a lot of
56:03lace going on there it's a bit a lot of button we do because obviously we're posts we're pre-watershed
56:09we can't really do too much kind of sex stuff what do you think nice yeah i've got a bit
56:17of a gift for
56:18fashion though lingerie i i found really hard it's hard to judge online might need a second opinion
56:28cheers cheers the matriarchs of 1985 are very different to the ones of 20 25.
56:36my a woman of my character of my age probably would be well pauline found it in a cardigan
56:40in a cardigan smoking a fang oh yeah all right you know like in the laundry watching the washing
56:46machine going around i'm not seducing a man i refuse half her age no and i'm not wearing a
56:51blooming cardigan i mean i refuse to wear an apron in beale's heels cindy doesn't wear aprons
56:57before you go ross i've got something to show you okay
57:02oh my word i can see the name what's that say
57:07i don't think i'll be able to answer when was the last time you put on that ross
57:10long time ago could you help me oh do you know what oh it does fit oh my word what
57:14does that say
57:16grant mitchell is back
57:21when i began making this documentary i didn't know i would be dusting off grant mitchell's leather
57:31jacket and returning to the show but i am grant's back over the past few months i've realized what an
57:40impact eastenders has had on my life on the other people that work here and on its viewers eastenders
57:48has tackled some difficult subjects it's changed hearts and minds and it's reflected an ever-changing
57:56society all the while entertaining millions of people and that is why i am very proud to be a part
58:05of its 40th anniversary ready for the onset ross here i come okay ladies and nice and quiet thank you
58:15here we go let's turn over please we're turning and action
58:27let's pray
58:29in the final
58:45I don't see
58:48But you never dance