The last few decades have seen a huge amount of drama and tragedy strike the inhabitants of Albert Square. Indeed, there’s never a dull moment in the fictional London borough of Walford. There has been murder, love affairs, tragic deaths, eventful weddings and just about anything you can imagine! For those die-hard fans, here are a few surprising facts that even you might not know about one of the nation’s most-loved soaps:
- Almost had a different name
When the idea for the show was first being put together, it was almost called ‘Square Dance’. Pretty terrible, right? Thankfully, this idea was dropped. Other working titles at the time included London Pride, Round the Square and E8.
- No Dirty Den!
Can you believe that the Watts family were originally supposed to have completely different names? Angie, Den and Sharon were the first ever residents of the Queen Vic but were originally to be named Pearl, Jack and Tracey!
- The same dress
Unless you’re very eagle-eyed indeed, you may not have noticed that Dot Cotton has worn the same dress at Christmas for the last 28 years! The same red dress has been donned for Christmas day specials and is the oldest costume in the whole EastEnders cast wardrobe. Make sure you don’t miss this Christmas’ appearance of the red dress! Problems with your signal? Get it fixed with TV Aerial repair Bath from steveunettaerials.co.uk/services/tv-aerials-repair-installation-bath/
- Walford is fictional
Whilst most of us know that there’s no such place as Walford, not many know how the name was formed. The two creators of the show, Tony Holland and Julia Smith were both born in East London and decided to merge their hometown names of Walthamstow and Stratford.
- E20 is no longer a fake postcode
Until 2011, Walford’s E20 postcode was purely fictional. However, when the Olympic Park was constructed in Stratford for the 2012 London Olympics all that changed when it was given the E20 postcode.
- Thousands of hours
There is a staggering 2,500 hours’ worth of EastEnders footage. That means if you’ve been a fan since the first episode, you’ve spent 104 days of your life watching EastEnders.
7.Standard length
Each episode is exactly the same length – 27 minutes and 15 seconds.
- Real beer
There is real beer in the Queen Vic pub pumps!
- Pat Butcher has married more times than any other woman on the show
Good ole Pat has been hitched four times. Her husbands include Pete Beale, Brian Wicks, Frank Butcher and Roy Evans.
- Spice Girl for Bianca
Before shooting to global stardom as the baby of the Spice Girls, Emma Bunton did in fact audition for the part of Bianca in the show.
- A different Peggy Mitchell?
It’s hard to imagine anyone else in a role Barbara Windsor totally made her own. Who else could shout ‘Get outta ma pub’ so convincingly? However, Babs was actually the fourth choice to land this important part.
- EastEnders stopped a UEFA Cup semi-final
There aren’t many shows that can boast having stopped a UEFA Cup semi-final event. The match in question was in 2001 between Liverpool and Barcelone and it was postponed by 15 minutes, so viewers could find out who shot Phil Mitchell! So, there you have it. EastEnders is more important than football!