The Year Was… 1992

INTRODUCTION

Her Majesty the Queen celebrated 40 years on the Throne, the AIDS crisis continued and Charles and Di separated. At the cinema, Aladdin rubbed a lamp and got Robin Williams, oversized hoop earrings were in and electronic sounds erupted from every abandoned warehouse in the land on the weekend, accompanied by neon-coloured lights and a dozen coppers.

The year was 1992 and down Walford way, the ‘Bonk of the Year’ was happening in the British tabloids. What was this passionate love affair that gripped the nation and would send sales of kitchenware through the roof? Why, it was all Arthur Fowler’s fault of course!

EVENTS

The Aforementioned ‘Bonk’
Arthur really should have known better. Doing the odd jobs in gardening for Christine Hewitt should have been an easy cash-in-hand gig for him and it would have kept him busy. After all, Pauline was visiting a recuperating Kenny in New Zealand (in actuality a plot-device to allow Wendy Richard time to film Are You Being Served? spin-off Grace & Favour). It started with a common interest in gardening, but soon Arthur realised that maybe there was more to life than nagging Pauline and started spending an enormous amount of time with Christine, a recently-divorced lady who soon aroused suspicion.

Clearly with designs on Arthur, she flirted with Pete to get his attention. Dot, curtain-twitching as usual, caught Christine in Pauline’s dressing gown. Arthur even kept a photo of Christine in his shed. But nothing actually happened.

Of course, Pauline came home, somehow even worse tempered than usual, and Arthur headed straight for Christine’s home for sanctuary. Pauline confronted them both and was satisfied that nothing was actually happening. Christine seethed from a distance, but on Christmas Eve pounced, seduced Arthur and the pair were soon planning a full blown affair.

**Christine** started hanging around the Square…

Sharon and the Mitchell Boys
Sharon and Grant were truly incompatible. He wanted a baby, and Sharon didn’t. He wanted a typical housewife, which Sharon certainly wasn’t. Sharon went along with Grant, secretly taking the morning after pill, while her husband got involved in a raid on a betting shop. It was at this point Sharon began to despair at the state of her marriage and found herself confiding in the more-sympathetic Phil.

The honeymoon period was definitely over!

And that was that. The start of the affair that would impact the next two years on Albert Square. Grant, completely in the dark, bullied Sharon and continued as normal, not realising he was pushing his wife closer into brother Phil’s arms. After he got into trouble with the insurance and decided to torch the Vic, Grant put his plan into action, not realising Sharon was still inside! She escaped unscathed and realised that yep, she had married the wrong brother!

Soon Phil and Sharon were at it like a couple of teenagers. Michelle caught them out and ended up in on the secret: surely it wasn’t safe to carry on behind psycho Grant’s back? But Phil and Sharon were convinced they were destiny and aimed to be together – although neither of them had the nerve to tell Grant the truth.

That, among other things, would have to wait…

**Sharon** has a heart-to-heart with an understanding **Phil**

Mark and Gill’s One-Day Marriage
Mark’s HIV status continued to cause discomfort in the Fowler household for various reasons: Michelle was stunned (that he hadn’t told her first) and Arthur was bleaching everything and throwing Mark’s stuff away. This drove him back to Gill and it was clear that the pair were completely and utterly in love. Michelle, by now his staunchest ally, helped as Gill moved down to London and moved in. But her condition deteriorated quickly and she was forced to go into hospice care. Mark proposed and the pair wed in a beautiful ceremony in June, with Michelle and Rachel in attendance. Unfortunately, Gill managed one night of their honeymoon and slipped away, leaving Mark with booze as his buddy as he consoled himself.

The Most Hated Girl in Walford
A consequence of Pat’s trip to a hooker club led Lorraine Salter to dump her daughter on Pat and Frank. Mandy was a little madam, campaigning for the ‘most hated woman in Britain award’ and managed to annoy just about everyone during her first year on the Square. She blackmailed Ian when she found out about his ‘girlfriends’, tried to come between Steve and Hattie, who were getting serious enough for her to stay behind when her family left, and stole money from Pete’s stall. She resorted to creepy behaviour, wearing Gill’s clothes and reading her diary, becoming obsessed with Mark. She had lived with everyone on the Square by the end of the year and, miraculously, hadn’t been killed or murdered. She ended the year homeless, but she wasn’t through yet…

Like butter wouldn’t melt – **Mandy** was trouble from the start!

Ian’s Pursuits
Ian was not handling things. Not coping well without Cindy, he started hiring escorts to pretend to be his girlfriend and paying Cindy lookalikes for sex. When he did meet a nice girl, he treated her like rubbish and dumped her in front of a packed pub. Kathy was convinced he just needed time, but Ian was convinced he needed something else.

**Ian** stalked **Cindy** and found her alone

He determined to track Cindy and found her, living in a grotty flat: Wicksy had been unable to keep up with her demands and fled into the night. Being a single mother with no money was not the life to which Cindy had aspired to and when Ian took control of the situation, throwing money around and smothering her with much-needed attention, she decided that maybe she could put up with him. That seemed to do the trick and he brought her home to Walford for Christmas – much to Kathy’s abject horror!

**Ian** brings **Cindy** and **Steven** home to Walford

Pat’s Dark Night
The Butchers found themselves in mounting debts and were forced to sell the B and B as they owed thousands of pounds to the taxman. Pat, using previous business skills, made a go of a taxicab firm from the car lot, which by the end of the year started making some serious money and was starting to dent the balance. Unfortunately, rushing around on Christmas Eve and trying to fulfil fares, Pat, two G and Ts over the limit, knocked a young girl over. Pat discovered that she was dead on New Year’s Eve. Things would be dark for Pat Butcher for a while…

**Pat** is arrested after an accident at New Years

The Other Stuff
Much to Ricky’s disbelief, Sam does a topless photo shoot. Evil Willmott-Brown returns and attempts to romance Kathy – he’s soon run out of town. Nigel Bates, Grant’s old buddy, moves in with Dot as her lodger. Market inspector Richard Cole arrives. Celestine and Etta move to Norwich, leaving Clyde and Hattie behind. Arthur’s garden gnome is stolen!