The Year Was… 1998

Tiffany Goes Out at Midnight
The year was not a kind one to Tiffany Mitchell. By this point in their disastrous marriage she and Grant were at each other’s throats. And so the tragedy unfolded: tearing strips off one another as usual, Tiffany and Grant’s quarrel incurred the wrath of Peggy, who caught a slap from Grant for her trouble. Realising he had crossed the line, Grant vanished to Cyprus to calm down. By the time he returned, Tiffany’s mother Louise had arrived to cause even more drama for her own family, and Grant was immediately determined to bed her.

With Tiffany and Courtney away on a massage course, Grant wasted no time in making a move on Louise, but Tiff returned, looking glammed up and a million bucks. Grant was enraged at her independent streak and the attention she got from others and responded by caveman-ing his mother-in-law to bed, as you do. For a few months, this went unnoticed, until Tiffany overheard the pair discussing their tryst over the baby monitor. Yes, a baby monitor, again.

She packed her bags, Grant panicked and with a thunderous clout heard downstairs in the bar, Tiffany was soon unconscious at the bottom of the Vic’s stairs, Grant peering down at her unmoving form.

Grant was arrested and Tiffany recovered in hospital. She made plans to frame Grant: he hadn’t pushed her, she had tripped, and she was going to make sure that she took Courtney from him. Plans to run away with Beppe di Marco failed when Tiff, coming around for one final gloat, bumped into a released Grant. He grabbed Courtney and fled into the Square, with Tiffany in hot pursuit.

Frank, late for New Year’s bell ringing, felt his car hit something as he entered the Square. Tiffany fell to the ground, hitting her head and took one last look at her daughter in Grant’s arms as she slipped away before midnight.

Cindy on Trial
At the start of the year the war between Ian and Cindy Beale had begun. She returned from Italy with a truly powerful makeover and in full battle mode, armed with good looks, seduction, a handsome new boyfriend and a new child on the way. She got away with the abduction of the boys and Ian spent a night in the cells when he got too heated during the trial by objecting.

Ian got his way in the end. Curious about the day of the shooting, he managed to track down the hitman, who, wanting a lighter sentence, proceeded to drop Cindy in it. Cindy was soon arrested and sent to prison on remand to await trial for conspiracy to commit murder, amongst other things.

But Ian’s plans for a first-rate victory parade post-trial were cancelled when, on Bonfire Night, Pat arrived to give Ian news that he’d missed a call: Cindy had died of a blood clot to the lung whilst giving birth to a baby girl.

Ian took in the child whilst things were settling, and he named her Cindy after her mother. Soon he arranged to have the child taken to her grandparents in Devon. The story of Cindy Beale was over…

Religion Comes First
Alex the Vicar’s bosses were not too pleased to find out he was sharing time with twice-divorced and single mother Kathy and give him an ultimatum: the job or the woman. Kathy was none too delighted when he suggested moving with his job and she bailed on the relationship. Alex still tried to woo her back though, thinking he may have made a mistake.

Phil also tried to woo Kathy back. At least, he figured, he had the Ben connection with Kathy, but that wasn’t enough for her either. What did she want? Could it be Grant? Yes, even he weighed in and made an offer to start a new life with Kath away from the Square.

Horrified to the point where she started having vivid nightmares outside of normal (and we mean pre-credits) sleeping times, Kathy’s head was officially cooked. With a touching goodbye to Ian and a look of sorrow from Phil, Kathy boarded a flight to join Ted in South Africa where she and Ben would remain forever, blissfully free of trouble and strife…

The Hills and the Raymonds
These two clans were disastrous left to their own devices, so together they were double the trouble! Terry and Irene ran the dysfunctional lot and Terry planned a May wedding, which Irene agreed to (he had just had a substantial win on the gee gees).

Of course, the day itself went disastrous as well: Louise, Terry’s ex, chose the worst moment to arrive when the couple were at the altar and it turned out that Terry had conveniently forgotten he was still married to her! Still, Irene and Terry were two peas in a pod and they still went on their honeymoon, just not as husband and wife. Yet.