The Year Was… 2002

The Dying, the Dead and the Departed…
The Mitchells were a determined lot, you had to say that about them. When you had something they wanted, you could be guaranteed that one of them would knock on your door at some point, kicking or screaming it down. So when Phil wanted Louise, his daughter, from Lisa and Mark Fowler, the daggers were drawn.

First, he had to deal with Steve. This feud had gone on long enough. When Lisa decided that she finally had enough of everything and tried to flee the country with Lou, the plan became simple.: Lisa and Mel would wait for Steve, who would meet them later, and then they would go together; unfortunately for all concerned, Phil figured out what was going on and a high speed car chase through London between the two men ensued, with Lou in the back of Steve’s car, a treasured commodity to be won. Steve lost control of the car and Phil raced to the vehicle, already on fire. He grabbed Louise and was honestly going back for Steve when the car exploded, blowing the smooth talking criminal to smithereens. And just like that, Phil won that round.

Mel was less than devastated, especially when she found out all about Steve’s businesses on the side: money laundering and drug-dealing, most of which using her signature. He left her right in it. She went straight to prison, didn’t pass go or collect anything worth anything and then, to her sheer horror, discovered she was pregnant with Steve’s child. Learning that best friend Lisa had shot Phil and let others take the blame was too much and, deciding that anywhere was better than Walford, Mel asked a ticket conductor to pick a number and disappeared into the night.

The Mysterious Disappearance of Lisa Fowler
Naturally without Mel or Steve to back her up, Lisa floundered. She was only strong with others to fall back on. Despite being married to Mark, he wasn’t in a good place. His body was becoming immune to his HIV medication which left him untreated and petrified. His attempt at courtship when drunk bordered on assault and she left him for… you guessed it, Phil.

Lisa tried to play happy families, hoping that his daughter would be enough for him to love her as well, but Phil, deprived of Ben, wanted Lou – and only Lou. He treated Lisa like a skivvy and even hired nanny Joanne to take care of the baby – much to new mother Lisa’s anguish. Peggy continuously stuck her nose in, just to keep her two cents in.

Finally, after hearing from Mel in Portugal, and with help from Jamie and Sonia, she took Louise as fast as she could and left Phil a scrawled message in lipstick on the bedroom mirror: “She’s mine!”

Phil was in hot pursuit. He beat Jamie to a pulp (more on that in a bit) and followed Lisa. He returned a few weeks later, with Louise, her stuff and Lisa’s passport. Sonia, concerned about her friend who would never give her child back to Phil, reported it to Marsden. As time went on, it certainly did look like something very bad and very sinister had happened to Lisa Fowler – and only Phil Mitchell knew what it was…

Little Mo on Trial
By the time Little Mo had returned to the Fowler kitchen with her sisters after clobbering ex-husband Trevor with Pauline’s iron (her frying pan, her iron, what next? Her door stop?) and the Slater girls were stunned to find him gone. They scrubbed up the evidence and went home, hoping Trevor had learnt his lesson now and wouldn’t be back.

Of course you can’t keep a good villain down and Trevor returned more menacing than ever. He followed Mo around the Square, making her even more timid than usual, but by the time her inevitable trial for attempted murder came around, she was shaking.

The trial was one to remember. Trevor, somehow, came across as a nice, decent guy, confused as to why his wife had attacked him, while Little Mo changed her plea to ‘guilty’ because she couldn’t handle her conscience. Always had good morals, did Little Maureen… She got up and boldly told the truth about the hell Trevor had put her through. There would be no sympathy though: Mo was found guilty and sentenced to eight years in prison.

Trying to appeal, the Slaters rallied together to find anything that could get Little Mo released. Kat managed to track down his other partner Donna, who by now had given birth to Trev’s son, little Sean, and luckily she was persuaded (not hard with the Slaters on your back!) to give evidence against Trevor. Trevor couldn’t risk that, turned up at the Slater house to find her and was promptly arrested. Mo was out by the summer.

Finally, Mo was free physically. But mentally was another story. It look some time, but eventually she felt ready enough to pursue her romance with Billy Mitchell, who had somehow, by this point, gone from drug-dealing nephew-beater to the nicest Mitchell of the lot! But Trevor just wouldn’t stay away, tormenting them from a distance by dating newly-arrived home Sam (in a minute…). But eventually, when Billy proposed, Trevor could stand it no more.

On Halloween, dressed up, he assaulted Donna in her home, snatched baby Sean and broke into the Slater house, where he proceeded to kidnap Mo and hold her ransom as he poured vast quantities of petrol around the place. Lighting a match he threatened to torch the lot, but Mo finally stood up to him, declaring her independence and pushed him aside. He dropped the match and the house went up.

As the residents gathered outside, firefighter Tom (again, in a minute…) rushed in and saved Little Mo and baby Sean. He went back for Trevor, but the house exploded with Tom and Trevor still inside. Just to be sure, Little Mo had him cremated anyway. On Christmas Day, in large pink heels and a choir, Little Mo finally became Little Mo Mitchell.

It turned out, obviously, that Frank and the red-head, a smooth operator by the name of Krystle, had been running a property scam to rip of a load of ex-pats. He had faked his death to scarper with the funds. However Krystle was ahead of him and proved she was the better con artist out the two of them by absconding with the lot. Peggy mercifully got Frank out of trouble, but declined the chance of a fresh start.

Before she returned to Walford though, there was one more surprise: errant daughter Sam turned up working in a Spanish lap-dancing bar, and Peggy, mortified, brought her home to Walford. Although, we were all surprised anyone recognised her…

Janine Butcher: Bombshell
Janine was down on her luck: Frank had left her high and dry as well, especially without the car lot, Peggy or Pat to rely on. The two ladies gave Janine exactly what the minx deserved: nothing. She had developed a full-blown cocaine addiction by this point and when her credit ran out, she borrowed left, right and centre, or downright stole it from people. When that finished she ended up selling herself for the cash for the coke, which gave us EastEnders‘ first coke-addicted prostitute. She made things worse for herself by putting up her own ‘bombshell’ cards in the phone boxes of Walford. Eventually, anything in trousers would do, even someone close to home.

Yes, Ian Beale rediscovered his former hobby of curb-crawling and picked up the errant Janine. It was either her or Laura’s constant nagging. But for a while, he became one of Janine’s regulars, and she delighted in making him squirm. Especially when he was seen kissing his lady of the night – by Steven.

People could see Janine spiralling. Her sister Clare, whom had very rarely bothered with the rest of the family, briefly turned up, but even she gave up when she learnt that Janine was turning tricks. She ended up overdosing, slumped unconscious with an empty vodka bottle in the allotments, and would have died if not for the genuine concern of her best mate, if she had one that is, in the form of Billy.

This was the wake call she needed, but getting better was no easy feat: Laura, having found out about the affair threw hot milk over her. Steven blackmailed her and his own father and ended up getting up so bad that Pat and Ian told him the truth about Wicksy and sent him to live in New Zealand!

Janine developed severe agoraphobia and couldn’t leave the flat and Billy even tried starving her out. He hadn’t figured on Janine and a tin of dog food though and ultimately she needed desperate attention. Enter big brother Ricky, back on the Square, who helped her back on her feet, and he had a few choice words for Pat and Peggy over their treatment of his little sister.

Sharon’s Fresh Hell
Reclaiming her place behind the bar of the Queen Vic was everything Sharon Watts had wanted: it completed her. But a trip to America after Christmas brought sad news to the Square: her mother Angie had died, ostensibly from alcohol, and Sharon brought her home to be buried. The funeral was a typical East End affair with the usual amount of fuss – even Jan turned up, but kept a respectable distance – and Sharon even caught up with the old school friend Tom Banks. See, told you it was coming…

It was not to be. Returning after having Ethel’s ring adjusted, Jamie came out of the tube station and straight into (unlicensed) driver Martin Fowler. Jamie was rushed to hospital, the Mitchells and the Branning family at his side. It looked like everything would be fine, but on Christmas night Jamie showed signs of a ruptured liver and suddenly passed away, shortly after slipping the ring to Sonia. A nation of teenage girls wept…

Ian and Laura: Deception and Lies
Ian had more problems than his paid dalliance with Janine by the end of the year: this time marriage number three was on the way out. Since the day they walked down the aisle, Laura had brought up the possibility of the two of them having their own child. Ian was not happy about this until he had a vasectomy on the quiet, without telling his wife. Laura, thinking all was okay, continued on her ‘sex schedule’ with Ian gleefully getting all the high points.

Soon after Laura announced her pregnancy. Around the Christmas Dinner table, Ian and Laura were happily discussing baby names when Ian asked a question she wasn’t expecting: “How about naming it after it’s real father?” Laura was genuinely stunned, but Ian threw her out before she could even serve the stuffing…

Meanwhile, away from the confines of Albert Square, some familiar faces were about to meet again for the first time in four years. And this catch-up would have lasting consequences for the whole of Walford in the years to come…