The Year Was… 2007

The Arrival of Shirley Carter
When stranger Shirley gave a lift to a struggling Deano and Carly Wicks having car trouble, we knew something wasn’t right. She was way too shifty. Holidaying, the Fox-Wicks clan were focussing on becoming a merged family. Shirley kept on hovering around the kids, inviting them to lunch, that sort of thing and eventually confronted Kevin at the cottage they were staying at: she was his ex-wife, the mother of Carly and Deano, who had abandoned them after the death of their brother Jimbo. What’s more he wasn’t their actual father!

Within days, Shirley had tracked the Wicks clan to Walford and made no secret of her distasteful views on anyone that crossed her path. She was described as ‘scary’ more than once. She clashed with Denise and Pat, the latter of which had them arrested for brawling outside the Vic!

But Shirley made it clear: she was not leaving her children again. And so, Shirley Carter moved into Albert Square. She was soon in a relationship with newcomer wheeler-dealer Vinnie Monks and behind the bar at the Vic, generally scowling in everyone’s general direction. Dean and Carly discovered the truth, wanted nothing to do with her and Deano and Chelsea Fox (thick as thieves) ended up facing prison time for framing Sean Slater for an attack on Patrick.

While she didn’t get on with her children, she did get on with Phil, and, like most sane women in Walford do (and even though he was mostly a raging drunk for most of the time), she fell completely in love. And while Phil used her for sex and for a drinking buddy, Shirley took him in – every single time… When Phil was sober enough he got Kevin involved in selling cut and shuts at the car lot. With Shirley in tow, Kevin decided to have some boy racing fun before he scrapped the evidence – but promptly got impaled on a bar through the windshield and died with Shirley next to him, declaring his love for Denise as the clock struck midnight for 2008…

Sonia arrested for murder!
The fallout from Pauline Fowler’s Christmas Day death went in a completely different direction when the autopsy showed that Pauline had been clobbered across the head before she dropped dead. Sonia, having had a furious argument with the Fowler matriarch only hours before her death (Lou’s beloved fruit bowl had not survived), was prime suspect number one, and for a while it seemed like she had genuinely caused her mother in law’s death, albeit accidentally.

Dot and Jim wouldn’t rest though and when Joe Macer, Pauline’s lying, criminal husband confessed that he had hit Pauline with her frying pan (karma?), he held Dot prisoner upstairs in the Fowler house. Jim intervened and Joe went careening through the window to his death on the market below.

After this, Martin and Sonia reunited, and by February, with daughter Rebecca finally in tow, left the Square for a fresh start. For the first time since 1985, there was no longer a Fowler on Albert Square.

May Day!
Dawn Swann was never going to be crowned the Brain of Britain, but even she didn’t deserve the eighteen months from Hell she was about to go through! As if posing as Ian Beale’s wife wasn’t bad enough, Dawn had picked herself up a married man and was conducting a bit of credit card fraud in Jane Beale’s name. Oops. The married man in question, Rob Minter, seemed like a nice guy – until it was revealed that he was married to the Square’s Doctor May Wright and her one desire in life was to have a baby. So when Rob got his girlfriend pregnant, his wife hatched a startling plot that would cause chaos!

Dawn saw the reality of her situation early on: she was skint, not living with the father of her unborn child and an abortion was the way she chose to go. May had a counter offer: I’ll buy your baby for £19,000! Now instead of running for the hills, Dawn saw pound signs, agreed and allowed herself to be attended to, with lavish gifts and spa treatments keeping her sweet. With no intention of handing over the baby, a termination was planned and in the end May convinced Rob to stay in a relationship with Dawn to secure the child. When he genuinely left May to be with Dawn, he lit her fuse and she started making his life hell, having his vehicle towed, wiping his bank account. But she wasn’t happy…

Rob drove Dawn to a house in the middle of nowhere – where May waited, and she wanted to perform a C-section on Dawn and take the child regardless! Dawn escaped, went into labour on the underground, but managed to give birth to baby Summer. Mad May was found sneaking into Dawn’s hospital room later trying to snatch the child and was promptly arrested…

Cindy Beale: Back from the Dead?
Lucy Beale started her role as Ian’s biggest concern when she started acting rather oddly, seemingly convinced that her mother had never died, had faked her death and was still alive out there (Lucy could clearly see the future you see, but got her timing slightly off)!

Ian, of course, knew this was ‘impossible’, even checking with Cindy’s family and sister in Cornwall. Eventually a photo of Cindy holding a recent newspaper turned up and even Ian had to think twice! He tracked the culprit down to a block of flats somewhere in London and found it decorated with pictures of himself and Cindy, his eyes scratched out. Eventually he was stunned when Steven Beale walked into the room!

Steven was convinced that Ian was responsible for Cindy’s death and had gone from sweet and misunderstood to conniving and cruel. He held Ian prisoner, played the Beales as they worried about his absence and reingratiated himself into Walford life. Eventually he lured the family to Ian’s location and prepared to have his revenge with a gun. A shot rang out, but it was Jane who was hit, needed emergency surgery and a hysterectomy, leaving her bereft.

Steven was rejected by his family and started unravelling, eventually dowsing himself in petrol and brandishing a lighter. Ian, seeing his desperation, reconciled with him, but convincing Jane would be another matter…

Jase and Jay
Jase Dyer had fallen in with a bad crowd when he was teenager and it stuck. Out of prison after a lengthy spell, his ex passed since he went in and in search of a fresh start, he was also looking for someone: Jay Brown.

Jase was the boy’s father and all he wanted was to be there for his son. The pair initially clashed, Jay trying to be older than was, the tough guy, but he melted. The father and son set up shop in Albert Square. Jase started a handyman business and despite a frosty reception from Billy, eventually Billy, Honey and Jase become close friends.

When football hooligan leader Terry Bates approached Jase for some work, Jase wanted out straight away. Bates had looked after Jase in his teenage years and his role in the gang had resulted in his prison term. When Jase refused, Terry threatened him and Jay’s life. Eventually, fed up with the word no, Terry had his hooligans raid the Queen Vic, beat Jase to a pulp and scare the punters – which sent Honey into premature labour with son Will! Luckily they both survived, but it looked risky for a minute. Jase resolved to get revenge against Terry, but Phil stopped him. The only problem was, Jase now owed him…

Stella: Ben’s Agony
When Ritchie Scott had sent quiet, nervous and timid Stella Crawford to be Phil’s resident solicitor, no one could have expected the drama to come! Peggy was stunned that Phil could be attracted to Stella – after all, he’d usually gone for girls with a bit more fire – but Stella wasn’t really wanted by Phil, she was needed.

With Ben back in Walford and adjusting to life with Ian, relationships between the Beales and Mitchells were bad to say the least: Ian was still smarting from his wife’s dalliance with Jane and wanted custody of his brother, partially just to wind Phil up! Eventually Phil proved he could run a stable home for his son and convinced Ben that he was a good dad, and the boy moved into the Mitchell Manse.

Terrified of losing another parent, Ben tried to split Stella and Phil up, but it didn’t work. Stella began to manipulate Ben, making him believe he’s was wetting the bed, losing him on trips to frighten him, pinching him and burning him with hot spoons. Ben moved in with Ian to escape the abuse, but apart from Abi Branning, he told no one about the abuse. Eventually, on the day of the wedding, Ben, bleeding from his latest injury, bravely stood up and told the world what Stella had been doing.

Enraged, Phil went after Stella, who fled by car. When Phil finally caught up with her on a rooftop, she admitted that she had hurt Ben and he admitted he had never loved her, she had simply been ‘safe.’ With this realisation, Stella plummeted to her death, but was she pushed or did she fall?

The Mitchell Sisters: Crashing the Party!
As the police picked up Phil for the inevitable questioning, a cab pulled up outside the wedding reception in the Vic. Inside, the residents were appalled at the situation with Stella, so they were unprepared for the two brash blondes who swelted into the Vic in Ibiza clobber, demanded the music get turned up and helped themselves behind the bar! Oh yes, Ronnie and Roxy Mitchell has arrived…

With Peggy needing help, the girls stuck around far longer than expected and got their feet under the table in no time! Roxy was a hit behind the bar, and Ronnie, sophisticated and confident, attracted businessman Jack Branning within minutes. Of course, these sisters were extremely close: what was Ronnie’s, Roxy wanted and, not for the first or last time, Roxy swapped when Ronnie and Jack were on the outs and had a one-night stand with Jack. Of course, she got pregnant and she decided to keep the father’s identity to herself, throwing herself into a shambolic relationship with Jase.

Christmas Day, Lies and Videotape: The Affair Exposed…
Max Branning didn’t know how to keep his belt buckle together: that was the only conceivable excuse he had. No matter what wife Tanya Branning did for him and their two daughters Lauren and Abi, he couldn’t keep it to himself. No, he had fling after fling after fling – and it disgusted son Bradley. But when Max convinced Bradley he didn’t want to be a dad and Stacey had her abortion, he set a series of events in motion that would ultimately destroy his life and the lives of the people around him.

It was revenge to start with. Stacey felt wounded and only went after Max to make herself feel better. Max had thought Stacey a tramp, not good enough for his boy – or did he want her himself? After that first kiss, they were off: Max buying a cosy flat (actually rented – Max was also a perpetual liar) for Stacey to meet him in. They carried on for most of the year, until Tanya found herself pregnant. Hoping it was the glue that would hold his family together, Max ended the affair. Basking in fake fatherly bliss he watched on while Stacey and Bradley reunited and prepared to marry.

The stage was set: Stacey, less than hours after becoming Mrs. Bradley Branning, struggling to get out of her wedding dress, shared one final kiss with her new father-in-law – unaware that Lauren had been filming the wedding day and left the camera in the room.

Preparing a video for Bradley’s Christmas present, Lauren, horrified by her father’s actions, wrapped the DVD up and placed it under the tree. On Christmas Day, in front of the assembled Branning-Slater clan, the footage was revealed.

Tanya was aghast, promptly heading straight into manic city as the children watched their world crumble. A fight while packing left Tan at the bottom of the stairs bleeding and she ended up in hospital. But she was determined – Max was not sticking around: he ended up outside in the rain, alone as the New Year began…

The Other Stuff
Garry is reunited with his mother Hazel, who is attracted to Minty. Shirley moves best mate Heather in with her so she can afford the rent. The Masoods move into Number 45. Jim suffers a stroke whilst away from the Square visiting Carol.