Walford Gazette #52

This year, we lost some true EastEnders legends in reality, as they took their final journey. We said goodbye to Tony Caunter (Roy Evans) in October. Frank Barrie, who played guest Edward Bishop also passed this year.

Onscreen, there’s been carnage, with death hitting the Square with five residents dying. The least amongst these was Jonno Highway, who had a heart attack on son Callum‘s living room floor!

Sticking with the floor theme, drug dealer Okie also died on the ground after being stabbed by Harry Mitchell.

Evil Nish Panesar fell to his death after angering son Ravi – and saved Suki’s life in the process! Killer Reiss Caldwell took an early soak and was crushed by a bath tub!

But saddest death of all? Definitely Martin Fowler‘s. He saved multiple lives when the Queen Vic exploded and collapsed, not the least of which was true love Stacey Slater, before succumbing to his wounds. The first baby of Walford died there and then, live in front of the nation, and there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.

There’s also been some massive returns this year, some just for short stints in the 40th, but some for quite a bit longer – and it all started with Nigel Bates last Christmas. Since then his ongoing dementia storyline has brought treat after treat home to Walford, including wife Julie and Grant Mitchell himself!

Out of the massive 24 returns, some were for cameos: Pauline and Arthur Fowler showed up on Cat & Mouse; Garry and Minty attended Billy‘s stag; Peggy returned in Phil‘s hallucinations, as did Angie in Sharon‘s! Martin’s death brought Bex and Vicki Fowler home, and Rocky and Dot Cotton made their presences felt when Sonia departed!

Anthony Trueman rocked home with a secret; Oscar Branning grew up; We had visits from Stuart and Ben and were blessed with cameos from the dead Pat and Barry Evans! And Sam came home just in time for Christmas.

But the biggest return: after twenty years Zoe Slater came home – and drove herself crazy with the traumas of her past. To see her and Kat reunited holds a special place in our hearts here at A Walk Through Walford!

And she brought Max Branning with her!

Departing this year were Ruby (off into the sunset with little Roman); Bianca, the last of the Taylors, Bernadette and Felix, Freddie Slater, Anna and Junior Knight and – after only eighteen months – Teddy Mitchell! And don’t ask us what happened to Tyson – we’re as mystified as the rest of you!

There’s been attacks, murder attempts, shootings and car crashes. There’s been two births on the Square (Julia Fowler and Jimmy Beale). Peter and Lauren Beale got married this year – and it seems Max may be about to follow suit…

But that’s all for next year! For now, we bask in a damn exciting year for the show, where it’s been praised by critics and fans alike, changed producers from Chris Clenshaw to Ben Wadey seamlessly and has the awards on the shelf to prove it.

We’ll be updating The Year Is… 2025 shortly, with the events from August to December, and we’ll be back as usual in the New Year!

Now… just where is Sharon Watts?

Regards,

The Curator