EastEnders (series)
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- You may be looking for the series as it exists in the DWU.
EastEnders is a British television soap opera produced by the BBC. Created by Doctor Who directing and acting alumni, Julia Smith and Tony Holland, the series centres on the residence of Albert Square, in the fictional London borough of Walford, and their daily lives and struggles that reflect many real world issues. The series has been a staple of BBC One's weeknight schedules since its launch on 19 February 1985, earning its status as a British television institution with the help of its iconic characters and storylines.
Being a BBC series, it should come as no surprise that its connections with Doctor Who are plentiful, both on screen and behind the scenes.
Crossovers
The first official crossover between EastEnders and Doctor Who came in the 1991 Brief Encounter short story, Mistaken Identity, originally published in DWM 176. The story sees Gustave Lytton visit a pub near Walford Station, non-explicitly implied to be The Queen Victoria, where he notices that the barman, Den Watts, bears a strong resemblance to Kiston, this being a metafictional reference to Kiston and Den both being played by the same actor, Leslie Grantham.
Arguably the most notorious crossover between the two shows is the 1993 televised Children in Need charity special, Dimensions in Time. In this, the nominal 30th anniversary special of Doctor Who, the Rani traps the Doctor in a time loop localised within Walford, where he cycles through his various (still living) incarnations and companions. The special sees the appearances of many EastEnders characters from the time, including Sanjay and Gita Kapoor (Deepak Verma and Shobu Kapoor), Pauline Fowler (Wendy Richard), Kathy and Ian Beale (Gillian Taylforth and Adam Woodyatt), Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean), Pat and Frank Butcher (Pam St. Clement and Mike Reid), Mandy Salter (Nicola Stapleton), and Phil and Grant Mitchell (Steve McFadden and Ross Kemp).
A more metafictional crossover occurred for a short scene in Army of Ghosts. During the new "ghost" craze sweeping the planet, the Tenth Doctor flicks through television channels until coming to an episode of EastEnders in which Peggy Mitchell (with Barbara Windsor reprising her role) is behind the bar at the Queen Victoria, telling a supposed ghostly manifestation of the deceased Den Watts to "get out of [her] pub!" The story of this completely fictional episode appears to be a humorous nod to Den's two on screen deaths, in which the character was infamously resurrected in 2004 after seemingly being killed off fifteen years earlier, before being killed off permanently the following year. Coincidentally, Den's killer in the show, his second wife Chrissie Watts, was played by Tracy-Ann Oberman, who made her debut in this very episode as Yvonne Hartman.
A subtle crossover occurred in the form of a set-piece during The Beast Below: the London street aboard the Starship UK contains a partial recreation of the Queen Victoria exterior. Only parts of it can seen on screen, but the whole was shown off in the companion Doctor Who Confidential episode, All About the Girl.
Two more crossovers occurred in 2011, the first of which was early in the year, during the opening National Television Awards sketch, Dermot and the Doctor. In the sketch, the Eleventh Doctor brings the TARDIS to various times and places as he struggles to get Dermot O'Leary to the awards ceremony. One of the places they end up is outside the laundrette on Albert Square, where Dot Cotton (played by June Brown) is smoking, and she tells Dermot that the Doctor is a frequent visitor to her laundrette.
A second crossover, though more ambiguous in its status as a crossover with EastEnders specifically, happened as part of that year's BBC One Christmas ident, Consider Yourself One Of Us... The ident sees various BBC stars indulging in a Christmas party whilst belting out the titular song. Appearing among the various stars are Doctor Who's then-current stars Matt Smith, Karen Gillan (potentially in character as the Eleventh Doctor and Amy Pond, respectively), and a Cyberman, and four stars from the soap, specifically Ricky Norwood, Shona McGarty, Shane Richie, and June Brown. Although none of the stars are necessarily playing their respective soap characters here, it is clear they are appearing in the ident as a promotion for the show, regardless.
The following year's Christmas ident, It's Showtime, which acted as a showcase for BBC One's Christmas programming for 2012 (including that year's Doctor Who Christmas Special), included a brief EastEnders-related scene, where Jessie Wallace, Rudolph Walker, Jo Joyner, and Jake Wood appeared on the set of the Queen Vic, seemingly acting as their respective characters, Kat Slater, Patrick Trueman, Tanya Cross, and Max Branning.
Later in 2015, another Christmas ident, the animated Sprout Boy meets a Galaxy of Stars, saw another appearance by Dot Cotton, this time as one of several BBC characters having Christmas dinner with Sprout Boy and the Twelfth Doctor.
References in the DWU
The 1994 novel, First Frontier, made a nod to the aforementioned Dimensions in Time through a claim by the Seventh Doctor that he once had a dream in which all his old enemies chased him around the EastEnders set.
The 2001 novel, Instruments of Darkness, revealed that the Sixth Doctor's 2000-hailing companion, Evelyn Smythe, had been using her foreknowledge of 1990s EastEnders storylines to get some extra cash by betting on the correct outcomes.
In the 2004 novel, Synthespians™, EastEnders is revealed as being among the shows broadcast by Reef Station One in the New Earth Republic during the 101st century.
In the 2005 novel, The Gallifrey Chronicles, among the fatalities of the Vore invasion of Earth were said to be members of the show's cast.
Also in 2005, in the novel, The Monsters Inside, following her year away from modern day Earth, Rose Tyler caught up with the episodes of the show that she missed during that time. The Ninth Doctor, who was forced to watch along with her, later used a piece of his general knowledge of the show to his advantage, when Rose is tested by Lazlee Flowers on tangential warp offset, he subtly gave Rose the answer (45), by telling her to think of the address of Pauline, Martin, and Sonia Fowler, which was 45 Albert Square at the time.
In the 2006 episode, The Impossible Planet, the Tenth Doctor expresses his belief that one of the most unluckiest phrases that one could utter was, "This is going to be the best Christmas Walford has ever had", a reference to the show's typically, notoriously depressing Christmas specials.
The 2006 online game, Ghostwatch, released in conjunction with Army of Ghosts, contained a reference to the above-mentioned metafictional crossover to the series; Sophie watched the EastEnders episode featuring the ghost of Den Watts, and texted the titular Ghostwatch a message telling them that "Dirty Den" was back.
In the 2008 The Sarah Jane Adventures serial, The Mark of the Berserker, whilst under the influence of the Berserker pendant, Haresh Chandra obeys his daughter's command to [pretend to be] "Bianca off EastEnders", in which he screams the names of Ricky Butcher, Whitney Dean, and Pat Butcher in her trademark style.
In the 2011 TV story, Night Terrors, Rory Williams made mention of the Eleventh Doctor being in an EastEnders-like place.
According to The Brilliant Book 2012 short story, Just a Minute..., EastEnders existed in River Song's World, where William Shakespeare was a showrunner.
In the 2014 novel, The Blood Cell, Clara Oswald gets the students of her Coal Hill School art class to paint a placard with the slogan "SAVE THE DOCTOR" when the Twelfth Doctor is imprisoned, only for the students to get confused and instead paint "SAVE DOT COTTON". Clara has to explain who Dot is to the Governor, describing her as a "famous Cockney chimney".
The 2018 audio story, The Siege of Big Ben, saw Jackie Tyler learn that the show did not exist on Pete's World, to her disappointment.
Chantelle (formerly known as "Squeak") was established in the 2020 novel, At Childhood's End, as having become an actress who previously had a role on the soap.
References to the DWU on EastEnders
An episode broadcast on 15 February 2008 was particularly noteworthy for featuring a Doctor Who convention as a backdrop to one of its storylines; Stacey Slater accompanies her estranged husband, and avid Doctor Who fan, Bradley Branning to the event, in hopes of a reconciliation with him. The event features explicit appearances of multiple Doctor Who elements in a fictional context, such as convention-goers dressed as past Doctors and Cybermen, props such as monster and alien costumes on display (such as those of the Daleks, the Ood, and more), a main entrance to the venue being through a TARDIS prop - complete with wheezing noises - and the theme tune also being audible. In one scene, Bradley tells Stacey about the TV serial, The Invasion, in which he mentions the "classic TV moment" of the Cybermen emerging from their cocoons, and the fact that it was the first incomplete serial to be released with full animated reconstructions of the missing episodes.
In an episode broadcast on 27 April 2010, Ricky Butcher and Charlie Slater discuss the recent outing of Syed Masood, during which Ricky mentions "the one from Doctor Who. The big yank, the gay one [who is] into all the musicals", prompting a surprised Charlie to remark "Gays in Doctor Who?! Wouldn't have happened in my day". Derek Martin, who played Charlie, worked as a stuntman on classic Who, making the line a possible in-joke.
In an episode broadcast on 24 October 2022, after Finlay and Felix Baker move in with Chelsea Fox and Whitney Dean, Chelsea is taken aback by how many boxes the pair have brought with them, considering they previously lived in a cramped flat with their uncle Mitch and the Taylors, prompting Chelsea to ask Mitch, flippantly, if their flat is the TARDIS.
In an episode broadcast on 20 January 2023, Stacey Slater recalls when she aborted Bradley Branning's baby back in 2006, remarking that the child would have been 16 years old now, "A little mini Bradley, excited about the new Doctor Who".
In an episode broadcast on 22 May 2023, Bobby Beale and Freddie Slater prepare for a pub quiz at the Queen Vic by brushing up on their general knowledge. Whilst working at the fish and chip shop, Bobby begins listing off actors who played the Doctor in chronological order, from William Hartnell to Tom Baker, before Freddie stops him, saying that he asked "Doctor Who?", not "Doctor Never Heard of 'Em". Sure enough, in the following day's episode (23 May), one of the questions in the quiz is "In 2005, who took over as the ninth Doctor Who?"
Connections
Crew
Doctor Who's connections to EastEnders are so great that they stretch right back to the two minds who created the soap, Julia Smith and Tony Holland; Smith directed the 1960s television serials, The Smugglers, and The Underwater Menace, being the second ever female director of a Who serial for the former.
Holland, meanwhile, acted on screen in The Savages, playing the Third Assistant.
David Ashton, who played Kendron in Timelash, was one of the show's earliest writers, writing for various storylines throughout the 1980s.
Colin Brake, a writer of various DWU novels, wrote for the series from 1992 to 1995.
Prolific Doctor Who pundit Andrew Collins wrote for the show from 2000 to 2002.
Michael Begley, who acted on screen as Mulligan in The Curse of the Black Spot and "All Ears" Alan Hogan in Fugitive of the Judoon, wrote for the show from 2010 to 2013, and then again from 2019 to 2020. He also had a minor on screen role in a 2013 episode, as a market inspector.
Johnny Candon, who wrote the Missy audio story, War Seed, was a writer for the series from 2018 to 2020.
Cast
- Highlighted rows indicate an actor who is currently appearing in the series as their listed character
1980s
1990s
2000s
2010s
| Actor | DWU role(s) | EastEnders role | EastEnders duration | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Annette Badland | Blon Fel-Fotch Passameer-Day Slitheen | Babe Smith | 2014-2017 | |
| Glynis Barber | Kathy Blake, Nicholaa de la Haye | Glenda Mitchell | 2010–2011, 2016–2017 | |
| Tim Bentinck | The Monks | Norman Pike | 2013 | |
| Ace Bhatti | Haresh Chandra | Yusef Khan | 2010-2011 | |
| Saffron Coomber | Elidir, Byrne | Alexa Smith | 2012-2013 | |
| Jamie Foreman | Eddie Connolly | Derek Branning | 2011-2012 | |
| Bradley Freegard | Barry, Phil Patterson | Gethin Williams | 2012 | |
| Davood Ghadami | Jim | Kush Kazemi | 2014-2021 | |
| Roger Griffiths | Kess | Mitch Baker | 2018-present | Griffiths previously appeared in the show in 2004 and 2005 as Detective Inspector Christopher Riddick. |
| Shaheen Jafargholi | Danny | Shakil Kazemi | 2016-2018 | |
| Martin Jarvis | Nigel Rochester, Governor of Varos, Hilio | Harvey Freeman | 2010 | |
| Arinzé Kene | Orentino | Connor Stanley | 2010-2011 | |
| Bonnie Langford | Melanie Bush | Carmel Kazemi | 2015-2018 | Langford previously appeared as Mel on the EastEnders set in Dimensions in Time. |
| George Layton | Penn | Norman Simmonds | 2011-2012 | |
| Aleksandar Mikic | Yuri Kerenski | Josef | 2013 | |
| Cathy Murphy | Mum (The Christmas Invasion) | Julie Perkins | 2010-2011 | Murphy previously appeared in 2005 in the role of Trishia Taylor. |
| Ricky Norwood | Himself | Arthur "Fatboy" Chubb | 2010-2015, 2023 | |
| Clare Perkins | Nana Thompson | Ava Hartman | 2012-2013 | |
| Jenna Russell | Floor manager | Michelle Fowler | 2016-2018 | |
| Steve John Shepherd | Simon Devlin | Michael Moon | 2010-2013 | |
| Michael Simkins | Raxxil | Steve Lowe | 2013 | |
| Chris Simmons | Albert Potter | Mark Garland | 2011 | |
| Anjela Lauren Smith | Genevieve Carrière | Dinah Wilson | 2019 | |
| Rakhee Thakrar | Bliss | Shabnam Masood | 2014-2016 | Shabnam was previously played in the 2000s by fellow DWU alumni, Zahra Ahmadi. |
| Ellen Thomas | Clockwork Droid, Carmen | Grace Olubunmi, Claudette Hubbard | 2010-2011 (Grace), 2015-2016 (Claudette) | These are the third and fourth roles that Thomas has played in the series. |
| Paul Usher | N/A | Danny Hardcastle | 2019-2020 | |
| Joivan Wade | Rigsy | Jordan Johnson | 2016 |
2020s
| Actor | DWU role(s) | EastEnders role | EastEnders duration | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zaraah Abrahams | Daphne Gold, Castellan, Kaled corporal, other Narvin | Chelsea Fox | 2020-present | Chelsea was previously played in the 2000s by Tiana Benjamin. |
| Delroy Atkinson | Wadmore | Howie Danes | 2021-present | |
| Peter Caulfield | Dahh-Ren | "Shifty" Shiv | 2023 | |
| Navin Chowdhry | Indra Ganesh | Nish Panesar | 2022-present | |
| William Ellis | Aldo Rega | Theo Hawthorne | 2023-present | |
| Sue Holderness | Kala Tace | Estelle Jones | 2021 | |
| Patsy Kensit | The Scorpion | Emma Harding | 2023 | |
| Simone Lahbib | Sylvia Brooks, Jamie McCrimmon's grandmother | Katy Lewis | 2020-2021 | |
| Sarah Paul | Miss Jerome | Laura Awoyinka | 2020-2022 | |
| Christopher Pizzey | Eddie Smith | Malcolm Keeble | 2022 | Flashback episode. |
| George Russo | Phillip | Eric Mitchell | 2022 | Flashback episode. |
| Colin Salmon | Doctor Moon, Salway | George Knight | 2023-present | |
| Harriet Thorpe | Amelia, Tomek | Elaine Peacock | 2023-present |
Spinoffs
An online spinoff series, EastEnders: E20, ran from 2010 to 2011. Among the original set of characters to appear in the series were Sol Levi and Ava Bourne; Sol was played by Tosin Cole, who would go on to play Thirteenth Doctor companion, Ryan Sinclair, while Ava was played by Sophie Colquhoun, who went on to voice Madrigal in Aliens & Sex & Chips & Gravy.
The 2017 spinoff, Kat & Alfie: Redwater, featured Ian McElhinney as Lance Byrne, three years before he played Ko Sharmus in Ascension of the Cybermen and The Timeless Children.
Miscellaneous
EastEnders and its extensive shared cast with DWU media is a subject within the BBC Books publication, Who-ology: The Official Miscellany, under the section "Soap Who", which contains an extensive (by the time of publication) list of cast members shared with televised Doctor Who.
Festive specials
EastEnders traditionally broadcasts extended episodes on Christmas Day and New Year's Day, in time slots that are typically adjacent to Doctor Who's own festive specials, resulting in the two shows competing against each other in the ratings.
For Christmas Day schedules, EastEnders have typically ended up with higher overnight ratings than Doctor Who, with only The Time of the Doctor and The Husbands of River Song managing to score higher in their respective years. New Year's Day ratings, meanwhile, have historically worked in Doctor Who's favour, with only Part 2 of The End of Time failing to outdo EastEnders in 2010.
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