[Redway]

I just thought it would be interesting to get a glimpse of the backstage chaos that happened during her time for anyone who watched her polarising/controversial era (2002 to 2004).

“Louise's first episodes aired in late July 2002, meaning she took office in April. Upon her arrival, Michael Greco (Beppe di Marco) had just told John Yorke he was leaving the show that day and not continuing with his contract (due to expire 7 weeks from that day). Instead, all of Beppe's scenes/exit story were allocated to Joseph Millson who played Lynne's ex-fiancee Jason.

There was a possible grievance taken out by the parents of Jake di Valentine who subsequently would've lost out on work for their son, who would've also had his contract terminated as a result, but this is purely speculaton.

Just a mere couple of weeks after this, Michelle Ryan (Zoe Slater) went missing from her home and her absence was reported to the police, later found at a suicide hotspot and diagnosed with nervous exhaustion. Michelle was at the height of a central plot to the show involving Zoe and Dr. Trueman's wedding; the plot was subsequently re-written with all wedding scenes scrapped and instead Zoe was reported missing, until Michelle Ryan was fit to return four months later.

Prior to Louise joining, Todd Carty (Mark Fowler) had been granted a break from the show lasting three months and was therefore departing screens in early September. Just days after his break began, Wendy Richard (Pauline Fowler) was diagnosed with breast cancer and subsequently had to take emergency leave for treatment.

The following week marked the beginning of a four month break for June Brown (Dot Branning) who had told producers she would be leaving the role unless she had some time out. June then used this time to film a one-off BBC Drama and returned in February 2003.

In December 2002, Michelle Ryan, Wendy Richard and Todd Carty all returned to our screens, with June Brown not far behind. Letitia Dean in this time had been approved a two month break from the show and Steve McFadden had also been granted a month off.

Just when things began to be going well, Jessie Wallace was involved in a drink driving incident and suspended for two months. Her on-screen break occured from February to April 2003.

Up to now, Louise had taken the decision to write out Lucy Benjamin (Lisa Fowler), Colm O'Maonlai (Tom Banks), Alex Ferns (Trevor Morgan), Edward Savage (Steven Beale), Todd Carty (Mark Fowler), Dean Gaffney (Robbie Jackson) and Bindya Solanki (Nita Mistry). Jack Ryder (Jamie) had also taken the decision to leave and was in the process of being fined a significant sum for breaching his contract and selling his and Kym Marsh' wedding photos (now collectors items) to OK! or Hello magazine.

Introductions had included Tara Lynne O'Neill (Nanny Joanne), Shane Richie, Chris Parker & Hilda Braid (the Moon family) and Jill Halfpenny (Kate Morton). We were soon reintroduced to Cliff Parisi (Minty) on a full-time basis following a positive guest stint 9 months prior and Scarlett Johnson had been recast as a teenage Vicki Fowler (complete with American accent).

All seemed to be calming down in early 2003, until Barbara Windsor then announced she too would like to take a break, alongside Steve McFadden. Both were approved and due to depart at the end of the year until Barbara was taken ill in March and unable to return to work. Scripts were hastily re-written and Peggy had an off-screen exit, disturbing a high-profile story featuring Phil, Kate and the briefly returning Lisa (the Portugal episodes).

The show was then hit with numerous scandals throughout 2003; criticism for Vicki Fowler's American accent disappearing overnight, the casting of the Ferreira family in June 2003 and the decision to bring back the shows first dead character; Dirty Den Watts. In addition to this, guest actor Steve Nicolson (noisy neighbour Gavin Sharp) was reportedly at the centre of an off-screen class A drugs scandal.

Autumn 2003 and a string of resignations arrive - Charlie Brooks (Janine Butcher), Lucy Speed (Natalie Evans) and Shaun Williamson (Barry Evans), the latter who decided to quit after being refused a break to appear in pantomime - understanable given the amount of long servers who'd taken time out from the show in the previous 12 months. We were also informed that Hannah Waterman (Laura Beale) and Elaine Lordon (Lynne Hobbs) had been axed way ahead of their contracts expiring, both of whom were reported to have fought at a recent awards do and the latter reportedly told Mal Young to "**** off" at a cast meeting.

Late 2003: Steve McFadden is about to take his break and Leslie Grantham (Den Watts) is having a short spell away too, when Kacey Ainsworth (Little Mo Mitchell) announces she is pregnant. Scripts were re-written and Little Mo was due to depart.

It's now October 2003, there are two blocks of filming taking place. The majority of the cast are in Elstree shooting scenes for Christmas whilst a small group of the younger cast (Shaun Williamson, Gary Beadle and Charlie Brooks included) are in the Scottish Highlands filming top-secret "dramatic scenes", including an alternative ending which was leaked to the press showing Janine at the bottom of the cliff. Little did the show expect that Immigration Officers were at the gates of Elstree with an instruction to remove Dalip Tahil (Dan Ferreira) from the studios and subsequently deport him for failing to have a work permit.

Dalip was about to become the focus of a storyline which saw his children turn against him, kill him and bury him in the garden. Instead, viewers were treated to some re-written material consisting of Ronny Ferreira having a kidney transplant and finding out his best friend Tariq was in fact his brother, who'd been having an affair with his own sister. Are you still with me? Poor Robyn Moore (Shirley Benson) was then written out of the series as her intended involvement in the story, alongside Shirley's friendship with Little Mo had no future on the show with her characters network fastly disappearing.

Then in early 2004, Gary Beadle (Paul Trueman) was suspended for alledgedly failing to turn up prepared for filming. The actor continued to feature in scenes that coincided with the exits of his on-screen love interests Charlie Brooks and Lucy Speed, then departured for two months. He was then axed upon his return.

The show was now firmly under fire, mostly with the Ferreira family coming under criticism. Pooja Shah (Kareena Ferreira) was written out and returned with a sexy new look, Tracy-Ann Oberman was introduced to spice up the Watts family and filming logistics had to be re-worked as Elaine Lordon (Lynne Hobbs) broke her leg in the weeks leading up to her exit. The final straw for the press came when it emerged that Leslie Grantham (Den Watts) had been photographed performing a sex-act via webcam from his BBC dressing room, firing criticism at his colleagues Wendy Richard, Kim Medcalf and Jessie Wallace in particular. He was subsequently suspended and departed for two months in August 2004.

As Summer came to an end, the Miller family arrived, Barbara Windsor was fit to return for two episodes to coincide with Sam Mitchell's wedding, Kacey Ainsworth was due back from maternity and a talented Lacey Turner had been cast as a new member of the Slater family, and then bam - Jessie Wallace fell pregnant. The shows leading lady would finish filming in September 2004.

At the end of the month, the news came, Louise Berridge was leaving EastEnders. All the while this was happening, Louise was also being stalked be an obsessive fan who sent threatening letters, emails and phone calls to the studios and reportedly her home. I'm surprised the show didn't disappear completely during this period as anyone who had to oversee all of the above whilst delivering quality was on a sure path to a nervous breakdown!"

All that was copied from Walford Web. Shines a different light on the 2003/04 era to the blind Berridge haters on forums.

[Marsh.]

I knew about a lot of that. Never knew Michelle Ryan had those problems though.

[Mitchell]

Bloody hell she had a rough time

[Gstar]

Omg this was so intense!

Where did you find this and do you have anymore from different years/eras?

[Gstar]

Lacey Turner being the silver lining to all the chaos

[Redway]

She was up against a lot and made some terrible decisions but on the whole I enjoyed her era. The Watts revival and underworld gangland era was probably the last time I was hooked on Easties (in as much as women and feminine men don’t find that sort of thing entertaining for the most part).

[Redway]

Originally Posted by Germyle

Omg this was so intense!

Where did you find this and do you have anymore from different years/eras?

It sure was. Another myth that pisses me off about that era is when the press used those occasional 6/7 million ratings they got head-to-head with Emmerdale and made them out as the norm when average episodes actually rated double that back then. But a lot of people don’t know that either. It’s all the negative media attention that taints people’s memories and conceptions of the Berridge era.

[Gstar]

She probably needed therapy after all of that, I must say the story they were going to do with the asian family (burying the dad) would of been quite scary not to mention it potentially affecting how the dirty den story played out.

Regarding the ratings the only time they talk about good viewing figures on soaps is when there’s an anniversary episode (or a very big episode such as who shot phil). Not even counting Christmas days because they still make it a competition.

Sorry but the bit about Zoe Slater is crazy! I wonder if that’s the reason she isn’t returning? If she ever returns I’d prefer it not to be a recast

[Redway]

Originally Posted by Germyle

Omg this was so intense!

Where did you find this and do you have anymore from different years/eras?

There’s some information about the Hutchinson era that followed plastered online. You want to see them?

[Redway]

I hear you on Zoe still. There was a time they considered recasting Frank Butcher when Reid passed on 12 years ago but back then they still had the sense to realise that recasts for adult characters don’t work. Sue Tully has a black mark against her character’s name after the Michelle 2.0 nonsense and for what?

[Gstar]

Originally Posted by Redway

There’s some information about the Hutchinson era that followed plastered online. You want to see them?

Yes! Just post everything

Yeah.. the Michelle recast.. along with her storylines as well. A very low point for EE

[Redway]

Originally Posted by Germyle

Yes! Just post everything

Yeah.. the Michelle recast.. along with her storylines as well. A very low point for EE

Kathleen Hutchison remains the shortest serving Executive Producer of EastEnders but during her four months with the show Kathleen oversaw some major events: Christmas 2004 and the 20th anniversary. In this exclusive interview with Walford Web, Ellie caught up with Kathleen to reflect on her short time with the show and life after EastEnders.

It’s been over five years since you left EastEnders. What have you been up to since?

Before EastEnders, I Exec Produced Holby City for four years. While I did that, I had time to develop some new comedy drama ideas within the drama department. I’d always loved comedy. My first producing job was on Kay Mellor’s Playing The Field (I produced series 3 and 4) and Kay had taught me the importance of giving the audience a good laugh and a good cry in every episode. This is something I tried to bring to EastEnders and to everything I work on. I decided to concentrate on the comedy side of things after leaving the show and became a manager of stand-up comedians. This led to a great job with the Paramount Comedy Channel (now called Comedy Central) as Head of New Comedy. From there I went to work with an independent production company as their Head of Drama and Comedy so I get to combine my love for both genres.

You started at EastEnders during a very tough time for the show when it was going though numerous problems. How did you view these problems and how did you go about fixing them?

Louise had had a tough time with some unexpected problems which severely affected her storylines through no fault of her own. Of course it was important to try to raise morale within the production as well as create some long term juicy storylines that would give the audience what they deserve. We changed the planned Christmas and New Year storylines when I came in and this seemed to pay off with EE being the most watched show at Christmas 2004 and winning Soap Storyline of the Year for the death of Dirty Den.

You started your reign as Executive Producer by axing several cast members. How important was this in turning the show around?

Many of the decisions about cutting cast had already been made when I arrived; unfortunately I had the awful task of breaking the news to them. Louise had offered to share this with me but I felt at the time this would be unfair. It was important to think about the future of the show and everything was done with the best intentions.

You touched on Christmas 2004 and the 20th anniversary - two key events you oversaw during your short time with the show. How much input did you have on these storylines? Were you pleased with how they played out?

I was very pleased that the audience came back to the show for these big stories and was thrilled when we got the highest ratings for a long time. It felt like we’d turned a corner so it was a real highlight of my time with the show.

How did you settle on Pauline’s doorstop for Den’s murder weapon?

I wanted an iconic image to give him a good send off and really wanted to use the Queen Victoria statue from the pub but it was pointed out that if that landed on Den’s head it would’ve been flattened! So we looked for Den’s biggest adversary over the years, came up with Pauline, thought about the fruitbowl for about 10 seconds then came up with the iron dog doorstop.

The episode by Sarah Phelps when Marcus Christie conned Sam Mitchell out of the Mitchell empire and Paul Trueman met his maker was received extremely positively by our forum members. Are you pleased with how this storyline turned out?

I was delighted with the way the Sam Mitchell storyline played out. It included some fine acting and Sarah Phelps was a star writer on the show. She was also responsible for our ’witches round the cauldron’ images of the women plotting to see off Dirty Den.

What is your perception of the negative press that surrounded the show when you left and the stories that were claimed to have happened backstage?

Working on a national treasure like EastEnders has many upsides and so you have to take the downsides on the chin. It was an incredible privilege to have been there. I didn’t read any of the press after I left. I had to read so many made up stories in papers and magazines when I was working on the show, so I knew it wouldn’t be pretty. I know what we achieved when me and my team were there, that’s all that mattered.

If you had stayed with the show longer, what storylines would we have seen? What direction would you taken the show in?

I’d have wanted to rid the show of gangsters and all things unreal. We inherited a big story that was difficult to unpick and drop quickly. Tony Jordan and I were working on that before I left. There were so many talented writers with great ideas. I’m a huge fan of long stories that really play out. Getting back to basics and creating more emotional, character led stories, especially with the longest serving members of cast was an important move for us as well as introducing some new characters and of course planning the return of the awesome Ms Windsor!

In the past month a new Executive Producer has taken over at EastEnders. Is there any advice you would offer him?

Enjoy yourself! It’s an incredible experience. Great writers are the key to everything.

Thanks for taking the time to chat with us, Kathleen!

[Redway]

Santer

Spoiler:

Unless you’ve lived in a black hole for the last couple of years, you should know that Diederick Santer is the current Executive Producer of EastEnders. Diederick is about to leave and hand the reins over to Bryan Kirkwood.

Walford Web took the time to interview Diederick this week before his departure.

First of all the live episode has been a huge success. You must be thrilled to be going out on such a high?

The live episode and the audience’s response to it has been everything I could have hoped for. The cast and crew were terrific - it was a brilliant piece of writing, wrapping up a great storyline, executed by a hugely accomplished crew, showcasing a number of top notch performances. And most of all, it fulfilled our ambition of creating a national event for our 25th anniversary. I’m completely thrilled, and I leave knowing that we totally nailed it.

So Stacey was Archie’s killer. What does this mean for the character of Stacey?

I think it’s very interesting for Stacey. Certainly what we have planned for the next few months will be fascinating. This week we are issuing a ’two hander’ script between Max and Stacey which we’ll complete very quickly, dropping into the running order fairly soon. It will explore the motives behind what Stacey did, and be a big test for Max. Can he forgive Stacey for what she’s done, even though it led to the death of his son? Will he turn her over to the police? One thing that we’ll be keen to show is that Stacey was lucid at the time of Archie’s death; striking him with the Queen Vic bust was not a function of her bipolar. She had sound reasons to be angry with Archie - he took advantage of her, he ruined her second chance with Bradley, he caused the chain of events which killed her best friend, he even effectively ran her beloved brother Sean out of town. All of this will be explored, as will the question of whether she really meant to kill him. For now, it stays a secret between two people, but who knows whether Max can keep it a secret forever?

Looking back over your time on the show, are there any storylines or decisions you regret making and would have liked to have done differently?

Some decisions I wish I’d made sooner. I think in my first year I was a bit timid about getting rid of characters which weren’t working. I think part of that was my feeling that the show had undergone such instability and change in the three years prior to my arrival that I wanted to build a sense of confidence and continuity among the company. But I soon snapped out of it and did what needed to be done. Quite honestly, I don’t regret any of the big decisions. Smaller details like the execution or pacing of a particular episode or storyline bug me loads, but nothing big. And so often your hands get tied on those things. Just as a story gets interesting we have to look away because those actors are on holiday or we’ve run out of licensing hours for the kids. That happens all the time.

What has been your proudest moment at EastEnders since becoming Executive Producer?

I felt pretty proud on Friday 19th February, steering the show to its biggest peak in seven years. I was also very proud of the reaction to the Whitney/Tony/Bianca climax. There was real value in that story, and I think we did it justice. I remember my phone waking me up at about 9.30 on Boxing Day 2007 as a very enthused BBC head of scheduling called me to tell me we’d got 14m for Christmas Day, the Max/Stacey reveal. This New Year’s Day with Syed and Amira’s wedding and the success we had with those episodes was pretty cool too.

Do you like it when the show takes risks or are there times where it’s important to play safe?

I love it when the show takes risks and I hate it when the show plays safe. One of our responsibilities as a BBC show is to be distinctive and original. That’s quite a tall order after 25 years and 4000 episodes, but we have to strive for it. I want the audience to come to their favourite show and that familiar world with familiar and much-loved characters, but then to be surprised and shocked and delighted and teased. I want watching EastEnders to be a stimulating, active, involving, infuriating, rewarding experience. And the only way to do that is to take risks. The downside of risks is that sometimes they go wrong, but if you don’t ever take them all you will acheive is mediocrity.

The Masood’s have been such a success story but many fans have missed Shabnam not being part of the families recent drama. Do you think we will see Shabnam again at some point either by recasting or by Zahra returning? and with Amira leaving do you think the family would benefit from further female additions. Zainab is pretty outnumbered!

Do people really miss Shabnam? What would she have added to the recent drama? She would, I think, have diluted it by taking screen time away from the main players. I think Zahra is a fine actress and I quite liked the character, but I can’t say I miss her or am troubled by her absence. It’s nice, I suppose, to feel that a family is intact and at full strength on screen, but I feel that her departure has been the making of both Masood and Tamwar. She overlapped in some ways with each of those characters. (The quiet authority, the family subversive, respectively.) With Amira gone, though, there may indeed be a need to refresh the dynamic among the Masoods. I don’t know, though. They seem to be doing pretty well as they are.

Since being at EastEnders there have been quite a few returning characters. Are there any others you wished you could have brought back? Sharon is always a popular choice amongst our forum members if it helps!!

Sharon is a great character, but I always worried about a potential overlap with Roxy and Ronnie, so we never pursued that. I was very keen to get Simon Wicks back at one stage, but it wasn’t to be. I’d love to see Cindy and Kathy back, but I vowed never to revive dead characters!

What has been your all time favourite EastEnders storyline?

As a viewer, I got really involved with Michelle Fowler and her pregnancy and the who’s the daddy thing. Firstly her dilemma at what she should do about getting pregnant interested me, and then the mystery story excited me. Tony Holland was a brilliant storyliner, and it’s interesting to think of the range of material he managed to generate from that one pregnancy. Perhaps this has led to me doing my fair share of pregnancy storylines...!

What will you miss most about working at EastEnders?

I love the people here - they are committed, funny, creative, professional, risk-taking, hard-working. I love feeling needed - people ask me my opinion about stuff the whole time and that’s really rewarding. It’s also amazing to work on something that has such a strong and regular relationship with its audience, something the audience care passionately about . I’ll miss that for sure.

Any hints or teasers you can give us on upcoming storylines?

The Jack Branning shooting isn’t a whodunnit, as reported in some places, but is rather an interesting story about the choices you make in life. Things get pretty big for the Masoods before too long - secrets don’t stay secret forever! Max and Darren meet an interesting pair. Fat Boy gets wheels. Peggy and Pat find themselves in competition. Charlie plays darts. Something spooky happens in a forest. Ben tries to be more like his dad, and Shirley tries to be a mum. A wormhole to another dimension is discovered in the Queen Vic. Some clowns do a show. (I made the last two up.)

Finally, what question would you have liked to be asked, and how would you answer it?!

Do you ever look at the Walford Web Forums?

I do, every now and again, perhaps most often after a big episode or storyline. It’s important to me to know what the audience think, and fan forums are one way of getting a sense of that. I love the passion and the arguments and the conspiracy theories on the boards. I love how an individual’s opinion or conjecture one week somehow becomes a hard and fast fact by the next. I’ve read many brilliant and really perceptive insights on the forums too. I always have to keep in my head, though, the fact that people who are committed to and engaged with a show to the extent that they go online and talk about it are in the vast minority. So I always take anything I read as AN opinion rather than THE opinion, even if it appears to be the consensus online. Reading Walford Web Forums you’d think, for example, that Jack and Ronnie are the least popular pairing on the show. (The mass audience of course tells us a different story.) Or that Mrs Patel had the potential to be an interesting character. (She did not.) It’s all part of the wonderful and contradictory swirl of passion and opinion that EastEnders generates and that I’ve revelled in for the last (nearly) three and a half years.

Thank you very much for your time!

Thanks for yours.

[Redway]

Berridge's personal interview (2010)

Spoiler:

Louise Berridge was Executive Producer of EastEnders for two and half years from 2002 until she quit in September 2004. In this exclusive interview with Walford Web, Ellie recently caught up with Louise to discuss life after EastEnders, her first novel and to reflect on her time with the show.

It’s been over six years since we last heard from you, what have you been up to since?

Real life mainly – though it took me a year to stop dreaming about EastEnders! I did stay in television a while, working in nice, quiet drama development, but in 2006 I decided to leave it entirely to concentrate on my own writing. It was a huge gamble, turning my back on job security for the sake of something I didn’t know I’d ever make a penny at, and I’ve been very, very lucky that it’s paid off. My first novel, ‘Honour and the Sword’, comes out with Penguin in April, and I’ve just completed the second in the series.

It’s an interesting move from reading scripts everyday to writing your own novel, how did it come about?

It’s not as different as it sounds – it’s all still storytelling. I think television drama’s one of the best backgrounds for writing a commercial novel, particularly a show like EastEnders. You learn the importance of pace and narrative drive, and how to leave a cliffhanger to make the reader turn a page. I also have multiple narrators in my novel, which means I can still use the techniques of the cutting room, skipping between different POVs to move the story onward.

It’s still a tricky transition. I missed the size and scope of EastEnders, which is probably why I ended up writing an epic – and a series at that. In a soap you’re constantly looking at the characters for unexpected potential – like Minty, for example, who was originally a very minor sidekicks of Phil’s before we saw Cliff’s potential and started to develop him properly.

You can’t do that in a novel without it spiralling completely out of control. My first draft had about forty significant characters and was over 600,000 words long, which is utterly unpublishable. It’s now less than a third of that, and considerably better for it.

Selling it, of course, was going to be harder. Having worked in television doesn’t give you any shortcuts in publishing, and I had to submit through the slushpile like everyone else. My best chance was to make the book as good as it could possibly be, so when I’d edited it to death myself I sent it to a literary consultancy for an outside critique. To my amazement they liked it so much they offered to pass it on to an agent. The agent liked it, took me on – and promptly got me a publishing deal. I still can’t quite believe it.

Was it always your plan to write your own novel one day?

No, I never thought I could. I’ve always written stories, but when you’re working alongside writers as talented as Tony Jordan, Simon Ashdown and Sarah Phelps it’s hard to take your own scribbling seriously. I didn’t even set out to write a novel this time – I just had a story to get out of my system and no-one else to tell it for me.

What’s your first novel about?/What can we expect from it?

It’s a historical novel set in 17th century France during the time of the Three Musketeers, but it’s not about gentlemanly duelling, it’s about the brutal reality of the Thirty Years War. My hero is a young nobleman trained in the tradition of honour and the sword, but when his family is killed in the Spanish invasion of Picardy he has to live among ordinary peasants in order to survive. The question is whether the nobleman will learn humanity and whether the peasants will pick up the sword. Together, will they do the unthinkable and fight back?

It’s very much an action adventure, of course, but ultimately it’s about those characters and their relationships, a number of which continue into the following books.

Do you still watch EastEnders? What do you think of it? What did you think of the live episode/25th anniversary?

I don’t have much time for television these days, but yes, I do watch it when I can, and think it’s currently very strong. I love the Masoods in particular, but also enjoy Ronnie and Roxy and have a definite weakness for Jack Branning.

The live episode was simply brilliant. It was an incredibly brave thing to do, and a superb achievement by the crew as well as the cast. Live television is much harder than live theatre, because the camera’s that much closer – and because 17 million people will see you get it wrong. It was also the perfect way to celebrate the anniversary, combining old and new elements, like putting the historic Ricky and Bianca pairing at the centre while making classic EastEnders twists and revelations with newer characters. I was so glad Stacey was the killer. I’d actually guessed Ronnie, but Stacey was a far more satisfying solution.

You were Executive Producer for 2 and half years which was a long time, looking back at it now over six years later, how do you view this period of the show? Any personal highlights?

Mine was a pretty torrid time on the show for all kinds of reasons. Staff hadn’t yet been significantly increased from the days of three episodes, and neither had cast or writers, so I remember it chiefly as a time of everyone being totally exhausted and just clawing their way through the crises to get the show on screen at all. The original story-stockpile from more leisurely times had already run out, so we were trying to crank up a cold engine from the start. It was also the time of the record number of cast crises – major illnesses, unexpected pregnancies, accidents, tabloid scandals, the lot. I had to write so many apologetic letters to cast and crew about radical rewrites it became a joke that I never sent them anything that didn’t begin with the word ‘Sorry’.

What saddens me is how much of this showed on screen. We had stories that stopped and started again to deal with an actor’s unexpected absence – like the Little Mo/Billy abortion strand. We had stories that suddenly had to swerve in a completely different direction from the one planned – like the Zoe/Anthony story suddenly turning into Kat/Anthony instead. The worst, however, was the Ferreiras. They had a terrific story in which one of them murdered their control-freak father and they all stuck together to hide the death – but then Dalip Tahil was removed without notice because of problems with his work permit. Without the central character, the others were stranded on screen for weeks playing an interminable story about a transplant.

It’s hard to forget those things looking back now, but of course there were personal highlights. Introducing Shane Richie as Alfie Moon has to be one of them, and I’m thrilled to see he and Jessie are both returning to the show. It was a refreshing change to be able to score big ratings successes with stories that weren’t miserable, and the Kat/Alfie wedding is pretty unique as a Christmas episode with a happy ending. I’m definitely proud of bringing in Nigel Harmon as Dennis Rickman and putting him together with Sharon, who’s one of my favourite characters of all time. I also thoroughly enjoyed developing Janine from a sad case into a SuperBitch. It was a pity Charlie Brooks had to leave when she did, but those are still the things an EP will always be proudest of – the ones that sow seeds for those who come after you. Bringing in Jane and Chrissie was part of that too, but the one I’m probably proudest of was introducing Lacey Turner as Stacey. She didn’t work out for an audition for the Millers, but in a rare moment of inspiration I suggested to Tony Jordan she could make another Slater...

Did you have any reservations over resurrecting arguably the series biggest character in Dirty Den?

A great many. Mal Young’s original idea was to bring him back in a one-off EastEnders ‘Bubble’, but I felt it wouldn’t be right to have something that significant outside the main show because it impacted on so many of our regular characters. I was also terrified of a ‘Bobby in the shower’ moment, so before we went ahead we trawled through the archives and watched all the old episodes to make sure we wouldn’t be going against anything that had actually been shown, or that couldn’t have been faked. In fact there was evidence the other way. A great deal was made in the show of Den’s ring turning up – but if you watch the episode of the shooting you’ll see he isn’t even wearing it at the time of his supposed death. So how did it get in the canal?

I was still nervous about it, and it was a huge relief it worked so well at the time, drawing us 16 million viewers. It also did what I wanted, which was to help bring Sharon right back where she belonged, at the very heart of the show.

Now, however, I do have some regrets about it. The subsequent scandal damaged not only the actor, but also the character – and permanently. There is a world of difference between being ‘lean, mean and dangerous’ and being a ‘dirty old man’, and if I hadn’t brought Den back the legend would still be untarnished. I can’t not regret that.

What is your perception of the negative press that surrounded the show at that time?

For the most part I think it was perfectly reasonable. There were things wrong with the show, and it’s the media’s job to say so. It was also fair to blame me personally for a lot of it, because whatever crises we were dealing with I think I should have been able to cope with them better. I certainly should have insisted on more staff and somehow found more writers to keep us afloat. Yes, the personal attacks were hurtful, but I could understand the passion the subject evoked. EastEnders belongs to its viewers, not its producers, and when you care about a show you don’t want to see someone not looking after it properly.

Some of the criticisms were unfair, of course, but that happens when blame centres on a single individual. I’m getting very used to being accused of axing characters who weren’t even there, or who left of their own accord, or who were introduced specifically for a short time frame. I’ve even been accused of axing a character who hasn’t gone – there was one fascinating piece about my evil plan to axe Pat only being prevented by my bosses putting their foot down!

But even that was to some extent our own fault. The Press Office at that time used automatically to attribute every pronouncement on the show to me – whether I’d said it or not. This created an assumption that the Executive Producer was responsible for every decision made on EastEnders, which was obviously not so. When I left it was agreed to use a formula like ‘EastEnders bosses’ in the future, to prevent that kind of personalization happening again.

Were there any storylining decisions that you are particularly proud of? Are there any that you felt could have been stronger in hindsight?

The one I’m personally proudest of was Jamie’s death because that was specifically my own. I loved the Jamie/Sonia dynamic, and felt the giving of Ethel’s ring gave them a kind of special status as a couple, rooted right back in the history of the show. When I couldn’t persuade Jack Ryder to stay, I had to find a way of ‘paying off’ that history properly and give them the story the moving ending it deserved. We got 16 million viewers for the episode of the accident, and even more for the death on Christmas Day.

There are many I feel could have been stronger if we hadn’t lost actors in the middle of them, but I also made mistakes of my own. The Ferreiras may have been scuppered by the removal of Dalip, but I think the damage was already done because I brought them in too early. There was enormous outside pressure to introduce this family, but I could and should have resisted it. We didn’t have proper story arcs for them, they weren’t properly thought through and developed, we simply weren’t ready – and it was the poor actors who suffered.

I also regret going with having Little Mo raped a second time. I accepted it because the story wasn’t meant to be so much about the rape as the abortion question, but if we were going to do it at all I should have ensured we did it whole-heartedly and played it right through. Someone who’s been raped twice is going through something very specific in terms of their own self-worth, and we didn’t really deal with that.

You started your reign as Executive Producer by axing several long standing cast members. Are there any characters that you regret including in that cull?

The two long-standing characters I cut in my first year were Mark Fowler and Roy Evans.

I was very sad to lose Mark, if only because Todd Carty is possibly the nicest actor I know, but the writers had come to the end of the road with him. There’d been an attempt to give Mark a darker side in the story with Nick Cotton the previous year, but it never sat very easily with other aspects of his character. We also had to deal responsibly with the HIV issue, as there was some concern people were beginning to think HIV wasn’t dangerous any more because of the health and longevity of Mark Fowler.

Roy, in retrospect, I do regret. He was in a similar position to Mark in that his personality didn’t generate story material, but in his case he was also beginning to stifle Pat. John Yorke and I share a great passion for the old, wild dangerous Pat who wore the white mac and looked as if she chewed up broken bottles for breakfast, but the Pat we had now had become too safe and comfortable. She’d had her affair story with Frank – and since he was and is the love of her life, if she didn’t leave for Frank she wasn’t going to do it for anyone else. To galvanise Pat we had to lose Roy.

But I wish now we’d found some other way. Roy had a stability about him that we needed, and losing both him and Mark within a year left us a kind of moral hole in the centre of the show. Those older ‘good’ characters have a role that extends far beyond the immediate gratification of story – as Lou Beale did in the past.

Robbie Jackson was also written out in my first year, but that wasn’t my decision. If it had been up to me I’d like to have kept him – not just for his own sake but also for Sonia’s, as the sole surviving Jackson. EastEnders works best as a ‘clan’ show, and isolated characters are in danger of fading to the fringes when they’re not involved in a specifically big story.

Do you still keep in touch with any of the cast and crew?

With some of the writers and office staff certainly, but very little with the cast now, as we all have such hectic schedules. Sadly, the actor I used to meet up with most often was Wendy, who was always a staunch and loyal friend.

I still have contact with the show, as my husband sometimes works there as a freelance sound supervisor, which is lovely.

There’s a new EP taking over at EastEnders, what advice would you offer him?

The show works so differently now I doubt I could offer much that’s relevant. The set-up is much better structured and staffed, and John Yorke is there for support when it’s needed.

The best advice I could give him would be to talk to Diederick. I love what he’s done with the show and hope to see it continuing.

Do you have any ambitions to return to working in Television?

No, never. I miss the social contact and did enjoy the programme-making, but there’s something very satisfying about working on your own material and being able to see it through to the end. It’s also wonderful to have the time to really tell a story properly, without being affected by outside events.

When and where will your new book be on sale?

The hardback comes out on April 15th and should be available in all good bookstores as well as online.

Thanks for taking the time to chat with us, Louise!

HONOUR AND THE SWORD by A L Berridge is published on 15th April by Michael Joseph, £12.99 hardback

[Marsh.]

Interesting that they originally planned for Den to be murdered with the Queen Vic bust but changed their minds. Just under 5 years later Archie was killed with it instead.

[Gstar]

I was today years old when I discovered Den wasn’t hit with the Queen Victoria

[Gstar]

Not all 3 of the anniversaries being about a murder of a character being hit over the head

[Redway]

Originally Posted by Germyle

I was today years old when I discovered Den wasn’t hit with the Queen Victoria

Don’t Pauline’s doorstep ring a bow-bell?

[Redway]

Harwood

Spoiler:

Kate Harwood was Executive Producer of EastEnders from 2005 until she stepped down from the role in 2006, Ellie recently caught up with Kate to reflect on her time with the show and to find out what she’s been up to since leaving.

It’s been four years since we last heard from you, what have you been up to since?

I am now the Controller, Series and Serials BBC Drama Production which makes me the Editorial head of all the drama that the BBC actually produces except for the Continuing dramas such as EastEnders, Holby etc. It’s a great job, very demanding with lots of different titles such as Lark Rise, Waking the Dead, Silent Witness, Five Days and the up coming Luther starring Idris Elba. Also period dramas such as Cranford, Emma and Tess of the D’Urbervilles.

EastEnders recently celebrated its 25th anniversary, what did you think of the live episode?

OMG! I was there watching it go out live at Elstree and it was a cross between being at a football match and watching unbearable torture. I was so nervous for them all but I thought they did brilliantly and that the performances were electric

Why do you think EastEnders is still so successful?

I think that it was set up to last and that what drove it then still endures today; it’s about family, and conflict and stuff that really really matters as much now as it ever did. Plus a big dollop of attitude and intense drama

Taking on a show as big as EastEnders must be a daunting task and it’s fair to say you took over the show after a difficult few years, do you think this added to the pressure?

I was terrified when I took over and the pressure was immense. But I was working with the best of the best as I was joined at the top table by Tony Jordan and Lorraine Newman and our big boss was the newly returned John Yorke. So many writers returned to help float the show again and the commitment and passion was extraordinary.

You hadn’t worked on a continuing series before, how does this differ to producing any other kind of drama?

Totally different and completely the same. I believe that good drama is good drama. That sometimes you paint in oils and it takes a long time - say with the big period dramas - and sometimes it’s lightening charcoal done very fast as with EastEnders but the same rules apply. Good characters, good stories , great moments, compelling situations and the best actors and production values that time and money can buy. All I had to lean on were the skills I had learned on the other shows I’d made and they they all came in handy. The team were incredibly supportive and patient with me and carefully explained the difference between a story producer and a script producer and that yes, they did have to shoot it that fast.... I did miss the wrap parties however. And never got used to the fact that you’re only as good as last night’s episode

Are there any story-lining decisions you’re particularly proud of? Are there any that you feel could have been stronger in hindsight?

I was very proud of the story of Billy and Honey’s Down’s Syndrome baby as the letters and feedback we received was so incredibly moving and I think it proved how far the public have moved on with issues of disability. I was also very proud of being there at the beginning of the Stacey, Max,Bradley love triangle story which sustained the show for so long and reached such a brilliant Christmas climax. What tremendous actors those three are. Stronger? I am not sure I ever really understood the depth of some of the writers’ (and John Yorke’s!) love for Wellard, so the Gus/Wellard/Ian Beale story completely passed me by ...

You had to deal with the exit of several key characters, none more so than Pauline Fowler (Wendy Richard), what was your reaction when you found out Wendy was leaving?

Well obviously that we had to give her a fantastic exit! My favourite exit was Kat and Alfie’s however - and now they are coming back!

Several new characters were introduced during your time with the show many of whom have been vital to the show’s recent success and remain key players now - do you have any particular favourites?

I will always remember the moment we realised in an audition workshop that Jake Wood (Max) and Charlie Clements (Bradley) looked so alike. The improvisation the two of them did was absolutely electric and when we showed the dvd to the writers the love triangle story was born. I was inconsolable when Bradley fell off the roof in the live episode! Jake and Jo Joyner thank goodness remain and are both hugely talented performers who seem capable of anything. I am also so fond of Denise and her girls, Chelsea and Libby and very proud of all three of them

Finally Kate, what question would you have liked to have been asked and how would you have answered it?

What did you learn from working on EastEnders?

I learned to be more decisive, that dithering means that other people can’t do their jobs and so it is a destructive thing to do. On a show like EastEnders you really have keep the wheels turning. I also learned how many frocks you get through during the Award do’s. June Brown ticked me off for wearing the same one twice!

Thanks for taking the time to chat with us, Kate!