The second part of our post as we look at what we consider to be the most memorable Christmas Day EastEnders episodes and storylines.
6. SHARON AND DENNIS REVEAL THEY'RE IN LOVE (2004)
Ah, Shannis! One of the best Walford couples there ever was and still so deeply missed after all these years. After the Den and Angie divorce saga, the episode where Dennis and Sharon reveal their relationship to their stunned family is our favourite - and seriously underrated we think!
Den Watts - hardly one who could take the moral high ground - couldn't bear his son being in a relationship with his adopted daughter and succeeded in breaking them up. Dennis then forged ahead in a relationship with a besotted Zoe Slater as Sharon hid her heartbreak. But by the autumn of 2004, Sharon and Dennis were having an affair behind Zoe's back. Knowing they had to leave Walford in order to give their relationship another go, the couple decided on a fresh start in America, making plans to leave on Boxing Day.
But Den - who knew that Dennis was cheating on Zoe with Sharon - bought his son and his girlfriend two tickets for a holiday in the Caribbean in a bid to get Dennis away from Sharon. But all this did was force Sharon and Dennis to come clean sooner than they had wanted to... And all hell broke loose! Cue much shouting, screaming, smashed plates and fisticuffs. But nobody was prepared for Zoe's announcement that she was pregnant with Dennis's baby. Knowing it was game over, a heartbroken Sharon left for her new life in America that evening. But she left with her younger sister Vicki instead of Dennis. However as Sharon departed for the airport what she didn't know was that there was no baby. Zoe, forced by Den, had lied about being pregnant in order to stop Dennis from running off with Sharon. It was a few weeks before Dennis found out about Zoe's lie, and then nothing could stop him rushing off to the States to be with Sharon.
7. SHARON'S MIRACLE BABY (2005)
After the Shannis reveal, this is our next fave Christmas episode! It was only the secondary storyline but for us, it was the stand-out one!
It was Sharon and Dennis Rickman's first Christmas as newlyweds, and instead of celebrating, Dennis was having to take Sharon to hospital as she was suffering from a severe bout of food poisoning - due, they thought, to the dodgy smoked salmon Dennis had served her.
As it turned out, Sharon's health issues had less to do with the smoked salmon and more to do with the baby she was expecting! Sharon, who had previously been told she could never have kids, broke the news to a stunned but delighted Dennis, who had desperately wanted to be a dad but like Sharon, didn't think that children would feature in their future. It really was a Christmas miracle, and one that Shannis fans had hoped to see.
Unfortunately for Sharon and Dennis - and Shannis fans as well for that matter - their happiness was short-lived as Dennis was tragically murdered on the orders of local gangster Johnny Allen a week later. A distraught Sharon left for America where she gave birth to a baby boy who she named after his late father... and late grandfather as well! Sadly young Dennis Rickman went the same way as the two previous Dennises after he was sadly killed in a boating accident just months before his fourteenth birthday.
Come on, EastEnders - what have you got against Dennises?
8. GOODBYE PAULINE (2006)
Pauline Fowler, played by the formidable Wendy Richard, had been on the Square for a whopping twenty one years and was one of the original EastEnders characters. But when Wendy made the decision, sadly due to ill health, to hang up Pauline's cardigan for good, we knew that Pauline's departure was going to be sad. But we didn't know just how heart-wrenching it was going to be...
Pauline was one of those tough matriarchs that the East End is famous for. But during her final months on the Square, Pauline had become a very angry and bitter woman, with much of her anger directed at her son Martin's wife, Sonia Jackson, a woman Pauline never thought was good enough for Martin. Unfortunately a massive row between the two women, which resulted in an almighty slap and a smashed fruit bowl, was the last bit of drama Pauline experienced before she went for a wander in the Square where she collapsed by the Christmas tree and sadly breathed her last. She was discovered by a horrified Dot Branning as the residents were engaging in a snowball fight, and a heartbroken Martin realised his Mum was dead.
Because Pauline became so awful towards the end, especially to poor Martin and Sonia, many viewers felt it was difficult to feel any sympathy for her as her friends and family began to desert her. But it really was a sad ending for a truly iconic character, and watching it again, it's all the more heartbreaking as the legendary Wendy Richard passed away a few years later. Both Pauline and Wendy are both so sorely missed.
9 . MAX AND STACEY'S AFFAIR EXPOSED (2007)
After Den's presentation of the divorce papers, the Christmas episode from 2007 is the one many find to be the most explosive. It's typical of EastEnders to reveal illicit liaisons on Christmas day. If such revelations don't take place in The Vic, then it will be a gathering at someone's house while the party is in full swing. This time it took place at the home of Max and Tanya Branning.
The marriage of Max's son Bradley and Stacey Slater united the Branning and Slater clans so it made sense for the two families to spend Christmas together at Max and Tanya's, especially as it was newlyweds Bradly and Stacey's first Christmas as a married couple. And not wanting to let the grass grow under their feet, they were even making plans to have a baby before next Christmas. And they weren't the only ones who were loved up. Max and Tanya's marriage had always been fraught with difficulties of one kind or another - mainly Max's dishonesty or infidelities but now the marriage of the older-and-should-be-wiser Brannings was on top form. There was a lot of festive joy and good tidings as the two families happily celebrated Christmas together. Max was dressed as Father Christmas, handing out presents... and that's where it all started to unravel. He should have hired an elf!
The only person who probably wasn't feeling so jubilant was Max and Tanya's daughter, Lauren, who had uncovered her dad's affair with her new sister-in-law. Lauren, who had been taking video footage of Bradly and Stacey's wedding, had accidently captured a private moment between her dad and Stacey just before Stacey was due to head off on honeymoon. Lauren then burned the footage onto DVD and wrapped it up and placed it under the Christmas tree as a gift for Bradley. But when Max handed it over to Bradley, Lauren had unsuccessfully tried to retrieve the DVD but too late - before she knew it, Max had slipped it into the DVD player, and everyone was eagerly anticipating reliving the magic of Bradley and Stacey's wedding day. What they actually saw in stunned silence was Max and Stacey in a very intimate moment... and chaos ensued. Tanya was in shock; Bradley tried to knock his dad into the middle of next year; Uncle Jack was having to keep them apart, Big Mo was trying to distract Dot with the Queen's speech, and everyone was demanding answers.
It was the big reveal the nation was waiting for and it didn't disappoint! And as if that wasn't enough drama while you were still waiting for your Christmas dinner to digest, poor Tanya Branning took a massive tumble down the stairs while fighting with Max as she tried to leave with their children.
10. SEAN SLATER FINDS OUT HE'S NOT AMY"S DAD (2008)
It's hard to believe that Sean Slater was once part of the Mitchell clan. Well for all of five minutes anyway. Because when the truth came out that he wasn't the father of baby Amy, his and Roxy's marriage went down faster than the glitter ball in Times Square on New Year's Eve.
Marriage and fatherhood had a positive, more calming effect on Sean who was known to be rather volatile. Think a younger version of Grant Mitchell (too bad the two never met. Now that would have been interesting!) Amy and Roxy were the two best things to happen to Sean in a long time, and the two were looking forward to their first Christmas as a family celebrating with the rest of the Mitchell's in The Vic. Unfortunately spiteful Suzy Branning, miffed because she'd been chucked by Phil Mitchell, was out to take her bitterness out on anyone she could. And in the firing line was a terrified Roxy Mitchell was was being blackmailed by Suzy after the latter discovered that Sean was not Amy's father. Wondered what Suzy would have made of the discovery that her brother Jack was the father, making baby Amy Suzy's niece!
And in a scene that was reminiscent of the Mitchell Christmas Day row in 1996, Peggy had to sit at the head of the table and watch as yet another Christmas dinner was being disrupted. Suzy, showing nobody any mercy at all, not even little Ben Mitchell, proceeded to work her way around the table insulting anyone and everyone - something Sean found highly amusing. And who could blame him with such highly original though terribly underrated insults that flew out of Suzy's mouth such as 'poisonous button mushroom' and 'vinegar lips.' However Sean soon stopped laughing when he pulled open a cracker and a document flew out. Vindictive Suzy had hidden a copy of the paternity test results inside the cracker and it stated that he was not Amy's father. Total bedlam ensued with Roxy becoming hysterical; Sean beginning to spiral out of control, and Jack growing very worried as the realization that he was Amy's dad began to dawn on him... just as he had rekindled his relationship with Roxy's sister Ronnie.
Which is your most memorable Christmas EastEnders episode?
Photos: YouTube
Blog graphics: Angel Noire
I really don't know why the episode where Sharon and Dennis's relation was revealed isn't more talked about. It was fabulously acted. I even think Chrissie's couldn't-you-have-waited-til-after-dinner line was a classic and should have been the subject of countless memes! 😂
One thing that I remember very well was during the Max and Tanya episode where for a few seconds everyone's eyes were boring into Stacie as they were waiting for an explanation. She's usually such a gobby madam (some might even say a bit like me!) But this time she had nothing to say. Major awks! I actually felt quite sorry for her.
I think when it comes to an EE Christmas episode rivaling Den's divorce papers, the revelation of Max's affair with Stacey has to be it.
I remember all of these episodes very well. The Max-Stacey affair reveal and Shaun finding out he wasn't Amy's dad are two of my faves. Strong acting by all the cast.
I can't remember if it were 2000 or 2001 but I especially liked the storyline of where a runaway Zoe Slater was reunited with her family. That scene were the Slater girls were sat around the table bantering in true Slater style with all the family complete was so heartwarming.