EastEnders’ 40th anniversary live episode was a triumph ...Middle East

The cast of EastEnders must have felt palpable pressure to deliver in the much-hyped live episode to mark the soap’s 40th anniversary. Thankfully, God-fearing Yolande Trueman (Angela Wynter) gathered the community in prayer, asking for “courage to face these trials, give us the strength to overcome fear and uncertainty.” And that was just for Scott Maslen, who famously fluffed his lines in the soap’s first live outing for the 25th birthday back in 2010.

It’s been an emotional week in Albert Square, and going into tonight’s live edition there was a sense that EastEnders would struggle to top Wednesday’s vision of an afterlife Angie Watts as daughter Sharon teetered on the brink of death for nostalgic shock value.

As it was, there were no gimmicky bells and whistles, just half an hour of nerve-jangling drama that essentially boiled down to a series of two-handers between Martin (James Bye) and Stacey (Lacey Turner), culminating in a brave and bold demise that will change the course of Walford history.

EastEnders’ first episode back in 1985 centred on Pauline Fowler discovering her late-in-life pregnancy, arguably the square’s first scandal. Martin was the first baby born in the soap, so his death four decades on was a poignant full-circle moment.

Bye is not the first actor to play Martin, but since his recast just over a decade ago, he has provided the definitive portrayal of this legacy character. He wrung every ounce of emotion in his alter ego’s final moments, his tragic fate becoming increasingly obvious as ominous warnings from the paramedics made it horribly clear what was about to happen.

You could feel Martin’s love for ex-wife and soul mate Stacey, who dutifully stayed at his side as he faded away beneath a polystyrene beam that landed on him in the elaborate Queen Vic fire earlier this week.

Giving the groom’s speech he knew he wouldn’t get to say at the second wedding they would never have, Martin paid tribute to brave, beautiful Stace, effectively a love letter to the actress who plays her. Lacey Turner turned in a flawless performance and cemented her place in the pantheon of EastEnders icons.

Back in February 2010, trouper Turner had laryngitis and was famously forced to whisper Stacey’s confession she murdered Archie in the inaugural live episode. This only added to the emotional weight of a moment that has gone down in soap history.

With that under her belt, and the fact that Turner is such a reliable, instinctive performer, it’s no wonder the soap entrusted her with carrying the bulk of the live instalment.

Away from Martin’s final doof-doof, which also assures another raft of awards for the peerless Turner, the live also revealed the result of EastEnders’ first ever viewer vote to decide the outcome of a storyline. The great British public consigned Denise Fox (Diane Parish) to a lifetime with dodgy cop Jack Branning (the aforementioned Maslen, who was word-perfect, along with the rest of the impressive cast). If you don’t agree with the decision and thought Dee deserved a bit of bad boy action with Ravi, you’ve only got yourself to blame.

We also had a birth, with Sonia encouraged to “blow like she’s blowing that trumpet” by impromptu midwife Bianca (Patsy Palmer). Another viewer vote decreed Son’s daughter was named Julia, after the soap’s co-creator, and first executive producer, Julia Smith.

Dubbed “the Godmother of EastEnders“, it’s heartening that her name lives on. Smith was a notoriously hard taskmaster, but if she was watching over her baby 40 years on last night, she would’ve been proud of what they achieved. And rightly so.

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