Revision as of 13:56, 28 January 2017

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"Disaster Week" is a group of three episodes of the BBC soap opera EastEnders, episodes 5430, 5431 and 5432, broadcast between 23 and 26 January 2017 on BBC One. The episodes include a bus crash in Albert Square, and the departures of the characters ???, who left the series after ??? years in the role. During the episodes, ???

Plot

Episode 5430 (23 January 2017)

Following on from the previous episode, in which Kim Fox-Hubbard (Tameka Empson) disowns her sister Denise Fox (Diane Parish) for having her baby adopted, Kim asks their mother, Emerald Fox (Doña Croll) to move out for taking Denise's side; she moves in with Denise and her father figure, Patrick Trueman (Rudolph Walker). The market traders hear that the market may be moved, so Martin Fowler (James Bye) attempts to get the other traders to strike, but they refuse, and Martin's wife Stacey Fowler (Lacey Turner) is also against it as the family needs the money. Whitney Carter (Shona McGarty) tells her husband, Lee Carter (Danny-Boy Hatchard) that her brother, Ryan Malloy (Neil McDermott) has invited them to visit him in Wakefield to celebrate his engagement, but Lee is against it because of the costs involved. Jay Brown (Jamie Borthwick), who is a registered sex offender, looks for a new home because he can no longer live where he currently is. He and his funeral director boss, Billy Mitchell (Perry Fenwick), travel to near the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park to collect a corpse, and get stuck in traffic on the way back. Jay fears he will never find a relationship because of his situation, but Billy tells him that the right woman will see that he was not at fault; Jay receives a text message from a nurse Billy gave his number to, but Jay refuses to respond.

Tina Carter (Luisa Bradshaw-White) wins a competition to have a family photo taken, so takes her mother, Sylvie Carter (Linda Marlowe), and sister, Shirley Carter (Linda Henry), for the photo but find out it was a scam. Bex Fowler (Jasmine Armfield) tells off her former boyfriend, Shakil Kazemi (Shaheen Jafargholi) for standing by while Keegan Baker (Zack Morris) made fun of her best friend Louise Mitchell (Tilly Keeper) in the previous episode, and Keegan continues to tease Louise. The school closes early due to a broken water supply, so several students get the bus home, including Louise, Bex, Shakil and Keegan. Denise is also travelling on the bus, and she worries when the bus driver (Jim Dowdall) appears ill and drives the wrong way. Tina, Sylvie and Shirley travel back towards Walford on the tube. While Martin continues to protest, the bus driver suffers a heart attack. Denise is thrown to the floor of the bus, and the bus crashes through the market and into the rail bridge.

Episode 5431 (24 January 2017)

Episode 5432 (26 January 2017)

Characters and cast

Emerald Fox – Doña Croll
Keegan Baker – Zack Morris

Amy Mitchell – Abbie Knowles
Ricky Mitchell – Henri Charles
Madison Drake – Seraphina Beh
Alexandra D'Costa – Sydney Craven
Travis Law-Hughes – Alex James-Phelps
Mr Gethin Pryce – Cerith Flinn
School tannoy announcer – Kirsty Woodward
John Dixon – Kieron Jecchinis
Bus driver – Jim Dowdall

Background

On 16 January 2017, it was announced that EastEnders had filmed a "disaster" to be broadcast the following week, but details were kept to a minimum so as to surprise the viewers, and upcoming spoilers did not reveal what would happen or which characters would be involved.^[1]

Production

Filming

Continuity

The three episodes are all set on the same day. This explains why events in previous episodes appeared to occur on the wrong date, such as the birthdays of Mick Carter and Phil Mitchell. These were originally scrutinised by some viewers as continuity errors, but Daniel Kilkelly from Digital Spy explained that "it's pretty common that soap episodes aren't necessarily set on the exact day they air—and things will get back on track next week with three episodes based around the disaster."^[1] A spokesperson for the show said, "As a continuing drama, it is not uncommon for events to be moved in order to tie in with other storylines. Next week sees disaster strike in Walford, and these episodes all take place over one day, so in order for events to be played out in this way, other moments need to be moved slightly for story purposes."^[1]

Reception

Ratings

Pre-broadcast

Upon the announcement of the disaster plot, Kilkelly said that the "high-stakes storyline" would be a "real treat" for viewers and the scenes would be "unmissable".^[1]

Post-broadcast

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Kilkelly, Daniel (16 January 2017). "EastEnders is planning a shock disaster storyline... and it's hitting your screens next week". Digital Spy. Retrieved 28 January 2017.

External links

Category:EastEnders episodes Category:EastEnders storylines Category:2017 British television episodes

[Digital_Spy_20170116-1] Kilkelly, Daniel (16 January 2017). "EastEnders is planning a shock disaster storyline... and it's hitting your screens next week". Digital Spy. Retrieved 28 January 2017.

[1]

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 =Source dump=
-<s>*http://www.digitalspy.com/soaps/eastenders/news/a819157/eastenders-spoilers-shock-disaster-storyline-next-week/</s>
+*<s>http://www.digitalspy.com/soaps/eastenders/news/a819157/eastenders-spoilers-shock-disaster-storyline-next-week/</s>
 *http://www.digitalspy.com/soaps/eastenders/news/a819216/eastenders-disaster-episodes-spoilers-cast-list-revealed/
 *http://www.digitalspy.com/soaps/eastenders/spoilers/a819034/eastenders-spoiler-albert-square-is-rocked-by-a-shock-disaster/