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Episode 5737 of the BBC soap opera EastEnders was broadcast on BBC One on 6 July 2018. It was written by Peter McKenna and directed by John Greening. The episode marks the end of a storyline that sees Shakil Kazemi (Shaheen Jafargholi) stabbed to death. For the first time in British television history, relatives of knife victims will tell their real-life stories during the episode.

Plot
Muslim prayers take place for Shakil Kazemi (Shaheen Jafargholi), who has been stabbed and killed. His brother, Kush Kazemi (Davood Ghadami), discovers that their mother, Carmel Kazemi (Bonnie Langford), has cancelled all plans for the funeral and wants to be the only person there, so he tells her that his family and friends have a right to be there and say goodbye. She agrees but says she will not be there.

Tiffany Butcher (Maisie Smith) suggests that she and Bernadette Taylor (Clair Norris) speak at the funeral. As the locals gather, Carmel is absent so her friend, Denise Fox (Diane Parish), attempts to find her. At the church, Tiffany and Bernadette decide not to speak as Bernadette fears speaking in front of the crowd and Tiffany says that she did not really know Shakil. Kush asks Shakil's friends, Keegan Baker (Zack Morris) and Bex Fowler (Jasmine Armfield), to speak to delay the funeral in the hope that Carmel will arrive.

Denise finds Carmel, who says that she cannot say goodbye to Shakil as it is too final and she wants him back. Denise says she will regret not going and people should remember how loved Shakil was, not the fact that Carmel did not go to his funeral. Keegan and Bex share their memories of Shakil. The Reverend Irene Mills tells Kush she cannot delay the funeral any longer, so it begins. Carmel and Denise then arrive. Mills says that although the burial feels final, Shakil will live on in their memories and urges them to speak about him often to make sense of and give meaning to his story. The coffin is led out of the church and lowered into the ground.

Cast and characters

 * Jasmine Armfield as Bex Fowler
 * Jamie Borthwick as Jay Brown
 * James Bye as Martin Fowler
 * Natalie Cassidy as Sonia Fowler
 * Ben Champniss as Shrimpy
 * Letitia Dean as Sharon Mitchell
 * Tameka Empson as Kim Fox-Hubbard
 * Perry Fenwick as Billy Mitchell
 * Dean Gaffney as Robbie Jackson
 * Nitin Ganatra as Masood Ahmed
 * Davood Ghadami as Kush Kazemi
 * Lisa Hammond as Donna Yates
 * Katie Jarvis as Hayley Slater
 * Indira Joshi as Mariam Ahmed
 * Tilly Keeper as Louise Mitchell
 * Melanie Kilburn as Reverend Irene Mills
 * Bleu Landau as Dennis Rickman
 * Bonnie Langford as Carmel Kazemi
 * Scott Maslen as Jack Branning
 * Zack Morris as Keegan Baker
 * Laila Morse as Mo Harris
 * Clair Norris as Bernadette Taylor
 * Diane Parish as Denise Fox
 * Selva Rasalingam as Umar Kazemi
 * Ash Rizi as Darius Kazemi
 * Madhav Sharma as Arshad Ahmed
 * Maisie Smith as Tiffany Butcher
 * Lorraine Stanley as Karen Taylor
 * Gillian Taylforth as Kathy Beale
 * Christopher Timothy as Ted Murray
 * Lacey Turner as Stacey Fowler
 * Rudolph Walker as Patrick Trueman
 * Jessie Wallace as Kat Moon
 * Danny Walters as Keanu Taylor
 * Charlie Winter as Hunter Owen
 * Adam Woodyatt as Ian Beale
 * Gillian Wright as Jean Slater

Production
As part of the "unique" episode, the real-life families of victims of knife crime appear, with some sharing their own stories as part of the episode. Of the episode, executive consultant of EastEnders, John Yorke, said, "From the very beginning we were determined to treat the difficult subject of knife crime in a responsible, non-sensationalist way. We started out with detailed research, and the more stories we heard the more we felt other people should hear them too. The episode gradually evolved into something unique for EastEnders—real families telling their own devastating stories alongside our own characters. We've tried to find a way to do justice to an incredibly difficult, tragic and emotive subject, and with huge help from the families of real life victims and the support groups they work with, we hope we've come some way to getting that enormity across."

As well as telling their stories in clips during the epiosde, the families of victims also also appear during the funeral alongside the actors, and are shown holding pictures of their relatives. It is the first time that this has happened in a British soap opera. Voiceovers are played from real victims of knife crime instead of the normal theme tune and the credits roll over a black screen, however, the cast and the crew, with the exception of the writer (Peter McKenna), documentary producer (Leo Fawkes) and director (John Greening), are not credited but instead, 47 names of the victims' relatives featured are listed.

In addition to the episode, BBC Three aired a special feature about knife crime and multiple short films exploring the lives of the people involved in the "special" episode. The controller of BBC Three, Damian Cavanagh, said, "We're pleased that we're able to collaborate with EastEnders to produce additional material to support this storyline that will allow both the BBC Three and EastEnders audience gain a deeper engagement with an important subject." The short films were made availabe on BBC iPlayer under the title EastEnders: The Real Stories.

The storyline was developed with the help of former EastEnders actress Brooke Kinsella, who has campaigned against knife crime since the murder of her brother, Ben Kinsella. The storyline was written to mark the tenth anniversary of the death of Ben Kinsella. Kinsella's father, George Kinsella, featured in the episode.

Of the storyline, Jafargholi said "It's been intense, to make sure the story is accurate and it's delivered in a way that is close to the bone". To prepare for the storyline, Bonnie Langford, who plays Shakil's mother, Carmel Kazemi, spoke to Brooke Kinsella. Langford said "They haven't been frightened to show the uncomfortable side and the harsh side and the nasty side".


 * Bonnie Langford on the episode
 * Davood Ghadami on Kush's emotions
 * Funeral pictures
 * Some details of the real people featured

Reception
Natasha Sporn of the London Evening Standard said fans were left "sobbing". David Brown of Radio Times said EastEnders "broke new ground" but the result was "something of a misstep—albeit an honourable one." Michael Hogan of The Daily Telegraph said it was "popular television at its most relevant and powerful" while Brooke Kinsella thanked viewers for their "words of support". Duncan Lindsay of Metro said that viewers were "moved to tears". Lindsay also said that the number of members of the public involved in the graveyard scene was "shocking" but that "it remains the tip of the iceberg for a terrifyingly prevalent issue." Laura Harding and Simon Smith of the Manchester Evening News called the episode "powerful", with "viewers being left in tears". Ash Percival of HuffPost called the scenes "powerful" and said that they "showed the grim reality of London's current knife crime problem".


 * Fan response (Metro)
 * Review (Digital Spy)
 * Review (Metro)
 * Review (Radio Times)

Awards
The episode saw EastEnders shortlisted for the Broadcast Awards 2019 for Best soap or continuing drama. The award was won by Coronation Street. It was also nominated for Best Storyline and Scene of the Year at the British Soap Awards. However, both of these awards were won by Coronation Street.

The storyline also saw EastEnders win the award for Best Show-stopper at the Inside Soap Awards in October 2018.