User:AnemoneProjectors/EastEnders25

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/soaps/completecoverage/eastenders-25th-anniversary/

The BBC soap opera EastEnders celebrates its 25th anniversary on 19 February 2010.

Executive producer Diederick Santer came up with several plans to mark the occasion, including the show's first episode to be broadcast live, the second wedding between Ricky Butcher and Bianca Jackson and the return of Bianca's relatives, mother Carol, and siblings Robbie, Sonia and Billie, an Internet spin-off and a DVD release.

Santer told entertainment website Digital Spy, "It's really important that the feel of the week is active and exciting and not too reflective. There'll be those moments for some of our longer-serving characters that briefly reflect on themselves and how they've changed. The characters don't know that it's the 25th anniversary of anything, so it'd be absurd to contrive too many situations in which they're reflective on the past. The main engine of that week is great stories that'll get people talking. That's why we're doing the live episode, which will feature a huge plot development. That's also why we're doing the soap wedding of the year &mdash; and perhaps the soap wedding of the decade &mdash; with Ricky and Bianca. The romance played against the thriller story is a great balance, which I hope the audience will be both gripped by and satisfied with. The wedding is the perfect opportunity for us to bring back the much-loved Jackson characters &mdash; Carol, Sonia, Robbie and Billie. I don't want to go over the top with returnees because, again, it'd be contrived if loads of old faces suddenly turned up in Walford. Bianca's family I can understand, but beyond that, I'd start scratching my head a little."

Spin-off series
A spin-off series, EastEnders: E20 was created to air in the run up to the anniversary. It was conceived by executive producer Diederick Santer as "the naughty little brother or sister to the main show" and was devised in a bid to target younger viewers and to develop and nurture new talent.

The series features four new teenage characters who move to Walford, as well as cameos from existing characters from the main show. The characters are described as sixth form students trying to escape from "family problems and crises of their own making". It primarily operates as a standalone series but also cross-references storylines of the main soap.

DVD
EastEnders: Last Tango in Walford

Live episode
A special live episode broadcast on 19 February 2010 revealed Archie Mitchell's Christmas Day killer.

'Doof-doofs'
Ad campaign, We want your 'doof doofs' and the greatest cliffhangers.

There was also the Albert Circle thing!