User:AnemoneProjectors/EastEnders: The Podcast

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EastEnders: The Podcast is an audio drama spin-off of the BBC soap opera EastEnders that launched on 28 November 2018. It features three episodes.

Background
EastEnders: The Podcast was announced on 23 November 2018, when it was reported that the series would feature "breakout audio dramas that are closely linked to ongoing stories in the show", involving several of the existing characters. A teaser trailer was also released that day on the BBC Sounds website. It was later reported that the series would comprise four standalone episodes.

The first episode, "Kat's Indecent Propsal", was released on 28 Novemeber 2018. It is set in Spain and looks at the history of characters Kat Moon (Jessie Wallace), Alfie Moon (Shane Richie) and Hayley Slater (Katie Jarvis). In the episode, Kat is living with a Russian man called Dimitri (Andrew Byron), who is described as "possessive and controlling". Sophie Dainty from Digital Spy said the episode "clears up any questions we may have had up until this point". Ritchie said of the episode and the series, "We talk about the history of where Kat and Alfie have been in Spain – giving some of the back story, I think it's the first time it's been done. It's interesting, because me and Jessie were the first one to do the Back to Ours thing, and now me and Jessie are doing the first podcast. I think it's the future now, television seems to be doing the radio side of it a lot now, it'll be interesting."


 * https://www.express.co.uk/showbiz/tv-radio/1049348/EastEnders-spoilers-Alfie-Moon-return-Shane-Ritchie-Hayley-Slater-Kat-Slater-podcast
 * https://www.metro.news/soap-with-extra-suds-the-new-eastenders-podcast/1327649/
 * http://www.niemanlab.org/2018/11/wild-thing-i-think-i-love-you-but-the-ultimate-sustainability-of-your-particular-advertising-model-remains-unclear/
 * https://twitter.com/BBCSounds/status/1068837115067285504
 * https://twitter.com/GlorSanders/status/1067809117635522560

The second episode, "Mel Meets Her Maker", was relesed on 28 December 2018. It is set in Portugal in 2003 and and reveals the history between the characters Mel Owen (Tamzin Outhwaite) and Ray Kelly (Sean Mahon), revealing how they met. It also features Mel's best friend, Lisa Fowler, played by Lucy Benjamin. Benjamin was last seen in EastEnders in August 2017 and was not in EastEnders when the podcast episode was released, but Benjamin reprised the role because in 2003, Mel and Lisa were both off-screen and were said to be living together in Portugal. The episode was released to tie in with the EastEnders storyline in which Mel and Ray are due to marry, though Mel has discovered that Ray already has multiple wives and is planning revenge.


 * after ep2
 * https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/eastenders-podcast-reveals-rays-murderous-13792234
 * https://www.thesun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/8084613/ray-kelly-murder-detective-wife-balcony-podcast/
 * https://www.ok.co.uk/tv/eastenders/1533576/eastenders-who-dies-ray-kelly-mel-owen-lisa-fowler-podcast-detective-killed-off-dead-wife
 * https://www.express.co.uk/showbiz/tv-radio/1065395/EastEnders-spoilers-Ray-Kelly-Mel-Owen-murder-death-Hunter-Owen-BBC


 * ep3
 * https://www.digitalspy.com/soaps/eastenders/a26547312/eastenders-podcast-episodes-sonia-fowler-doctor-legg/
 * https://www.thesun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/8524672/eastenders-dr-legg-back-from-the-dead-podcast-sonia/
 * https://www.express.co.uk/showbiz/tv-radio/1093643/EastEnders-spoilers-Dr-Legg-death-Leonard-Fenton-Sonia-Lofty-Vicki-Fowler-return-BBC
 * https://www.dailystar.co.uk/showbiz-tv/hot-tv/762342/EastEnders-spoilers-Dr-Legg-returns-dead-Sonia-Fowler-Dot-Branning-Sharon-Mitchell
 * https://metro.co.uk/2019/02/27/eastenders-spoilers-new-dr-legg-scenes-air-death-8762589/

Reception
The Guardian made the podcast one of their two "picks of the week" in their 30 November 2018 edition of their regular podcast reviews.