User:AnemoneProjectors/EastEnders spin-offs

EastEnders is a long-running British soap opera that has aired on BBC One since 19 February 1985. Since its inception, several spin-offs have been produced, including books, television documentaries, videos, music singles and an album. During the run up to the first episode of EastEnders, interest with the public was already high, something which continued afterwards. EastEnders proved as successful as was hoped for by the BBC in its first years, so they capitalised on it with a number of products.

Books
Many novels relating to EastEnders have been produced. Between 1985 and 1988, Hugh Miller wrote a series of 12 books focussing on several characters in the show. The books told the characters' backstories from before the show's inception in February 1985. Miller also wrote a series of four books called Teen EastEnders. Similar to the original 12 books, they focussed on teenage characters in the show.

A further four novels were written by Kate Lock between 1998 and 2001. Two of these explored the backstories of the characters Grant Mitchell and Steve Owen, with the other two being "secret diaries" of characters Bianca Jackson and Tiffany Mitchell, giving an insight into the characters lives during storylines that were airing at the time.

Several non-fiction books have been produced, including EastEnders: The Inside Story in 1987, which was written by the show's creators, Tony Holland and Julia Smith.

Series
In October 2009, a spin-off series entitled EastEnders: E20 was announced. Conceived by executive producer Diederick Santer, it was developed "as a way of nurturing new, young talent, both on- and off-screen, and exploring the stories of the soaps' anonymous bystanders." EastEnders: E20 characters are a group of sixth form students and it targets the "Hollyoaks demographic". It was written by a team of young writers and was shown on the EastEnders website in January 2010. A second series was commissioned for later in 2010, and a third series for 2011.

An internet mini-series, Lauren's Diaries, began in 2010, featuring Lauren Branning (Jacqueline Jossa) and giving an insight into her thoughts and feelings. A second series started in April 2011. The episodes feature on the EastEnders website. Another mini-series on the internet, called The B&B, started in 2012. The four-episode spin-off takes on the style of a fly-on-the-wall documentary, featuring Kim Fox (Tameka Empson), working at her bed and breakfast. Tamwar Tales – The Life of an Assistant Market Inspector is a four-episode spin-off starting in 2013, featuring the character of Tamwar Masood (Himesh Patel).

On 4 April 2015, EastEnders bosses announced plans of a new six-part BBC drama series featuring iconic couple Kat Moon (Jessie Wallace) and Alfie Moon (Shane Richie). The series, Redwater, will follow the characters as they move to Ireland. Speaking at the time, executive producer Dominic Treadwell-Collins commented: "In the next few weeks on EastEnders, viewers will witness several huge twists for Kat and Alfie Moon that will change their lives forever. Now is the perfect time to take two of EastEnders’ most beloved and enduring characters out of their comfort zone as they head to Ireland to search for answers to some very big questions… My team here are very excited about creating a whole new drama that stands apart from EastEnders while taking our style of storytelling to a place of stories, myth, secrets and immeasurable beauty."

Charity specials
In 1993, a charity special crossover between EastEnders and the science fiction television series Doctor Who entitled Dimensions in Time was made in aid of the charity Children in Need. It ran in two parts on 26 and 27 November 1993 and was filmed on the EastEnders set. It featured several of the stars of the programme at the time. Another Children in Need special, Pudding Lane was broadcast in a series of five-minute instalments throughout the 26 November 1999 telethon. It relocated the then current EastEnders characters to Pudding Lane in 1666, during the events leading to the Great Fire of London.

In 2003, a special was made for Comic Relief named OzEnders, which saw the characters in a spoof remake of The Wizard of Oz. June Brown starred as Dorothy Cotton, Jon Culshaw as Ozzy Osbourne, and Adam Woodyatt as Ian Beale, and employed the rest of the cast of EastEnders, Merseybeat and Casualty.

In 2005, the characters Peggy Mitchell, Stacey Slater and Little Mo Mitchell appeared alongside Catherine Tate's character Lauren Cooper for a Children in Need sketch. Various EastEnders cast members have also appeared in sketches for Children in Need, performing songs with various themes. In 2007, they sang songs from The Beatles' Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band, in 2008 they performed songs from West End musicals and in 2009 they performed renditions of classic songs produced by Motown Records. In 2011, they performed songs by Queen and recreated famous scenes from their videos. In 2013, the cast performed various styles of dance to different versions of "Get Lucky" by Daft Punk.

EastEnders get Mile Ready 15 March 2010, the cast of Eastenders do a fun run round Albert Square.

EastEnders and rival soap opera Coronation Street took part in a crossover episode for Children in Need on 19 November 2010, called "East Street". The EastEnders cast who took part in the mini-episode were Laurie Brett (Jane Beale), Charlie G. Hawkins (Darren Miller), Kylie Babbington (Jodie Gold), Nina Wadia (Zainab Masood), John Partridge (Christian Clarke), Diane Parish (Denise Johnson), Nitin Ganatra (Masood Ahmed), Jamie Borthwick (Jay Brown), Shane Richie (Alfie Moon), Jessie Wallace (Kat Moon), Ricky Norwood (Fatboy) and Shona McGarty (Whitney Dean).

In 2014, EastEnders made two specials for Children in Need; one being Grease-Enders and the other being The Ghosts of Ian Beale.

For Children in Need 2017, the cast took part in "EastEnd meets WestEnd", a performance of West End songs including "Step in Time" (Mary Poppins) and "Who Will Buy" (Oliver!). The special was shot differently to standard episodes of EastEnders which are filmed in high definition, instead it was filmed in ultra-high definition to give a cinematic feel. It was filmed on a Saturday in a single day and choreographed by Matt Flint.

Other specials
On 10 August 2001, the BBC threw a gala party at the Television Centre in West London, which was attended by many EastEnders cast members. Part of the event was documented by the hour-long television show EastEnders: It's Your Party, hosted by Jonathan Ross. It featured several interviews with the cast.

Two musical themed Christmas specials, both titled EastEnders Christmas Party, aired on Christmas Eve 2003 and 2004, which had the cast and crew of EastEnders singing, dancing and performing short comedy sketches.

EastEnders-themed game shows
A one-off special episode of the quiz show A Question of Sport called A Question of EastEnders was broadcast on BBC One on 15 February 2000 to mark EastEnders' 15th anniversary on 19 February 2000. The special was hosted by Gaby Roslin, and had two teams, each led by a team captain; Wendy Richard (who played Pauline Fowler) and Adam Woodyatt (Ian Beale). On Richard's team were Blue Peter presenter Katy Hill and stand-up comedian Harry Hill. Woodyatt's team consisted of Michelle Collins, who previously played Cindy Beale in EastEnders, and Jeremy Spake, who became famous for appearing in the television docusoap Airport. There were eight rounds and Woodyatt's team won with 36 points to Richard's 16.

There have been three special editions of The Weakest Link relating to EastEnders, on 1 March 2001, 26 June 2008, and in February 2010 for EastEnders 25th anniversary, which featured past and present EastEnders cast including Adam Woodyatt (Ian Beale), Larry Lamb (Archie Mitchell) and John Partridge (Christian Clarke). It was won by Laurie Brett, who plays Jane Beale.

An EastEnders-themed episode of Pointless Celebrities aired on 8 September 2018, featuring cast members Natalie Cassidy, Dean Gaffney, Perry Fenwick, Emma Barton, Lisa Hammond, Luisa Bradshaw-White, Jamie Borthwick and Madhav Sharma.

Documentaries
Documentaries have also been produced, particularly for the 10th, 15th and 20th anniversaries of the show looking back at the history of the show's inception, its characters and storylines. A behind-the-scenes documentary, EastEnders Revealed, aired regularly on BBC Choice and continued on BBC Three after the closure of BBC Choice. The first episode was in October 1999 and the show continued regularly until October 2005, with a few episodes still being made after this. A series of documentary shows, similar to EastEnders Revealed aired from 2006. EastEnders Xtra was an interactive series available between February and May 2005 via BBCi.

Internet
EastEnders' official website is located on the BBC Programmes website at www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006m86d and is part of BBC Online, the official website of the BBC. It was previously located at www.bbc.co.uk/eastenders. The website contains information on the cast and characters, games, news and interviews. The website was redesigned in 2007, with the new version going live on 20 April 2007. Another updated website went live in December 2009, to tie in with the show's 25th anniversary in February 2010. The site contained new features and is based on feedback from users of the website. Occasionally, a character in the show sets up their own website and these are sometimes created in reality, such as rudemasood.co.uk, godlypodly.co.uk, watchagrownmanrot.com and desperaterussianhousewives.co.uk.

Videos and DVDs
The first EastEnders video, released on 22 September 1986, was EastEnders – The Queen Vic, which looked at the major events in the lives of Angie Watts, Den Watts, Jan Hammond and Michelle Fowler, such as the birth of Michelle's baby, Vicki. The next video EastEnders – The Den and Angie Years, released in 1994. It included all of Den and Angie's moments such as their second honeymoon. In 1998, EastEnders – The Mitchells – Naked Truths was released, which was put together by writers such as Simon Ashdown, Tony Jordan and Christopher Reason. This video looked back at some of the most memorable storylines of Phil, Grant and Peggy Mitchell. This was essentially a two-hander between Phil and Grant, set in The Queen Victoria public house, intercut with flashbacks.

To celebrate 15 years of EastEnders, a special video, 15 Years of EastEnders, was released. The video included some of the highlights of the show, including Den serving Angie with divorce papers, Grant discovering his wife Sharon and his brother Phil's affair, Tiffany Mitchell's death and funeral, and Carol Jackson confronting her daughter Bianca over her relationship with Dan Sullivan.

The first EastEnders DVD was Slaters in Detention, released in November 2003 and also available on VHS. It contained a special comedic episode of EastEnders starring the Slater family. It was written by Tony Jordan, who helped devise the characters. It began with the female members of the Slater family dressed up in school uniform for a local disco, and they end up in a police cell where they reflect on the events of their lives, such as Kat revealing that Zoe was her daughter and Little Mo's marriage to Trevor Morgan. It also includes outtakes and an alternative ending to Little Mo's trial.

An interactive DVD game was released in October 2005, entitled "An A-Z Tour of Albert Square" exclusively through BBC's Reading and Writing (RaW) campaign on BBC Online. The DVD is hosted by Adam Woodyatt as he challenges viewers to answer questions to unlock classic clips from the shows history.

A DVD entitled EastEnders: Last Tango in Walford was released on 8 February 2010 to coincide with the show's 25th anniversary. It focuses on the characters Tiffany Dean (Maisie Smith) and Liam Butcher (James Forde) in the run up to their mother Bianca Jackson's (Patsy Palmer) wedding to their father Ricky Butcher (Sid Owen). Cast interviews and archive footage also feature.

Music releases
The EastEnders theme tune was released on record in 1986 featuring the orchestra of the themes creator, Simon May. The tune was later turned into a song, titled "Anyone Can Fall in Love". The lyrics were created by Don Black, and it was recorded in 1986 by EastEnders star Anita Dobson, known as Angie Watts in the show. It reached number four in the UK Singles Chart, and Dobson appeared on shows such as Top Of The Pops and Wogan, to promote the song.

A one-off album entitled The EastEnders' Sing-A-Long Album was released in 1986 on BBC Records. It featured most of the original cast and was an album of medleys containing well known cockney knees-up songs such as "Knees Up Mother Brown" and "Roll Out the Barrel". The record is notable for containing a Doctor Legg solo effort, performed by the actor who portrayed the character, Leonard Fenton. The album reached number 54 in the UK Albums Chart.

Two songs from the show were released as singles. "Every Loser Wins" by Nick Berry (Simon Wicks) reached number one in the UK Singles Chart. "Something Outa Nothing" by Letitia Dean (Sharon Watts) and Paul Medford (Kelvin Carpenter) reached number 12. Both songs were featured in a storyline where the characters formed a band called The Banned.

In 1999, BBC Music in association with Telstar released a single with performances by Barbara Windsor (Peggy Mitchell) and Mike Reid (Frank Butcher). They came together to release the song "The More I See You", based on their characters' wedding.

A version of the theme tune, called "Peggy's Theme", features on the album The Simon May Collection and was also released as an EP along with other EastEnders songs including "Anyone Can Fall in Love".

Other merchandise
One of the first products was a BBC EastEnders Knitting Collection pattern book which was released exclusively to high street store Woolworths in 1986. It contains many of EastEnders' characters at the time wearing the patterns shown in the book.

In 1988, a board game titled EastEnders the Game was released based on the characters and setting of the show. This game has since been reproduced. Since then there have also been items such as an EastEnders fridge magnet featuring The Queen Victoria pub and a hand-painted ceramic teapot based on The Queen Victoria, which was designed by Anne Rowe.

There has also been EastEnders the Arcade Game, which was published by Macsen Software in 1987. The game was available for the ZX Spectrum 48K. In the Xleague TV series, Wez and Larry's Top Tens, it was voted the third worst video game based on a TV license of all-time.

In November 2006, a wall calendar for 2007 was released, featuring pictures of the cast dressed as characters from William Shakespeare's plays, in aid of Children in Need. A range of EastEnders T-shirts were released through Topshop in 2010.

In 2014 a wall calendar was commissioned to be sold in aid of Children in Need which shows some of the cast semi nude to link in with a storyline in the show itself.