User:AnemoneProjectors/List of EastEnders episodes (1988)

EastEnders is a British soap opera, examining the domestic and professional lives of working class people who live in the fictitious London Borough of Walford in the East End of London. The show airs on BBC1 and entered its fourth year of broadcast on 5 January 1988 with its 304th episode, with Julia Smith continuing her role as executive producer from the first episode, until Mike Gibbon took over during the year. EastEnders aired 104 episodes in 1988, with the the typical week comprising two half-hour episodes on BBC1, in a time slot of 7:30pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Characters that were introduced in 1988 included Johnny Harris (Michael O'Hagan), Little Ali Osman (Omer Mustafa Salih), David Samuels (Christopher Reich), Matthew Jackson (Steven Hartley), Cindy Williams (Michelle Collins), Ricky Butcher (Sid Owen), Diane Butcher (Sophie Lawrence), Melody (Lyanne Compton), Gregory Mantel (Pavel Douglas), Joanne Francis (Pamela Salem), Sufia Karim (Rani Singh), Shireen Karim (Nisha Kapur), Sohail Karim (Ronny Jhutti), Benny Bloom (Arnold Yarrow), Mo Butcher (Edna Doré), Barnsey Barnes (John Hallam), Queenie Price (John Labanowski), Trevor Kellow (Peter Doran), Victor Hampton (Michael Brogan), Gillie Hampton (Clare James) and Guido Smith (Nicholas Donovan).

Guest stars throughout the year were Michael Attwell (Kenny Beale), Lucy Bayler (Elizabeth Beale), Anthony Dutton (Harry Jameson) and Leslie Schofield (Brian Wicks). John Altman also made a guest return as his character Nick Cotton. The role of Vicki Fowler was recast from Emma Herry to Samantha Leigh Martin. Frank Butcher (Mike Reid) was reintroduced in 1988. Characters that left the series in 1988 included Angie Watts (Anita Dobson), Rezaul Kabir (Tanveer Ghani), Naima Jeffery (Shreela Ghosh), Lofty Holloway (Tom Watt), Mary Smith (Linda Davidson), Annie Smith (Samantha Crown), Chris Smith (Allan O'Keefe), Edie Smith (Eileen O'Brien), Darren Roberts (Gary McDonald), Lou Beale (Anna Wing) and Barry Clark (Gary Hailes).

Cast and characters
The first character to arrive in 1988 was Sufia Karim (Rani Singh), the matriarch of the Karim family. She arrived with her husband, Ashraf Karim (Aftab Sachak), who had previously appeared in 1987 played by Tony Wreddon. Their two children, Shireen Karim (Nisha Kapur) and Sohail Karim (Ronny Jhutti) also joined the series, joining over five months after Sufia's arrival. Michael Attwell and Lucy Bayler guest starred in the series as Kenny Beale and Elizabeth Beale, the son and granddaughter of Lou Beale (Anna Wing). The former also appeared in the 1988 special episode, "CivvyStreet", though was not credited. Little Ali Osman (Omer Mustafa Salih), the son of Ali Osman (Nejdet Salih) and Sue Osman (Sandy Ratcliff), joined in March as a newborn baby. Christopher Reich joined the cast as David Samuels, the nephew of Harold Legg (Leonard Fenton) in April, whilst Leslie Schofield made a guest appearance as Brian Wicks, the estranged husband of Pat Wicks (Pam St. Clement). New love interests for Carmel Roberts (Judith Jacobs) and Simon Wicks (Nick Berry) were introduced in May in the form of Matthew Jackson (Steven Hartley) and Cindy Williams (Michelle Collins) respectively. The character of Cindy was originally meant to be a minor role, where Collins appeared in only eleven episodes, but the character evolved into what writer Colin Brake described as "the most important character for the future" to be introduced in 1988. Mike Reid, who appeared in 1987 as guest character Frank Butcher, made another guest appearance in January, before returning in a regular role in March following positivie feedback to his original appearance. Frank reunited with former girlfriend Pat and they took over running The Queen Victoria pub together. Frank's son and daughter, Ricky Butcher and Diane Butcher were introduced to the series in May, with sixteen-year-old Sid Owen and fifteen-year-old Sophie Lawrence taking on the roles. Frank's elderly battle-axe mother, Mo Butcher, was also introduced, portrayed by former Streets Apart actress, Edna Doré. Junior Roberts' (Aaron Carrington) troublesome school friend, Melody was introduced in June, portrayed by Lyanne Compton. Pavel Douglas and Pamela Salem both joined the show's cast as Gregory Mantel and Joanne Francis, members of gangster organisation, The Firm. Arnold Yarrow joined the cast as Benny Bloom, a former Walford resident and a new love interest for Ethel Skinner (Gretchen Franklin), in late August. The final character to be introduced in 1988 was Guido Smith, portrayed by Nicholas Donovan.

In 1988, Anita Dobson, who played Angie Watts since the show's conception, decided to leave the show in order to pursue new projects. Angie left the series in May and shortly after, Leslie Grantham, who played her on-screen husband Den Watts, also decided to leave the show. Smith did not want the programme suffer from the departure of both Den and Angie and so a plan was created so that Den would stay on-screen for another year, whilst Grantham only worked for a few months. A story was created for Den to be imprisoned in scenes which could be inserted in episodes throughout the year. Michael O'Hagan joined the cast in a recurring capacity as Johnny Harris, Den's criminal associate. Johnny was later involved in the storyline which saw Den imprisoned for arson. John Hallam, John Labanowski, Peter Doran and Michael Brogan were cast as Den and Johnny's fellow inmates, Barnsey Barnes, Queenie Price, Trevor Kellow and Victor Hampton, all making their first appearances in September. Rezaul Kabir (Tanveer Ghani) became the first character to leave the series in 1988, following the departure of Shreela Ghosh who played Rezaul's cousin, Naima Jeffery and the introduction of the Karim family. Tom Watt left the role of Lofty Holloway and on-screen, Lofty left, heartbroken by his wife's decision to abort their child. Linda Davidson decided to leave the show in 1988 in order to pursue new challenges and so her character, Mary Smith, and Mary's daughter, Annie Smith (Samantha Crown), left Walford. Following Mary's departure, both Allan O'Keefe and Eileen O'Brien were axed from their respective roles as Chris Smith and Edie Smith. Gary McDonald also left his role as Darren Roberts during the year, with Darren departing in July. Beale family matriarch Lou Beale was killed off on the show in July, following the actress Anna Wing's decision to leave the show. Wing had become disillusioned with the direction of the show and began thinking "Should I be in this?". Gary Hailes left his role of Barry Clark in a storyline which saw Barry's relationship reach an end. John Altman, who appeared as Nick Cotton on and off since 1985, made another guest return in the year. The role of Vicki Fowler was recast from Emma Herry to Samantha Leigh Martin in 1988, following Herry's parents' decision to move to Scotland.

The following is a full list of the EastEnders 1988 cast.

Regular cast

 * Kathryn Apanowicz as Magda Czajkowski
 * Ishia Bennison as Guizin Osman
 * Nick Berry as Simon Wicks
 * Haluk Bilginer as Mehmet Osman
 * William Boyde as James Willmott-Brown
 * June Brown as Dot Cotton
 * Michael Cashman as Colin Russell
 * Michelle Collins as Cindy Williams
 * Linda Davidson as Mary Smith
 * Letitia Dean as Sharon Watts
 * Peter Dean as Pete Beale
 * Anita Dobson as Angie Watts
 * Nicholas Donovan as Guido Smith
 * Edna Doré as Mo Butcher
 * Pavel Douglas as Gregory Mantel
 * Leonard Fenton as Harold Legg
 * Gretchen Franklin as Ethel Skinner
 * Tanveer Ghani as Rezaul Kabir
 * David Gillespie as Duncan Boyd
 * Leslie Grantham as Den Watts
 * Gary Hailes as Barry Clark
 * Steven Hartley as Matthew Jackson
 * Judith Jacob as Carmel Roberts
 * Ronnie Jhutti as Sohail Karim
 * Nisha Kapur as Shireen Karim
 * Sophie Lawrence as Diane Butcher
 * Gary McDonald as Darren Roberts
 * Christopher McHallem as Rod Norman
 * Allan O'Keefe as Chris Smith
 * Sid Owen as Ricky Butcher
 * Sandy Ratcliff as Sue Osman
 * Christopher Reich as David Samuels
 * Mike Reid as Frank Butcher
 * Wendy Richard as Pauline Fowler
 * Aftab Sachak as Ashraf Karim
 * Pamela Salem as Joanne Francis
 * Nejdet Salih as Ali Osman
 * Rani Singh as Sufia Karim
 * Pam St. Clement as Pat Wicks
 * Jonathan Stratt as Brad Williams
 * Donald Tandy as Tom Clements
 * Gillian Taylforth as Kathy Beale
 * Bill Treacher as Arthur Fowler
 * Susan Tully as Michelle Fowler
 * Tom Watt as Lofty Holloway
 * Anna Wing as Lou Beale
 * Adam Woodyatt as Ian Beale
 * Arnold Yarrow as Benny Bloom
 * Matilda Ziegler as Donna Ludlow

Recurring and guest cast

 * John Altman as Nick Cotton
 * Michael Attwell as Kenny Beale
 * Lucy Bayler as Elizabeth Beale
 * Michael Brogan as Victor Hampton
 * Aaron Carrington as Junior Roberts
 * Lyanne Compton as Melody
 * Samantha Crown as Annie Smith
 * Peter Doran as Trevor Kellow
 * John Hallam as Barnsey Barnes
 * Christopher Hancock as Charlie Cotton
 * Emma Herry & Samantha Leigh Martin as Vicki Fowler
 * Aisha Jacob as Aisha Roberts
 * John Labanowski as Queenie Price
 * Omer Mustafa Salih as Little Ali Osman
 * Michael O'Hagan as Johnny Harris
 * Jon Peyton-Price as Martin Fowler
 * Leslie Schofield as Brian Wicks

List of episodes
During 1988, EastEnders aired two 30-minute episodes every week, in a time slot of 7:30pm on Tuesday and Thursday, apart from four episodes that were moved to 8:00pm due to the BBC's coverage of the 1988 Summer Olympics. The episodes were broadcast on BBC1. A weekly omnibus edition was also broadcast on Sundays. Until May, the episodes were executively produced by the show's creator Julia Smith, who continued her role as executive producer from the first episode in 1985. Mike Gibbon took over the role and his first credited episode was broadcacst on 31 May 1988. The episodes were repeated on Drama from March to May 2019.

All official ratings are taken from the Broadcasters' Audience Research Board (BARB), which were published in the The Listener, The Stage and Broadcast, and are combined with each respective week's omnibus edition. Airdates and credits are taken from individual episodes, BBC Genome and the book EastEnders: The First 10 Years: A Celebration.


 * January (8 episodes)
 * February (8 episodes)
 * March (10 episodes)
 * April (8 episodes)
 * May (9 episodes)
 * June (9 episodes)
 * July (8 episodes)
 * August (9 episodes)
 * September (9 episodes)
 * October (8 episodes)
 * November (9 episodes)
 * December (9 episodes)
 * Supplemental episodes (1 episode)