Our British friends on Friday night watched the annual BBC charity show for Children In Need, and as usual, the EastEnders cast were featured in a few segments.
Spoiler alert: If you’re only familiar with the current episodes running on US public TV there might be many unfamiliar faces, but that shouldn’t deter you from enjoying the performances.
Shane Richie (Alfie Moon) led off the troupe through a few numbers from the classic musical Grease, in which Shane has starred in on the stage as Danny.
Then in “The Ghosts of Ian Beale,” we get to see some long-not-seen EastEnders faces, including Michelle Collins (Cindy Beale) and Gillian Taylforth (Kathy Beale), and both look like they haven’t aged a day since their last EastEnders appearances more than a decade ago!
Which segment did you like better? (Email me at walfordgazette@gmail.com)
I especially loved hearing Ethel’s and Lou’s voices in the aural montage. And how about Martine McCutcheon’s (Tiffany) real-life hit single “Perfect” playing on the radio in the launderette?
The BBC also published an EastEnders Children In Need 2015 calendar, getting the actors to pose for photographs various vignettes of undress, a la Calendar Girls, including 87-year-old June Brown (Dot Cotton).
In 2009 I had the privilege to see June on a West End stage production of Calendar Girls with Anita Dobson (Angie Watts), Jill Halfpenny (Kate Mitchell) and Jack Ryder (Jamie Mitchell).
The calendars are on sale for £10 (but only to UK residents, boo!).