With her always-pristine white outfits, and gigantic bouffant of hairsprayed blonde hair (a masterpiece that allegedly took a solid 45 minutes to perfect in hair and makeup) Vanessa Gold has to be one of EastEnders’ greatest tragic heroes. And yet, thanks to the Pat Butcher and Peggy Mitchell’s unintentionally hilarious cat-fights, Dot Cotton’s accidental cannabis use, and the positively iconic moment when Tanya Branning accidentally called Ian Beale by his real name (he’s played by actor Adam Woodyatt) during a live edition of the show, it’s the comedy heroines of the show that keep us watching. In between numerous people getting clobbered to death with blunt objects, lovely, sweet Bradley Branning fatally toppling from the roof of the Queen Vic, and the multiple devastating fires that have raged through every single building in Walford over the years, it’s not exactly a prime example of a laugh-a-minute television highlight.
Taking place in a fictional area of London’s East End, set within a cursed square where evil befalls every single character, week after gruelling week, it’s easy to see why. Think of the beloved British staple that is EastEnders and it’s likely that the first expression to spring to mind will be ‘doom and gloom’.
