EastEnders fans everywhere were left gobsmacked during the BBC soap’s 40th anniversary when the iconic Angie Watts (Anita Dobson) made an unexpected appearance.
The character appeared as an hallucination to daughter Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean), who was fighting for her life after being caught in the Queen Vic collapse.
Some words of encouragement from her late mum were enough to keep her hanging on until help arrived.
With the iconic moment having taken even the cast by surprise, it was no wonder it won the award for Scene of the Year at this year’s British Soap Awards.
Ahead of the star-studded ceremony, I was privileged enough to be able to chat to the icon herself, Anita Dobson, as well as her partner-in-crime, Kathy Beale star Gillian Taylforth.
In the early days of the show, Kathy and Angie were the best of friends, and their relationship is still fondly regarded by fans today.
During our chat, both women enthused about their long-lasting friendship, with Anita getting emotional.
‘We haven’t been able to see each other as much [as we’d like], but I know as soon as I look at her…’ Anita said, with Gillian going on to finish the thought.
‘It’s true. As soon as we see one another the memories come flooding back.’
Despite their close bond, even Gillian didn’t know about Anita’s return to the show until it aired on TV.
‘We knew nothing about the scene that she did with Tish. When we watched it, we all went, “Wow, this is what the 40th is all about! This icon coming back to our show!” Absolutely amazing, and I truly mean that.’
The actresses went on to reflect on their first meeting in years, which was captured on an episode of EastEnders revealed before the live episode.
‘When we did the Revealed show, we just cried when we met again. We still keep in touch now,’ Gillian explained, before revealing how they still send each other birthday and Christmas cards.
Reflecting on her decision to return to the show, Anita said: ‘It took a lot of talking because I wanted it to be right. I didn’t want to do it if it wasn’t going to actually work.
‘So we had a bit of chatting over the script and it just felt like the right time. And it was the best way to say goodbye to Angie, for me.’