The 10 Most Implausible EastEnders Storylines

EastEnders has covered some huge storylines - including ‘Who Shot Phil Mitchell?’, Max Branning and Stacey Slater’s affair, and Cindy Beale hiring a hitman to kill husband Ian - in more than 5,250 episodes since its creation in February 1985.

While the show has no doubt helped countless people deal with real life issues thanks to its terrific portrayal of some upsetting subjects - such as rape, mental health issues and stroke - viewers have been known to raise an eyebrow at some of the more seemingly implausible plot lines in the last 31 years.

Baby Swap

Copyright [BBC]

One of the biggest fan reactions to a soap storyline ever occurred after two New Year episodes in 2011 which saw Ronnie Branning (Samantha Womack) swap her dead baby for Kat Moon’s (Jessie Wallace) newborn son Tommy.

The BBC received a massive 13,400 complaints and Ofcom got than 1,000 about the plot to make the baby swap and cot death storyline the most complained about in the show’s history.

EastEnders also faced criticism from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (Sids) awareness campaigners and a number of mothers created Facebook groups protesting against the plot, including one titled 'Stop EastEnders storyline in which Ronnie’s baby dies in a cot death’.

It later transpired it wasn’t just the viewers who were up in arms about the storyline, as Samantha herself branded the storyline “implausible”.

She told the Daily Mirror: “I thought it was implausible. Most women who lose a child would not go out and abduct one. But Ronnie is a soap character and she is not necessarily representing real life.

"Soap is based on controversy and sensationalism because bosses are trying to get high ratings and they can’t write things like 'Ronnie had a cup of tea’. Otherwise people wouldn’t watch it.”

Ofcom later cleared EastEnders of any wrongdoing over the storyline - which ended with Ronnie being sent to prison for child abduction and Tommy returning to Kat - and ruled the scenes were not “unduly disturbing or graphic”.

Charlie Slater Heart Attack

Copyright [BBC]

Such is the way with the internet these days it’s far easier for fans of TV shows to be vocal about their storyline disapproval, such was the case in a recent EE episode when several viewers slammed Charlie Slater’s heart attack scenes, branding them “unrealistic” and “laughable”.

Actor Derek Martin reprised his role as the lovable cab driver, who he played since 2000, for a brief visit after his character’s great-niece Stacey Branning (Lacey Turner) gave birth to son Arthur.

But his return was short-lived as Charlie began to go into cardiac arrest in Stacey’s living room during an argument between Kat and Big Mo (Laila Morse).

However, the scene didn’t go down well with a number of fans who took to Twitter to question why on earth the watching Slater family didn’t call 999 quicker.

One wrote: “This is the longest dragged out heart attack ever - unrealistic script writing! #EastEnders #Charlie (sic)”

Another tweeted: “Well! #EastEnders hv truly excelled themselves on the crap acting front this time! Charlie’s dying scene! I actually laughed it was so bad! (sic)”

Dirty Den Back From The Dead

Copyright [BBC]

While we suspect Charlie is in fact dead, Derek could yet be getting some more air time if past EastEnders casualties are anything to go by as some of the soap’s stars have seemingly been killed off in the past only to return a few years later.

One of the most infamous soap comebacks from the dead occurred in September 2003 when 'Dirty Den’ Watts rose from the ashes to greet his daughter Sharon Mitchell (Letitia Dean) with his trademark line “hello Princess”.

The storyline got huge ratings but was slammed by the British for being unrealistic.

The iconic character was supposed to have died after being shot on a canal towpath in 1989 by a member of The Firm - a criminal organisation he was involved with - who pointed a gun through a bunch of yellow daffodils and pulled the trigger.

While viewers didn’t ever see Den’s dead body a splash could be heard after the shot was fired and the storyline went that Sharon later identified Den’s body after it was found in the canal and he was buried.

But 14 years later Sharon discovered Den had a son, Dennis Rickman, as a result of a fling in his younger years and it was Dennis who found out his father was not really dead.

After confiding in his and Sharon’s half-sister Vicki Fowler (Scarlett Alice Johnson), the daughter of Sharon’s best friend Michelle (Susan Tully), Vicki brought Den back to Walford and he revealed he had fled to Spain after cheating death and that the guy in the canal was a member of The Firm.

Upon his return, Den was disgusted to discover Sharon and Dennis - who also had links to The Firm - were in a relationship and set about trying to end it, plus got up to plenty of his old antics.

After 2 years of this, he was killed AGAIN - we assume for good this this time - and buried in the cellar of Queen Vic.

Claudette Rises From The Dead

Copyright [BBC]

But it’s not just Dirty Den who has come back from the dead in EastEnders. The soap’s scriptwriters seem to have reignited their penchant for such a plot in recent years.

In March, Claudette Hubbard (Ellen Thomas) seemingly rose from the ashes, or soil in her case, as she turned up at her daughter Donna Yates’ (Lisa Hammond) house alive after being pushed down the stairs by Patrick Trueman (Rudolph Walker) and seemingly buried by her son Vincent Hubbard (Richard Blackwood).

Unlike with Dirty Den, viewers saw Claudette looking fairly dead after she was pushed down the stairs in Vincent’s basement only to land head-first onto a brick in an at least neck-breaking incident, and that was all after her son nearly strangled her.

After the incident Vincent told Patrick he had buried his mum in the basement ready for it to be concreted over the next morning by his builder, Claudette’s foster son Linford (Leon Lopez).

Much to Vincent’s surprise, the next day he went down to the basement to check the concreting had all been done, which it had, but got the shock of his life when his adopted sibling told him the place was in a right mess with soil everywhere before they commenced work.

Viewers were shocked to see a breathing Claudette being wheeled along on a hospital trolley just before the duff duffs kicked in.

While fans went into overdrive with theories on how Claudette could still be alive, with some even suggesting she is now a zombie, the actress who plays the cunning matriarch hinted what happened to her alter-ego.

She shared a picture on her Twitter account of a real-life story about a woman who dug herself out of a shallow grave after she was choked and left for dead by her fiancé.

Kathy Is Alive

Copyright [BBC]

While we didn’t have to wait too long to find out Claudette is alive, one EastEnders character managed to fake her death for a whole nine years.

Kathy Beale (Gillian Taylforth) was supposed to have met her maker in a car crash in South Africa in February 2006, six years after she left Albert Square, in a plot engineered so her son Ben Mitchell (then played by Charlie Jones) returned home to his father Phil (Steve McFadden).

But the café worker - who appeared in the soap’s very first episode in February 1985 - shocked viewers when she briefly appeared on EastEnders in a live segment of the show’s 30th anniversary episode in February 2015.

She was back again in May that year for one episode before returning permanently with her evil husband Gavin Sullivan (Paul Nicholas).

While some viewers were delighted to see Ian Beale’s (Adam Woodyatt) mum back from the dead, others were sceptical and questioned just how on earth she was alive and why she hadn’t returned sooner.

But, like Claudette’s comeback, Kathy’s storyline also turned out to be partly based on a real life situation.

Cast your minds back to December 2007 when it was revealed John Darwin, later dubbed 'Canoe Man’ in the press, and his wife Anne faked his death in an insurance scam, duping their sons for five years into thinking their dad had died in a canoe accident.

Speaking of Kathy’s return, show boss Dominic Treadwell-Collins told the Daily Mirror: “We always make sure that each story is rooted in reality. This actually happened in real life. We wouldn’t have done it if it wasn’t credible.”

Gillian added to The Sun: “When Dom and I first spoke about it I said it had to be right - because what mother would leave their children … when Dom told me the story I said, 'Oh yes that happened with the canoe people!’ It had to be feasible, it had to be right.

"It could happen and it did. The way Kathy got manipulated and controlled by Gavin, you can understand why she did it - to protect her sons.”

Bobby Kills Lucy

Copyright [BBC]

Kathy missed a lot in the nine years she was “dead” but one of the most significant moments she was absent for was the real death of her granddaughter Lucy Beale (Hetti Bywater).

The 'Who Killed Lucy Beale?’ storyline was the soap’s biggest whodunnit of all time and sparked debate all over the world about who could’ve possibly done away with the blonde beauty.

Soap fans gambled more than £10 million in an attempt to correctly predict the identity of the killer as they invested their hard-earned cash into their theories.

The storyline spanned from Lucy’s demise on Good Friday, April 18, 2014 up until the soap’s 30th anniversary special week, during which Lucy’s younger brother Bobby Beale was revealed as the killer in a flashback episode on February 19, 2015.

While those who had a punt on Bobby being Lucy’s killer at 100/1 were delighted to discover he had seen off his sister, some other viewers were less than impressed that an 11-year-old boy had killed his elder sister with a music box in the living room - much like a terrible game of Cluedo.

Some claimed the idea that Bobby battering Lucy, a 20-year-old woman, to death was simply implausible and others felt hard done by that he didn’t appear in EastEnders’ 13-character line-up of potential suspects.

There were a lot of disgruntled fans who took to Twitter to convey their anger and disappointment at Bobby’s unveiling.

One wrote: “Considering they dragged the storyline out for so long I think bobby being the killer was a complete let down and so unrealistic!! #eelive (sic)”

Another tweeted: “I waited 10 months to witness the worst killer ever I am so angry so angry I AM ANGRY #EastEnders #EELive (sic)”

One Twitter user posted: “it was BOBBY wtf? I was waiting 10 months for that? I expected Heather to come back from the dead and kill her or something #EELive (sic)”

One tweeted: “Can’t believe Bobby killed her WTF. A suddenly possessed child who had the need to kill his sister #EELive (sic)”

Lucas’ Killing Spree

Copyright [BBC]

While Bobby has killed again since his demise of Lucy - brutally tearing the legs off his pal Denny’s spider one by one - he’s since been packed off to boarding school to prevent a possible killing spree.

But one EastEnders character, Lucas Johnson (Don Gilet), who has recently returned to the soap, albeit from behind bars, has a history of doing away with nearly everyone in Walford, or so it seemed at the time.

Despite being a pastor, Lucas killed his estranged wife Trina Johnson (Sharon Duncan Brewster) after pushing her and her neck became impaled on a rake, but left her to die to make it look like an accidental death from drugs. Which, coincidentally, was exactly the coroner’s verdict.

He strangled his wife Denise’s (Diane Parish) ex-husband Owen Turner (Lee Ross) to death and buried his body in Albert Square under a tree planted in Trina’s memory, but when his son Jordan’s dog started sniffing around the memorial he killed the pooch and threw her in the canal.

Not content with that for a reign of terror, he strangled Denise and faked her suicide, murdering a prostitute called Gemma (Rita Balogun) and putting her body in the canal to make it look like his wife.

Plus, he kept Denise prisoner in the basement of an empty house next door and implicated her in the murders of Trina and Owen before eventually letting her escape.

Lucas was eventually sentenced to life imprisonment but it seems quite incredible that he managed to get away with all that for so long before the police caught up with him.

Heather gets pregnant… by Darren?!

Copyright [BBC]

The long-running storyline of was the father of Heather Trott’s baby was finally revealed to be… Darren Miller?!

Billy Mitchell, Phil Mitchell and Minty Peterson were also suspected fathers, but 18-year-old Darren who fathered the 42-year-old’s baby.

It was certainly a big shock, but viewers were not convinced that, branding the idea of Heather and Darren getting together “ludicrous”.

Pauline Remarries

Copyright [BBC]

The late Wendy Richard - who sadly died in 2009 aged 65 - once admitted she felt it was “factually incorrect” for her alter-ego of 22 years Pauline Fowler to remarry, to Joe Macer (Ray Brooks) in 2006, following the passing of her late husband Arthur Fowler (Bill Treacher) in 1996.

Speaking to The Sun, she said: “I just couldn’t believe that Pauline would remarry - anybody. And I just made myself ill fretting about it.

"I had sleepless nights, because I have never, ever had a cross word with anyone, ever, on that show - no artist at all.

"The only time I have kicked off is when I have considered the scripts to have been factually incorrect. You have to keep it factual, you have to know your history, because people remember things.

"I gave a third of my life to Pauline and you can’t suddenly change your character and I wasn’t having it.”

Kat’s Secret Son

Copyright [BBC]

But Pam and Wendy aren’t the only big soap stars to have been left confused about their characters’ antics.

After the whole baby swap drama that Kat went through back in 2011, she recently found out she had given birth to a son that she didn’t even know she had given birth to.

Jessie told the Sunday People: “It seems a little bit ridiculous that she did not know she had a son. I am trying to justify this.

"She must have been so out of it, she did not know she had another child.”

Just moments before her father Charlie died of a heart attack, Kat was told by nun Sister Ruth (June Whitfield) that she gave birth to a son in a 1985 and while Ruth couldn’t recall his name she told Kat the nuns named him Luke and he was adopted by an Irish family.

Kat later found out from her sister Belinda (Carli Norris) that their late mother Viv once took her and her sisters, but not Kat, on holiday to an Irish village called Redwater, where she saw a couple with a young boy watch them leave after her mum had started crying while visiting a church.

This has paved the way for a spin-off series, aptly named Redwater, which will play out over six hour-long episodes and consist of Kat and husband Alfie (Shane Richie) visiting the Irish village on the hunt for her long-lost son.

They can certainly afford a trip to Ireland as in May last year the lucky couple scooped an incredible £1 million on a scratch card. How can you win that much on a scratch card?!

Also, add to all of that the fact that Alfie has got a brain tumour, he found out last year, and told Kat it is benign.

Let the drama and possible implausibility commence in Albert Square and Redwater.

Which weird EastEnders storylines have you enjoyed the most? Let us know in the comments below.