I’ve watched EastEnders for 40 years – all 7,066 episodes

I’ll never forget the first ever episode of EastEnders on 19 February 1985. I was 11 years old when I watched ‘Dirty’ Den Watts (Leslie Grantham), Arthur Fowler (Bill Treacher) and Ali Osman (Nejdet Salih) break down the door of Reg Cox’s flat and find him barely alive in his chair. I didn’t fully understand it, but it felt like everyone depicted in the show was just like other families – with the same struggles and dysfunctional dynamics that many of them deal with day in, day out. With added drama, of course.

I was instantly hooked and tuned in regularly from that point on. In fact, it felt like I grew up with many of the characters. Now, 40 years on, I’m still watching – and still enjoying it. Until EastEnders started to drop on BBC iPlayer in the mornings, I made a ritual of settling in at 7pm – then eventually 7:30pm – to watch it. When it became four times a week instead of two, I wasn’t sure if that would be too much, but it never has been.

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video. Up Next. In the early days, one of the most memorable storylines for me was Michelle Fowler’s (Susan Tully) pregnancy at just 16 years old. Although she was a few years older than me at the time, it made me terrified of sex and getting pregnant as I didn’t want to end up like her.

Then in 1991, I was a teenager when I watched along in shock as Mark Fowler revealed his HIV diagnosis, around the time of the hard-hitting ‘don’t die of ignorance’ campaign in the UK. Bravely standing up for himself in front of everyone at the Vic, he dispelled myths about HIV and AIDS – becoming the first mainstream British TV character to be diagnosed with the condition. By far, some of the hardest scenes for me to watch as an adult were about baby loss. This is because I lost my only son to stillbirth and was diagnosed with a rare condition called hyperfertility, after a series of early pregnancy losses.

So I still think about Ali and Sue Osman losing their baby son, Hassan, to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) in 1985, when Shabnam and Kush lost their son to stillbirth in 2015, or when Whitney and Zack lost their baby in 2023 when she was just five months pregnant. Today – at 51 years old – I get to my desk in my home office by 8:30am and put EastEnders on in the background while I get set up for the day with a cup of coffee. There are times I don’t watch it on iPlayer in the mornings if I’m travelling for work, but I always catch up with it later in the day.

In fact, I have even gone back to rewatch some episodes to reacquaint myself with it all. And it’s fascinating to see how far the show has come over the last four decades. From introducing its first gay character – Colin Russell, played by Michael Cashman – and the uproar when he kissed his boyfriend Barry Clark in 1987, even though it was just a peck on the forehead. Nowadays, there are multiple LGBTQ+ characters – and even a gay bar called The Prince Albert.

Then there was Zack’s HIV diagnosis in 2023. Although he went through a huge amount of denial about it, he was given medication and was reassured that he would live a normal life despite his diagnosis. It’s a long way away from Peggy Mitchell telling Mark she ‘won’t have that sort of thing’ in her pub. EastEnders was never afraid to tackle hard hitting issues, and this showed just how far things have changed for the better when it comes to AIDS and HIV.

Of course, we’ve also seen some of the most dramatic and entertaining telly in soaps history – from Den Watts blindsiding Angie and serving her with divorce papers, to the whodunnits like the infamous ‘Who Shot Phil?’ or ‘Who Killed Lucy Beale?’ storylines. I’ve enjoyed it all from the very beginning, but I’d love to see EastEnders go back to its roots as I have a soft spot for the old days of the show. I want to see more from some of the original families, like the Beales or the Fowlers.

And while I love the fact it tackles certain issues head on, there are some plot lines that are a bit far-fetched – like when Mick Carter (Danny Dyer) was swept out to sea. For the 40th anniversary week, I’m thrilled they’re bringing in a live element – voting who Denise should end up with: Jack Branning or Ravi Gulati (I’m voting for Jack). I love that the audience will get to have a say in what happens for the first time in the show’s history.

I also hope they take the time to pay tribute to the past, bringing back classic characters – they have already shown flashback scenes of Phil Mitchell confronting his younger self, brother, mum, and dad. And what a lovely surprise it was to see Grant Mitchell back!. I’m looking forward to seeing what else the 40th anniversary show has in store – we know there will be a fire at the Queen Vic, but will Reiss finally get his comeuppance?.