East Enders Off Set Episodes - 1990

1990

• Diane and Frank Butcher in London (March 1990). The episodes used flashbacks to tell the story of Diane's three months living on the streets of London as a homeless person, while also telling the present story of Frank finding her and bringing her home to the Square.

When the storyline was originally scripted in 1989, it was left open-ended and it was unknown whether or not Diane would ever return home. However, following Michael Ferguson's appointment as executive-producer, one of his first decisions was that Diane "must be found" and the subsequent story of her adjusting to life back in Walford was developed. The episodes were written by Tony McHale, and have been described as a "radical departure from the normal EastEnders form".

Diane had fallen in with a bad crowd, including Disa O'Brien, a fellow runaway who tried to lure her into prostitution, and Matthew Taylor an 'artist' who persuaded Diane to model nude for him. She was eventually reunited with her father.

Writer Colin Brake has described the episodes as "powerful...they returned EastEnders to the tradition of gritty realism that had been integral in the early episodes".

• Ian, Pete, Steven and Cindy Beale and Simon Wicks in Devon (September 1990). These episodes were known to the EastEnders script department as "the Devon cottage climax". Debbie Cook's scripts contained elements "of tragedy and farce".

After Cindy confessed that Ian was not the father of Steven, she took her son and left Walford with the real father, Simon, to stay at her parents vacant cottage in Devon. However, Ian, freshly released from hospital with his leg in plaster, followed them there with his father Pete. When Ian arrived and learnt that Wicksy, his best friend, was Steven's real father, he threw bricks through Cindy's window as well as his crutch, and threatened to get his revenge on Simon by ominously stealing Cindy's father's shotgun.

The episodes were directed by Matthew Evans. They brought this long running storyline to a climax, but also "laid the roots" for several months of future stories, building up to Simon and Cindy's departures from the show. They were chosen by writer Colin Brake as the episodes of the year in EastEnders: The First Ten Years.