Nana Moon - Creation and Development - Armistice Day and Departure

Armistice Day and Departure

A special episode featuring Nana and Alfie in France on Armistice Day, the anniversary of the official end of World War I, aired on 11 November 2005. In the storyline, Nana visits her late husband's grave in Normandy. The episode also features flashbacks of Nana's first encounter with her late husband in war-time London, and a guest appearance from the actor Trevor Peacock, who played Sid, a war veteran. The episode included a two-minute silence to mark Remembrance Day—a day to commemorate the sacrifice of veterans and civilians in World War I, World War II, and other wars. It was the first time that a soap had featured the silence. The scene was reportedly so emotional that Braid and Richie ended in "floods of tears". A BBC insider said: "We decided to mark Armistice Day this year because it's such an important day." The scenes were aired on the 11 November 2005. It was reported in September 2005, that a number of EastEnders characters were to be axed, Nana Moon being one of them. It was subsequently confirmed that the character would be killed off. The reason to kill the character came after the announced departures of her on-screen family. A BBC source commented, "Everyone loves Nana, but she won't have any family left. It's sad, but all good things must end." Consequently, Nana dies as part of the Christmas 2005 storyline. Two years after Nana's death in the serial, Braid herself died of dementia. It was reported in The Daily Telegraph that Braid's memory had been problematic during her stint on the show and that BBC producers had to hire "a personal minder to assist her in learning lines and to ensure that she turned up in the right place at the right time."