{"id":364683,"date":"2025-12-23T22:45:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-23T22:45:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/364683\/"},"modified":"2025-12-23T22:45:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-23T22:45:12","slug":"eastenders-just-aired-the-best-episode-of-the-year-thanks-to-two-surprise-returns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/364683\/","title":{"rendered":"EastEnders just aired the best episode of the year thanks to two surprise returns"},"content":{"rendered":"

EastEnders<\/a> spoilers follow.<\/p>\n

EastEnders has kicked off its huge Christmas week by putting Nigel Bates at the centre of the action<\/a>, airing a special instalment about his worsening dementia. It\u2019s undoubtedly one of the best episodes of the year \u2013 but not for the reason you might think.<\/p>\n

In the episode, Nigel gets overwhelmed on the night of his film screening and wanders inside The Vic alone. But his mind takes him back to how the pub looked in the 1990s, and he soon runs into none other than Pat and Barry Evans<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The news of Pam St Clement and Shaun Williamson reprising their roles<\/a> long after their iconic characters\u2019 on-screen deaths was announced well over a month ago, so there were sadly no shocks when they popped up in Albert Square as figments of Nigel’s mind.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not to say that their appearances disappointed in any way. It was such a pleasure to see Pat and Barry\u2019s fairly brief returns; Pat\u2019s biting remarks and mentions of Peggy, and Barry\u2019s singing and turmoil about his tragic love life. You can only imagine the viewer response if EastEnders had been able to keep all of this under wraps.<\/p>\n

\"barry<\/p>\n

BBC<\/p>\n

Related: Best streaming services<\/a><\/p>\n

Nicola Duffett\u2019s return as Nigel\u2019s late first wife Debbie, although also revealed in advance, was very well done, and it was emotional to see these two characters reunited after 30 years as Nigel mixed up the two great loves of his life.<\/p>\n

Amid these sensational comebacks, the underrated highlight of the episode was the returns of Daniel Delaney and Teddy Jay, who reprised their roles as young Phil and Grant, after the huge success of two Mitchell flashback episodes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This was a total surprise when watching the episode, but it\u2019s also something that made complete sense amid Nigel\u2019s increasing confusion.<\/p>\n

\"julie<\/p>\n

BBC<\/p>\n

It goes without saying at this point that these characters are incredibly well-casted, with the appearances and mannerisms of Daniel and Teddy bearing uncanny resemblance to Steve McFadden and Ross Kemp from several decades ago.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s the scene itself that was particularly moving. Nigel observed Phil and Grant lusting after a mysterious woman in the pub and tossing a coin to decide which of them would go over to speak to her. Grant won and happily made his move \u2013 but it was then revealed that Phil had let him win, and he told Nigel that their beloved mum had warned them never to fall out over a girl.<\/p>\n

The fact that these are Nigel\u2019s own jumbled memories shows that he has always known Phil to be a kind, selfless friend, despite his tough exterior \u2013 and the way Phil has cared for Nigel over the last 12 months only proves this to be true.<\/p>\n

\"phil<\/p>\n

BBC<\/p>\n

The young Mitchells showing up added to an episode that was very carefully crafted, with everything from the pub d\u00e9cor to Tracey\u2019s hair colour transporting the audience back to the 1990s<\/a>.<\/p>\n

However, the nostalgia of it all never took away from the strengths of EastEnders present. At the core of the episode was Paul Bradley, whose vulnerability as Nigel<\/a> was the key to why this instalment worked so well. The care he has shown to this storyline over the last year is commendable, and it\u2019s a nuanced and erratic performance that many people will recognise in their own loved ones with dementia.<\/p>\n

The episode also shows why the soap was so right to bring back Karen Henthorn as Julie<\/a>, as well as proving why the character should stick around long after this devastating story has come to an end. You could see Julie\u2019s heart silently break every time Nigel called her Debbie, which is why the most beautiful moment of the episode was when she realised that her husband had correctly labelled a gift tag on an engraved necklace as a Christmas present for her.<\/p>\n

\"nigel<\/p>\n

BBC<\/p>\n

Plus, Steve McFadden delivered yet another exceptional performance, as Phil was forced to admit that he could no longer care for Nigel alone<\/a>. To him, this meant breaking the promise he made to his best friend months ago \u2013 but when Phil broke the news to him in the final scene of the episode, Nigel accepted that he needed to let him go.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s arguably been quite a tricky few months for EastEnders, as it transitions from one era to the next. But what can\u2019t be disputed is that Nigel\u2019s story has been one of the soap’s strengths over the last year \u2013 and this poignant episode<\/a> will be one of the highlights of the festive season.<\/p>\n

EastEnders airs on Mondays – Thursdays at 7.30pm on BBC One. The show also streams on BBC iPlayer, where most episodes drop early at 6am ahead of their TV broadcast.<\/p>\n

Read more EastEnders spoilers on our dedicated homepage<\/a><\/p>\n

More information about dementia is available via organisations including the NHS<\/a> and Dementia UK<\/a>. Resources for readers in the US are available via the National Institutes of Health<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EastEnders spoilers follow. EastEnders has kicked off its huge Christmas week by putting Nigel Bates at the centre…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":364684,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[49,48,782,156449,784,75,783,156448,348],"class_list":{"0":"post-364683","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-content-type-news","11":"tag-contentid-838d6346-83c3-414f-9451-ca6dfdb9c948","12":"tag-displaytype-standard-article","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-locale-gb","15":"tag-shorttitle-eastenders-just-aired-the-best-episode-of-the-year","16":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364683","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=364683"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364683\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/364684"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=364683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=364683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=364683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}