{"id":557927,"date":"2026-04-30T01:48:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T01:48:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/557927\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T01:48:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T01:48:10","slug":"eastenders-fans-call-nigel-bates-death-one-of-the-best-episodes-ever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/557927\/","title":{"rendered":"EastEnders fans call Nigel Bates’ death “one of the best episodes, ever”"},"content":{"rendered":"

EastEnders spoilers<\/a> follow for the latest episode to air on BBC One and stream on iPlayer.<\/p>\n

EastEnders fans knew Nigel Bates’ sad death was coming<\/a>, but when his final moments aired in tonight’s episode, there wasn’t a dry in anyone’s house. The latest episode saw Julie sit beside her husband on his death bed, as the likes of Yolande Trueman, Linda Carter, and Lexi Pearce came to say their goodbyes. <\/p>\n

Elsewhere, Phil and Grant Mitchell bickered and rowed, before calling a truce in time for Phil to go see his friend in his last moments.<\/p>\n

The episode featured Yolande singing a beautiful song to Nigel, scenes that ebbed and flowed between imagination and reality like waves on the beach. And, of course, ‘Julia’s Theme’.<\/p>\n

\"eastenders,<\/p>\n

BBC<\/p>\n

Related: Best streaming services UK 2026 \u2013 including Disney+, Netflix, iPlayer and Apple TV<\/a><\/p>\n

Viewers were all in agreement that it was an exceptionally well-done send off, with fantastic performances across the board, coupled with writing and direction that delivered an emotionally devastating yet perfectly-pitched coda to Nigel’s dementia story.<\/p>\n

“Good lord, #EastEnders always pulls an absolutely sensational episode out of the bag when needed, and most importantly, when deserved,” one fan wrote<\/a> on X. “A fitting farewell for our Nigel. Those final 15 minutes? Perfect. Not enough words for Steve McFadden, Karen Henthorn and Paul Bradley,” they added.<\/p>\n

“Such a powerful and moving episode that I know will resonate with so many people myself included,” wrote<\/a> another. “Karen Henthorn was magical today and I really hope she stays in Walford for years to come. RIP Nigel Bates – you will be missed.”<\/p>\n

\"eastenders,<\/p>\n

BBC<\/p>\n

Related: 12 huge EastEnders spoilers for next week (4 to 7 May)<\/a> <\/p>\n

“Oh my gosh!! What a special beautiful episode RIP Nigel! So heartbreaking,” posted<\/a> a third, while a fourth called it<\/a> “one of the best episodes, ever. Terribly sad yet so beautifully done”.<\/p>\n

“So many thoughts after today’s EastEnders. We have been so lucky to have had the marvellous Paul Bradley back for so long, and I’ll miss him and Nigel very much”, another fan wrote<\/a>. “Some really terrific performances from everyone involved today. A fitting end to what has been a wonderful story.”<\/p>\n

“I’m speechless\u2026 Steve McFadden, Paul Bradley and Karen Henthorn delivered masterclass performances,” tweeted<\/a> one fan, while a fellow viewer wrote<\/a> what everyone is thinking: “I’m really gonna miss Nigel.”<\/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

The new edition of Living Legends, a 100-page all-colour celebration of Sir David Attenborough, is here! Buy Sir David Attenborough in newsagents or online<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EastEnders spoilers follow for the latest episode to air on BBC One and stream on iPlayer. EastEnders fans…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":557928,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[147950,379,191643,381,96,190731,1156,191642,148025,391,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-557927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-collection-latest-news","tag-content-type-news","tag-contentid-33503cfd-9761-4aac-8fb1-a7259ddfbce5","tag-displaytype-standard-article","tag-entertainment","tag-issyndicated-false","tag-locale-gb","tag-shorttitle-eastenders-fans-call-nigel-death-one-of-the-best-eps-ever","tag-subsection-eastenders","tag-tv","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=557927"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557927\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/557928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=557927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=557927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=557927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}