Queen Vic Fire Week
| "Queen Vic Fire Week" | |
|---|---|
The Queen Victoria public house was burnt down in an episode of EastEnders to facilitate a transition to high definition.
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| Episode no. | Episode 4065–4068 (4 episodes) |
| Directed by | Lee Salisbury |
| Written by |
Daran Little Simon Ashdown |
| Produced by | Bryan Kirkwood |
| Original air date | 6–10 September 2010 |
| Running time | 120 minutes (4x30) |
"Queen Vic Fire Week" is a group of four episodes of the BBC soap opera EastEnders, broadcast between 6 and 10 September 2010 on BBC One. The episodes included a fire at The Queen Victoria public house, also known as The Queen Vic or The Vic, and the departure of the character Peggy Mitchell, portrayed by Barbara Windsor, who left the series after sixteen years in the role. During the episodes, Peggy—the pub landlady—has her crack cocaine-addicted son Phil (Steve McFadden) imprisoned in The Queen Victoria, forcing him to go cold turkey. She later learns that her deceased husband Archie (Larry Lamb) was murdered by local resident Stacey Branning (Lacey Turner). Before she can report Stacey to the police, Phil escapes and sets the pub on fire. Stacey and her infant daughter Lily are trapped inside, but are rescued by Ryan Malloy (Neil McDermott), prompting Stacey to reveal to him that he is Lily's father. The pub destroyed, Peggy decides against reporting Stacey for Lily's sake. She plans to make a fresh start, bidding her family goodbye and leaving Walford.
The episodes were directed by Lee Salisbury and produced by Bryan Kirkwood. The first was written by Daran Little and the remainder by Simon Ashdown. Kirkwood intended to give Windsor an "epic and poignant" departure, as befitting her status as the ultimate EastEnders matriarch. The fire storyline was created for her exit, and to facilitate a refurbishment of The Queen Victoria set for the transition to high-definition television broadcasting. The episodes were filmed over seventeen days, more than twice the series' typical filming duration, with the interior set rebuilt on the George Lucas Stage in Elstree for the fire. A special version of the theme tune, called "Peggy's Theme", was created for Windsor's final episode. It was released as an EP, available for download following the episode, and features as the lead track on composer Simon May's album The Simon May Collection. The episodes were accompanied by two documentaries on BBC Three, one following the filming of the fire, and the other examining ten of Peggy's most iconic moments in EastEnders.
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