Ethel Skinner
Ethel Skinner | |
---|---|
EastEnders character | |
Portrayed by | Gretchen Franklin Alison Bettles (flashback) |
Duration | 1985–1997, 2000 |
First appearance | Episode 1 Poor Old Reg" 19 February 1985 |
Last appearance | 7 September 2000 |
Classification | Former; regular |
Created by | Julia Smith and Tony Holland |
Introduced by |
|
Book appearances | The Flower of Albert Square |
Spin-off appearances | " Kerry Skinner |
Ethel May Skinner is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Gretchen Franklin. Ethel also features in a 1988 EastEnders special episode, entitled "CivvyStreet", set on Albert Square during World War II, in which she is played by Alison Bettles.
Ethel is an EastEnders original character and in the early years she can always be found wandering the neighbourhood with her adored pug Willy. She and Dot Cotton (June Brown) are lifelong friends, and although they wind each other up, they are completely dependent on each other. Ethel trusts Dot so much that she even asks her to help her die in 2000 after she is diagnosed with terminal cancer.
Storylines
Backstory
Ethel Skinner is one of the original characters that appears in the first episode of EastEnders in 1985 and her early history is depicted in the 1986 authorised novel The Flower of Albert Square, which directly contradicts the later EastEnders flashback episode, "
Ethel never recovers from William's death and names her
1985–1997
Ethel had never had children, a fact that she regretted in her old age, and so Willy became her surrogate child, and she loves him dearly. Willy goes everywhere that Ethel goes and so she is devastated when he is kidnapped in 1986. She searches for him everywhere and even holds a
Ethel lives above
Ethel has several romances with senior bachelors on Albert Square. Her ex-boyfriend from the war years,
In August 1989, Ethel meets a new love interest named
2000
In June 2000, a somewhat frailer Ethel resumes her visits to Albert Square, usually arriving at
After a couple of weeks, Ethel shocks Dot by revealing that she is suffering from
Ethel has been storing her morphine tablets for many weeks and it is her plan to take an overdose before the pain becomes too unbearable. However, before being able to execute her plan, she becomes too weak and is unable to administer the drugs without Dot's assistance. Dot is devastated and initially refuses to help Ethel, as to help another take their own life goes completely against her strict Christian principles. Dot spends many agonising weeks wrestling with her conscience, but she eventually agrees to grant her old friend's final wish. On the night of her 85th birthday (it was actually her 86th, but she had always lied about her age), after a celebratory party at The Vic, Ethel decides that this was to be her last night. After blowing out the candles of her birthday cake and bidding Dot an emotional farewell, Ethel takes the pills, aided by Dot, and dies peacefully in her sleep. When Dot herself dies 22 years later, she is buried next to Ethel, reuniting the pair for eternity.
Creation and development
Ethel Skinner was the second out of the original twenty-three characters invented by the creators of EastEnders,
- "Most of her money goes on food for her dog, Willy, a Yorkie, and booze for herself. She has a hopeless memory for actual facts but can tell endless stories about pre-war London, her childhood, and, above all, the war. She does miss the friendliness of the old East-end... She has false teeth and red hair: those are the two things you most notice about her - then the dog... Her greatest joy is telling fortunes, cards, tea-cups and palm-reading. "I've got the gift she says... Born in 1920, in page three girl, a real pin-up." (page 52)[1]
Gretchen Franklin was the first actress that Smith and Holland had in mind for the role. An experienced actress with a long career in show-business, Franklin was considered to be ideal casting, so she was offered the part.
Ethel became a popular and well-loved character from very early on in the series. Ethel was a gossip who did not always get her facts right, and this was often used for comic effect, as was her use of malapropisms. She became famous for owning a pug named Willy. Ethel's famous lines being either, "Where's my Willy?" or, in a double entendre, "Has anyone seen my little Willy". It was originally intended for Ethel's dog to be a Yorkshire Terrier, but as no suitable Yorkie could be found, a pug was used instead. Over the seven years they worked together Willy (the actor) and Franklin became very attached to each other.[2] So much so that Franklin even tried to buy Willy at one stage, commenting: "I tried to buy him from the BBC but he's too valuable now, he earns a bomb in personal appearances."[3] Franklin was heart-broken in 1992 when the producers made the decision to retire Willy. On-screen Willy became ill and had to be put down. However just over two weeks after his last appearance on the programme the dog who played Willy died. Franklin has commented: "A woman stopped me in the street and said: 'It was like him committing suicide. When he knew he wasn't wanted on that programme no more, he just turned over and died.'"[4]
Ethel's friendship with Dot Cotton (June Brown) was another enduring relationship that lasted throughout the characters time in the show and today they are remembered fondly by fans as being an incomparable double-act.[5] Their arguing and obvious differences were often used for comic effect in many scenes. However, in episode 248 of the show the audience were shown a different side to Ethel and Dot's friendship in the soaps second two-hander episode. The episode was aired in July 1987 and featured just the two old ladies (although Dot was Ethel's junior by twenty years or so), and was scripted as a mini-play about nostalgia and growing old. Some viewers found it too unusual, but many others were charmed by the change of pace. The episode gave Franklin and June Brown the opportunity to show the sadness behind the often comical characters of Ethel and Dot. The episode was written by Charlie Humphreys and directed by Mike Gibbon, a future producer of the show.[6]
The character of Ethel initially remained on the show for twelve years, although her appearances towards the end became more widely spaced and she only returned to the show intermittently. Off-screen Gretchen Franklin retired, however three years after her last brief appearance Ethel was reintroduced to the show for one final and highly controversial storyline. The storyline involved her old friend Dot helping her to commit suicide. When Ethel Skinner became ill in September 2000, she asked Dot to help her when the time finally came for her to die. Dot had to make a decision that went against her moral and religious beliefs. In the end Dot decided that friendship was more important and so she helped Ethel die peacefully. Written by Simon Ashdown and directed by Francesca Joseph, the episode ended with a touching scene in which Ethel tells a weeping Dot "you're the best friend I ever had". The finishing touch was the use of an alternative end title music, replacing the dramatic drum beats with a war time orchestral piece. The ramifications of this storyline were immense for the character of Dot, and the consequences of her actions were examined in detail - which included a crisis of faith. Such was the controversy surrounding this storyline that the University of Glamorgan uses the plot as part of their new approach to the study of British criminal law. Part of the law foundation course involves studying the soap opera and giving students the chance to decide if Dot Cotton's character is guilty of murder.[7]
Ethel's euthanasia is considered to be one of the most moving storylines ever featured in EastEnders and it was voted the most emotional soap death in a Radio Times poll of over 4,000 readers."[8] 16.2 million viewers tuned in to see Ethel's final appearance in the show[9] and 15 million viewers watched her funeral.[10]
Age
Ethel's original character outline states that she was born in 1920. However, during the series this was altered to 1916 and for many years her birthday fell on 19 February. When Ethel came back to Walford to die in 2000, she revealed to Dot that she had lied about her age for many years. She was actually 86, not 85 (the character was aged two years, in a dramatic technique known as
In January 2003, when
Reception
Ethel's death was voted the fourth most emotional moment in television entertainment in a 2010 poll of 3,000 British people conducted by
See also
References
- ^ ISBN 978-0-563-20601-9.
- ^ "Walford Gazette interview with Gretchen Franklin", Walford Gazette. URL last accessed on 24 October 2006.
- ISBN 978-0-563-36292-0.
- ^ "Gretchen Franklin", Telegraph. URL last accessed on 24 October 2006.
- ^ "Remembering EastEnders' Ethel", BBC. URL last accessed on 24 October 2006.
- ISBN 978-0-563-37057-4.
- ^ "Pro-Life Times: November 2000 Archived 14 October 2006 at the Wayback Machine", Society for the Protection of Unborn Children. URL last accessed on 24 October 2006.
- ^ "Soap deaths poll", Manchester Showbiz. URL last accessed on 24 October 2006.
- ^ "Ethel's death", BBC. URL last accessed on 24 October 2006.
- ^ "EastEnders' Ethel dies, aged 94", BBC. URL last accessed on 24 October 2006.
- Independent News and Media. 5 April 2010. Retrieved 12 April 2010.
- Hachette Filipacchi UK): 34, 35. 20 September – 3 October 2008.