Queen Vic Fire Week

"Queen Vic Fire Week"
EastEnders episodes
The Queen Victoria public house was burnt down in an episode of EastEnders to facilitate a transition to high definition.
Episode nos.	Episodes 4065, 4066, 4067, and 4068
Directed by	Lee Salisbury
Written by	Daran Little Simon Ashdown
Produced by	Bryan Kirkwood
Original air date	6–10 September 2010
Running time	130 minutes (3x30, 1x40)
Episode chronology
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"Queen Vic Fire Week" is a group of four episodes of the BBC

Viewership ranged from 8.60–10.09 million, with no episode watched by less than a third of the total viewing audience. They were the most watched programmes on BBC One in the week of broadcast, and the Friday episode was the second-most watched show across all channels. The episodes received a mixed response from critics. Several highlighted inaccuracies and implausibilities in the storyline, including the lack of fire alarms and sprinklers in the pub. Others focussed on Peggy's departure, with James McCarthy of the Western Mail writing that it would "doubtless remain the stuff of EastEnders' legend for years to come,"^[6] and Jim Shelley calling it "a good way to go."^[7] In contrast, the Daily Mirror's Polly Hudson found Peggy's exit a nonsensical "non event",^[8] and Gareth McLean of The Guardian deemed it "suitably sentimental", but several years overdue.^[9] The fire was nominated in the "Best Stunt" category at the 2011 All About Soap Bubble Awards.

Plot

6 September 2010

7 September 2010

Stacey explains to Dot that Bradley knew he was not Lily's father. Dot informs Bradley's father

Peggy demands that Stacey leave the pub and Stacey pleads with her not to call the police for Lily's sake. She attempts to tell Ryan that he is Lily's father, but is interrupted by Pat, who thinks Stacey is trying to seduce him and slaps her. Phil smashes through the door using a crowbar that was left in the room. He starts taking cash and drinking alcohol, and interrupts Peggy before she can call the police about Stacey. They argue, with Phil accusing Peggy of loving the pub more than she loves him and throwing a match to the alcohol-soaked floor to start a fire. It spreads quickly, causing an explosion. The customers flee the pub, Syed Masood (Marc Elliott) is knocked to the ground and trampled in the process but is rescued by his father Masood Ahmed (Nitin Ganatra) and brother Tamwar (Himesh Patel).

Peggy tries in vain to extinguish the flames, but is forced out by her friends and family. Stacey, unaware of the events, heads upstairs to Lily and becomes trapped. She uses the crowbar to smash a boarded-up window and hands Lily over to Ryan, who has climbed a ladder. Peggy realises Phil is still inside and returns to the building with Billy. They find him trapped beneath a wooden beam, and are able to drag him out to safety. Ryan goes back up the ladder and carries an unconscious Stacey out. Stacey regains consciousness and sees that Lily is safe, and tells Ryan that Lily is his daughter. Peggy stares at the pub as it is completely destroyed.

10 September 2010

The next day, Peggy visits Stacey in hospital and asks her to confess to burning the pub, as a sentence for arson would be less than one for murder, but Stacey refuses. Peggy realises that Stacey needs to look after her daughter so she leaves. Ryan confronts Stacey at the hospital, shocked with her confession, refuses to acknowledge his daughter, and goes on his honeymoon with Janine. Peggy goes into the pub and looks around as she remembers events from her time there. She then tells Billy she wants to take Phil away to make a fresh start and to protect him. Her niece

Background

In October 2009, actress Barbara Windsor's decision to leave EastEnders after sixteen years of portraying the character Peggy Mitchell was announced.^[10] The show's executive producer, Bryan Kirkwood, said it was a massive honour for him to be responsible for the character's exit, but explained that as she has become the "quintessential matriarch of the show", they had to get the exit storyline right, which he said would be "both epic and poignant".^[5]

In June 2010, it was announced that The Queen Victoria would be destroyed in a fire to tie in with EastEnders' transition to high definition so the set could be completely refurbished. It was reported that the fire could tie in with the departure of Peggy or one of the several other characters whose departure had previously been announced.^[11] Director Lee Salisbury said the fire, as well as Peggy's departure, would have a huge effect on several characters, especially the Mitchell family, of which Peggy is the matriarch.^[12] Kirkwood said the fire was "one of the most spectacular stunts that EastEnders has ever seen, and it's very exciting."^[13][14]

Production

Filming

All four episodes were directed by Lee Salisbury, who learned three weeks before filming that he would be working on the episodes, and said he was "a bit dumbstruck" to discover he would be directing the fire episodes and Windsor's departure, but that he was proud to do so.^[15] He said his main aim for the fire was to show the fear, panic and pandemonium that comes when a fire starts and quickly spreads. He wanted the story to be character-led rather than led by the fire, saying that the fire "almost becomes a backdrop".^[15] Salisbury said it was hard to make the fire look real because "you can't actually set fire to stuff".^[15] As the fire lasted for some time, characters' scenes could be divided up into small sections. Salisbury commented: "Bryan Kirkwood, the writer [Ashdown] and myself also wanted it to be an episode where things kept happening and the audience would keep thinking, 'Wow, that must have been the explosion' or 'That must have been the stunt'. But more things keep happening and happening, and I think that's what people will find really shocking."^[15] The production team had several production meetings for the weeks' worth of episodes, whereas there is usually just one.^[16]

The episodes took seventeen days to film, where normally crew are given eight days to film a week's worth of episodes.

The interior set of The Queen Victoria pub was taken apart and rebuilt exactly to scale[16] on the George Lucas Stage,^[17] a fire stage at Elstree Film Studios, for interior scenes, filmed over four days.^[15] The interior set took seven weeks to build and two weeks to get into the studio.^[16] Controlled gas pipes were used to shoot jets of flames and a header was specially built to collapse on Phil. Salisbury had to ensure that the fire for the interior scenes matched that of the already-filmed exterior scenes.^[18]

In 2016, Windsor said that the Queen Vic fire was her favourite stunt to film since joining the cast in 1994. She called it her "Joan of Arc moment" and revealed that when the explosion happened, she "was actually blown off my feet and landed on Steve McFadden who ended up with bruised ribs".^[20]

Theme music

Windsor's final episode on 10 September 2010 did not end with the usual

The 6 September episode, featuring Janine's hen party, attracted 9.54 million viewers on BBC One.[30] It was watched by 36.1% of television viewers during its original broadcast.^[31] The later BBC Three repeat was viewed by 840,000 people,^[30] attaining a 3.9% share of the audience during broadcast.^[32] The 7 September episode, in which Stacey confessed to Peggy that she killed Archie, was viewed by 8.60 million people on BBC One and 990,000 on BBC Three,^[30] with audience shares of 34.9% and 4.7% respectively.^[33] The fire episode on 9 September received 9.40 million viewers and a 41% share of the audience, and the BBC Three repeat saw 1.59 million viewers (7.4%) tuning in.^[30][34] Peggy's departure on 10 September received 10.09 million viewers for BBC One, a 38.1% share during broadcast, and the later BBC Three repeat was watched by 1.16 million viewers, attaining a 5.3% share.^[29][30] Additionally, the four episodes were the most-watched programmes on BBC One that week and the Friday episode was the second most-watched on all channels.^[30]

Critical response

The fire and Peggy's exit episodes garnered a mixed reception by critics. Liam Tucker, founder of website Watch With Mothers, compared the fire episode to the film

Writing for entertainment news website Digital Spy, Daniel Kilkelly said Peggy's final episode featured "plenty of poignant moments [...]—not least the scene which saw Peggy standing in the destroyed Queen Vic and appearing completely devastated."^[40] Gareth McLean from The Guardian said the use of "Peggy's Theme" was a "suitably sentimental sendoff" for the character, but said that "in hindsight, Peggy should have left Walford three or four years ago, her character trapped in a cycle of increasingly samey stories that reduced her to a parody of her former self", describing her efforts to put out the flames as "like a very sooty clockwork mouse".^[9] James McCarthy of Welsh newspaper Western Mail said Windsor's "final emotional scene will doubtless remain the stuff of EastEnders' legend for years to come,"^[6] and Jim Shelley from the Daily Mirror said "It was a good way to go."^[7] However, Shelley's colleague Polly Hudson said Peggy's exit was a "non event", as "Peggy just left, nonsensically and at complete odds with everything we've learnt about her character over the last 15 years."^[8]

In February 2011, the fire was nominated for 'Best Stunt' at the 2011 All About Soap Bubble Awards.

The London Fire Brigade used the "dramatic and distressing" events of EastEnders to publicly highlight the devastation a real fire can cause, urging viewers to be more aware of how to protect themselves.^[44]

References