The Londoners have had a drama filled year so let’s take a look at Walford’s best bits for 2008!

In January the Square was mourning the loss of Kevin who died in a car crash. His son Dean was allowed out of prison for his dad’s funeral and, it seemed, to taunt his mother Shirley. Carly and Denise left the Square soon after for a trip around the world and with Kev’s ashes still warm in his urn, he was scattered in a far flung corner of the planet.

Poor old Dot was being hounded by hoodies and Jay got stabbed by one of them. Also, Tanya’s ex-junkie sister Rainie came back and seemed to be on the straight and narrow this time.

During February, Clare Bates arrived back on the Square in less than glamorous mode; she was thrown from the back of a car. The money-grabbing temptress soon had her greedy eye on Ian, thinking he’d keep her in the style to which she wanted to become accustomed.

Stacey tracked Bradley down and following an emotional meeting in St Paul’s Cathedral, she told him their marriage was over. Another relationship that was doomed was that of Minty and Hazel, for she left the hapless mechanic to rejoin the cruise boat she worked on.

Deano came back to the Square in a very bad mental state having been released from prison. He violently pointed out to Shirley how her desertion of him as a child had affected his life before disappearing. Another disturbed young man was Sean Slater who admitted to Tanya that he had killed his father.

March winds blew in with a cold chill and as Tanya’s affair with Sean continued, she got back together with Max but only in order to get him to sign over the house and his money to her. She was soon to find out that Max had no intention of signing anything over to her so a more sinister plan formed in Tanya’s mind…

With Sean’s help, Tanya drugged Max and made his long-standing phobia of being buried alive come true, but as she sat at home afterwards thinking of him dying slowly under ground, she relented and dug the coffin up just in time to save Max’s life.

Shirley was still in a very emotional state following Dean’s outbursts so when she found a lump in her breast, her misery turned to panic. Lucy was the cause of panic in the Beale household however when she ran away after trashing the house.

April saw the Square mourning the death of Frank Butcher and a memorial service brought Diane and Janine back to the Square briefly to be reunited with Pat and their brother Ricky. He meanwhile was about to get to see his son Liam on a more regular basis as Bianca turned up at Pat’s, desperate to get her kids out of care.

Meanwhile, Roxy slept with her sister’s fella Jack, Chelsea tracked down her biological dad Lucas, Heather and Minty got married in a bid to win a competition and Steven kissed Christian which made the boy realise he was in fact gay.

By the time May rolled in, it was far from a merry month for many Walford residents and Steven was becoming increasingly scary and menacing. Lucy was still nowhere to be found and of course, as we were to learn later in the year, Steve had been hiding her in a caravan.

Pat knew his secret by now too so after Roxy accidentally hit Pat with her car, Steven saw his chance to silence his Gran as she lay in hospital and he tried to smother her. Realising that the game was almost up, he took Lucy with him to St Pancras station where Ian found her and persuaded her to come home.

Another resident who left the Square in May was beloved market sweeper Gus however a new street resident was heralded when we discovered that Roxy was pregnant. Sean lost the plot – and by then, Tanya and Roxy too – so he took his mum Jean on a nightmare taxi ride which only ended when he came to his senses, despite being in a terribly vulnerable emotional state.

The start of summer in June saw the Millers winning the lottery, only to find that the useless Keith had lost the ticket. Dawn was in a serious relationship with Jase by now and was delighted when he proposed to her. He was doing a lot of work in order to help Dawn with money and pay for the wedding but when he took a job on at the weird ‘Jenny’s’ house, he had no idea that he was in fact working for mad GP May who wanted baby Summer.

Dawn soon had to confront the mental medic who, after knocking Mickey unconscious and breaking Dawn’s ankle, intended to leave with the baby. However, she was to be thwarted when Mickey regained consciousness and locked himself, Dawn and Summer in the bedroom.

A desperate May sat in the Miller’s kitchen sobbing as she lit a cigarette which ignited the gas that she’d left on. An explosion ensued and for a while, we thought nobody had made it out alive, however, thanks to some heroics by various residents, only May died but the Miller’s were now homeless, just to add to their sorrows.

It turned out to be Whitney who’d found the winning lottery ticket and she was spending the proceeds on her family without them knowing about it, making them think they had a mystery benefactor. And finally, Max came back to the Square to find that his hated brother Jack was sleeping with his wife Tanya.

In July we met Archie, who’s turned out to be an arch villain. We first encountered him when Sean went chasing after Ronnie and Peggy who’d in turn go to Weymouth to chase after Roxy. Sean had found out that Roxy was pregnant but she’d decided that she didn’t want Sean to have anything to do with the baby so she’d taken refuge with her dad Archie.

Ronnie, who hates her father, was reminded why when he taunted her about her having had her child adopted. He cruelly announced that Ronnie’s child had died several years before, which broke his daughter’s heart. Meanwhile though he won Peggy’s heart and she stayed behind with Archie when the others returned to London.

Sean and Roxy were reunited and decided to make a go of a life together which culminated in their marriage which was planned in secret. While they were celebrating, Keith and Mickey left the Square to go and look for work, Phil met Suzy for the first time and Whitney was forced to tell the truth about the lottery win.

In August, the nation had tissues at the ready when Walford’s favourite dog Wellard had to be put to sleep. We had to keep the tissues within easy reach because later in the month, Jase was stabbed to death on the night before his wedding.

Elsewhere, Clare decided to leave the Square following various disgraces, Max gave Bradley £40,000 for his birthday but it caused a rift between Stacey and Bradley who were giving their marriage another go.

Callum and Danielle arrived in the Square during August too and Stacey’s attraction to Callum was to prove the end of the road for her marriage to Bradley.

September was to bring misery for Bradley when Stacey finally left him to walk into Callum’s arms. Ian was spying on the Square and spotted Max and Your browser may not support display of this image. Phil handling a gun but was later convinced during a menacing visit from the gruesome twosome that it was just a car part.

Of course it was a gun which we were to learn that Max planned to put to good use to set his brother up on charges that would ensure Jack went to prison leaving Tanya free for Max to move back in on.

Bianca’s jailbird boyfriend Tony arrived in Walford in September and unbeknown to Bianca, rekindled his abusive relationship with step-daughter Whitney. Elsewhere, Honey left Walford taking the kids with her, Jack finally told Tanya what really happened to his daughter Penny and Archie continued his menacing of Ronnie and dominance over Peggy.

In October, having discovered that Max had interfered in his marriage yet again – by offering Callum money to leave the Square – Bradley wished his father dead. The man himself was in full-plot mode as his plan to frame Jack neared completion, however it was going to backfire spectacularly when Max was hit by a car and nearly died near the end of the month.

In other Walford news this month, Billy took Jay under his wing and the troubled boy moved into The Vic, Bradley made a big bet with the money Max had given him in a bid to get rid of it, but he won, meaning he now had a small fortune in a briefcase. The Masood’s had to close the post office and Shabnam left to go traveling.

By the time November’s chill gripped the Square, Max was clinging to life in hospital and almost everyone was a suspect in the Whodunnit of the year. However, following a confession from Lauren, Tanya decided to confess to the crime and was sent to prison to await her trial.

Meanwhile, Roxy gave birth prematurely to Amy whose life hung in the balance as Archie engineered it so that Sean wasn’t there for the baby’s birth, prompting Roxy to vow that she would bring the child up with best friend Christian rather than Sean. However, this wasn’t destined to last long when Sean convinced Roxy that they could be a family.

Elsewhere, Jane’s mum Linda turned up on the Square, much to Christian’s annoyance; Phil slept with Shirley, Archie continued to try to break up Sean and Roxy and Ricky came close to finding out what was going on with Tony and Whitney.

What a brilliant year it’s been with the mouthy Southies – let’s hope 2009 is every bit as exciting, and I’m sure it will be!