EastEnders star Steve McFadden is spending every spare minute at the bedside of his “very sick” baby daughter Amelie, The Sun reports today.

Amelie was rushed to London’s Whittington Hospital last Wednesday night suffering from breathing difficulties. Doctors diagnosed bronchiliitis, a condition which causes respiratory distress.

Steve and four month old Amelie’s mother, Dr Rachel Green, split after just a few months together when Rachel returned to her husband, surgeon James Green, but the pair remain in touch over their daughter… Read more & comment »

On Monday, as Peggy pins up a ‘Happy Hour’ poster outside the Vic, she spots Archie watching her. Returning inside, Peggy asks Roxy if she can be around for the brewery delivery. Roxy agrees while Sam tries to pin up a banner. With that, a drenched Roxy runs down the stairs shouting for Ronnie, saying the kitchen pipes have burst. Peggy’s unhappy that her ‘happy hour’ can’t now go ahead, but Ronnie assures her that it can.

Owen walks by and claims that he’s a qualified plumber, but Ronnie’s dismissive of him. Peggy, however, invites him in to survey the mess, and as he does, Ronnie hands him the tools he needs and he questions her coldness towards him. Ronnie says that what he did to Libby is no secret, and after she jokes about throwing him out, he admits that he’s previously attempted to commit suicide.

Later, Roxy asks Owen to look at one of the beer pumps, and when Denise walks in to talk about her wedding reception plans – and sees him behind the bar – she angrily questions why he’s there. Frustrated by Denise’s attitude, Owen irritably returns to the job at hand, splitting a beer pipe in the process. Read more & comment »

Eastenders Ronnie Mitchell takes desperate measures in her quest to have a baby next week. Ronnie, who has been searching for a baby daddy for months, ends up in bed with Owen, who once tried to kill his own daughter Libby.

Owen is working at The Queen Vic and after an argument with his ex-wife Denise he soaked himself with beer. Ronnie takes him upstairs to lend him one of Phil’s shirts when things get hot and heavy.

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Bryan Kirkwood will succeed Diederick Santer as EastEnders Executive Producer following his decision to step down from the role in February 2010.

He will take over from Santer next year after EastEnders celebrates its 25th anniversary.

Kirkwood comes to EastEnders having spent three years producing Hollyoaks, during which time the show enjoyed awards success and soaring popularity.

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72 year old actress, Barbara Windsor is leaving BBC soap Eastenders next year.

Babs has played Peggy Mitchell since 1994 and told the BBC:

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Eastenders downtrodden housewife Jane Beale, locks lips with Masood Ahmed this week after she rows with her husband Ian.

Masood finds Jane’s adoption application form and urges her to speak to Ian about the issue. She does and of course Ian refuses to consider it, telling her that if she wants a child of her own, she’d better find another man.

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Next week Janine Butcher and Archie Mitchell step up their plans to ruin Peggy, Phil and Co. The evil pair decide that Guy Fawkes night would be the perfect time to set the Queen Vic alight and make it look like an inside job, leaving The Mitchells with no pub and no money.

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Former EastEnders star Rob Kazinsky says he doesn’t understand why people want to see him naked.

After filming a viral for Radox’s Be Selfish campaign Rob said: “I’m not in the shape I used to be. I don’t know why I’m getting paid to do this.”

He went on: “You get used to doing things which aren’t entirely natural as an actor and standing naked in front of people seems to be one I come up with over and over again. I seem to be constantly getting my kit off in b****y TV shows and films but if that’s the only way I get jobs long may it continue.”

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Next year EastEnders will welcome back some familiar faces to Albert Square – the Jackson family.

Carol Jackson, played by Lindsey Coulson, returns to Walford early next year, as do three of her children, Robbie, Sonia and Billie – but why are they there and for how long will they stick around?

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I’m referring of course to EastEnders’ latest keenly awaited whodunit; with Darren turning out to be baby George’s dad.

As of course we all know by now – and as Lisa announced right after the show on Friday – Darren was the subject of the big reveal, and everyone in my house issued a collective “no way!” or words to that effect, some of which began with F.

For me, the only two people who it could credibly have been were Billy or Minty; Phil just plain wouldn’t have, and Darren wasn’t even on my radar! I thought the writers had just lobbed him into the plot for a laugh… Read more & comment »

On Monday, Shirley, Heather and baby George pull onto the Square in a taxi and as Darren nervously watches from afar, Zainab and Ian congratulate Heather on her new arrival. While Denise is at the Car Lot, Darren turns up and she starts moaning at him about asking for Owen’s permission to marry Libby. Annoyed by all the hassle, Darren slouches into his chair and finds a load of missed calls from Libby.

Over at the Vic, Chelsea and Amira walk in and after cross words with Chelsea, Darren leaves. As he walks out of the pub, he spots Heather with baby George and immediately walks in the opposite direction. Having ignored Libby for most of the day, Darren finally answers his phone and he suggests that she speak to her mum as Denise is going out of her mind. Darren heads over to see Denise and stands up to her, much to the surprise of Lucas, Chelsea and Patrick. At that moment, he receives a text message. Read more & comment »

OMG! Who would have believed that barely out of puberty’s Darren could have impregnated big Heather?

The identity of the dad of Heather’s new baby George was made public tonight, after she made a cryptic phone call revealing all. We were shown Minty, Billy, Phil and Darren all receiving messages which resulted in them rushing to the hospital.

But the Daddy is little Darren, not that he stood around long enough to meet his young son. One is left feeling heartbroken for poor Libby, who just agreed to marry him. Looks like Adam may be in with a chance after all.

We have already revealed that Archie Mitchell is to be murdered during the 2009 Christmas period and it has now emerged that his murderer won’t be caught until February.

The big revelation will happen during a live episode of the show, planned to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the BBC soap.

Executive producer Diederick Santer, 39, told The Daily Star: “I want it to be a memorable slice of Walford drama in every sense. Every time I think about this episode I get excited as well as a little nervous.

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EastEnders is set to venture beyond the television screen as Walford takes a big step into the wider world of the web with its first online spin-off series next year.

As part of the BBC’s drive to develop and nurture new talent, EastEnders: E20 has been written by 13 new London writers aged between 17 and 22 who attended a summer school where they created and wrote the online drama. It will go live in January 2010 in the run-up to EastEnders celebrating its 25th anniversary on February 19th.

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Larry Lamb has revealed that he based his portrayal of evil Archie Mitchell on his own dad.

The 66 year old actor described his own father as a screwed up and emotionally damaged man. He told The Mirror:

“From the start I based Archie Mitchell on my father. My dad was a very screwed up man and emotionally damaged from his childhood. He had a terrible relationship with his own father and I imagine it was the same for the generations before that.

“Just like Archie, my dad was absolutely convinced of his rightness and his sanity and thought he was completely justified in everything he did. Everybody else is at fault, but he’s fine.

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