When audiences associate the festive holiday of Christmas with TV soaps, it is unlikely they will recall any particularly happy moments. Or very few if they do. It seems a little strange that during a holiday all about togetherness and unity, we can’t help but be enthralled by the bleak happenings unfolding right in front of us on our TV screens year after year. Whilst we say that we wish all of the characters could just be happy for once, we continue to watch each year just to see what they can come up with next, in a sense it could be simply because Christmas is, for the most part, so traditional that we just want to add a bit of extra excitement to the day, watching explosions or fires take place with no lasting damage to any real people in the process. Hell, maybe it’s even a way of relieving the stress the big day can occasionally bring with it!
Whatever you think of the dark Christmases that are presented by each of the big soaps each year, it is undeniable that they have brought some classic memorable moments and are usually the highlight of the year for each show. Time to explore some of the most brilliantly depressing moments that have been brought to us at Christmas time for our viewing pleasure.
10. Tiffany’s Death In Eastenders (1998)
Martine McCutcheon had become one of the most popular characters in Eastenders when she decided to leave in order to pursue a musical career (which went well, obviously) in 1998, but despite her hopes to someday return to the soap, its producers decided that her character Tiffany would instead be killed off on New Years Eve.
The biggest storylines that Tiffany was involved in all included her combustible relationship with Grant Mitchell, whom she married after falling pregnant, even though at first she was unsure the baby was his or her ex-boyfriend Tony. Grant engaged in various affairs behind Tiffany’s back whilst they were married, the latest of which involved Tiffany’s own mother Louise, which prompted Tiffany to tell Grant that she was leaving the Square forever and taking their baby, Courtney, with her. However, Eastenders being Eastenders, that wasn’t as easy as she had hoped and upon her attempt to leave she slipped down the stairs, leaving her in hospital and Grant arrested by Beppe, Tiffany’s new boyfriend, who attempted to frame Grant for Tiffany’s attempted murder.
Tiffany left the hospital on New Year’s Eve and once again tried to leave the Square with Courtney, but not before penning a letter that would clear Grant of all blame for her accident. Unbeknownst to Tiffany, Grant was out of prison on bail and attempted to flee with Courtney, leading Tiffany to give chase and ultimately run straight into the path of a car driven by Frank Butcher. Tiffany died right there on the spot as Walford’s residents looked on, powerless to help her, in one of Soap’s most saddening Christmas moments of all time.
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6 Comments
I bet Martine McCutcheon regreats leaving now. She did Love actually and whatever that awful soap/sitcom thing was with Jason Donovan, but nothing else.
Yeah, think that was why she wanted the opportunity to come back until they killed her off! Haha I guess she always knew she wouldn’t have much hope if her music career died. To be honest I didn’t even know she even pursued a music career!
Where’s Archie Mitchell’s murder or Max and Stacey’s affair?
Pretty much included them all in the Stacey leaving Eastenders part. It felt like Stacey leaving was the culmination of all of those storylines and thus it wasn’t much point me using extra spaces in the top 10 when I could include them all in the same point. I’m not sure I’d class Archie’s murder as overly miserable anyway, the guy deserved it.
It doesn’t surprise me that this list is mostly EastEnders based, I can’t think of a more miserable soap going..! I expected the Corrie tram crash to be a little bit higher than that but the Emmerdale plane crash was a difficult one to beat I guess.
Yeah when I was doing the research behind it I always knew Eastenders would have the most entries! It’s just had so many standout Christmas moment that it just felt impossible not to include them all. I thought Emmerdale had to top the list because of how ambitious the storyline was, especially for a Soap that was in dire need of an exciting and involving storyline. The Tram Crash and the B + B Explosion were tough calls in terms of placement for me, but because of how evil Yusef had been up to that point and how it was a truly momentous moment for Zainab to finally overcome him, I felt like it just pushed ahead as the 2nd best. I did love the Tram Crash though, I thought it was handled much better than I expected it to be!