3. What If Viewers Had Voted For Big Ron To Help The Rani Rather Than Mandy?
What in the...? How did this one get on the list? And really, who cares? Honestly. The things we put up with... OK, OK, we'll look at this one seriously, too, though there's really not much to say about it. As UK readers will know (but American readers will not), there were two versions of the pivotal scene in which a member of the EastEnders cast tries to help the Rani and ends up in trouble because of it. Viewers on the day the two-part special was aired could call in before the second part and vote on whether Mandy or Big Ron would be the character in question. Mind you, if the reactions of the studio audience on Noel's House Party are anything to go by, they felt the question (especially given that, to misquote the Eighth Doctor, there was no context) was as absurd as we do now. And it still is, because judging from the final product, there would have been no functional change to what passes for a 'plot' in this story whatsoever. Yippee.
Tony Whitt has previously written TV, DVD, and comic reviews for CINESCAPE, NOW PLAYING, and iF MAGAZINE. His weekly COMICSCAPE columns from the early 2000s can still be found archived on Mania.com. He has also written a book of gay-themed short stories titled CRESCENT CITY CONNECTIONS, available on Amazon.com in both paperback and Kindle format. Whitt currently lives and works in Chicago, Illinois.
