10 Times The Worlds Of Doctor Who And EastEnders Collided
2. Peggy Mitchell In Army Of Ghosts
Barbara Windsor is arguably one of EastEnders' most iconic figures and while she hasn't personally appeared in Doctor Who herself (she was, however, considered for the role of showman Shirna in the 1973 Third Doctor serial Carnival of Monsters before the part went to Cheryl Hall), the show found its own unique way of honouring her on screen alter ego Peggy Mitchell during the Series 2 finale back in 2006. To set the scene, the world was being invaded by a mysterious army of ghosts who the human race subsequently befriended and welcomed into their community. To affirm just how formidable their new found presence on Earth was, the Doctor - and us - were shown a montage of TV shows in which they were all being heavily featured. As it turns out, they were even wreaking havoc in the fictional land of Albert Square, too. In an episode of EastEnders, one of them had taken on the personna of Dirty Den, one of the soap's most notorious villains, who got shot and fell into a canal but somehow managed to survive and return to the series years later. Thats certainly one way to cheat death - perhaps he'd been taking tips from Rory Williams? The short but sweet scene was a chuckle-worthy little tidbit poking fun at Dens inability to remain dead as the Queen Vics iconic landlady ordered his ghostly guise to get out of her pub. It wouldve no doubt been appreciated by fans of EastEnders, though not so much by members of the audience who still hadnt recovered from the soap's Doctor Who charity crossover in 1993, which brings us nicely on to...
Dan Butler is the Doctor Who Editor at WhatCulture.com. When he isn't writing his own articles or editing other people's, he can be found trawling the internet for gifs of Steven Moffat laughing. Contact him via dan.butler@whatculture.co.uk.
