Episode 5310 (4 July 2016)

Summary[]

It is an emotional day in Albert Square as the Mitchells say a final goodbye to their beloved Peggy. Jack struggles with Richard's presence in the Square.

Billy watches as the finishing touches are made to Peggy's hearse outside the funeral parlour. Michael the milkman passes on his float, places two bottles outside the Vic and salutes. Inside, Linda looks up at the photos of Peggy on the wall. Billy looks down at Peggy's coffin in the Chapel of Rest.

Patrick goes to Dot's and she quotes Revelations 21:4 before drawing her living room curtains as a sign of respect.

A church bell chimes through the Square. Billy walks in front of the horse drawn hearse as the residents of the Square step outside to watch it pass. The Mitchell family enter the Square and join the procession.

Outside the church, Phil approaches Billy, Paul and Ben as they lift Peggy's coffin onto their shoulders. Phil asks to help carry Peggy but Billy is reluctant - Phil's in no fit state. Inside the church, Peggy's family and friends await her arrival.

Throughout the day Pam receives calls form Les, in hospital, asking how things are going with the funeral. Pam reassures Les that everything is going well. Outside the church, Pam spots an emotional Sam leaving the service with Richard. Later, Phil comes out of the church an emotional wreck. The congregation stand around Peggy's grave as her coffin is lowered into it. Pat Evans' grave is close by. Grant appears and watches from afar, unseen by the family and holding a single red rose.

The guests travel to the Vic for Peggy's wake. Phil sits in his living room holding his father's boxing gloves. Richard enters saying that Sam told him that Phil is going to die. Sharon tells Richard to go into the kitchen and opens the living room curtains, flooding the room with light. Sharon reminds Phil that today is about Peggy, not Eric. Having collected her, Ben wheels Aunt Sal to Number 55, with a bunch of freesias for Peggy in her arms. Upstairs, Sharon spots Peggy's perfume on the bedroom dresser and decides to wear it. Sharon welcomes Sal who informs her that Harold couldn't make it. Sam relays that Grant couldn't make it either. Against Sharon's advice Sam wheels Sal into the living room to see Phil. Margaret comes looking for Sharon as Gavin is acting strangely. Sharon shows Margaret the door - she has her own family to worry about today. Sal finds a newspaper cutting in the case Phil has been looking through. It reads 'Man jailed for botched Post Office raid.' Phil comments on the bent coppers that framed his father. Sharon enters and tells Phil to get changed - the hearse is on its way. They head outside and Phil pauses to see the floral arrangement on Peggy's coffin that reads 'Mum'. He notices that Sharon is wearing Peggy's perfume and isn't impressed.

Inside the church, Sal tells Sharon that Peggy had a secret that she has kept from Phil. As the coffin enters Phil struggles to carry it and Sharon pulls him to one side as Ben takes the weight. Phil fails to fight back the tears as the service begins. Jack looks over at Sam with disgust as she allows Richard to eat crisps in the church. Phil steps up to give his eulogy but breaks under the pressure and walks out. Sharon goes after him and Sal asks her to tell him the secret - it's time he knew the truth. Phil gets a taxi back to Number 55 and places a bottle of scotch next to the case of family memories. Sharon tells Phil that it wasn't bent coppers that sent Eric to prison. It was Peggy. Phil has always believed Peggy just stood by and watched Eric knock him about but this was her way of protecting him. Phil goes to the wake and finally makes his eulogy, his view of Peggy altered. He knows Peggy would want them to be celebrating.

Linda cracks open a bottle of bubbly as someone starts playing on the piano. Sam approaches Sharon and makes a point about Grant not being there. Ian realises that Phil is missing. He has gone to visit Peggy's grave which is now adorned with the floral tributes. Phil says goodbye to Peggy not noticing the rose left by Grant.

At the Beales', Kathy can't eat due to nerves. Ian recalls when Frank and Pat were going to run away together and what Peggy did when she found the note they left. Kathy receives a text from Buster saying 'can't stop thinking about you x'. Shirley finds Buster outside Number 23B and can't wait for today to be over. At Peggy's wake, Buster asks Ian where Kathy is - she has gone home. Buster goes to see her and Kathy throws her arms around him.

Credits[]

Main cast[]

Recurring cast[]

Michael - Michael Leader (uncredited)
Tracey - Jane Slaughter (uncredited)
Marie Evans - Liz Sweet (uncredited)
Winston - Ulric Browne (uncredited)
Maggs - Margaret Heald (uncredited)
Sarah - Sarah McGrath (uncredited)
Big Nige - unknown actor (uncredited)

Guest cast[]

Sal Martin - Anna Karen (credited as "Aunt Sal")
Margaret Midhurst - Jan Harvey
Reverend George Stevens - Michael Keating

Notes[]

This episode saw the funeral of Peggy Mitchell.
Ian Beale recalls the time when Pat Evans and Frank Butcher were planning to run away together while Frank was married to Peggy and Peggy publicly humiliated the pair in The Queen Victoria after Frank had left her note. The events referred to are from 2 November 2000.
The closing credits for this episode featured the incidental music known as "Peggy's Theme", an alternative version of Julia's Theme. The lustre piano tune was last used in the aftermath of Peggy's suicide on 19 May 2016.
The scene of Grant Mitchell close by to Peggy's graveside was filmed separately from the rest of the episode, only a short time before the episode was transmitted.