Occasionally EastEnders often references real life events, these scenes are often last minute filmed scenes and are inserted to keep up with current events
1980's
Boat show (1987)
Synopsis needed.
Episode aired: ? 1987
Wimbledon (1987)
Synopsis needed.
Episode aired: ? 1987
The General Election Result (1987)
Synopsis needed.
Episode aired: 16 June 1987
New Years Eve (1987)
The Chimes of Big Ben are integrated into an episode. Den Watts brought a television into the bar of The Queen Victoria, 'watched' the chimes in their entirety for the New Year.
Episode aired: 31 December 1987
1990's
50th Anniversary of the Second World War (1995)
Synopsis needed.
Episode aired: ? ???? 1995
Eclipse (1999)
Ian Beale, Melanie Beale, Steven Beale, Peter Beale and Lucy Beale travel down to devon and manage to see an the eclipse.
Episode aired: 10 August 1999
2000's
Remembrance Day (2005)
Alfie Moon and Nana Moon travel to Normandy and hold a two-minute silence to mark Armistice Day. This episode won "Best Single Episode" at the British Soap Awards
Episode aired: 11 November 2005
FIFA World Cup (2006)
Synopsis needed.
Episode aired: ? ???? 2006
Election of President Barack Obama (2008)
Synopsis needed.
Episode aired: ? November 2008
Michael Jackson's Death (2009)
Denise wishing Patrick Trueman a happy birthday, before telling him Michael Jackson had passed away.
Episode aired: 26 June 2009
2010's
General Election Results (2010)
Darren Miller and Minty Peterson discuss the result after seeing a copy of the Walford Gazette displaying the outcome.
Episode aired: 7 May 2010
Spending Review (2010)
A scene was shown with Patrick Trueman and Charlie Slater discussing the impact of the Chancellor's plans.
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Episode aired: 21 October 2010
Royal Wedding, Prince William and Catherine Middleton (2011)
Ben Mitchell, Jay Mitchell and Abi Branning watched the Royal Wedding on TV.
Episode aired: 29 April 2011
Olympic Flame (Live) (2012)
Billy Mitchell ran with the Olympic torch in a live 7 minute section of EastEnders.
Episode aired: 23 July 2012
Team GB Olympics scene (2012)
Jean Slater, Tyler Moon and Ray Dixon praise Team GB and how proud they feel to be living in London.
Episode aired: 7 August 2012
Andy Murray's Wimbledon Win (2013)
Kim Fox discussed with Jay Brown the idea of turning Kim's Palace into the 'Wimbledon Palace'.
Episode aired: 9 July 2013
Birth of Prince George (2013)
Dot Branning discussed the birth of with Prince George with her granddaughter Abi Branning.
Episode aired: 23 July 2013
Nelson Mandela's Death (2013)
Carol Jackson (Lindsey Coulson) and Denise Fox (Diane Parish) discussed their memories of the day Mandela was released from prison after 27 years.
Episode aired: 9 December 2013
UK Floods (2014)
Entering the upstairs kitchen of the Vic whilst reading the Walford Gazette, Mick Carter asked Linda Carter what she is like at woodwork, adding “this weather – might need to build an ark. It says here the Thames is bursting her banks all over the gaff.”
After Linda suggested the floods wouldn’t hit Walford, Mick replied: “Who knows? Some people have lost everything, bless ’em.”.
Episode aired: 14 February 2014
England's World Cup Defeat (2014)
Mick Carter and Nancy Carter discussed the 2-1 defeat England saw against Italy in Brazil.
Episode aired: 16 June 2014
Scottish Referendum Result (2014)
Tamwar made a reference to the result of the Scottish Referendum by simply just saying "Scotland deciding against independence".
Episode aired: 19 September 2014
Birth of Princess Charlotte (2015)
Linda Carter read from the newspaper that the Princess name is to be Charlotte Elizabeth Diana Windsor. After Nancy said she was bored by the news of the royal baby while outside the Queen Vic, Linda asked: "Why'd you have to be so cynical?"
She added: "I might call our unborn child Charlotte if she's a girl" - joking that she'd name the baby Charlotte just to spite Nancy.
Episode aired: 5 May 2015
General Election Voting Day (2015)
Ian Beale is seen picking up his polling card and Jane Beale asks where he is going and he replies "I'm going to vote". (The episode coincide with the same date of voting in the real world.)
Episode aired: 7 May 2015
General Election Results (2015)
Carol discover Sonia on the sofa watching TV, asking: "Have you been up all night?" Sonia replied: "I've been watching the results come in." Carol added: "I bet Cameron's got a bigger smile on his face than you have this morning."
Episode aired: 8 May 2015
Longest Serving Monarch (2015)
Linda asks Mick how they are going to celebrate The Queen being the longest serving monarch.
Episode aired: 8 September 2015
BBC Three's move to Online (2016)
Sonia is seen looking at the new BBC Three website on the day of its launch. With Tina remarking that BBC Three is too old for Sonia.
Episode aired: 17 February 2016
EU Referendum (2016)
Honey asks Billy "So are you In or Out?" Bill asks "of what". Honey replies "The EU Billy ,we suppose to be voting today. It is important".
Episode aired: 23 June 2016
Brexit (2016)
Linda mentions to Mick she doesn't know who to listen to and doesn't know whether Brexit will leave them better of or not.
Episode aired: 28 June 2016
New £5 note (2016)
Babe is in Minute Mart, she pays Honey for her purchase and Honeys tells her that the five pound note does not look right and if its Scottish, Babe replies it's the new five pound note. Linda mentions she has had a few in The Queen Victoria today.
Episode aired: 23 September 2016
General Election Voting Day (2017)
Jane Beale and Kathy Beale discuss the importance of voting in the 2017 election and Jane asks Kathy who she is voting for, Kathy replies the same as last year, my way.
Episode aired: 8 June 2017
General Election Results (2017)
Carmel Kazemi references the results of the election and Billy Mitchell mentions him and Honey Mitchell stayed up to watch the results as Honey likes David Dimbleby. Honey then says that it was a bit predictable.
Episode aired: 9 June 2017
GCSE Grade Changes (2017)
Bex Fowler shows Martin Fowler her GCSE results but Martin is confused about the grades being in numbers rather than letters, Sonia Jackson explains the grading system has changed from letters to numbers.
Episode aired: 24 August 2017
Meghan Markle and Prince Henry's Engagement (2017)
On the day of Meghan Markle and Prince Henry's engagement, Shakil Kazemi reads out the news at the counter in Kathy's Cafe, prompting Kathy Beale to take his phone off him and tell him the drink he had ordered is on the house. She doesn't appear to return his phone. The following day, Mick Carter references the engagement in the Queen Victoria pub.
Episode aired: 27 November 2017
Birth of Prince Louis (2018)
On the day of the birth of Prince Louis. Linda Carter says to Shirley Carter “8lb 7oz, that really is a healthy weight, isn’t it? If he’s got his daddy’s smile and mummy’s hair he’ll be perfect! Makes me wanna cry! Diana, a grandma again, all that joy she’s missing out on.”
Shirley replies “Linda why are you talking to me about this, I don’t care?”
Episode aired: 24 April 2018
Other Information
- EastEnders also marked the 100th anniversary of the First World War in 2014, see War Memorial.