Tony Holland

Tony Holland
© BBC
About
Portrays/Role	Creator, Executive Producer
Gender	Male
Duration	1985-1989
Date of Birth	18 January 1940
Date of Death	28 November 2007
Research
Page Links:	What Links Here

In 1983 the BBC approached Holland and Smith to produce a new experience for their channel, a bi-weekly soap-opera that would rival the long established ITV favourites, Coronation Street, Crossroads and Emmerdale Farm. The BBC wanted this new serial to reflect "London, today!" and together, Smith and Holland came up with the idea of a programme set in a Victorian Square within the East End of London, focusing on its close working-class families and eccentric Cockney inhabitants. Thus, EastEnders was born.

Holland and Smith wanted a primary focus of EastEnders to be a large extended family, representative of the type most typically found in the East End of London. Holland was from a large London family himself, and in creating some of the show's characters he was able to use some of his own experiences as inspiration for EastEnders central clan the Beales and Fowlers. In creating the stories and characters, Holland delved into family stories, past and present. His aunt Lou Beale came to inspire the EastEnders character of the same name, along with her two children Peter (Pete) and Pauline.

Holland also used some of his experiences as a barman in London's pubs and clubs to create the dynamic pairing of Den and Angie Watts, the owners of the Queen Victoria. Holland worked on EastEnders for four years, initially as script-editor and going on to script many episodes himself. After four years, Holland and Smith decided to leave EastEnders together in 1989 following a dispute with BBC bosses as to whether the character of Den Watts (played by Leslie Grantham) could return to the series following his exit in February of that year after being shot and supposedly killed. The character would ultimately return to the show 14 years later, having survived the shooting despite being presumed dead. Den's exit was Tony and Julia's final contribution to their programme.

On his departure from EastEnders in 1989, Holland was approached by Ireland's national broadcaster RTE to give their new urban soap opera Fair City its structure and story lines for the first season.

In 1991, they were famously tempted back to the 'world of Corn'[citation needed] by the BBC to produce Eldorado, loosely based around the lives of expats in Spain. Their new show was launched in July 1992, but plagued by a string of on and off-screen problems, it received little of EastEnders success, and was axed a year later, in July 1993.

In 2001, he was awarded with a Special Achievement Award from the British Soap Awards, and in 2004 he appeared on the Channel 4 documentary How Soaps Changed The World. Tony died in 2007 aged 67.

Episodes written by Tony Holland

1980s

1985

1. 3 October 1985

1986

1. 18 November 1986
2. 20 November 1986
3. 25 November 1986
4. 25 December 1986 - Part 1
5. 25 December 1986 - Part 2

1987

1. 20 October 1987
2. 22 October 1987
3. 10 November 1987

1988

1. 21 July 1988
2. 26 July 1988
3. 28 July 1988
4. 25 August 1988
5. 6 October 1988
6. 22 December 1988
7. CivvyStreet (26 December 1988)

1989

1. 5 January 1989
2. 14 February 1989

Prison Storylines Segments

Between 1988-1989 episodes featured Prison Storylines segments of Den Watts in Dickens Hill Prison theses were written separated from a normal episode. All segments were written by Bill Lyons and Bill Lyons.

1988

1. 13 September 1988 - (Co-written by Bill Lyons)
2. 15 September 1988 - (Co-written by Bill Lyons)
3. 20 September 1988 - (Co-written by Bill Lyons)
4. 22 September 1988 - (Co-written by Bill Lyons)
5. 27 September 1988 - (Co-written by Bill Lyons)
6. 29 September 1988 - (Co-written by Bill Lyons)

1. 4 October 1988 - (Co-written by Bill Lyons)
2. 6 October 1988 - (Co-written by Bill Lyons)
3. 11 October 1988 - (Co-written by Bill Lyons)
4. 13 October 1988 - (Co-written by Bill Lyons)
5. 18 October 1988 - (Co-written by Bill Lyons)
6. 20 October 1988 - (Co-written by Bill Lyons)
7. 25 October 1988 - (Co-written by Bill Lyons)
8. 27 October 1988 - (Co-written by Bill Lyons)

1. 1 November 1988 - (Co-written by Bill Lyons)
2. 3 November 1988 - (Co-written by Bill Lyons)
3. 8 November 1988 - (Co-written by Bill Lyons)
4. 10 November 1988 - (Co-written by Bill Lyons)
5. 15 November 1988 - (Co-written by Bill Lyons)
6. 17 November 1988 - (Co-written by Bill Lyons)
7. 22 November 1988 - (Co-written by Bill Lyons)
8. 24 November 1988 - (Co-written by Bill Lyons)
9. 29 November 1988 - (Co-written by Bill Lyons)

1. 1 December 1988 - (Co-written by Bill Lyons)
2. 6 December 1988 - (Co-written by Bill Lyons)
3. 8 December 1988 - (Co-written by Bill Lyons)
4. 13 December 1988 - (Co-written by Bill Lyons)
5. 15 December 1988 - (Co-written by Bill Lyons)
6. 20 December 1988 - (Co-written by Bill Lyons)
7. 22 December 1988 - (Co-written by Bill Lyons)
8. 27 December 1988 - (Co-written by Bill Lyons)
9. 29 December 1988 - (Co-written by Bill Lyons)

1989

1. 3 January 1989 - (Co-written by Bill Lyons)
2. 5 January 1989 - (Co-written by Bill Lyons)
3. 19 January 1989 - (Co-written by Bill Lyons)
4. 24 January 1989 - (Co-written by Bill Lyons)
5. 26 January 1989 - (Co-written by Bill Lyons)
6. 31 January 1989 - (Co-written by Bill Lyons)

1. 2 February 1989 - (Co-written by Bill Lyons)
2. 9 February 1989 - (Co-written by Bill Lyons)
3. 14 February 1989 - (Co-written by Bill Lyons)
4. 16 February 1989 - (Co-written by Bill Lyons)

Gallery

Julia Smith and Tony Holland

Julia Smith and Tony Holland

Julia Smith with Tony Holland

Julia Smith and Tony Holland

Commemorating Eastenders founders - Julia Smith and Tony Holland, shown on the Live Episode 20 February 2015.