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"Episode 5415/5416"
EastEnders episodes
Episode nos.Episodes 5415/5416
Directed byToby Frow
Written byRob Gittins
Featured music
Editing byDavid I'Anson
Original air date1 January 2017 (2017-01-01)
Running time60 minutes
Episode chronology
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"Episode 5417"

"Episode 5415/5416" is an episode of the BBC soap opera EastEnders. It was broadcast on BBC One on 1 January 2017, between 7pm and 8pm. It was written by Rob Gittins, directed by Toby Frow, and executively produced by Sean O'Connor. The episode focuses on the wedding of characters Ronnie Mitchell (Samantha Womack) and Jack Branning (Scott Maslen), and features the deaths of Ronnie and her sister Roxy Mitchell (Rita Simons).

Plot

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Ronnie Mitchell (Samantha Womack) and Jack Branning (Scott Maslen) prepare for their wedding, visiting the grave of their son James Branning before they go to the wedding venue. Ronnie's mother, Glenda Mitchell (Glynis Barber), and half-brother, Danny Mitchell (Liam Bergin), bring Ronnie's sister, Roxy Mitchell (Rita Simons), back to Walford after she called them in the previous episode when she was high on cocaine. Ronnie finds Roxy packing, and Roxy says that she will not go to the wedding and that moving to Ongar with Ronnie and Jack after the wedding will not work. Ronnie is upset and asks Roxy to give her away, because Ronnie and Roxy's cousin, Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) is unable to due to being in hospital recovering from his liver transplant. Glenda tells Ronnie that she is lying to Jack about Roxy's move to Ongar, which Roxy overhears. Phil sends a Ford Thunderbird for Ronnie and Roxy to travel to the wedding venue, but they visit Phil first. At the wedding, Roxy tells Ronnie that it is because of her that Ronnie is not being honest with Jack, and leaves saying she will ruin the wedding for her. The wedding starts but Ronnie leaves to find Roxy. Jack follows, and Ronnie tells Jack about Roxy moving to Ongar, begging Jack not to make her choose between her sister and her husband; he agrees, and Ronnie and Jack marry.

Mick Carter (Danny Dyer) finds a card from the Samaritans in his son Lee Carter's (Danny-Boy Hatchard) phone case; Lee, who was diagnosed with depression, initially denies needing it but then admits that he organised the recent robbery at Mick's pub, The Queen Victoria, when he was unable to pay his bills, and felt so bad about it that he contemplated suicide; Mick says he should have gone through with it, leaving Lee distraught, but later regrets saying this, though is unsure if he can forgive Lee.

During the wedding reception, Roxy dances with Jack's brother, Max Branning (Jake Wood), and she puts her room key in his pocket. Later that night, he goes to her hotel room, while Ronnie and Jack retreat to theirs, but are interrupted because Jack's children, Amy Mitchell (Abbie Knowles) and Ricky Mitchell (Henri Charles), want him to read them a bedtime story, so Jack asks Ronnie for 20 minutes, during which she takes Roxy to the hotel balcony to talk and drink, leaving Max in Roxy's room where he finds her cocaine. As Jack reads to the children, Ronnie and Roxy find the hotel's swimming pool; a drunk Roxy jumps in, while Ronnie is unable to remove her wedding dress. Ronnie worries when Roxy does not re-emerge; she sees Roxy motionless at the bottom of the pool. Ronnie jumps in to rescue her, but in doing so, she is weighed down by her wedding dress, and both sisters drown.

Characters and cast

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Production

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On 13 August 2016, The Sun reported that Womack would be leaving her role as Ronnie in EastEnders, when it was said that the new executive produced of the show, Sean O'Connor offered her a "dramatic exit" and she "jumped at the chance" to "go out with a bang".[1] A spokeswoman for EastEnders said, "[Womack] has created an iconic character in Ronnie Mitchell. However, she was recently offered a big storyline which she happily accepted that leads to Ronnie departing Walford. We wish [Womack] all the best for the future."[1] It was reported that Ronnie would leave in 2017.[1] Five days later, it was reported that Simons would also be leaving her role as Roxy at the same time as Ronnie. A spokesperson stated, "We can confirm that Rita Simons will be leaving EastEnders. Having joined the show in 2007, [Simons] immediately won the hearts of the audience in the role of Roxy Mitchell and between her and Samantha Womack they created one of the most iconic duos EastEnders has ever seen. Alongside [Womack], [Simons] was recently offered to take part in the same big storyline that will see the Mitchell sisters depart Walford, but we will not be releasing any further details at this time. We wish [Simons] all the best for the future."[2] Digital Spy reported that O'Connor had "come up with an unforgettable final storyline for Roxy and Ronnie, with some big twists and turns to come over the next few months."[2] A show insider said: "[W]hen [O'Connor, Womack and Simons] sat down to work out where to take [Ronnie and Roxy], they all felt it was the right time to rest them. When you look back over nearly a decade and realise what they have been through, it seems that most avenues have been exhausted. So when [O'Connor] proposed his idea to them, [Simons] jumped at the opportunity to do the storyline. She even stated that the sisters should go out the same way they arrived—together. Bosses desperately wanted to keep the news of their departures a secret, but once the news about [Womack] leaked out, it was only a matter of time before people worked out [Simons] would be going too. It's a shame as it would have been a great surprise for the audience but there are still lots of twists to come before they leave our screens."[2] O'Connor later said of his choice to have the characters killed off, "They were not the sort of characters that would leave in the back of a taxi—we wanted to give them an operatic ending."[3]

On 30 October 2016, the Daily Star released on-location photos from the filming of Ronnie and Jack's wedding, and reporting that Ronnie would die on her wedding night.[4] The next day, The Sun reported that Ronnie and Roxy would both die in the 1 January 2017 episode, with Ronnie finding Roxy dead in a swimming pool at her wedding reception, and then drowning, weighed down by her wedding dress while trying to rescue Roxy. A source from the show was reported as saying, "It's a slightly ridiculous way to go. It must be the first time in soap history anyone has been killed by an item of their clothing."[5]

Ronnie and Jack's wedding was filmed on location at Brocket Hall, Hertfordshire, around the end of October 2016.[4][6]

Try to find sources other than Digital Spy 8-)

Reception

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Pre-broadcast

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Post-broadcast

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Steven Murphy, editor of Inside Soap, said that Ronnie and Roxy's deaths were "outrageous" and had a big impact on the viewers, as evidenced by the number of letters and emails the magazine had received about it.[7] Joshua Haigh from the Daily Mirror said it was a "shocking episode".[8]

Dominic Treadwell-Collins, the former executive producer of EastEnders who created Ronnie and Roxy, said that the characters' deaths made him "very sad [...] because I created them and I loved them as characters. But every producer has to do what they want to do and what they think is right. [...] But I was sad because I loved them. They were my girls."[9]

Simons said the final image in the episode was "disturbing".[10]

Declan Bennett, who played Ronnie's former husband Charlie Cotton in the series, said, "I thought that Ronnie and Roxy's exit was done brilliantly."[11]

Kate White from Inside Soap said in September 2017 that the final scene in the episode of Roxy and Ronnie in the swimming pool was "unforgettable" and that although the decision to write out the characters was "controversial", it was a "Gothic tragedy" with a "stunning finale". She also said that because the "key relationship" in their lives was each other, Ronnie and Roxy exiting the show together was "poetic justice".[10] Inside Soap later said the episode was a "bleak start to 2017" and that the final scene would "haunt us till our own dying day".[12]

Ratings

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This episode was the top requested programme on BBC iPlayer in the period 20 December 2016 to 2 January 2017, with 1,310,480 requests (not including any outside of that period).[13] Official ratings from the Broadcasters' Audience Research Board showed that 7,382,000 people had watched the episode on BBC One and BBC iPlayer within 7 days of the original broadcast, making it the fourth most-watched programme on BBC One in the week of 26 December 2016 to 1 January 2017. Within 28 days of the original broadcast, the viewership for BBC One increased to 7,451,000.[14]

Awards and nominations

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  • 2017 Inside Soap Awards

Simons said she was "shocked" that Roxy and Ronnie's exit was nominated for two Inside Soap awards, given the amount of time that has passed since it was broadcast, and said it was "lovely" and "really nice" to be thought of for the award.[10]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Armstrong, Laura (13 August 2016). "EastEnders star Samantha Womack quits the Square after a decade playing Ronnie Mitchell". The Sun. Retrieved 2 January 2017.
  2. ^ a b c Kilkelly, Daniel (18 August 2016). "EastEnders exit exclusive: Roxy Mitchell is bowing out with Ronnie in a huge final storyline". Digital Spy. Retrieved 2 January 2017.
  3. ^ Lindsay, Duncan (21 March 2017). "EastEnders boss Sean O'Connor on Ronnie and Roxy deaths and community storylines". Metro. Retrieved 23 March 2017.
  4. ^ a b Pike, Molly Rose (30 October 2016). "EastEnders FIRST LOOK: Ronnie Mitchell marries Jack Branning". Daily Star. Retrieved 2 January 2017.
  5. ^ Halls, Andy (31 October 2016). "EastEnders' Mitchell sisters set to leave soap with a splash as Ronnie drowns in bridal dress". The Sun. Retrieved 2 January 2017.
  6. ^ Kerr, Chloe (30 October 2016). "EastEnders' Ronnie Mitchell to wed Jack Branning before she and sister Roxy are dramatically killed off on New Year's Eve". The Sun. Retrieved 2 January 2017.
  7. ^ Murphy, Steven (14–20 January 2017). "Welcome!". Inside Soap. 2017 (2): 3. Was there ever a more outrageous soap death than Ronnie and Roxy's New Year plunge? [...] Love it or loathe it, Ronnie and Roxy's deaths have certainly had a big impact on viewers—you have your say on our Soapbox column over on p94.
  8. ^ Haigh, Joshua (11 January 2017). "Rita Simons slams Eastenders as Albert Square blames Roxy Mitchell for Ronnie Mitchell's death". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 11 January 2017.
  9. ^ Dainty, Sophie (9 May 2017). "Kat and Alfie Redwater spoilers: Ex-EastEnders boss Dominic Treadwell-Collins answers our questions". Digital Spy. Retrieved 18 May 2017.
  10. ^ a b c White, Kate (30 September – 6 October 2017). "Blast from the past!". Inside Soap. 2017 (39): 56–57.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: date format (link)
  11. ^ Jones, Allison (13–19 May 2017). "The Big Interview: 'I never expected Charlie to come back!'". Inside Soap. 2017 (19): 40–41.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: date format (link)
  12. ^ "Watery Grave". Inside Soap Yearbook 2018: 8. November 2017.
  13. ^ "BBC iPlayer sees best ever week during festive season". BBC Media Centre. 13 January 2017. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
  14. ^ "Weekly top 10 programmes". Broadcasters' Audience Research Board. Retrieved 15 January 2017.
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5415/5416 Category:2017 in British television Category:2017 television episodes Category:Death in fiction Category:Television episodes about weddings

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