After EastEnders live episode - Stacey Slater disappears!

Monday 22 February 2010, 09:02

Diederick Santer Diederick Santer Executive Producer

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Well, I'll settle for that! A near faultless performance from cast and crew alike, and a brilliant actress delivering the killer cliffhanger to 16.6m stunned viewers. It was everything I could possibly have hoped for - a truly memorable event to mark 25 great years of EastEnders. I'm very proud of everyone involved.

Bradley Branning and Stacey Slater attempt to escape police in a taxi in the Who Killed Archie episode of EastEnders

Forty eight hours after EastEnders Live, I'm trying to put things in perspective. I said in my earlier blog that all the best EastEnders moments of the last 25 years involved some kind of creative risk. Going live was a massive risk, but seeing it pay off so successfully, getting us our highest ratings in seven years, has made all the stresses worthwhile.

The biggest burden for me has been keeping the secret. I've been reading the comments on my blog and I can reassure Bridget, sweet alternative, Jon and others, that the cast and crew really didn't know until the night.

The moment I told Lacey Turner (Stacey) that she was the killer, with less than an hour to go before the performance, was very exciting. She was shocked, and momentarily disorientated, but went with it immediately. We'd talked before about how it could be her, and she knew what she needed to do. I also told Jake Wood (Max), not that he was the killer, but that he would be supporting Lacey in the final scene in which she would be revealed as the killer. Watch it here:

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I never told Charlie (Bradley) - he, along with the rest of the cast, learnt it as the episode progressed. We've always managed this story on a need-to-know basis.

So how did we film all the episodes after the 'reveal' without them knowing? Peter - you've pretty much worked it out. Well done! Here's my more detailed explanation, although I have a feeling that Peter probably puts it better:

By the end of Friday only two characters are in on the secret - Stacey and her confidante Max - and it seems that Bradley is assumed to be the true killer of Archie. Monday's episode (22 February) picks up with Stacey and Max both distraught at the loss of Bradley, and to some extent blaming themselves for what's happened.

But the audience now know something more than the actors did when playing those scenes - that Stacey is the killer and Max knows it. Here's where it gets tricky! With the greatest respect to those two brilliant actors, their sadness and guilt plays both ways. Upset at their loss and at encouraging Bradley to run, or upset at their loss and the fact that Stacey's actions may have led to it - these two sets of feelings and emotions more or less look the same.

It's this kind of split intention (where we've given an actor an intention to play which could mean one thing or another) which we have used heavily during this period with a number of characters. With Stacey and Max, it's all helped by the fact that Stacey mysteriously disappears quite soon too.

100219_bradley600x400.jpg

We won't be filming new scenes on Monday (although we are doing some sound editing), but we will be dropping some quickly shot material in before too long. So I can assure viewers that the story doesn't become conveniently forgotten about, but rather stays active.

None of the writers, directors or actors working on the episodes that have been filmed up to now (about two months' worth) have known the truth. It's made it very tricky, as we've asked them to follow and work on our storylines without every being truly able to explain to them what's going on. But they've gone along with it, trusting our assurances that it would all make sense in the end. Another big risk! But I think this one will pay off too.

Zara, gorde21, emma, Angie Linford, Mark, Ash, mac, julie and others - thank you! I'm delighted you enjoyed the episode.

To Elizabeth - I do hope you don't abandon us. There's plenty of warmth and hope in the months ahead in EastEnders, and not too many tragedies. Although something rather unpleasant does happen to Sugar the dog, now I think about it... Oh, what is it with this programme and death?

Finally, to Ex-Tender, I reckon the music in the Bradley montage might have been One Day Like This by Elbow (but I didn't produce the Aftermath show, so I'm not 100% certain!).

Thanks for reading, and thanks so much to those of you who took the time and trouble to comment.

Diederick Santer is executive producer of EastEnders

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    Comment number 1.

    Congrats on a awesomwe live ep omg didnt that coming Stacey!! really enjoyed it had me on the edge of my seat. Also i would like to know about christian and Syed what is going to happen to them? becasue i love them and they have to end up together and Marc and John are amazing. Hannah xxx

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    Comment number 2.

    Congratulations on a great episode and the brilliant ratings.

    On the off chance that you're still reading the comments and are able to reply...

    Did Stacey tell Bradley she was the killer when they were in the bedroom in the live ep? The actions of Bradley afterwards would seem to indicate she did but then Charlie didn't know, so a lot of us are confused if Bradley knew or not

    Thanks

  • rate this
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    Comment number 3.

    Hi,

    Brilliant episode on Friday night - congratulations to you all! I have a question - you mentioned the 3 clues that would give it away if you had noticed them - what were they? I am intrigued!

    Many thanks!
    Trudy

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    Comment number 4.

    A massive congratulations to everyone at Eastenders! You all did amazing! Apart from a few little wobbles (which I feel added to the whole experience rather than faulted it) = BRILLIANT!!
    How Diederick and the rest of the 'inner' team kept that secret for almost a year is beyond me!! Shame Bradley died but best of luck to Charlie in future projects!! and hope Lacey gets better soon :)
    Again well done to all involved...makes me proud to be a fan of Britain's best soap! You deserve all the praise in the world!! :D Lorna xxx

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    Comment number 5.

    Eastenders has been a tad depressing over the last couple of years. But this storyline and live episode have ben extremely entertaining. Apart from Jack getting flustered, and Max attempting to rip his tonsils out, I thought it was pretty faultless... only the mili-second of extra pause time between scenes was noticeable. An amazing achievement.

    However, that said, I'l like to see a bit more humour (as long as it's not Mo) injected into Eastenders in the coming months. I can think of a few good comic ideas involving certain characters (Billy and Jean for instance), so I'm positive the script-writers can do the same! ;-)

    Finally, I love the fact that Stacey wasn't even included on certain adverts/posters ahead of this episode, a very nice touch, and I'm sure it would have help to throw a lot of people off Stacey as a suspect.

 

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