YMMV / EastEnders

• Alas, Poor Scrappy:
  • Abi Branning's death is actually pretty sad once you realise that she was only trying to prevent her father from committing suicide, and only fell off the roof of the Queen Vic herself when she tried to grab Lauren after she tripped. Abi is left permanently unconscious as a result and eventually taken off life support. The fact that her daughter Abi Branning Jr is now without her biological mother and father makes this even more heartbreaking.
  • Whilst Dennis "Denny" Rickman Jr is seen as a Scrappy to a majority of viewers, most would show concern whenever he gets himself into physical danger. This would evidently continue as viewers were also worried by the possibility that he might be killed off in the coming months after some theories were made since Sharon swore on Dennis' life, in an attempt to cover up her affair with Keanu. This would unfortunately turn out to be true, as Dennis really did tragically pass away in February 2020, as a result of the Thames party boat crash.
  • Surprisingly, Bobby Beale got this from some fans when he returned from prison. Whilst there was no excuse for the terrible crimes he committed, he seems genuinely remorseful and disturbed by what he did and when he was torn to pieces by the residents of Walford, fans actually felt like they went too far with how they treated him.
• Alternative Character Interpretation: Did Bobby really kill Lucy by accident? Did he really not know she was dead? Does he show no remorse because he genuinely thinks someone else killed her or is he sociopath?
• Arc Fatigue:
  • The "Who Killed Lucy Beale?" storyline. It started in April 2014, the killer wasn't revealed until February 2015, and the plotline didn't properly end until the killer was sentenced in June 2016. However, if you count Max Branning's Roaring Rampage of Revenge (he'd been falsely imprisoned for the murder and wanted to get back at Walford), the storyline continued all the way up to early 2018, 4 years later.
  • Gray Atkins' domestic abuser-turned serial killer storyline. Hoo boy. After almost a year of viewers witnessing Chantelle trying to live with her physically abusive husband, that leg of the storyline ended in September 2020, with her tragic demise at Gray’s hands (in an admittedly powerful episode that was certainly difficult to watch). Gray manages to get away with this for well over a year, during which time he goes on to murder Tina Carter and Kush Kazemi. Many were unhappy with the direction of the storyline, saying that turning Gray into a serial killer shifted the focus of the storyline off of the domestic abuse aspect, which was understandably seen as the most important point.
• Ass Pull: A bunch of Walford residents being able to lift an entire double-decker bus off Martin Fowler, especially since the front of it was stuck under the train bridge.
• Audience-Alienating Era:
  • Between roughly 2002 and 2005, when the show was produced by Louise Berridge and then her very short-lived successor, Kathleen Hutchinson, due to the storylines being bland at best and ridiculous at worst (most infamously with Dirty Den's return), and the various new characters introduced in this era (particularly the Ferreira family) almost all being misfires. Though the quality of the show has had its ups and downs in the years since, pretty much all fans and critics still agree this to be the show's absolute worst period.
  • Particularly, there was supposed to be a storyline where the Ferreira family received escalating abuse from their father up until the point they eventually accidentally killed him in a struggle and then covered it up... except Dan's actor was deported for having an incorrect visa during a day of filming. Rushed for time and having already booked out the rest of the family for the next few weeks of filming, they came up with a kidney transplant storyline on the fly which took up half of the next 6 weeks of screen time and is widely considered to be incredibly boring.
  • Sean O'Connor's time as producer (particularly the year 2017) is also considered this for a variety of reasons, including the controversial recasting of Michelle Fowler, the killing-off of popular characters like Ronnie, Roxy, and Steven, the lack of engaging dramatic storylines, and the overexposure of certain characters (particularly Mick).
• Awesome Music: Even those who can't stand the soap agree the theme tune is legendary. Even more so the "Julia's Theme" variant played through happier or more resolving endings.
• Base-Breaking Character:
  • Fans are split on whether Whitney is still a good character or one that has overstayed her welcome. This started from the Mick/Whitney affair storyline.
  • Ben Mitchell, played by Max Bowden. On one hand, he gets a ton of flak for his newfound unpleasant attitude but on the other hand, this incarnation of Ben does have fans too, who like the progression of the character and some of Bowden's performance were also praised. His romance with Callum Highway has since boosted his popularity considerably.
• Broken Base: The reveal of who killed Lucy. Some thought it was a great twist, others were angry that it was someone who wasn't on the list of suspects.
  • On the "There's a killer amongst them." promotional poster◊ Bobby is nowhere to be seen. However, a few of them are killers.
  • Ben publicly humiliating Abi after finding out she lied about being pregnant. Many felt she deserved it, while some felt what Ben did was abusive.
  • The decision to spoil Chantelle Atkins' murder in order to avoid triggering certain viewers was understandably met with mixed reactions.
• Creator's Pet:
  • Stacey fucking Slater. So much so, she became the Spotlight-Stealing Squad throughout her run on the show just so viewers would feel sympathy for her. With this in mind, it was obviously she would be the one unmasked as Archie's killer, but because the writers loved her so much, she'd get away with it and who would take the fall? Her husband, Bradley, who actually died because he was focused on telling her to get away rather than keep his balance. Not only that, but she has locked lips with others' spouses and has even had sex with them, and apart from very minor punishment, she normally comes out unscathed. It doesn't help that the writers almost always try to make Stacey's spouse act worse than her after she cheated on them.
  • Mick Carter. Since his arrival, he's had the most amount of screen time of all the cast despite only being around for four years (when compared to other characters who've been around longer) and even storylines that aren't directly about him he would still somehow be involved in them.
• Designated Hero: A lot of characters suffer through this whenever they're supposedly the "hero" of their own storylines, despite their actions saying otherwise. These are some of the most notable examples.
  • Stacey Slater. From the writers' general favouritism of the character, she is often seen as the victim in most of (if not, all) her storylines. Whilst this is justified for the most part, her storyline with her custody battle against Martin is seen as this. Although Martin did display some unacceptable behaviour (like his comments about Abi's death and him pushing her out), she is supposedly the sympathetic victim even though it was her fault for sleeping with Max in the first place, effectively ruining their marriage and even had the nerve to tell Martin that he should be the one that leaves because of something she did. The fact that she used her cousin, Hayley Slater to try and make Martin look like a bad parent doesn't help her case.
  • Bex Fowler is treated as the victim who never seems to get called out for her hypocrisy in the short Bex/Gethin storyline despite the fact it was Bex who kept making moves on her teacher when he rejected her advances. Made even worse when she was upset that Shakil kissed Louise (in front of Bex) despite the fact Bex made moves on her teacher behind his back and wasn't with Shakil at the time but is never called out on it.
  • Phil is usually played as the villain but whenever they try to give him a heroic edge, it's quite hard to take him seriously at times as he usually suffers from Aesop Amnesia and usually resorts to violence and blackmail to get his way.
• Designated Villain: Shakil isn't really a villain but is treated as one for being disgusted with Bex's flirtatious behaviour with her teacher and for kissing Louise, despite him remaining single at the time.
• Draco in Leather Pants:
  • Dean Wicks has his share of fangirls despite being a rapist and a controlling boyfriend.
  • Gray Atkins has a lot of fangirls despite being a domestic abuser who ultimately murdered his wife and two others.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Tracey the barmaid, to the point of there being a "Tracey Watch" Facebook group that celebrates every time she gets a line, and outright exploded in 2010 when one week's A-Plot was about her, even having a full conversation with Roxy.
• Fandom Rivalry:
  • This was inevitable between this show and Coronation Street. As the two biggest soap operas in the land and among the world in general, the two series often vie for everything from ratings to awards for their respective writing and acting. That said, to be a fan of both shows isn't unheard of either.
  • It also had the misfortune of having this with Doctor Who of all things, although it had more to do with the executives of BBC than anything else. Back in the mid-80s, then-head of the network, Michael Grade, made no secret that he despised science fiction television and went about screwing with the latter show's slot times, scheduling and the formula itself before he eventually cancelled the series in 1989. The former show comes into the mix because he clearly favored the soap over the anthology series (to the point of calling it "quality television") and it took the rap from their fans for their respective show's downfall.
• Fan Nickname:
  • Easties - Shortened form of the show's title.
  • With characters including 'Dirty' Den Watts, 'Nasty' Nick Cotton, Big and Little Mo Harris and Slater, Squeal Beale and 'Mad' May Wright.
• Fridge Horror: Viewers never witnessed Bobby and Lucy's argument, if there even was one. Viewers only have Bobby's word to go on. Bobby could have just attacked Lucy from behind without her knowing he was there.
  • In the flashback episode we never see the argument. However Lucy's last moment alive is her just realizing Bobby. After that everything is up to the viewers.
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff: The show is is pretty popular in the States, so much so that there was a huge outcry when BBC America pulled it from their schedule in 2003. Luckily, Dish Network stepped in a year later to snap up the broadcast rights and it continued airing as a special pay-per-view channel for years, even though it was two months behind the UK broadcast—and much backlash ensued again when the PPV channel was suddenly dropped in 2015. North Carolina is said to be home to America's biggest EastEnders fanclub.
• Harsher in Hindsight: Ben falsely accusing Christian Clarke of sexually assaulting him becomes very uncomfortable to watch when you realise that his previous actor, Joshua Pascoe, was also guilty of sexual misconduct. At the time of the storyline, this Ben was played by said actor, which doesn't help.
  • Dennis Rickman Sr.'s final words to Sharon as he died were "We did it!", after learning that Sharon was pregnant. Fourteen years later, their son would tragically lose his life in an accident on the River Thames.
  • Sharon swore on her son's life that she was not having an affair with Keanu Taylor. These words would eventually come back to haunt her, as Dennis died as a result of the climactic confrontation of the storyline.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: Maybe a stretch, but this promotional poster◊ for the "Who Killed Lucy Beale?" storyline bears a resemblance to the "There is N impostor(s) among us" screen from Among Us.
• He Really Can Act:
  • The problem with the previous incarnations of Ben (particularly from 2006-10) was the poor performance from his actor which made it hard for the audience to take the character very seriously but there was one scene that stood out, particularly the scene where Ben first stood in trial after his attack on Jordan. He managed to pull off a genuinely devastated expression upon finding out he will be sentenced.
  • Mike Reid, who was best known in the UK as a stand-up comedian, proved surprisingly effective in dramatic material as Frank Butcher.
• Idiot Ball: Firmly clutched by anyone involved in a plot involving Aunt Babe. She has managed to blackmail the Cokers, who have never heard of a fancy dress party, with a single photo of Les dressed as Christine. Abi is, for some reason, intimidated into working with her again despite Babe already blaming being locked in a freezer on her sister Sylvie and otherwise having no evidence. The only reason she's in Walford at all is through somehow being forgiven for running a baby farm. Yet she has the square wrapped around her finger despite having no friends and no advantage.
  • Penny Branning attempted to frame a police interviewer for assault when it's obvious an interview room would have CCTV.
• Jerkass Woobie:
  • Shirley. She's a cynical and bitter old woman who is usually pessimistic about nearly everything but when you think about what she has been through, it's not hard to see why. She was physically and psychologically abused by her mother, fell pregnant to Buster's child at a young age, was forced to abandon her kids, had her best friend Heather murdered, heartbroken by Phil, has to deal with her rapist son Dean Wicks and go to prison for a crime she didn't commit. No wonder she's so bitter nowadays.
  • Sylvie. She used to be an Abusive Parent and keeps going back to her old ways due to her dementia.
  • Keegan. Yes, he's a Jerkass most of the time but it's suggested that when his bad behaviour comes from his his father abandoning him as a child.
    • This later turns out to be true as Keegan didn't react well to his father abandoning him the second time.
    • This gets worse later on as he also loses his best friend, Shakil.
  • Ian. Poor Ian Beale never seems to catch a break. Sure, he's not the nicest bloke in the world, he can be selfish and make bad decisions but is always on the receiving end, even when he doesn't always deserve it. On top of that, his ex-wife Cindy has betrayed him, gets picked on by Phil constantly, dealt with the death of his mum Kathy (who is later revealed to be alive), has been kidnapped by his step-son Steven, heartbroken more times than anyone else, disliked by half the Square, has nearly been broke, had to deal with the death of his daughter Lucy as well as the revelation that his son Bobby is her killer, the list just goes on... Nowadays, he's just a full on woobie.
  • Ben may be a selfish and vengeful character who tends to act unpleasant towards everyone but a lot of his actions were driven by his child-abuse from Stella, a neglectful father who sees him as The Un-Favourite, being bullied as a child, coming to terms with his sexuality, losing Paul etc. His ongoing bad luck has permanently skewed his psyche and sense of morality.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • "You ain't my muvva!" "Yes I am!" ^ExplanationThe famous Family Relationship Switcheroo that occurred between Kat and Zoe Slater (previously thought to be sisters).
  • "This is gonna be the best Christmas Walford's ever had! ^ExplanationThe show's Christmas and New Year storylines are infamously and consistently depressing. Doctor Who lampshaded this by having the Doctor in "The Impossible Planet" say that "This is gonna be the best Christmas Walford's ever had" is a great example of Tempting Fate.
  • DUN DUN... DUN-DUN-DUN DU-DU-DU-DUN ^ExplanationThe iconic drum beats that play over the end of every episode, often compared to "In The Air Tonight." They're one of the most famous and recognizable theme tunes in British TV, and have become synonymous with soapland drama.
    • "Your mum's so fat that when she fell down the stairs, it sounded like EastEnders was starting."^ExplanationA "classic" Your Mom joke inspired by said iconic drum beat.
  • "BUBBLY'S IN THE FRIDGE!"^note In one August 2011 episode, Vanessa, after learning about Max's affair with Tanya, finds a note saying this, and as she says it again and again, she goes into an Unstoppable Rage and destroys his home. The sheer amounts of scenery-chewing in this scene led to many remixes and memes. This scene would later see a resurgence in popularity in 2018.
  • "RIIICCCKKKYYYY!" ^Explanation Bianca Jackson/Butcher's over exaggerated pronunciation of, well, Ricky, her boyfriend/husband. Must be said with a full cockney accent for the best effect.
• Narm:
  • Almost all the scenes that involve the characters fighting or arguing are unintentionally hilarious due to how poorly acted or over acted they are. For example, this clip.
  • Vanessa's infamous "BUBBLY'S IN THE FRIDGE" rampage from 2011 (see Memetic Mutation above).
• The Problem with Licensed Games: The game for the ZX Spectrum was riddled with control issues, among other things requiring some serious finger gymnastics just to play the game due to using the WASD control scheme, which was not made with the ZX Spectrum in mind. To make matters worse, the game is just boring even getting past that due to requiring you to do some mundane tasks that aren't the least bit entertaining. Interactivity was limited at best, and as if that wasn't enough, there's a time limit that's supposed to make things more challenging, but instead just made things frustrating. Magazines called it one of the worst ZX spectrum games out there, and probably the worst game ever released for that system.
• Replacement Scrappy:
  • Fans of Pam and Les Coker view Ted and Joyce Murray as this, though despite being Walford's new elderly couple, they don't seem to have anything in common. It doesn't help that since their debut, they haven't been in many storylines and the ones they are in don't seem to have interested many fans, despite having some potential.
    • However, you will feel sorry for both of them once Joyce's death storyline takes place.
  • Speaking of the Cokers, fans of Paul Coker aren't keen on Luke Browning. Justified, considering he was meant to be a Hate Sink, given his abuse towards Ben.
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap:
  • It's easy to tell which episode was the first one written after Fatboy's first on screen appearance actually aired: It's the one where he inexplicably stopped using street lingo for every single line.
  • Billy did receive a lot of hate in his debut since he was initially a bit of a monster by abusing his nephew, Jamie. Even his actor Perry Fenwick originally hated the character and even threatened to quit if his character continued to be abusive. Nowadays, he's generally a nice guy that looks out for his family as well as being one of the more comedic characters.
  • Jane wasn't exactly hated but viewers grew tired of her when she continuously covered up for Bobby after he murdered Lucy Beale at the expense of characters like Ben and Max. She did receive sympathy from viewers after Bobby attacked her in response to her telling him off for his bratty behaviour.
  • Bex was a fairly popular and likeable character until her fling with Gethin, where she received a lot of hate. Since then, fans turned against the character until around Shakil's death storyline where she was portrayed more sympathetically as well as being more likeable again.
  • Bobby was disliked by fans, after it was revealed that he was Lucy's killer. After his release from prison, fans have warmed up to him due to being portrayed as more sympathetic and remorseful for his crimes. Plus, he dropped his bratty attitude and became caring for those he loved which made fans root for him, even after all he's been through. It probably helps that Dennis Jr has actually taken Bobby's place as the new Bratty Half-Pint, whilst Bobby has taken a level in kindness.
• The Scrappy: While almost all the characters are very unlikable, these following characters have received the most hate.
  • Darren Miller. Many fans see him as a widely pointless character who just exists in the background. Whilst he does get his spotlight every now and then, he's usually out of focus and most agree that his storylines aren't very interesting. Not even the Darren/Heather baby storyline was enough to make the character interesting enough for viewers.
  • Zainab Masood. The Masoods as a whole have been criticised for being a poor representation of a Muslim but Zainab stood out from the rest. She's highly considered irritating by viewers as well as her blatant homophobia towards her son Syed, even wishing he was dead. There even exists a couple of Facebook pages dedicated to hating her.
  • Abi Branning. Before she used to a fairly likeable character with some sympathetic traits that kept viewers rooting for the characters. After obsessively trying to keep Ben from splitting up (which included faking her pregnancy) and getting Max locked up for a crime he didn't do, she started getting disliked for changing from a genuinely kind-hearted girl to a Jerkass who tried to live up to Janine Butcher but viewers just weren't biting it. Her hate only increased since she continued to take a level in jerkass which included trying to ruin her sister's life and manipulating Steven. That said, her death was genuinely sad.
  • Hunter Owen seems to be falling into this. Initially, he was seen as a Base-Breaking Character who tries to live up to his father's criminal behaviour but comes off as extremely predictable to fans. However, some fans find that he draws the line as soon as he uses Louise for his own personal gain as well as acting like a spoiled brat towards everyone. It doesn't seem to get better when he frames Jack Branning for physical abuse when he recieves a black eye and smugly winks at him.
  • While the Panesars are divisive amongst the viewers, you'll be hard-pressed to find anyone who genuinely likes Vinny Panesar. He isn't taken seriously by anyone in Walford, tries too hard to get Nish's approval only to be constantly put down by him. While that in itself would make him a sympathetic character in the eyes of the audience, he loses any and all sympathy for trying to break apart Suki and Eve's relationship following his discovery of their affair, and even tried to kill the latter by cutting her car's breaks.
    • His eventual acceptance of Suki and Eve's relationship also received a mixed reception at best. Whilst it was meant to be a heartwarming moment that also attempted to rehabilitate his character, some fans saw Vinny's sudden acceptance as extremely dense as Suki had made it obvious that she was unhappy with her husband Nish beforehand.
• Retroactive Recognition:
  • Bev Williams is played by Diane Langton, who would later be best known for playing Nana McQueen in Hollyoaks.
  • Flo from CivvyStreet is played by Linda Robson, who would later be best known for playing Tracey Stubbs in Birds of a Feather.
  • A police constable from a 1992 episode is played by Terry John, who would later be best known for playing Percy in Oh, Doctor Beeching!.
• Seasonal Rot: There always seems to be an ongoing debate on when this started happening. Some will argue that the show started to go downhill by the early 2000s, some will say that as soon as Bryan Kirkwood, Lorraine Newman or Dominic Treadwell-Collins took over, the show stopped being as good. However, nobody will be willing to defend Sean O'Connor when he took over and is almost universally-agreed that he almost killed the soap due to the huge drop in ratings.
• Squick: The reaction from many during the Baby Switch storyline. It was so poorly received the producers were forced to wrap it up early despite the fact that compared to some previous storylines on EastEnders, it was pretty tame.
  • Steve Owen's abusive mother Barbara giving him one last kiss before dying. It's not just a light peck.
• Too Bleak, Stopped Caring: One reviewer perfectly summed the show up in one sentence:
  "The 'square' is peopled by such a miserable, untrustworthy, amoral, spiteful, unrelentingly dour group of characters as can be imagined. Everyone is stabbing someone in the back, everyone is attempting to commit adultery, everyone is trying to cheat someone. That, or they are being stabbed, cuckolded or swindled. Nobody is cheerful. Nobody laughs. Nobody has a blinding stroke of luck or a really nice day. It's hell, with cockney accents."
• Tough Act to Follow: Ben Mitchell's current actor Max Bowden is widely considered this to Harry Reid. This reaction comes more from the execution of the characters and Kate Oates' decision to change Ben's personality entirely rather than the actor himself.
  • Later subverted, as many consider him to be the best version of Ben due to his more menacing presence, interesting character depth and his later storylines which include Ben's on-screen romance with Callum (helped by their great acting and chemistry).
• Unintentionally Sympathetic: Whilst Dennis Jr was definitely a brat who was blackmailing and pushing his luck with Michelle after finding out her secret relationship with an underage student back in Florida, he's not exactly wrong about her when he labelled her as a "pedophile" since she did commit statutory rape before she moved back.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic:
  • Some fans see Bex as this following the Gethin/Bex storyline. The viewers were supposed to feel sorry for her after witnessing her ex-boyfriend Shakil kissing her best friend, Louise. However not only were they never together at the time of the storyline, the fact that Bex made a move on someone behind Shakil's back makes her comes off as hypocritical but the fact that it was her teacher makes her arguably worse.
    • What makes this even worse is that before the Bex/Gethin storyline, she's also given Preston (one of Michelle Fowler's students) flak for having romantic interests with his teacher and whilst she was rightfully angry with him, she only ends up doing the same thing later on and sees nothing wrong with it.
    • This habit unfortunately continues for Bex when she tries to pursue Kush. Whilst she was going through a lot of stress, there was no reason for her to go after Kush, who immediately rejects her. It's clear we were meant to feel sorry for Bex but considering how she's made the same mistake last time and not learnt from it (as well as her incredibly clingy attitude), it's downright impossible to feel any sympathy for her. To add insult to injury, she got away scot-free whilst it was Kush who gets the blame for Bex trying pursue him.
  • Mick is portrayed as the sympathetic one after finding out that his son Lee reveals he was behind the raid at his family's home and business as a result of the financial issues. Whilst his angry reaction was understandable, him telling Lee that he should've killed himself loses a lot of sympathy on his part.
• Vindicated by History: Somewhat. There is undoubtedly still a lot of friction regarding the episodes from the early 2000s to when Dominic Treadwell-Collins took over but many have since warmed up to them as well, believing that they had good ideas and lots of potential. It probably helps that the storylines from very late 2016 to 2017 were far more negatively received than before, making viewers look back at the previous storylines more fondly.
  • Though this appears to be averted with some of John Yorke's later storylines and (as of now) Kate Oates, who've received more positive reviews than Sean O'Connor due to more interesting storylines (though you'll find some who may still think the show is in Seasonal Rot).
• The Woobie: Nearly everyone has had their time in the Woobie spotlight, including the likes of Lofty Holloway, Arthur Fowler, but most notably poor, poor Little Mo. Dot is probably a very close second.
  • Little Mo: Throughout 2000-2001 her husband, Trevor, would isolate her from her family, abusive her continuously (the audience wasn't spared the details) and rape her. He had incredibly violent moodswings and whenever she tried to leave he would turn on the charm. When she tried to leave him in December 2001, he found her and tempted to drag her back to him again but she instead smashed him with an iron when he attacked her, believing she had killed him. She was found guilty of attempted murder and sent to eight years in prison, which was nullified when Trevor made a deal with her family (Kat wouldn't prosecute him for the abuse he gave Kat and he would let the attempted murder drop). When she got back, she threatened to divorce Trevor but he took her and Sean (the baby he had with another woman) hostage; the house caught fire and Trevor died. Throughout her relationship with Trevor she became close with Bill, who she married after Trevor's death in 2002. A night before their wedding anniversary, she was raped by Graham and got pregnant (clear of STDs though) with Freddie. In 2006, Mo and Billy divorced on good terms and Mo concentrated on bringing up Freddie, who received a minor head injury from Ben (but other medical problems made it a larger issue) but everybody believed Mo had caused it. Confronting Ben caused Mo to lose her job, though Ben eventually confessed that he had done it after Peggy called Mo a child beater in public. Eventually she moved Oop North with Freddy, so it turned out all right in the end.
  • Syed Masood. A Muslim man who tried to repress the fact that he was gay, who started a secret on-off relationship with Christian under the nose of his girlfriend and his family. He ended up getting blackmailed by someone in the neighborhood, who was eventually revealed to be Christian's niece. His homophobic mother forced him into abandoning Christian and marrying his fiancée Amira just to save face in their community. Of course, he ended up going back to the boyfriend and trying to carry on with the affair and was eventually discovered by Amira, upsetting her to the point of Woobification herself in the process, leaving him with the guilt of that on his shoulders. With a husband who turned out to be gay, she would be considered damaged goods and her father would consider her his lifelong slave. He lost everything after this: his family disowned him and then started to fall apart, yelling about how he'd brought shame on them; he split up with Christian, only to later see him brutally injured after being beaten up by Amira's Father; he lost the respect of his entire community... and it was just relentless. He kept trying to explain to his parents, but to no avail. After several weeks of being treated like nothing more than the root of everyone's problems the isolation got so bad that he attempted suicide. He survived, but when he woke up in hospital the first thing he heard was his Mother telling him that his sexuality was a disease and that he'd be better off dead. The very next week, he found a special therapist who claimed he can find a cure for being gay.
    • It's got better for Syed since then. He stood up for himself, left his family and got back together with Christian but is still disowned as far as his parents are concerned, (though as he once pointed out to his father, they're doing a perfectly good job creating hell for themselves without him, so maybe that's not such a bad thing).
    • Things are really looking up for Syed now. He is getting along much better with his family after the whole Yusef affair. However, Amira is back in the picture, and wants him back
  • Ronnie: Raped repeatedly as a child, her family not knowing. Then Ronnie has her baby, and probably fearing its parentage, her father makes her give her up for adoption. Then, she finally escapes, and spends the next couple of decades clearing up after her sister, Roxy. Then they move into Albert Square, and, whilst still sorting out Roxy's life, Ronnie gets a man, Jack. Jack then has an affair with Roxy, and is the father of Roxy's baby. Ronnie's boyfriend is the father of her niece. Nice. Then, on her birthday, she meets up with her father, Archie, again, by accident, who tells her her daughter died. Except she didn't, and then the next few months are spent split between being isolated from the rest of the Mitchells (due to Archie worming his way into their hearts) and persuading Danielle (a Woobie-extraordinaire in her own right) who unbeknownst to Danielle is her long-lost daughter to abort her own grandchild, despite knowing that it would probably be a mistake. Eventually, she decides to forgive Archie, except behind the scenes, Archie knows who Danielle is, and is torturing her psychologically, and even tries to kill her. Eventually, Danielle comes clean at Archie's wedding, only to be cast out by Ronnie herself. Of course, when Ronnie finds out the truth and chases after her, Danielle gets run over and is killed instantly. Naturally, Ronnie's a bit disappointed, and insult is added to injury when Danielle's best mate and adopted father both reject and blame her. She desperately tries to have another baby, but is caught by Jack putting holes in their condoms and he leaves, and then she hooks up with her childhood sweetheart and they seem to be cooking along fine, until it turns out he's had a vasectomy anyway. Eventually, she does get pregnant (by a reformed criminal who is killed in an unrelated plot a little bit later), but, having been pushed against the bar by her father, loses her foetus. Now, her cousin, Sam, is on the run from the law, and Ronnie offers to put up the bail. When Archie loses the opportunity to ingratiate himself with the Mitchells, he persuades Sam to do a runner, so Ronnie loses almost all of her money. Through some plans later, Archie gets his hands on The Queen Vic: the Mitchells, and Ronnie's, home. Soon after, he is killed, and she's prime suspect. In the new year, it's revealed to Ronnie's family that Archie raped her as a child: except the only one that believes her is her estranged mother, who knew all along, and only left because she felt jealous of Ronnie, getting all of Archie's attention. Meanwhile, Jack has an affair with Sam, and she has a child by him. On the plus side, Ronnie's FINALLY pregnant by Jack, just in time for the best Christmas Walford has ever had.
    • And barely a day or so after she has the baby it stops breathing and dies, pushing Ronnie past the Despair Event Horizon to the point where she ends up stealing Kat's newborn child.
    • She dealed with so much shit, Kat completely forgave her for what she did, saying she didn't want her to go to prison. However, she did.
    • After her release, she finally became pregnant and had a child, whose first weeks she missed after being left in a coma immediately following his birth, before finally meeting her end two years later just as she was about to get a happy ending in a futile attempt to save her sister.
  • Whitney: Tony groomed her from the age of twelve, raped her repeatedly, tricked her into stealing from Bianca because he promised to run away with her when she was sixteen, psychologically abused her and then when the police come for him, he has the nerve to shout, "It's not rape, she's sixteen, she's sixteen!"
  • Abi Branning Jr, born prematurely via emergency Caesarian section to the deceased Steven Beale and the brain dead Abi Branning Snr on Boxing Day 2017. In short, she was born an orphan. Plus it appears that she’s going to be raised by her grandfather Max, who wasn’t the best of parents to her poor mother and inadvertently caused Abi Snr’s death and the precarious arrival of Abi Jnr!
  • Shakil: He's a genuinely nice guy and yet is the one who pays the price after his best friend Keegan stole a bike from Shakil's killers when trying to return it. Whilst neither of the two deserved to get stabbed, the fact that Shakil didn't do anything wrong and yet was the one to die is very heartbreaking. The sad thing is that his death could've been prevented if Mick had seen that he needed help.
  • Carmel could also qualify too after learning the death of her son and having to cope with her loss is very hard to watch.
  • Linda has gone through quite a lot when compared to the other Carters. This includes getting raped by Dean Wicks (as well as receiving threats from him), dealing with an unexpected pregnancy, getting her heart broken by Mick several times, was diagnosed with cervical cancer and was wrongly accused of shooting Stuart Highway.
  • Callum. Unlike most of the residents in Walford, Callum is a genuinely Nice Guy (one of the nicest people in the Square) but he's had a crappy childhood with abusive parents and the trauma he's suffered during his time in the army has caused him to be a bit more introverted and shy around people, meaning his kindness can also be taken advantage of by people. He has also struggled to deal with his sexuality thanks to growing up with his homophobic father, similarly to his eventual fiancé Ben Mitchell.