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Telly Talk Soaps
UK Soaps Forum
An Oral History 1985-2015
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<blockquote data-quote="James from London" data-source="post: 117910" data-attributes="member: 22"><p><span style="font-size: 18px"><u>1976</u></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Mick Carter: Feminine intuition, Shirl. I reckon when God was dishing it out, I got yours.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Mick: I was born ready.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Mick: I was born in this caravan. Aunt Babe used to tell me the story all the time. There was a storm that night and the ambulance got stuck in traffic and she had to deliver me here.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Shirley: It rained all day. I remember that the most. And the caravan leaked, it had holes in the roof. The pain ripped me apart. I was terrified, I was just a little girl. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Dean Wicks: It’s a miracle you survived.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Mick: Aunt Babe had it under control. She can do anything, that woman.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Shirley: She didn’t know the hell what she was doing. She was terrified something would go wrong. We all were.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Shirley to Mick: There was a lot of blood, screaming. And the rain, it was smashing down on the van like the world was coming to an end and then there you were, all chubby and lovely and bawling your eyes out and the first time I saw you, I forgot about the pain. You were the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. And I put my arms out to hold you, but they wouldn’t let me. I begged them, I pleaded with them to let me keep you, but I wasn’t allowed. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Shirley to Mick: I’ve wanted to tell you every day. Every day since, I wanted to tell you that I was your mum.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Shirley to Mick: She [Sylvie] told me that if I ever told anybody that I’d never see my baby again. So I went along with this thing. I pretended that you were my baby brother.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Babe to Shirley: It meant you could still see him. It was for the best. It was a good plan.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Stan: Didn’t work out though, did it? </span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Shirley on Sylvie: It wasn’t all her fault. She didn’t even want me to do it at first. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Stan to Tina: [Babe] was the one who persuaded Shirley and your mum to do what they did.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Babe: What was the alternative? If it was left to Sylvie, Mick would have been shipped off to an orphanage. At least this way he was brought up in the bosom of his family where he belonged. Ask yourself this, Stan Carter — how would you have reacted if your fourteen year old daughter had waltzed through the door with a baby in her arms?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Babe to Stan: Shirley wasn’t capable. It was either that or give him up. And Lord knows, you banged on long enough about wanting a son. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Stan to Shirley: Do you remember the day you brought him home? Pig of a day, rain bucketing down. Your mum got out the car with Mick and came straight inside, but not you. You stood by the car, rain pouring down, just standing there, and I thought, in all my days, I’d never seen anyone look so unhappy.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Shirley: We got back [to London] and Dad had the son he always wanted and me and Tina had a little baby brother. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Phil: And nobody ever asked any questions?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Shirley: No. Nothing was said. We just carried on. Aunt Babe and Mum took over and I’d grab a bottle of [vodka] and go down the park and drink to forget.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Stan to Shirley: That’s always been your trouble — things get tough, you never face the problem, you just get rid of it.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Sylvie on Shirley: Right handful she was. Always hanging round the park looking for trouble.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Shirley to Babe: Whenever I fell, you picked me up. You taught me to do what was best for my boy. You’re the only mum I ever really had. You’re the only person that knew everything I was going through.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Shirley to Babe: You were the only one that’s always been there for me.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Babe: I kept this family together.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Shirley on Mick: He was the most beautiful baby in the world.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Shirley on Mick: He was such a lovely baby. Every time he saw me, all he could do was smile. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Stan, speaking to Sylvie in 2014: Thirty-eight years, you let me believe I had a son, and no man deserves that.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Stan to Sylvie: How could you do that to me, make me think the boy was ours? How could you lie to me like that?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Sylvie: I did what I had to do.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Babe to Stan: The question you should ask yourself is, what kind of man would believe it?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Tina: Dad, how could you not know [Mick was Shirley’s son]?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Babe: There were days back then he didn’t even know his own name. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Stan: Forty was the beginning and the end for me, health-wise.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Mick on Stan: He’s not my dad. He’s just the mug who got saddled with me.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Tina: Mick, all his life he thought you was his son just like I thought you were my brother. We didn’t lie. We never knew. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Mick on Shirley: Why couldn’t she have just told me [she was my mother]?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Tina: I’m pleased she never or I wouldn’t have had you as my brother. Who would I have run to all them times if I never had you?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Mick: It wouldn’t have made a difference to us.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Tina: Yeah, it would. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Tina to Mick: All our lives, it’s always been us two.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Sylvie on Stan: Ask him about Elsie Lomaz. All over her in the Duke of Wellington and getting her hands on my housekeeping and she’s not the only one. He’s got loads of them. Tarts.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Stan to Sylvie: I was starved of attention being married to you. A man needs a bit of comfort.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Stan: Didn’t you used to drink at the Feathers in Old Kent Road, ’76 or thereabouts?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Cora Cross: I never admit to anything before I got my bus pass.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Stan: Only you remind me of a diamond girl I used to know. A bit of a goer she was when you got her on the gin.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Charity Kase, drag act, on Minty Peterson: Look at him - he hasn’t had a jump since 1976!</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Minty on relationships: I was always a bit too picky, I suppose.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Phil Mitchell, speaking about himself and Minty in 2006: Thirty years of friendship.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Billy Mitchell to Minty: You’re like [Phil’s] oldest mate, aren’t you?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Ben Mitchell, Phil’s son: Why Minty? That’s not your real name, is it?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Minty: No. Your dad made that up.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Phil to Minty: Right couple of herberts, weren't we, eh?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Phil: I thought I was a big tough guy when I was fifteen.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Nigel Bates: You spend your entire schooldays being told to work hard, play hard so you can pass your exams, leave school and get a job. "You can be</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">anything," they say, "do anything, go anywhere you like. You could be a footballer, pop star, merchant banker." But nowhere in their list of limitless possibilities is "loser". Nowhere. I mean, the careers teacher never says, "Oh no, you don't want to be an electrician, mate, you want to be a loser." But that's what you're really cut out for. But nobody ever tells you that till you're there.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Alfie Moon: I didn't really have a problem with school. It was more like they had a problem with me. I found school quite interesting. It's just their whole attitude hacked me off. I'll give you an example: I was really into history, you know — like punch ups in the village, "Hands up, first gets to be king" "Last one back to the castle, your head's getting chopped off" and all that. So anyway, about to sit the history exam, right, and this old bat of a teacher, she sends me home because I'm wearing trainers. What's all that about?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Grant Mitchell on Walford Park: Me and Phil used to bring our kid sister down here in her buggy. Used to use it like a go-kart. She loved it. One of us used to get in the buggy, put her on their lap, the other one used to push them down the hill. Didn't tell Mum, of course.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Marcus Christie, the Mitchell family lawyer: Little Samantha Mitchell, I knew you when you were a baby.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Sam Mitchell: Marcus Christie was a friend of the family's for years.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Phil on Marcus Christie: We go back a long way.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Sam: I grew up trusting Marcus.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Peggy: My daughter Samantha, she was quite different [to Phil and Grant]. I never had a minute's trouble from her when she was a nipper.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Phil: Sam's always been stubborn, right from a nipper.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Sam: That's the Mitchell rule, isn't it? You stand your corner, you stand and fight. But my earliest memory right from the start is you [Peggy] saying, "Look, leave her alone. She's scared. She's only a girl." And then Phil and Grant and dad would laugh and pick me up and swing me around like a doll, and you know what, Mum? Part of me loved it. And part of me would look at you and think, "I'm not scared. Why do you keep telling everyone that I am?" — making me out to be some sort of precious object that no-one can go near.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Peggy: I never did that. You've got it wrong.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Sam: Mum, I was just a kid, just a kid, and if someone tells you something over and over again, you start to believe it. And then you become that.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Peggy: You're remembering this all wrong.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Sam: And I'm thinking, "Why? Why did it happen?" Was it like that with Billy? Because he was always the weakest link as well, wasn't he? The runt of the litter. And the first chance he found, the first opportunity, he found someone who was even lower down that pile than him, someone that he could dominate, just like everyone else was dominating him.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Peggy: You think I did that to you?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Sam: Oh look, Mum, maybe everybody does it to everyone. Maybe everyone finds someone to kick and when you can't find someone, you kick the cat. Or the youngest daughter. I think it made you feel good, having me turn out like that — because you weren't in control of the boys, were you? Not as long as I can remember. And Dad. But me, I never got out of my box, did I — the one that you put me in.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Peggy to Sam: Even when you was little, you always got it wrong — chose the wrong mate, a broken toy.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Peggy: I made plenty of mistakes, especially with my Sam.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Peggy: I had three kids and a drunk for a husband, and I got through it.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Grant to Phil: Weren't all bad, was it? I mean, I know Dad was a waste of space before he died, but me, you, Mum, Dad, Sam — they were good times, weren't they?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Phil: We used to get up at four o'clock in the morning, remember, to watch Ali's fights.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Grant: Yeah. Sat in front of the telly wrapped up in blankets, it was so cold.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Phil: You could see your breath.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Ian: Remember when we were kids and we used to watch that wrestler on a Saturday afternoon?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Mark: What — Big Daddy?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Ian: Yeah, that's the one.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Jean: When I was [seventeen, boys] was all I could think about.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Ian: Everyone used to celebrate Pancake Day when I was a kid. My mum used to make a real fuss about it. I used to really enjoy that.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Ian: Was I much trouble when I was little?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Kathy Beale: No, you was no trouble. It was only when you grew up that the problems started!</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Kathy to Ian: Whenever you were ill, [Pete] went to pieces.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Lou Beale to Ian: I remember you when you was knee high to a doll's house. "Stop picking your nose," your mum used to say. One day, you'd come in from the garden, you said, "Mum, I've been good today. I've picked me nose, but I put it all back".</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Shirley on Ian: Do you think his parents sent him to charm school when he was little?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Ian on the gardens in Albert Square: My gran used to bring me over here when I was [little]. We used to just sit here and watch the world go past. Didn't know we were here, you see. It was like we were invisible. I liked that.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Ian: I was lucky I had what I had when I was kid.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Melanie Healy: Didn't you have any traumas when you were little then?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Ian: Ups and downs like everyone else. Me dad used to get on at me sometimes, but end of the day, he was always there when it mattered. And me mum and me gran, they were brilliant.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Melanie: You weren't lonely on your own?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Ian: No, I had Mark and Michelle. They was like a brother and sister to me.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Ian: I wish I'd had brothers and sisters to play with. Not much fun being the only kid at home. It got a bit lonely sometimes.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Denise Fox: As a kid, I used to fantasise about being an only child.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Heather: I never had that many friends when I was little.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Cora: I’ve never minded my own company.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Mark on Ian: He used to be a nice little kid. He used to follow me around.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Ian on 45 Albert Square: I can remember playing in here with Mark and Chelle. Gran used to sit over here in her chair and there’d be Mum, Dad, Uncle Arthur.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Ian: When I was a kid, my mum and dad were always rowing. I couldn't always go round to my gran's, but the one place I knew where the door was always open was Ethel's.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Ethel Skinner on Ian: He was always round at my place, cadging sweeties and getting me to tell him about his dad and his Aunty Pauline, and what they were up to when they were young.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Pauline to Ian: Ethel doted on you. She knew you all your life.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Ethel to Ian: You always were a greedy little boy.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Dot on Ian: That little boy what used to like to lick the bowl out when we’d made buns.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Dot to Ian: I never met a boy with a bigger heart. You were the apple of Lou’s eye.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Dot to Ian: Even when you was little, you was always the one who was going to make something of himself.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Pauline to Ian: Even when you were little, you were always one for the family. You were always looking after Michelle.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Pauline on motherhood: It's boring and that's the truth. It's just one long round of teas, clean sheets, organisation. You know, I can remember when</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">they were little, looking forward to a trip to the dentist. I used to think, "Great, five minutes to myself."</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Michelle: Do you remember when me and Mark were kids and we used to hate going to the dentists? So on the way back, you always used to stop off at</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Willy's and you'd buy us a little present.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Pauline: Yeah. [Mark] used to like those little toy post office sets.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Charlie Slater to Kat: You used to like a [toy] windmill.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Pauline to Mark: You and Michelle, when you was little, you used to buy me those tiny little [Easter] eggs.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Arthur on Mark and Michelle: They always used to feed the ducks.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Ian to his children: Your gran used to take me [to City Farm]. I used to love it.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Lynne Slater: When I was a kid, we [used to] feed the animals in the little zoo in Clissold Park.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Jim Branning to his granddaughter Abi: Once upon a time, a long time ago when I had a full head of hair and a bit of a spring in me step, I took your Aunty Carol over Clissold Park. She got her head stuck in the railings. It must be the [big] earholes, see — runs in the family, but I’m lucky, I’ve grown into mine. I was doing me nut, I was. It weren’t till the fire brigade got there and got her out and gave her a cup of tea — she thought it was the best thing that ever happened to her. Made her day, it did.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Max : It weren’t Carol, it was me. You was all laughing, tears running down. I even got a bar of chocolate out of it after.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Jim: Oh yeah, yeah, you’re right. It was you.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Ian: There’s a lay-by by the junction just up from the substation [near Walford Common]. That’s where me dad used to park when we’d go for a Sunday morning walk. Mum always used to say that she could hear the electricity humming.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Max on Carol: Never could make a cup of tea.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Dot to Carol, Max and Jack: [Jim]’s your father. He brought you up and he fed and he clothed you.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Kat Moon: I bet you used to get up to all sorts.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Carol: With Derek looking over my shoulder the whole time? You’d be lucky.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Alice Branning, Derek’s daughter: Overprotective?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Carol: Yeah well, he was my big brother. He made it his job to look out for me. That's not to say he always got it right, but his heart was in the right</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">place. Most of the time, anyway.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Derek Branning on Max: I taught him to ride a bike. I gave him his first dead leg.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Kirsty Branning: You’ve never had a female friend in your life.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Max: Yeah, of course I have. I had one in infant school, I think.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Yvonne Cotton on her son Charlie: He was a happy accident.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Charlie Cotton, Jr: I was named after my grandfather. Nick was my dad.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Charlie: With my family, they just give us all the same name!</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Charlie: I’m originally from Coventry.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Dot Cotton to Nick: I always looked forward to you having a son of your own. I used to imagine it — the wedding, the patter of tiny feet. I even [kept] your christening gown.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Dot: You had a wife and a son. Why didn’t you tell me?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Nick: I wanted to.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Nick: I was in a bad space when little Charlie was born.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Dot: You could have come to me. I could have helped you.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Nick on Charlie: I was in a mess when he was a boy. I was just a kid meself. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Yvonne to Charlie: When you were born, I swear you cried for two years. The lungs on you. I remember taking you home from the hospital and thinking, “What now? What do I do?” I was terrified. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Dot on Charlie: I wish I’d known him when he was little.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Dot to Charlie: I was never able to do anything for you or my poor dear Ashley, not when you was babies. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Written on the back of a photograph of Eddie Moon holding a baby: Craig 13/3/76</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Michael Moon, describing the photo to Eddie: Some blonde piece and she’s all smiles and she’s got this kid with her and he looks like he’s going to be a bit cheeky and he’s got your eyes.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Michael to Eddie: You were a useless husband and a useless father. You put Craig into care. You flung [Craig] in a home so you could carry on lying and cheating on my mum.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Tyler Moon to Eddie: How could you [put Craig into care]? He [Craig] was your own flesh and blood. What — because he didn’t fit in the Eddie Moon dream, because he was less than perfect?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Eddie to Michael: Your mum, she couldn’t cope with either of you. She wasn’t right. She neglected you both.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Michael Moon on his mother Maggie: The only person I’ve ever cared about in this world.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Big Mo to Lynne: You used to [play knock and run]. I remember your dad telling me.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Hazel Hobbs on Garry: He used to stomp off when he was a little ‘un. “I’ve had enough of you. I’m off to join the foreign legion.” Cupboard under the stairs, more like.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Lynne: Everything [medical] to you is an x-ray.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Garry Hobbs: Too many comic books as a kid.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Phil on the Beano: Used to be me favourite. [Dennis the Menace] used to remind me of Grant.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Arthur: Mark used to collect these comics. Mad about them, he was.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Pauline: He and Michelle used to spend all day arguing over them.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Arthur: I don't remember that.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Mark: You should do. You always used to side with Chelle.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Pauline to Arthur: Do you remember how [Mark] would carry on if he didn't get his comic? You sat there reading your paper and him reading his comic.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Pauline to Mark: You used to sit at the table with your dad making them model kits.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Pauline: I remember when Mark and Michelle were little, Arthur and I were always tripping over their stuff.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Arthur: When Mark and Michelle were little, we used to take them to that cartoon cinema.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Pauline: We could never get Michelle out of there, could we? You [Michelle] used to scream your head off when we tried to get you out of the cartoon cinema.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Kathy on Pauline: We had some fun when the kids were small. She used to laugh a lot more then.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Pauline: We had some good times when the children were little.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Den: I remember one Spring Bank Holiday Monday. It was absolutely chucking it down.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Pauline: As it does.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Den: The Square was a mud bath and your Mark and Ian didn't have a clue what to do with themselves so Pete grabs hold of them and takes them out in the Square and they start kicking a football about. Michelle and Sharon were watching from the windows upstairs so they decided to go and join them, and then Angie says, "Well go on then, Den. Go and keep an eye on them." Well by the time I got down there, all the dads were down there — Pete, Arthur, myself, and then Big Ron turned up — and your Mark dived to save a goal.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Pauline: In the mud.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Den: Yeah. And when he came up, he was covered in the stuff, absolutely caked in it, but grinning from ear to ear. Arthur started to have a go at him and your Mark started laughing and Arthur got the giggles and well, we all started. It was like we were never going to stop laughing.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Liz Turner: I can still remember Owen with his first football, looking up at me with his gappy grin like he hadn’t been AWOL for half an hour down</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Woolworth’s. I swore I’d never let him out of my sight again.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Den on Mark: He was always laughing and joking as a kid.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Pauline: Yeah, he was.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Den: Good looking little boy too, but then Arthur always did say he took after his mother.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Alfie Moon: Fun's my middle name, sweetheart, and I got a lot of stick about it at school, believe me!</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Pauline to Arthur on the definition of fun: What you and I haven't had since the night the light fused in 1976.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Jean Slater, speaking on 10th June 2008: Me and Brian met thirty-two years ago today. He was always so well mannered, polite.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Jean on Brian: He was tall.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Jean: Brian was seven years older than me. I like older men. I always have.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Stacey Slater, Brian and Jean’s daughter: Me old man was Charlie's sister's son, which makes Charlie my great-uncle.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Jean on Big Mo: Always was a hard-faced bitch.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Jean to Stacey: When I got together with your dad, there were plenty of girls what were jealous, fancied him rotten. I mean, who wouldn’t? Big strong man like him. They tried to take him off me.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Jean: All my life I’ve had people talk about me behind my back.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Mark to Nick Cotton: Do you remember the last time we went up there [the Walford viaduct]? We were eight and you were nearly twelve. You made us climb all the way up there, but you were the one who couldn't come down because you were too scared. And Dot standing down here, yelling blue murder at you. "You're a wicked, wicked boy, Nick Cotton!" I don't know what you were more scared of, being up there or coming down to face your ma.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Nick: Liar. I weren't scared of nothing.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Mark: So why you go and pee your pants then?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Pauline: Summer of '76. Remember how hot it was?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Dot: Don't I just — standpipes, "Share your bath with a friend".</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Jean: It was the best summer, blue skies and so hot. We had a drought. It didn’t rain for weeks. We had a standpipe in the middle of the street. Can you believe that? And when it did rain, me and Brian stood in the road and got soaking wet.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Pauline: Clacton Lido, we used to take the children there swimming. It was heaving. There'd be Michelle splashing about, doing the doggy paddle down the shallow end and Mark just used to run off with his mates. Used to be murder trying to keep an eye on him. "Don't go where I can't see you," I used to tell him. Then one afternoon, I lost sight of him. My heart was in my mouth. I was looking down in the pools to see if he was under the water. Then I heard this voice calling me and I looked up and there he was, up on the top diving board. I could hardly see him against the sun, just this little figure waving and shouting, "Look at me, Mum. Look at me." Then he ran and jumped. I couldn't watch. I had to close my eyes. I thought, "This is never going to be all right." And the next thing I know, he's climbing out the pool, a big grin on his face. "Did you see me, Mum? Did you see me dive?" and I said, "Yes, darling, you were brilliant." And he ran off, did it again and again. Didn't look like diving to me. Just looked like my little boy falling out the sky and I couldn't catch him.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Pauline: Remember how [Arthur] taught you to swim?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Ian: Yeah. I think I spent more time under the water than I did on it!</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Pauline: Got you there in the end though, didn't he?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Ian: He had the patience of a saint.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Michelle, showing off her school swimming badges: That one's the hundred metres, that one's for life saving, and that's for jumping in the deep end with my dad's pyjamas on and trying not to sink.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Suzy Branning to Max: Remember that gold [swimsuit of mine] with the tassels?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Barry Clark: The last time I went swimming was in the cut when I was little. Me mum caught me and I had to go to hospital to have me stomach pumped — chemicals in the water. Every time I look at water, I see them shoving that pipe down me throat.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Arthur: Mark and Michelle, the place [was] full of their friends.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Pauline: And the fights. They were always fighting.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Arthur on Mark and Michelle: You've been at each other's throats since the day you were born.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Charlie Slater, speaking in 2001: Kat and Lynne, they've been [fighting] since they were toddlers. Over twenty-five years I've been listening to them screaming at each other.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Charlie to Lynne and Kat: Do you remember what your mother used to say when you fell out?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Lynne: "There's enough trouble in the world."</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Derek Branning: Like my old dad used to say, “If you want something done properly, do it yourself.”</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Alfie: Mum used to say, "If you can't pass the buck, you've just got to hold your hands up."</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Alfie: "Who'd have kids?" That's what Mum always used to say. She'd go, "Who'd have kids? You'd be mad to have 'em." She didn't mean it, of course.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Carol Jackson: My mum used to say that children were only borrowed. I never thought about it at the time.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Manda Best: As my old gran used to say, “There’s nothing like a warm welcome.”</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Charlie Cotton Jr: My mum used to say, “God loves everyone.”</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Michelle: Sharon and I grew up together. She was the sister I never had. I was her family. I loved her and she loved me.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Arthur to Sharon: You've been in and out of [the Fowler house] since you were a kid. You two girls have gotten into mischief ever since you were nippers.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Pauline on Sharon: Her and Michelle, always in and out of each other’s pockets when they were growing up.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Sharon to Pauline: You and Arthur have always been good to me. I always wanted to be [part of the Fowler family].</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Sharon to Michelle: Do you remember when we were kids and we used to play at weddings with your gran's dusty old net curtains round our heads? We used to take it in turn to be bride and bridesmaid. We never bothered much with bridegrooms though. Maybe we knew a thing or two back then.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Kat Slater: When you’re a kid and you think there’s something under the bed and the more you think about it, the bigger and scarier it gets, and then when you finally get the guts too have a look, it’s just a pair of old socks.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Kat to Charlie: When I was little, I used to be too frightened to go to bed because the curtains used to make shadows on the wall. And then one night, I must have been about six, you came into my room and you opened my curtains and you said to look at the moon because there was a man in it and whenever I could see the moon, nothing horrible would happen to me because he'd look after me. I really believed that. I used to go to bed every night with my curtains open so I could see the man in the moon.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Zoe Slater: Did it work for you?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Kat: It did for a long time.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Kat: I never felt as safe and as happy as I was then, with Dad tucking me in and rubbing me head. That was the best time of my life.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Sharon: Everyone always envied me when I was at school. I had the best clothes, the best everything. I had the glamorous mum. I'd have changed places with Michelle any day. To have a dad who sat down with his family in front of the box every night, I'd have passed up everything for that.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Mark: Can't say I ever liked the name [Fowler] much. Sounds too close to Foul Up.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Glenda Mitchell to Ronnie: Veronica was such a pretty name. You loved it when you were little.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Minty Peterson: He must have been some kind of a man, your dad.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Heather Trott: Yeah, he was a great dad. It’s because of him I always wear Alice bands. He bought me one when I was eight. I was going to a wedding and I didn’t get chosen to be a bridesmaid so he bought me a special, sparkling Alice band. He said I looked pretty.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Heather, looking at a gingham dress: It’s just like the one I wore to Aunty Bridey’s wedding, the only party dress Mummy ever bought me. I wore a yellow hair band with a daisy on it. Everybody said I looked lovely and Uncle Ken said I was the prettiest girl there.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Shirley Carter: [mocking] “I was the prettiest girl there.” Gordon Bennett, whose wedding was it — the Munsters?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Sharon on Den: Here, Chelle, do you remember when we was kids and he was going to take us out? And I got all flash and wouldn't go unless he bought me a new dress. Ended up in me room all day and he took you out and bought you a new dress. I saw you smirking when I couldn't come. You had him all to yourself. Had a good time that day, didn't you?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Michelle: Yes I did, as a matter of fact.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Sharon: I know he gave you a kiss when he dropped you off because I was watching from the window, you looking up to him all lovey dovey.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Michelle: Ah well, you see, I knew. That's why he gave me that kiss.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Sharon: I made him promise never to kiss you again.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Michelle: Too late. I was head over heels in love with him.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Sharon: How old were we then, six or seven?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Michelle: You must have hated me.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Sharon: Oh no. I got two new dresses the next day. And I didn't stay in my room all day. Mum saw to that. Spoilt brat, that's what I was.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Kat on her Uncle Harry: I loved him so much. I had done since I was little. He used to take me everywhere with him. Harry's little shadow, Dad used to call me. He was always so flash — big car, money, making everyone laugh. He was different then. I suppose I had a crush on him. I used to be cuddling him all the time. I never used to think anything of it. He told me I was special and I believed it.</span></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="James from London, post: 117910, member: 22"] [SIZE=5][U]1976[/U] [U][U][/U][/U] Mick Carter: Feminine intuition, Shirl. I reckon when God was dishing it out, I got yours. Mick: I was born ready. Mick: I was born in this caravan. Aunt Babe used to tell me the story all the time. There was a storm that night and the ambulance got stuck in traffic and she had to deliver me here. Shirley: It rained all day. I remember that the most. And the caravan leaked, it had holes in the roof. The pain ripped me apart. I was terrified, I was just a little girl. Dean Wicks: It’s a miracle you survived. Mick: Aunt Babe had it under control. She can do anything, that woman. Shirley: She didn’t know the hell what she was doing. She was terrified something would go wrong. We all were. Shirley to Mick: There was a lot of blood, screaming. And the rain, it was smashing down on the van like the world was coming to an end and then there you were, all chubby and lovely and bawling your eyes out and the first time I saw you, I forgot about the pain. You were the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. And I put my arms out to hold you, but they wouldn’t let me. I begged them, I pleaded with them to let me keep you, but I wasn’t allowed. Shirley to Mick: I’ve wanted to tell you every day. Every day since, I wanted to tell you that I was your mum. Shirley to Mick: She [Sylvie] told me that if I ever told anybody that I’d never see my baby again. So I went along with this thing. I pretended that you were my baby brother. Babe to Shirley: It meant you could still see him. It was for the best. It was a good plan. Stan: Didn’t work out though, did it? Shirley on Sylvie: It wasn’t all her fault. She didn’t even want me to do it at first. Stan to Tina: [Babe] was the one who persuaded Shirley and your mum to do what they did. Babe: What was the alternative? If it was left to Sylvie, Mick would have been shipped off to an orphanage. At least this way he was brought up in the bosom of his family where he belonged. Ask yourself this, Stan Carter — how would you have reacted if your fourteen year old daughter had waltzed through the door with a baby in her arms? Babe to Stan: Shirley wasn’t capable. It was either that or give him up. And Lord knows, you banged on long enough about wanting a son. Stan to Shirley: Do you remember the day you brought him home? Pig of a day, rain bucketing down. Your mum got out the car with Mick and came straight inside, but not you. You stood by the car, rain pouring down, just standing there, and I thought, in all my days, I’d never seen anyone look so unhappy. Shirley: We got back [to London] and Dad had the son he always wanted and me and Tina had a little baby brother. Phil: And nobody ever asked any questions? Shirley: No. Nothing was said. We just carried on. Aunt Babe and Mum took over and I’d grab a bottle of [vodka] and go down the park and drink to forget. Stan to Shirley: That’s always been your trouble — things get tough, you never face the problem, you just get rid of it. Sylvie on Shirley: Right handful she was. Always hanging round the park looking for trouble. Shirley to Babe: Whenever I fell, you picked me up. You taught me to do what was best for my boy. You’re the only mum I ever really had. You’re the only person that knew everything I was going through. Shirley to Babe: You were the only one that’s always been there for me. Babe: I kept this family together. Shirley on Mick: He was the most beautiful baby in the world. Shirley on Mick: He was such a lovely baby. Every time he saw me, all he could do was smile. Stan, speaking to Sylvie in 2014: Thirty-eight years, you let me believe I had a son, and no man deserves that. Stan to Sylvie: How could you do that to me, make me think the boy was ours? How could you lie to me like that? Sylvie: I did what I had to do. Babe to Stan: The question you should ask yourself is, what kind of man would believe it? Tina: Dad, how could you not know [Mick was Shirley’s son]? Babe: There were days back then he didn’t even know his own name. Stan: Forty was the beginning and the end for me, health-wise. Mick on Stan: He’s not my dad. He’s just the mug who got saddled with me. Tina: Mick, all his life he thought you was his son just like I thought you were my brother. We didn’t lie. We never knew. Mick on Shirley: Why couldn’t she have just told me [she was my mother]? Tina: I’m pleased she never or I wouldn’t have had you as my brother. Who would I have run to all them times if I never had you? Mick: It wouldn’t have made a difference to us. Tina: Yeah, it would. Tina to Mick: All our lives, it’s always been us two. Sylvie on Stan: Ask him about Elsie Lomaz. All over her in the Duke of Wellington and getting her hands on my housekeeping and she’s not the only one. He’s got loads of them. Tarts. Stan to Sylvie: I was starved of attention being married to you. A man needs a bit of comfort. Stan: Didn’t you used to drink at the Feathers in Old Kent Road, ’76 or thereabouts? Cora Cross: I never admit to anything before I got my bus pass. Stan: Only you remind me of a diamond girl I used to know. A bit of a goer she was when you got her on the gin. Charity Kase, drag act, on Minty Peterson: Look at him - he hasn’t had a jump since 1976! Minty on relationships: I was always a bit too picky, I suppose. Phil Mitchell, speaking about himself and Minty in 2006: Thirty years of friendship. Billy Mitchell to Minty: You’re like [Phil’s] oldest mate, aren’t you? Ben Mitchell, Phil’s son: Why Minty? That’s not your real name, is it? Minty: No. Your dad made that up. Phil to Minty: Right couple of herberts, weren't we, eh? Phil: I thought I was a big tough guy when I was fifteen. Nigel Bates: You spend your entire schooldays being told to work hard, play hard so you can pass your exams, leave school and get a job. "You can be anything," they say, "do anything, go anywhere you like. You could be a footballer, pop star, merchant banker." But nowhere in their list of limitless possibilities is "loser". Nowhere. I mean, the careers teacher never says, "Oh no, you don't want to be an electrician, mate, you want to be a loser." But that's what you're really cut out for. But nobody ever tells you that till you're there. Alfie Moon: I didn't really have a problem with school. It was more like they had a problem with me. I found school quite interesting. It's just their whole attitude hacked me off. I'll give you an example: I was really into history, you know — like punch ups in the village, "Hands up, first gets to be king" "Last one back to the castle, your head's getting chopped off" and all that. So anyway, about to sit the history exam, right, and this old bat of a teacher, she sends me home because I'm wearing trainers. What's all that about? Grant Mitchell on Walford Park: Me and Phil used to bring our kid sister down here in her buggy. Used to use it like a go-kart. She loved it. One of us used to get in the buggy, put her on their lap, the other one used to push them down the hill. Didn't tell Mum, of course. Marcus Christie, the Mitchell family lawyer: Little Samantha Mitchell, I knew you when you were a baby. Sam Mitchell: Marcus Christie was a friend of the family's for years. Phil on Marcus Christie: We go back a long way. Sam: I grew up trusting Marcus. Peggy: My daughter Samantha, she was quite different [to Phil and Grant]. I never had a minute's trouble from her when she was a nipper. Phil: Sam's always been stubborn, right from a nipper. Sam: That's the Mitchell rule, isn't it? You stand your corner, you stand and fight. But my earliest memory right from the start is you [Peggy] saying, "Look, leave her alone. She's scared. She's only a girl." And then Phil and Grant and dad would laugh and pick me up and swing me around like a doll, and you know what, Mum? Part of me loved it. And part of me would look at you and think, "I'm not scared. Why do you keep telling everyone that I am?" — making me out to be some sort of precious object that no-one can go near. Peggy: I never did that. You've got it wrong. Sam: Mum, I was just a kid, just a kid, and if someone tells you something over and over again, you start to believe it. And then you become that. Peggy: You're remembering this all wrong. Sam: And I'm thinking, "Why? Why did it happen?" Was it like that with Billy? Because he was always the weakest link as well, wasn't he? The runt of the litter. And the first chance he found, the first opportunity, he found someone who was even lower down that pile than him, someone that he could dominate, just like everyone else was dominating him. Peggy: You think I did that to you? Sam: Oh look, Mum, maybe everybody does it to everyone. Maybe everyone finds someone to kick and when you can't find someone, you kick the cat. Or the youngest daughter. I think it made you feel good, having me turn out like that — because you weren't in control of the boys, were you? Not as long as I can remember. And Dad. But me, I never got out of my box, did I — the one that you put me in. Peggy to Sam: Even when you was little, you always got it wrong — chose the wrong mate, a broken toy. Peggy: I made plenty of mistakes, especially with my Sam. Peggy: I had three kids and a drunk for a husband, and I got through it. Grant to Phil: Weren't all bad, was it? I mean, I know Dad was a waste of space before he died, but me, you, Mum, Dad, Sam — they were good times, weren't they? Phil: We used to get up at four o'clock in the morning, remember, to watch Ali's fights. Grant: Yeah. Sat in front of the telly wrapped up in blankets, it was so cold. Phil: You could see your breath. Ian: Remember when we were kids and we used to watch that wrestler on a Saturday afternoon? Mark: What — Big Daddy? Ian: Yeah, that's the one. Jean: When I was [seventeen, boys] was all I could think about. Ian: Everyone used to celebrate Pancake Day when I was a kid. My mum used to make a real fuss about it. I used to really enjoy that. Ian: Was I much trouble when I was little? Kathy Beale: No, you was no trouble. It was only when you grew up that the problems started! Kathy to Ian: Whenever you were ill, [Pete] went to pieces. Lou Beale to Ian: I remember you when you was knee high to a doll's house. "Stop picking your nose," your mum used to say. One day, you'd come in from the garden, you said, "Mum, I've been good today. I've picked me nose, but I put it all back". Shirley on Ian: Do you think his parents sent him to charm school when he was little? Ian on the gardens in Albert Square: My gran used to bring me over here when I was [little]. We used to just sit here and watch the world go past. Didn't know we were here, you see. It was like we were invisible. I liked that. Ian: I was lucky I had what I had when I was kid. Melanie Healy: Didn't you have any traumas when you were little then? Ian: Ups and downs like everyone else. Me dad used to get on at me sometimes, but end of the day, he was always there when it mattered. And me mum and me gran, they were brilliant. Melanie: You weren't lonely on your own? Ian: No, I had Mark and Michelle. They was like a brother and sister to me. Ian: I wish I'd had brothers and sisters to play with. Not much fun being the only kid at home. It got a bit lonely sometimes. Denise Fox: As a kid, I used to fantasise about being an only child. Heather: I never had that many friends when I was little. Cora: I’ve never minded my own company. Mark on Ian: He used to be a nice little kid. He used to follow me around. Ian on 45 Albert Square: I can remember playing in here with Mark and Chelle. Gran used to sit over here in her chair and there’d be Mum, Dad, Uncle Arthur. Ian: When I was a kid, my mum and dad were always rowing. I couldn't always go round to my gran's, but the one place I knew where the door was always open was Ethel's. Ethel Skinner on Ian: He was always round at my place, cadging sweeties and getting me to tell him about his dad and his Aunty Pauline, and what they were up to when they were young. Pauline to Ian: Ethel doted on you. She knew you all your life. Ethel to Ian: You always were a greedy little boy. Dot on Ian: That little boy what used to like to lick the bowl out when we’d made buns. Dot to Ian: I never met a boy with a bigger heart. You were the apple of Lou’s eye. Dot to Ian: Even when you was little, you was always the one who was going to make something of himself. Pauline to Ian: Even when you were little, you were always one for the family. You were always looking after Michelle. Pauline on motherhood: It's boring and that's the truth. It's just one long round of teas, clean sheets, organisation. You know, I can remember when they were little, looking forward to a trip to the dentist. I used to think, "Great, five minutes to myself." Michelle: Do you remember when me and Mark were kids and we used to hate going to the dentists? So on the way back, you always used to stop off at Willy's and you'd buy us a little present. Pauline: Yeah. [Mark] used to like those little toy post office sets. Charlie Slater to Kat: You used to like a [toy] windmill. Pauline to Mark: You and Michelle, when you was little, you used to buy me those tiny little [Easter] eggs. Arthur on Mark and Michelle: They always used to feed the ducks. Ian to his children: Your gran used to take me [to City Farm]. I used to love it. Lynne Slater: When I was a kid, we [used to] feed the animals in the little zoo in Clissold Park. Jim Branning to his granddaughter Abi: Once upon a time, a long time ago when I had a full head of hair and a bit of a spring in me step, I took your Aunty Carol over Clissold Park. She got her head stuck in the railings. It must be the [big] earholes, see — runs in the family, but I’m lucky, I’ve grown into mine. I was doing me nut, I was. It weren’t till the fire brigade got there and got her out and gave her a cup of tea — she thought it was the best thing that ever happened to her. Made her day, it did. Max : It weren’t Carol, it was me. You was all laughing, tears running down. I even got a bar of chocolate out of it after. Jim: Oh yeah, yeah, you’re right. It was you. Ian: There’s a lay-by by the junction just up from the substation [near Walford Common]. That’s where me dad used to park when we’d go for a Sunday morning walk. Mum always used to say that she could hear the electricity humming. Max on Carol: Never could make a cup of tea. Dot to Carol, Max and Jack: [Jim]’s your father. He brought you up and he fed and he clothed you. Kat Moon: I bet you used to get up to all sorts. Carol: With Derek looking over my shoulder the whole time? You’d be lucky. Alice Branning, Derek’s daughter: Overprotective? Carol: Yeah well, he was my big brother. He made it his job to look out for me. That's not to say he always got it right, but his heart was in the right place. Most of the time, anyway. Derek Branning on Max: I taught him to ride a bike. I gave him his first dead leg. Kirsty Branning: You’ve never had a female friend in your life. Max: Yeah, of course I have. I had one in infant school, I think. Yvonne Cotton on her son Charlie: He was a happy accident. Charlie Cotton, Jr: I was named after my grandfather. Nick was my dad. Charlie: With my family, they just give us all the same name! Charlie: I’m originally from Coventry. Dot Cotton to Nick: I always looked forward to you having a son of your own. I used to imagine it — the wedding, the patter of tiny feet. I even [kept] your christening gown. Dot: You had a wife and a son. Why didn’t you tell me? Nick: I wanted to. Nick: I was in a bad space when little Charlie was born. Dot: You could have come to me. I could have helped you. Nick on Charlie: I was in a mess when he was a boy. I was just a kid meself. Yvonne to Charlie: When you were born, I swear you cried for two years. The lungs on you. I remember taking you home from the hospital and thinking, “What now? What do I do?” I was terrified. Dot on Charlie: I wish I’d known him when he was little. Dot to Charlie: I was never able to do anything for you or my poor dear Ashley, not when you was babies. Written on the back of a photograph of Eddie Moon holding a baby: Craig 13/3/76 Michael Moon, describing the photo to Eddie: Some blonde piece and she’s all smiles and she’s got this kid with her and he looks like he’s going to be a bit cheeky and he’s got your eyes. Michael to Eddie: You were a useless husband and a useless father. You put Craig into care. You flung [Craig] in a home so you could carry on lying and cheating on my mum. Tyler Moon to Eddie: How could you [put Craig into care]? He [Craig] was your own flesh and blood. What — because he didn’t fit in the Eddie Moon dream, because he was less than perfect? Eddie to Michael: Your mum, she couldn’t cope with either of you. She wasn’t right. She neglected you both. Michael Moon on his mother Maggie: The only person I’ve ever cared about in this world. Big Mo to Lynne: You used to [play knock and run]. I remember your dad telling me. Hazel Hobbs on Garry: He used to stomp off when he was a little ‘un. “I’ve had enough of you. I’m off to join the foreign legion.” Cupboard under the stairs, more like. Lynne: Everything [medical] to you is an x-ray. Garry Hobbs: Too many comic books as a kid. Phil on the Beano: Used to be me favourite. [Dennis the Menace] used to remind me of Grant. Arthur: Mark used to collect these comics. Mad about them, he was. Pauline: He and Michelle used to spend all day arguing over them. Arthur: I don't remember that. Mark: You should do. You always used to side with Chelle. Pauline to Arthur: Do you remember how [Mark] would carry on if he didn't get his comic? You sat there reading your paper and him reading his comic. Pauline to Mark: You used to sit at the table with your dad making them model kits. Pauline: I remember when Mark and Michelle were little, Arthur and I were always tripping over their stuff. Arthur: When Mark and Michelle were little, we used to take them to that cartoon cinema. Pauline: We could never get Michelle out of there, could we? You [Michelle] used to scream your head off when we tried to get you out of the cartoon cinema. Kathy on Pauline: We had some fun when the kids were small. She used to laugh a lot more then. Pauline: We had some good times when the children were little. Den: I remember one Spring Bank Holiday Monday. It was absolutely chucking it down. Pauline: As it does. Den: The Square was a mud bath and your Mark and Ian didn't have a clue what to do with themselves so Pete grabs hold of them and takes them out in the Square and they start kicking a football about. Michelle and Sharon were watching from the windows upstairs so they decided to go and join them, and then Angie says, "Well go on then, Den. Go and keep an eye on them." Well by the time I got down there, all the dads were down there — Pete, Arthur, myself, and then Big Ron turned up — and your Mark dived to save a goal. Pauline: In the mud. Den: Yeah. And when he came up, he was covered in the stuff, absolutely caked in it, but grinning from ear to ear. Arthur started to have a go at him and your Mark started laughing and Arthur got the giggles and well, we all started. It was like we were never going to stop laughing. Liz Turner: I can still remember Owen with his first football, looking up at me with his gappy grin like he hadn’t been AWOL for half an hour down Woolworth’s. I swore I’d never let him out of my sight again. Den on Mark: He was always laughing and joking as a kid. Pauline: Yeah, he was. Den: Good looking little boy too, but then Arthur always did say he took after his mother. Alfie Moon: Fun's my middle name, sweetheart, and I got a lot of stick about it at school, believe me! Pauline to Arthur on the definition of fun: What you and I haven't had since the night the light fused in 1976. Jean Slater, speaking on 10th June 2008: Me and Brian met thirty-two years ago today. He was always so well mannered, polite. Jean on Brian: He was tall. Jean: Brian was seven years older than me. I like older men. I always have. Stacey Slater, Brian and Jean’s daughter: Me old man was Charlie's sister's son, which makes Charlie my great-uncle. Jean on Big Mo: Always was a hard-faced bitch. Jean to Stacey: When I got together with your dad, there were plenty of girls what were jealous, fancied him rotten. I mean, who wouldn’t? Big strong man like him. They tried to take him off me. Jean: All my life I’ve had people talk about me behind my back. Mark to Nick Cotton: Do you remember the last time we went up there [the Walford viaduct]? We were eight and you were nearly twelve. You made us climb all the way up there, but you were the one who couldn't come down because you were too scared. And Dot standing down here, yelling blue murder at you. "You're a wicked, wicked boy, Nick Cotton!" I don't know what you were more scared of, being up there or coming down to face your ma. Nick: Liar. I weren't scared of nothing. Mark: So why you go and pee your pants then? Pauline: Summer of '76. Remember how hot it was? Dot: Don't I just — standpipes, "Share your bath with a friend". Jean: It was the best summer, blue skies and so hot. We had a drought. It didn’t rain for weeks. We had a standpipe in the middle of the street. Can you believe that? And when it did rain, me and Brian stood in the road and got soaking wet. Pauline: Clacton Lido, we used to take the children there swimming. It was heaving. There'd be Michelle splashing about, doing the doggy paddle down the shallow end and Mark just used to run off with his mates. Used to be murder trying to keep an eye on him. "Don't go where I can't see you," I used to tell him. Then one afternoon, I lost sight of him. My heart was in my mouth. I was looking down in the pools to see if he was under the water. Then I heard this voice calling me and I looked up and there he was, up on the top diving board. I could hardly see him against the sun, just this little figure waving and shouting, "Look at me, Mum. Look at me." Then he ran and jumped. I couldn't watch. I had to close my eyes. I thought, "This is never going to be all right." And the next thing I know, he's climbing out the pool, a big grin on his face. "Did you see me, Mum? Did you see me dive?" and I said, "Yes, darling, you were brilliant." And he ran off, did it again and again. Didn't look like diving to me. Just looked like my little boy falling out the sky and I couldn't catch him. Pauline: Remember how [Arthur] taught you to swim? Ian: Yeah. I think I spent more time under the water than I did on it! Pauline: Got you there in the end though, didn't he? Ian: He had the patience of a saint. Michelle, showing off her school swimming badges: That one's the hundred metres, that one's for life saving, and that's for jumping in the deep end with my dad's pyjamas on and trying not to sink. Suzy Branning to Max: Remember that gold [swimsuit of mine] with the tassels? Barry Clark: The last time I went swimming was in the cut when I was little. Me mum caught me and I had to go to hospital to have me stomach pumped — chemicals in the water. Every time I look at water, I see them shoving that pipe down me throat. Arthur: Mark and Michelle, the place [was] full of their friends. Pauline: And the fights. They were always fighting. Arthur on Mark and Michelle: You've been at each other's throats since the day you were born. Charlie Slater, speaking in 2001: Kat and Lynne, they've been [fighting] since they were toddlers. Over twenty-five years I've been listening to them screaming at each other. Charlie to Lynne and Kat: Do you remember what your mother used to say when you fell out? Lynne: "There's enough trouble in the world." Derek Branning: Like my old dad used to say, “If you want something done properly, do it yourself.” Alfie: Mum used to say, "If you can't pass the buck, you've just got to hold your hands up." Alfie: "Who'd have kids?" That's what Mum always used to say. She'd go, "Who'd have kids? You'd be mad to have 'em." She didn't mean it, of course. Carol Jackson: My mum used to say that children were only borrowed. I never thought about it at the time. Manda Best: As my old gran used to say, “There’s nothing like a warm welcome.” Charlie Cotton Jr: My mum used to say, “God loves everyone.” Michelle: Sharon and I grew up together. She was the sister I never had. I was her family. I loved her and she loved me. Arthur to Sharon: You've been in and out of [the Fowler house] since you were a kid. You two girls have gotten into mischief ever since you were nippers. Pauline on Sharon: Her and Michelle, always in and out of each other’s pockets when they were growing up. Sharon to Pauline: You and Arthur have always been good to me. I always wanted to be [part of the Fowler family]. Sharon to Michelle: Do you remember when we were kids and we used to play at weddings with your gran's dusty old net curtains round our heads? We used to take it in turn to be bride and bridesmaid. We never bothered much with bridegrooms though. Maybe we knew a thing or two back then. Kat Slater: When you’re a kid and you think there’s something under the bed and the more you think about it, the bigger and scarier it gets, and then when you finally get the guts too have a look, it’s just a pair of old socks. Kat to Charlie: When I was little, I used to be too frightened to go to bed because the curtains used to make shadows on the wall. And then one night, I must have been about six, you came into my room and you opened my curtains and you said to look at the moon because there was a man in it and whenever I could see the moon, nothing horrible would happen to me because he'd look after me. I really believed that. I used to go to bed every night with my curtains open so I could see the man in the moon. Zoe Slater: Did it work for you? Kat: It did for a long time. Kat: I never felt as safe and as happy as I was then, with Dad tucking me in and rubbing me head. That was the best time of my life. Sharon: Everyone always envied me when I was at school. I had the best clothes, the best everything. I had the glamorous mum. I'd have changed places with Michelle any day. To have a dad who sat down with his family in front of the box every night, I'd have passed up everything for that. Mark: Can't say I ever liked the name [Fowler] much. Sounds too close to Foul Up. Glenda Mitchell to Ronnie: Veronica was such a pretty name. You loved it when you were little. Minty Peterson: He must have been some kind of a man, your dad. Heather Trott: Yeah, he was a great dad. It’s because of him I always wear Alice bands. He bought me one when I was eight. I was going to a wedding and I didn’t get chosen to be a bridesmaid so he bought me a special, sparkling Alice band. He said I looked pretty. Heather, looking at a gingham dress: It’s just like the one I wore to Aunty Bridey’s wedding, the only party dress Mummy ever bought me. I wore a yellow hair band with a daisy on it. Everybody said I looked lovely and Uncle Ken said I was the prettiest girl there. Shirley Carter: [mocking] “I was the prettiest girl there.” Gordon Bennett, whose wedding was it — the Munsters? Sharon on Den: Here, Chelle, do you remember when we was kids and he was going to take us out? And I got all flash and wouldn't go unless he bought me a new dress. Ended up in me room all day and he took you out and bought you a new dress. I saw you smirking when I couldn't come. You had him all to yourself. Had a good time that day, didn't you? Michelle: Yes I did, as a matter of fact. Sharon: I know he gave you a kiss when he dropped you off because I was watching from the window, you looking up to him all lovey dovey. Michelle: Ah well, you see, I knew. That's why he gave me that kiss. Sharon: I made him promise never to kiss you again. Michelle: Too late. I was head over heels in love with him. Sharon: How old were we then, six or seven? Michelle: You must have hated me. Sharon: Oh no. I got two new dresses the next day. And I didn't stay in my room all day. Mum saw to that. Spoilt brat, that's what I was. Kat on her Uncle Harry: I loved him so much. I had done since I was little. He used to take me everywhere with him. Harry's little shadow, Dad used to call me. He was always so flash — big car, money, making everyone laugh. He was different then. I suppose I had a crush on him. I used to be cuddling him all the time. I never used to think anything of it. He told me I was special and I believed it.[/SIZE] [/QUOTE]
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An Oral History 1985-2015
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