A round of applause to our very own Gillian Taylforth, who celebrated 2,000 episodes of #EastEnders tonight! 🥳🎉👏 pic.twitter.com/8USBENntTF
— BBC EastEnders (@bbceastenders) May 22, 2023
Gillian Taylforth, a legend of the BBC soap opera EastEnders, was presented with a gorgeous bouquet of flowers after filming her 2000th episode.
The actor, who portrays the illustrious Kathy Beale, was perplexed as to why she had been summoned back to the stage and broke down in tears when presented with flowers in honor of the occasion.
In a video broadcast to Twitter, Gillian explained, “I was sitting in one of the warm rooms and was told to come outside because the director wanted to talk to me.”
I left with a pretty pessimistic attitude. I didn’t know what was going on until I stepped outside to see a mob of people waiting and applauding with a gorgeous bouquet of flowers!
I asked myself, “What have I done? My birthday isn’t until August. I was then informed that I had just finished my 2000th episode.
Several of Gillian’s co-stars, including Natalie Cassidy who plays Sonia Fowler and Danielle Harold who plays Lola Pearce, joined her on set to honor her accomplishment.
On social media, admirers congratulated the actress right away and praised her for her outstanding work over the years.
A round of applause to our very own Gillian Taylforth, who celebrated 2,000 episodes of #EastEnders tonight! 🥳🎉👏 pic.twitter.com/8USBENntTF
— BBC EastEnders (@bbceastenders) May 22, 2023
In the very first episode of the program in 1985, Kathy Beale made her television debut. Since since, she has frequently been a part of intense plotlines.
Soon after, the protagonist discovered that Nasty Nick Cotton was extorting her into admitting that she had been raped when she was 14 and had given birth to a secret daughter.
Later, said daughter Donna Ludlow found her, but after being rejected by her mother, she overdosed on heroin and died.
Kathy was sexually assaulted once more in 1988, this time by the villain James Wilmott-Brown, who later made a comeback to the program in 2017 on a deranged quest to conquer the Square and win Kathy’s love in the wake of a terminal disease diagnosis.
Kathy died in a vehicle accident off-screen in 2006 after departing the Square for South Africa in 2000.
That wouldn’t be the character’s demise, though.
She unexpectedly made an appearance during the 2015 live week, appearing to have risen from the grave, shocking the country.
She disclosed that her violent husband Gavin Sullivan had made her pretend to die with him in order to flee the dangerous loan sharks he was owed money from.
She stayed on the Square ever since she managed to permanently get rid of Gavin.
That 2000 episodes list is really dense, huh?
As she accepted her flowers on stage, Gillian jokingly exclaimed, “Thanks for inviting me back again from the dead!”
‘EastEnders episode from 2000! I mean, I have relished each and every second of it. I have thoroughly enjoyed playing the role of Kathy. Cheers to the upcoming 2000! Wouldn’t that be beautiful?
There will undoubtedly be more drama because Kathy, who is a member of The Six, is crucial to the Christmas Day murder.
As the women stood over a body in the Vic, Kathy’s clothing eventually tore in the flashforward episode that aired in February.
Is Kathy planning to murder for the first time after 2000 episodes?
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