All the Eastenders' fora have been a-twitter (geddit?) lately - well, since the beginning of the year - ever since it was announced that Walford's favourite lip-quivering blonde was returning for a third stint. Walford's resident royalty and real Queen of the Square, Sharon Watts Mitchell Rickman is returning home.
Has there ever been a more iconic British soap doyenne since Hilda Ogden? Sharon was the first (of many) Eastenders characters to sleep with her husband's brother and then moved on to marry her brother ... well, I mean, he wasn't related to her by blood, it's just that his real dad was her adopted dad and ... you know what I mean. (It wasn't icky incest like Nat and Georgia Simpson from Brookie).
I'm as excited as anyone else, because Sharon was always a favourite of mine. She was a heroine you liked even when she was being an overt bitch, and she certainly had that capability as well. Besides, the Mitchell brothers were created for Sharon, and the last bruv standing has loved her since the proverbial God was a boy.
Sharon is one of the last two links to the original Eastenders, the other one being Ian Beale. They were there, as kids, from the beginning, when the writing was tight and edgy, and the soap was gritty and realistic. Sharon's first love, Wicksy, was the father of the boy Ian thought was his firstborn. That linked her to Pat. She babysat a five year-old Janine. She knew Nick Cotton. She married Grant Mitchell, and slept with Phil; she then slept with him again on the eve of his engagement to Kathy Beale being announced. That reveal, in the Vic (where else?) was recently voted the most iconic soap moment in the British history of the genre.
Even though Sharon was EastEnd royalty, that reveal resulted in her being shunned from the Square. Her ever-loyal best friend, Michelle Fowler, stuck by her, as did Pat. The irony in those situations was that Michelle slept with Sharon's idolised father and got pregnant by him; and Pat went on to become Kathy Beale's best friend.
But still, you loved Sharon. Why? Because Sharon was, like many other Walford women of her day, a strong woman. When she made mistakes, she owned up to them. When her adultery with Phil was revealed, Phil threw her under the bus; the bruvs joined forces, and it was intimated that Sharon seduced Phil - but the viewer knew different. Still, Sharon shouldered the blame with dignity, because she knew she had done wrong. Can you imagine a Kat Slutter or Bouncy Tanya Juicy-Jessop admitting as much?
Sharon could shout down the best of them, but she didn't shout the odds as a matter of course. She got on with her life and rose above tragedy after tragedy. She survived her father ultimately being killed in the Vic, and her husband being killed outside the Vic; yet when she left, pregnant with Dennis's son, the last time, you knew she was a survivor.
She's the ultimate prize just out of Phil Mitchell's reach, and part of the reason he's turned out the way he has - frustration at loving Sharon from afar, yet, for diverse reasons, never being able to build a life with her. Now, on the eve of her return, we know he's harbouring a secret concerning his indirect involvement in Dennis's death.
Too many recent viewers of the show - and by recent, I mean since 2000 - fail to recognise the significance of Sharon. Slutty Kat Slater and snobby scrubbed-up white trash Tanya pale in comparison to her, as do Whitney, Zainab, silly Lola and Bianca. Whatever circumstances in which these idiots find themselves, it's never their fault. If their situations aren't down to something that happened ages ago in their lives, it's usually down to whatever man is in their life at the moment - or both.
Sharon owns her behaviour. She owned it enough to accept the blame for the break-up of her marriage to Grant. She owned it enough to look Grant in the eye during her last stint and tell hiim she'd aborted their baby. She owned it enough to tell Den exactly what she thought of his behaviour during their last meeting. And when she makes a mistake, it's hers.
Oddly enough, out of all the insipid female characters shouting, sniping and slapping around the Square at the moment, the one with whom Sharon has the most in common is Janine. Both were daughters of iconic and dynamic men who fronted the Queen Vic. Both loved their fathers, even though they knew they were men of clay who could and did let them down. Consequently, both have daddy issues. One's a classic bitch, and the other is a tragic heroine; but they accept their fates and move on. Sharon, when she arrives, will become, along with Janine, one of the very few strong women left in the Square.
That is, if the current Executive Producer, following the storylines of the former one, doesn't fuck her character up - and by that, I mean, getting her romantically involved with the sleazy, grease artists known as the Brannings. Sharon would never be a married man's bit on the side, and she'd never fall for a poor man's Steve Owen who happened to be ex-Old Bill. As for Derek, she wouldn't touch him with a barge pole fished from the canal. But for some sneaky reason, I see Kirkwood's dead hand controlling Lorraine Newman and using Sharon getting involved with a Branning as a means of getting the Brannings into the Vic, and if that happens, the show will have accomplished a singular pejorative triumvirate of destroying three iconic female characters from three decades of the show - Kat from the 00's, Bianca from the 90's and Sharon from the 80's.
That would virtually mean the show, itself, would be at an end.
Let's get some things perfectly clear about Sharon, on the eve of her imminent return:-
Sharon is not Cora's daughter. Sharon's natural mother is Carol Hanley, who was much younger than Cora, and who had three children much younger than Sharon. By appearances, she must have been a teenaged mother. If Newman or Kirkwood or a combination of Newood/Kirkman tries to retcon Carol Hanley into Cora Hanley, scores of long-term viewers will turn off for good.
Sharon is not bringing Mark Whatever back to Walford. Let's stop referring to Michelle's son as Mark Jnr or Mark Fowler Jnr. He is neither. He is Mark Whatever-His-Stepfather's-Surname-Is, because Michelle's American husband adopted him. He was named after his uncle. He was born in America, raised in America, and - for all intents and purposes - he is American. He is also sixteen, and in the US, you cannot leave secondary education until you are eighteen, which is why Louise Berridge fucked it up with Vicky, amongst other things. Michelle being pregnant by Grant was an open-ended story which allowed a means by which Sue Tully could return to the soap with a storyline had she wanted to do so and had Ross Kemp still been hanging around. She left acting to go into directing, and he left the soap as well. There's no reason to bring this kid into the soap, and the last thing we need is some pasty-faced drama-school Brit kid trying to pretend he's an American brought up in the sunshine of Florida and speaking with an accent that's stereotypical at worst. There's no need to bring him back, even to fill the eventual void in Phil's life left by Ben. Besides, there's always Dennis Jnr to do that.
Sharon was meant to be with Phil. She might eventually get to his side by the circuitous route of an involvement with the Brannings or even Alfie Moon, but all roads lead to Phil, because Sharon is the real love of Phil's life. I know this will send poor, old monalisa62003 on Digital Spy into paroxysms of anger, but it's Sharon Phil loves. Shirley is friends with benefits. Sharon is Phil's filet mignon; Shirley is his skag-end of meat.
Anyhoo, since I know monalisa62003 and others are excited beyond belief at Sharon's return, this song's for you:-
Has there ever been a more iconic British soap doyenne since Hilda Ogden? Sharon was the first (of many) Eastenders characters to sleep with her husband's brother and then moved on to marry her brother ... well, I mean, he wasn't related to her by blood, it's just that his real dad was her adopted dad and ... you know what I mean. (It wasn't icky incest like Nat and Georgia Simpson from Brookie).
I'm as excited as anyone else, because Sharon was always a favourite of mine. She was a heroine you liked even when she was being an overt bitch, and she certainly had that capability as well. Besides, the Mitchell brothers were created for Sharon, and the last bruv standing has loved her since the proverbial God was a boy.
Sharon is one of the last two links to the original Eastenders, the other one being Ian Beale. They were there, as kids, from the beginning, when the writing was tight and edgy, and the soap was gritty and realistic. Sharon's first love, Wicksy, was the father of the boy Ian thought was his firstborn. That linked her to Pat. She babysat a five year-old Janine. She knew Nick Cotton. She married Grant Mitchell, and slept with Phil; she then slept with him again on the eve of his engagement to Kathy Beale being announced. That reveal, in the Vic (where else?) was recently voted the most iconic soap moment in the British history of the genre.
Even though Sharon was EastEnd royalty, that reveal resulted in her being shunned from the Square. Her ever-loyal best friend, Michelle Fowler, stuck by her, as did Pat. The irony in those situations was that Michelle slept with Sharon's idolised father and got pregnant by him; and Pat went on to become Kathy Beale's best friend.
But still, you loved Sharon. Why? Because Sharon was, like many other Walford women of her day, a strong woman. When she made mistakes, she owned up to them. When her adultery with Phil was revealed, Phil threw her under the bus; the bruvs joined forces, and it was intimated that Sharon seduced Phil - but the viewer knew different. Still, Sharon shouldered the blame with dignity, because she knew she had done wrong. Can you imagine a Kat Slutter or Bouncy Tanya Juicy-Jessop admitting as much?
Sharon could shout down the best of them, but she didn't shout the odds as a matter of course. She got on with her life and rose above tragedy after tragedy. She survived her father ultimately being killed in the Vic, and her husband being killed outside the Vic; yet when she left, pregnant with Dennis's son, the last time, you knew she was a survivor.
She's the ultimate prize just out of Phil Mitchell's reach, and part of the reason he's turned out the way he has - frustration at loving Sharon from afar, yet, for diverse reasons, never being able to build a life with her. Now, on the eve of her return, we know he's harbouring a secret concerning his indirect involvement in Dennis's death.
Too many recent viewers of the show - and by recent, I mean since 2000 - fail to recognise the significance of Sharon. Slutty Kat Slater and snobby scrubbed-up white trash Tanya pale in comparison to her, as do Whitney, Zainab, silly Lola and Bianca. Whatever circumstances in which these idiots find themselves, it's never their fault. If their situations aren't down to something that happened ages ago in their lives, it's usually down to whatever man is in their life at the moment - or both.
Sharon owns her behaviour. She owned it enough to accept the blame for the break-up of her marriage to Grant. She owned it enough to look Grant in the eye during her last stint and tell hiim she'd aborted their baby. She owned it enough to tell Den exactly what she thought of his behaviour during their last meeting. And when she makes a mistake, it's hers.
Oddly enough, out of all the insipid female characters shouting, sniping and slapping around the Square at the moment, the one with whom Sharon has the most in common is Janine. Both were daughters of iconic and dynamic men who fronted the Queen Vic. Both loved their fathers, even though they knew they were men of clay who could and did let them down. Consequently, both have daddy issues. One's a classic bitch, and the other is a tragic heroine; but they accept their fates and move on. Sharon, when she arrives, will become, along with Janine, one of the very few strong women left in the Square.
That is, if the current Executive Producer, following the storylines of the former one, doesn't fuck her character up - and by that, I mean, getting her romantically involved with the sleazy, grease artists known as the Brannings. Sharon would never be a married man's bit on the side, and she'd never fall for a poor man's Steve Owen who happened to be ex-Old Bill. As for Derek, she wouldn't touch him with a barge pole fished from the canal. But for some sneaky reason, I see Kirkwood's dead hand controlling Lorraine Newman and using Sharon getting involved with a Branning as a means of getting the Brannings into the Vic, and if that happens, the show will have accomplished a singular pejorative triumvirate of destroying three iconic female characters from three decades of the show - Kat from the 00's, Bianca from the 90's and Sharon from the 80's.
That would virtually mean the show, itself, would be at an end.
Let's get some things perfectly clear about Sharon, on the eve of her imminent return:-
Sharon is not Cora's daughter. Sharon's natural mother is Carol Hanley, who was much younger than Cora, and who had three children much younger than Sharon. By appearances, she must have been a teenaged mother. If Newman or Kirkwood or a combination of Newood/Kirkman tries to retcon Carol Hanley into Cora Hanley, scores of long-term viewers will turn off for good.
Sharon is not bringing Mark Whatever back to Walford. Let's stop referring to Michelle's son as Mark Jnr or Mark Fowler Jnr. He is neither. He is Mark Whatever-His-Stepfather's-Surname-Is, because Michelle's American husband adopted him. He was named after his uncle. He was born in America, raised in America, and - for all intents and purposes - he is American. He is also sixteen, and in the US, you cannot leave secondary education until you are eighteen, which is why Louise Berridge fucked it up with Vicky, amongst other things. Michelle being pregnant by Grant was an open-ended story which allowed a means by which Sue Tully could return to the soap with a storyline had she wanted to do so and had Ross Kemp still been hanging around. She left acting to go into directing, and he left the soap as well. There's no reason to bring this kid into the soap, and the last thing we need is some pasty-faced drama-school Brit kid trying to pretend he's an American brought up in the sunshine of Florida and speaking with an accent that's stereotypical at worst. There's no need to bring him back, even to fill the eventual void in Phil's life left by Ben. Besides, there's always Dennis Jnr to do that.
Sharon was meant to be with Phil. She might eventually get to his side by the circuitous route of an involvement with the Brannings or even Alfie Moon, but all roads lead to Phil, because Sharon is the real love of Phil's life. I know this will send poor, old monalisa62003 on Digital Spy into paroxysms of anger, but it's Sharon Phil loves. Shirley is friends with benefits. Sharon is Phil's filet mignon; Shirley is his skag-end of meat.
Anyhoo, since I know monalisa62003 and others are excited beyond belief at Sharon's return, this song's for you:-
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