| Willy | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | |||||
| EastEnders character | |||||
| Portrayed by | Willy | ||||
| Duration | 1985–1992 | ||||
| First appearance | Episode 1 “Poor Old Reg” 19 February 1985 | ||||
| Last appearance | Episode 759 14 May 1992 | ||||
| Classification | Former; regular | ||||
| Profile | |||||
| Species | Dog | ||||
| Breed | Pug | ||||
| |||||
Willy (also Rasputin) is a fictional dog from the BBC soap opera EastEnders . Willy is a Pug, who appears in the first episode of the programme on 19 February 1985 and remains in the show until 14 May 1992.
Willy is Ethel Skinner's (Gretchen Franklin) constant companion. She rarely appears on-screen without him tucked under her arm. He was named after her late husband, William Skinner (Ian Brimble). There were various innuendo-laden references to the dog, [1] with Ethel's famous lines being either "Where's my Willy?" or, in a double entendre, "Has anyone seen my little Willy?"
Willy can often be quite mischievous. When Ethel is preparing the food in The Queen Victoria public house one day, Willy and Roly eat all the expensive steak for the steak and kidney pies when her back is turned. Ethel replaces the meat with a less costly cut and everyone comments that the pies were not up to standard. At Christmas 1990, he sneaks into the Fowlers' and begins eating the turkey. [2]
Willy runs away in 1986. While Ethel is distracted, Willy slips out the open door to the laundrette. He is eventually found by Detective Roy Quick (Douglas Fielding) in a pet shop, but when Quick returns with Ethel, Willy has been sold. Willy is tracked down to his new owner, Mr Pavasars (Sydney Arnold), who has renamed him Rasputin. Lou Beale (Anna Wing) fetches him back and returns Willy to his rightful owner. When Ethel falls and breaks her hip, Willy stays with Dot Cotton (June Brown), and they find each other a strain. Dot isn't the only one who can't tolerate Willy. First Ernie Mears (Ken Wynne) and then Benny Bloom (Arnold Yarrow) want to marry Ethel, but only if she will get rid of Willy. Ethel can't part with her beloved dog so she turns them both down. [2]
When Ethel and her friends go on a holiday to Clacton, Willy has to go too, in a holdall. He is discovered by the owner of the bed and breakfast, but the owner is a dog-lover too and allows Willy to stay. [2]
Willy is a touch sensitive, and when Dr. Harold Legg (Leonard Fenton) makes several remarks about "dog mess" in the Square, Ethel fears it upset him to the extent that he can't perform at all. Luckily, Willy's constipation is eventually resolved.
After succumbing to old-age, Willy falls ill in 1992 and Ethel has to make the heart-breaking decision to put him down. Ethel is devastated to lose her dog, so the residents of Albert Square raise money to buy her a new dog. However, Ethel won't accept it, saying Willy is irreplaceable. [3]
On 30 May 1992, two weeks and two days after being written out of EastEnders, the dog who played Willy died. [4]
Willy was cast less than a week before the filming of EastEnders began. From the beginning it was decided that the pensioner Ethel Skinner was to have a Yorkshire Terrier named Willy (after her dead husband). The company Janimals, who specialised in providing and training animals for television and films, was contacted by EastEnders co-creator/producer Julia Smith, and informed her that they could provide an experienced Pug for the part (he had previously starred in Swallows and Amazons ). The dog was brought to the studio to meet Gretchen Franklin, the actress who played Ethel. She took a shine to him straight away and so the pug was cast as Willy. Willy and Roly the poodle shared a dressing room at Elstree Studios. [5] In the original rehearsal script Willy was named Phillip. [6]
Gretchen Franklin was an English actress and dancer with a career in show business spanning over 70 years. She was born in Covent Garden, Central London. She played Ethel Skinner in the long-running BBC 1 soap opera EastEnders on a regular basis from 1985 until 1988. After this she returned to the show intermittently. These appearances became briefer and more widely spaced. Her final appearance was in 2000, when her character was killed off.
Dr Harold Legg is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Leonard Fenton. Dr. Legg is Walford's original GP. He is widely trusted within the community, and is always on hand to dish out advice. Dr Legg appears as a regular character between 1985 and 1989, but continued to appear in a recurring role until 1997. He was officially retired in 1999 by executive producer Matthew Robinson, though he has made cameos since this time in 2000, 2004 and 2007. He returned for a storyline from 18 October 2018 and he departed on 15 February 2019 when he died of pancreatic cancer.
Dorothy "Dot" Branning is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera, EastEnders, played by June Brown from 1985 to 1993 and 1997 to 2020. Dot first appeared in EastEnders in July 1985 as the mother of notorious criminal Nick Cotton. The character worked as a launderette assistant for most of that time, along with original character Pauline Fowler. Dot moved away with her son and his family in 1993. In reality, Brown left the show in 1993, unhappy with the axing of her co-star Peter Dean, who played Pete Beale from the show's first episode to early 1993. Brown returned to the role in April 1997, and on 28 April 2017, Dot overtook Pat Butcher as the second-longest-serving character in EastEnders, surpassed only by original character Ian Beale. In a special episode entitled EastEnders: Dot's Story (2003) a young Dot was played by Tallulah Pitt-Brown in flashbacks. In April 2012, Brown took a six-month break from the show to write her memoirs. Dot temporarily departed on 18 May 2012. She returned on 14 January 2013. In February 2015, Dot began appearing less frequently due to Brown gradually losing her eyesight; this aspect of her life was later written into her character the following year. Brown left the role in January 2020.
Ethel Skinner is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Gretchen Franklin. Ethel also features in a 1988 EastEnders special episode, entitled "CivvyStreet", set on Albert Square during World War II, in which she is played by Alison Bettles.
Lou Beale is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Anna Wing. Her first appearance is in the first episode, which was broadcast on 19 February 1985, and her last is in episode 362, which was first shown on 26 July 1988, when the character was killed off. The character is played by Karen Meagher in the 1988 EastEnders special, CivvyStreet, set during the Second World War. She appears in 232 episodes.
Lilly Mattock is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Barbara Keogh from 5 November 1998 to 2 September 1999. Lilly likes to forget her age and concentrate on having fun. She has a rude awakening when she is mugged in 1999, and fun-loving Lilly is never quite the same again.
Jules Tavernier is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Tommy Eytle between 5 July 1990 and 23 December 1997. Jules is depicted as a flirtatious older gentleman. He is introduced in 1990 and remains in the show after the departures of all of his on-screen family. He is largely semi-regular during the latter part of his stint, and is not featured again after December 1997. Jules Tavernier appeared in more than 150 episodes over his seven-year tenure.
Marge Green is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Pat Coombs. from 9 May 1989 to 8 February 1990. Introduced in 1989, elderly Marge is scripted as comical and timid. The character was one of many to be axed in 1990 when Michael Ferguson took over the role as executive producer from her introducer Mike Gibbon.
Nellie Ellis is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Elizabeth Kelly. Nellie is introduced as the interfering relative of Pauline Fowler in 1993 and appears regularly until 1998. She makes a further appearance in 2000 for the funeral of Ethel Skinner. She moves in with the Fowler’s in early 1994 and appears to be extremely annoying and interfering however she proves useful in getting Michelle Fowler’s money back from Frank Butcher who’d sold her a stolen Austin Metro that was subsequently apprehended by the police. She decides to move out from the Fowler’s in November and moves in with Jules Tavernier, which proves awkward as Jules suffers from lumbago due to sleeping on his sofa while Nellie has his bed. In early 1995 she is seen drinking with Ethel in The Vic, they don’t see eye to eye but seem to enjoy each other’s company. During Ethel's 80th birthday party, Nellie is told she has a flat in the same sheltered accommodation as Ethel. They are both irritated by this, however Ethel later turns up to see her exit from the square and holds her cat Mandoo on the way to the flats.
Christine Hewitt is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Elizabeth Power. Introduced in 1992 as a lonely divorcée, she becomes besotted with married Arthur Fowler while he tends her garden. She leaves in 1993 once her affair with Arthur is discovered by his wife Pauline.
Roly is a fictional dog from the BBC soap opera EastEnders. Roly is an apricot coloured Standard Poodle, who appears in the first episode of the programme on 19 February 1985 and remained in the show until 19 October 1993.
Julie Cooper is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera, EastEnders, played by Louise Plowright from 1989–1990. The character was one of Mike Gibbon's introductions, but she was axed in 1990 at the start of Michael Ferguson's reign as executive producer. Julie is portrayed as a bubbly, big haired Salford girl, who has a hungry appetite for men.
"CivvyStreet" is a spin-off episode of the British television soap opera EastEnders, broadcast on BBC1 on 26 December 1988. The episode is a flashback to World War II and is set at Christmas 1942. The episode was watched by 7 million viewers.