FOR soap stars and bosses, live episodes are the ultimate gamble.
With a brand new live episode of EastEnders just days away from hitting screens, soap fans will no doubt be reminiscing on some of the show’s most epic live moments from the past.
In 2010, it aired an hour-long live special to mark the show’s 25th anniversary and saw Bradley Branning fall from the Queen Vic roof.
Just five years later, the infamous Who Killed Lucy Beale? plot concluded during a week of special live episodes.
Each episode featured live inserts as well as a fully live episode to mark the end of the long-running story and the programme’s 30th anniversary.
The hit BBC One soap opera has famously broadcast two live episodes in its history.
Coronation Street has also been live before in 2000, 2015 but most famously in 2010 for its Tram Crash episodes.
But it’s fair to say that not everything went quite to plan as the soaps went live.
Whilst EastEnders will be hoping to avoid any huge blunders this time around, here are just some of the greatest slip-ups from soaps live outings.
How’s Adam?
Arguably the biggest, and most famous, live error in soap of all time came from seasoned actress Jo Joyner.
Jo made a bombshell guest appearance as Tanya Branning during the live episode despite having quit the show two years earlier.
However, it seemed that with her time away from Albert Square, she’d forgotten that she was actually in character as Tanya when catching up with her former soap pals.
In the episode, Jo mistakenly referred to one of her co-stars by his real name as opposed to his on-screen moniker.
In reference to Adam Woodyatt‘s character Ian Beale, Jo got the names mixed up during a conversation with Laurie Brett’s Jane Beale.
Meaning to ask how Ian was doing in the months following his daughter’s death, she accidentally said: “How’s Adam?”
Within a second, Jo quickly realised what she had done as a painful expression came over her face with co-star Laurie also being left in surprise at the slip-up.
Jo later admitted she had been left ‘haunted’ by the mishap and was inundated with social media messages regarding the moment in the following days.
She told RadioTimes: “There is absolutely no explanation as to how or why that happened. We couldn’t have known it better.
“We go over and over this…We needed to have huge rehearsals, so we were well rehearsed. I’d never got it wrong. Obviously, I thought I’d wait until there were nine million people watching.
“It was like an out of body experience, like a car crash really.
“Literally, as I’m saying ‘Adam’ I can hear myself tailing off, because I came out of my head and went, ‘well there’s no getting out of that.'”
Branning Blunder
Blunders appear to keep rolling in the Branning family with Max, played by actor Jake Wood, also getting caught up in a rather embarrassing slip-up.
In 2010, Max was left horrified after watching his son plunge from the roof to the ground and die on the floor.
In the scenes, the script revealed that Max was supposed to be sick after witnessing his child’s death.
During the live recording, Jake and bosses quickly realised there would be no time for him to put the liquid resembling sick in his mouth.
In response, Jake opted to stick his fingers down his throat to cause a retching sound and simulate the action of being sick.
Unfortunately, the camera spun to Jake at this very moment and as a result, viewers witnessed him with his fingers in his mouth pretending to be sick mere seconds after his son’s death.
Explaining the scenario on This Morning after the episode, Jake said: “Well it was in the script that Max saw Bradley lying dead and was sick, so at some point we talked about putting the liquid in my mouth then realised we’d have no time to do that.
“But to me [what I did] felt very real, if you were going to be sick anyway that you might do that, to get it all out.”
Hard hat problem
Coronation Street’s 2010 live tram crash episode was hailed as a triumph – but even a near-perfect production had its faults.
One glaring mistake involved Sally Dynevor’s character, Sally Webster, who was told she must wear a hard hat to enter the wreckage and say goodbye to dying Molly Dobbs (Vicky Binns).
But in an awkward continuity fail, Sally completely ignored the instruction and never actually put a hard hat on.
Instead, she wandered into the dangerous scene, helmet-free, leaving fans baffled.
Speech Stumble
There was Tanya, then Max… and now Jack.
Scott Maslen’s character is the third Branning to have messed up live on air.
In the scenes, Scott could not get his words out as he mumbled and re-started his sentence about “having a motive” a number of times.
Whilst tensions were supposed to be high, it made for awkward viewing when Jack just could not get it right.
Accidentally calling the police, the public, Jack said: “Bradley didn’t tell the public.”
He then restarted to say: “Bradley didn’t tell the police.”
The Wrong Name
Dame Barbara Windsor made a minor slip-up in 2010 when she accidentally called Charlie Brooks‘ character by the wrong name.
Janine Butcher is one of Walford’s biggest soap villains but her name caused a muddle for Babs’ Peggy during a tense scene during the first ever live show.
In error, Peggy accidentally called Janine, “June”.
In the midst of a row with her step-daughter, Peggy said: “Yeah, you keep on June with those silly stories of yours.”
Unintentional shoplifting
Samantha Womack, who played Ronnie Mitchell, is one of the soap’s most loved actresses but even she fell victim to the live episode curse.
Her live mishap almost went unnoticed – until she admitted it herself.
During a supermarket scene, Ronnie was supposed to walk in, pick up a paint stripper, and leave after paying.
But in an awkward blunder, Samantha forgot to pay for the goods and walked out of the shop with the money still in her hand.
It hilariously made it look like she’d just brazenly shoplifted on live TV.
Though most viewers didn’t catch it at the time, Samantha later confessed: “I totally forgot that part of the script! I just walked straight out still holding the money.”
EastEnders' 40th anniversary cameos so far
With the 40th anniversary of EastEnders coming up, fans are looking forward to some more incredible cameos from iconic faces of Walford's past. But who have we had so far?
Tracy-Ann Oberman – Oberman returned as Chrissie Watts, a character she last played nearly two decades ago.
Paul Bradley – Bradley returned as Nigel Bates, a character he last played over 25 years ago.
Micheal French – French returned as David Wicks, a character he last played two decades ago.
Patsy Palmer – Palmer returned as Bianca Jackson, a character she last played in 2019.
Coming up this year…
Ross Kemp – Kemp will reprise his role as Grant Mitchell, a character he first played in 1990. The BBC has described Kemp’s storyline as “explosive”. Kemp said it was an “absolute honour” to return to the show.
Other aspects of the 40th anniversary celebration include: A wedding between fan favorites, A huge explosion at the Queen Vic, and A live interactive episode.
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