The Bianca

Friday night’s “EastEnders” took a more experimental route than most run of mill Walford outings. Viewers were exclusively tied to Bianca Butcher as financial woes intensified, resulting eventually in her arrest for theft and assault. I completely applaud the bigwigs behind Albert Square for this; when an episode climaxes with the demise of a series’ most iconic of characters it comes across only natural that that character should command half an hour’s limelight, and it was a risky decision given Bianca’s reputation as someone normally better taken sparingly.

Three-way handcuffs: Viewers were tied to Bianca as she faced the police

The episode deftly managed to take what previous plots have included for humour and make them more poignant. Normally, viewers not named Jamie Oliver can’t help but giggle at Bianca’s culinary accomplishments (nuggets and ketchup for breakfast has been a classic), but over the past week and tonight especially the Butcher family’s bare food cupboards have been markedly more sobering. In other episodes, I have imagined the way lifestyle campaigners might react to Bianca’s habitual use of the T.V. as a parental figure for her brood and chortled, but when Bianca defended her ill-judged use of a loan company to buy a new plasma with “Everyone’s got a telly…” it was impossible not to feel a smidge of empathy. Ian “Ebenezer” Scrooge also got a chance to raise the heavy issue of neighborhood indifference; his sacking of B shifted his predominantly comic stinginess into a common lack of compassion. The writers’ ability to turn slapstick into solemnity made sure Tiff and Morgan got ample screen time, too. Despite their well-earned reputation as the Square’s pint-sized rascals, both have tugged stubbornly at the heartstrings throughout Number 31’s economic drought, and had Angelina herself been watching last week her clan might just have swelled by two.

The previous night’s offering focused on Derek’s more endearing and less Godfather-inspired emphasis on family, and Friday continued the theme. After seeing him behave so venomously to Roxy and her beloved Alfie last week it was still entirely believable to see him play the devoted uncle to Bianca; his admittance that he tried to march her long-suffering mother Carol Jackson to a clinic when she fell pregnant at just 14 meant his characteristic bullishness wasn’t lost to the expense of this new family-man side. Actually, Derek is swiftly becoming one of Walford’s most diverse and perplexing residents- no wonder Jamie Foreman’s stint on the Square has been extended to at least October.

Begging in vain: Bianca appeals to Janine for help

With Derek in lovey-dovey mode it fell to Janine to play Friday’s Big Bad Wolf. I’ve been a big fan of Janine since Pat’s death late last year; her resolve to remedy her own consciously warped perspectives on family, love and charity, mixed with her rampant pregnancy hormones, has provided twist after twist. It was great to see her back to her devilish best on Friday: storming the Butcher stronghold armed with bridesmaids dresses in one scene and mercilessly turning a deaf ear to Bianca’s pleas for cash in the next.

The dynamic played out between Bianca and Carol across the half-hour, following a row on Thursday that resulted in the latter begin to pack her bags, was another deserving focal point. Bianca’s stroppy teenage-like refusal to make amends with Carol came to an abrupt and endearing stop in the final five minutes as Bianca realized she was heading behind bars, and despite a hurried reconciliation the mother and daughter duo’s ultimate affection provided a comparatively uplifting bookend to the episode. I love the way Carol has become a staple of the Square and, the way things stand now, the matriarch of one of its most sprawling clans, without taking on any caricature-inspired stereotype or outlandish storylines. I could name a hundred Carols, with her indistinguishable face, frumpy image and cynical perspective, and it is such believability that makes her an asset to the show.

T.G.I.B.N. (Thank God It’s Bianca Night)

One Line Wonder

Bianca (referring to a steamy and puzzling affair with her mother’s boyfriend that ended with a years-long feud): And Dan- that was wrong weren’t it?

The Fortune Telly-er

When Whitney and Lucy looked set to become rivals for Tyler’s love, I half-hoped for another Zainab and Denise inspired clash between fellow step-mums Bianca and Mandy, especially given the existing ferocity over Ricky and their inability to escape one another whilst at work in the caf. Here’s hoping Carol will fill Bianca’s place instead as she tries to become a mother figure to Whit.