Bill Treacher: EastEnders star dies aged 92

25 comments
  1. To be fair, I thought he popped his clogs donkey’s years ago. He was great in one episode of The Sweeney! Never watched EastEnders

  2. Was it Arthur who kicked in the door at the start of Eastenders and then drank the whisky?

  3. Who? and who watches soaps? It’s all screaming at each other and silly family feuds that span decades. I find it so depressing and I honestly think some people grow up watching this and think that’s how to communicate with others.

  4. Weird how we have these people who are massively famous for playing a character for so many years. Are long-running soap operas so popular in other countries? I know America has Days of Our Lives, but I don’t know how popular it is, seeing as nobody seems to talk about it on the internet (but then online discussion of UK soaps undersells how popular they really are).

    Did British people only having 5 TV channels until about 2010 made soaps more popular than in America, where they had a few more non-cable channels? And because the USA is a lot more divided as a country, partly due to its size and partly due to the suburban-urban divide being so stark – here just about anyone can relate to Eastenders and Coronation Street at least a bit (even if they’re not working class), whereas maybe it’s harder to get a relatable soap opera for all Americans? Do American soaps just have less good story lines? I know American soaps only have the daytime TV slot which doesn’t help viewing, but did they always have the daytime slot or did they get that because they weren’t seen as popular enough for an evening slot? Probably better things to think about.

    Well, RIP.

  5. I have a fague memory of him on Eastenders, I was only a small child when I use to watch it. I remember him having an allotment or being around one. I’m not sure why that particular memory always stuck with me when I think of the soap Eastenders but I do know I have spent years trying to get myself my own allotment and hope to one day acquire one.

    Guessing there is a reason the only people who have one are more on the older side, the waiting list takes a lifetime.

  6. We’ve lost three greats today.
    Bill Treacher, Leslie Phillips & Tom Owen.
    May these legends live on with there fantastic careers.

  7. When I was at school, the words ‘free Arthur Fowler’ were written on the wall of the Sports Hall & remained there for years!

  8. I didnt watch EE till after he had passed in story. Still crazy to think about all the characters well known from that time gone.

  9. My kids called me Arthur Fowler, after I had a breakdown when we went camping, I couldn’t take it no more and I threw the beans and sausages all over the inside of the tent….. Thus, having an Arthur Fowler.

  10. He needs a “Clive Dunn award for outstanding achievement in being alive long after everyone thought he was dead.”

    RIP Bill.

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