Year: 2023

Hollywood icon joins EastEnders for Mitchell funeral scenes  News Briefing

Hollywood icon joins EastEnders for Mitchell funeral scenes 

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Alan Ford is making his EastEnders debut (Picture: BBC)

We’ve been given a first look at Hollywood icon Alan Ford making his EastEnders debut.

The 85-year-old actor, best known for his work in films such as Snatch and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, is set make an appearance in the BBC One soap at the funeral of Aunt Sal (Anna Karen).

He’ll be taking on the role of Billy Mitchell’s (Perry Fenwick) estranged dad Stevie Mitchell.

Billy grew up in care from the age of ten after Stevie took sole custody of his brother Charlie and the pair last saw each other off-screen over twenty-five years ago.

Speaking about his soap gig, Alan said: ‘I feel highly delighted to be playing a character close to my own age in this extremely popular television drama series.”

Executive producer Chris Clenshaw added: It’s an honour to welcome the immensely talented Alan Ford to the cast of EastEnders as he takes on the role of Stevie Mitchell.

‘Whilst Billy has been a stalwart in the show for over 25 years, viewers know very little about his complicated childhood and the events that led him to grow up in care. Alan arrives in Walford as the Mitchell family prepare to say goodbye to their beloved Aunt Sal but it soon becomes apparent that he is not welcome in the family fold.’

‘I feel highly delighted to be playing a character close to my own age.’ (Picture: BBC)

Alan previously played con-man Sam in EastEnders for a single episode (Picture: BBC)

This won’t be the first time Alan stars in EastEnders, having previously made an appearance all the way back in 1986, portraying the role of Sam Sangers in a single episode.

Sam was a con-man who targeted grieving Debbie Wilkins shortly after the death of her boyfriend Andy O’Brien, hoping to con her out of her beloved beau’s possessions.

Pauline Fowler (Wendy Richard), however, suspected that dastardly Sam was up to no good and thus gave him his marching orders, telling him that he ‘ought to be ashamed of himself’.

Aunt Sal, meanwhile, appeared in over 50 episodes of the BBC serial drama between 1996 and 2017.

Her final appearance came in the latter year during the funeral of Ronnie and Roxy Mitchell (Samantha Womack and Rita Simons).

Sal was known for showing up at Mitchell family occasions such as weddings and funerals, and she always had something witty to say about the people present and their actions.

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Navalny’s penal colony in the Arctic is direct heir to Russia’s Gulag EU

Navalny’s penal colony in the Arctic is direct heir to Russia’s Gulag

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Jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, currently serving a 19-year prison sentence, has been transferred to a penal colony north of the Arctic Circle. The IK-3 penal colony, located in Kharp in the Yamalo-Nenets region about 1,900 km (1200 miles) northeast of Moscow, is considered to be one of the toughest prisons in Russia. Penal colonies are descendants of Soviet-era Gulags, the notorious Stalin-era labour camps where thousands of Russians lost their lives.

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