EastEnders fans will remember the moment Danielle Jones was tragically killed just moments after being reunited with her long-lost mother Ronnie Mitchell.
The heartbreaking scene, which aired on April 2 2009, is one of the saddest in the BBC One soap’s 36-year history.
Danielle’s exit caused such a buzz it even disrupted the country’s electricity output at the time.
The historic episode featured Peggy and Archie’s wedding and the sad death of Danielle.
After months of colluding with her evil grandfather Archie she finally mustered the courage to reveal her identity to Ronnie.
However, Janine Butcher accidentally mowed Danielle down outside Walford Tube station as Ronnie tried to stop her from leaving Albert Square.
(Image: BBC)
Ronnie had previously refused to believe she was Danielle’s mum and as she took her last breaths, Ronnie told her she knew who she was.
Janine, Stacey Slater and Roxy Mitchell all watched on in horror as a distraught Ronnie repeatedly screamed, “She’s dead.”
The hour-long special episode was watched by a whopping 11.46 million viewers caused a surge to the National Power Grid.
The power grid usually sees a surge of 500MW at the end of an average episode, however, at 8.30pm, the grid saw a surge of 1,270MW.
A spokeswoman for the National Grid said “The surge after the hour EastEnders had ended was equivalent to around half a million kettles being switched on at once.
“Also, the sun set at 7.35pm, so the millions of viewers were probably switching all their lights on too.”
Actress Lauren Crace, who played Danielle, celebrated her decade milestone since her final EastEnders appearance back in April 2019 with a tweet.
Her run on EastEnders from 2008-2009 on the show that she took home the gong for Best Newcomer at the TV Choice Awards in 2008.
What soap fans may not know is that Lauren is married to long-time Casualty star Michael Stevenson.
Michael plays Iain Dean in the BBC medical drama and has been in the role since 2012, taking a break between 2019 and 2021.
He revealed back in 2019 he had been struggling to cope with his role as the paramedic suffering from depression, working 10 hours a day in character taking a toll on his own mental health.
Michael appears to have overcome this struggle with a much-needed break having returned to work earlier this year.
Lauren and Michael tied the knot in 2016 and share three children together.
EastEnders continues Monday on BBC One at 8.05pm
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
