How long has EastEnders been running? The full timeline, the milestones, and who's still standing from day one
Doof doof. You know the sound — but do you know how far back it goes?
EastEnders first aired on BBC One on 19 February 1985, created by Julia Smith and Tony Holland. As of July 2026, that's 41 years and more than 7,300 episodes of misery, murder, and market stalls in Albert Square. And it's showing no sign of stopping.
The milestones
The show has a habit of marking its birthdays with carnage:
- Christmas Day 1986 — Den Watts hands Angie the divorce papers. With the omnibus included, more than 30 million people watched — still the benchmark for British soap audiences.
- 19 February 2010 (25th anniversary) — the first fully live episode. Bradley Branning fell to his death, and Stacey was revealed as Archie Mitchell's killer.
- February 2015 (30th) — a live week finally answered "Who killed Lucy Beale?" The answer: her little brother, Bobby.
- February 2025 (40th) — the Queen Vic exploded, and Martin Fowler died in the wreckage in a live episode. In a first for the show, viewers voted live on Denise Fox's love triangle — and picked Jack over Ravi.
Martin's death hit hard: the character had been on the show since he was born on screen on 30 July 1985, the first baby born in EastEnders.
James Bye, who'd played him since 2014, said in a statement at the time that it was "an honour to leave on a story of this magnitude."
Who's still standing from day one?
Three faces from that very first episode in 1985 are still on the Square: Adam Woodyatt as Ian Beale, Letitia Dean as Sharon Watts, and Gillian Taylforth as Kathy Beale. All three have had breaks over the decades — Woodyatt stepped away from 2021 to 2023 — but Ian Beale remains the character most associated with the show's entire run, there from episode one onwards.
Where it stands now
The show hasn't slowed down. 2026 alone has already delivered Nigel Bates' devastating dementia storyline and death on 30 April, Grant Mitchell's latest return — Ross Kemp came back from 27 April to 26 May — and a flashforward teasing Max Branning's 2027 wedding-day arrest.