This article contains spoilers for tonight’s episode of EastEnders, that airs on BBC One at 7.30pm but is available to stream now on iPlayer.
00s EastEnders legends Garry Hobbs (Ricky Groves) and Minty Peterson (Cliff Parisi) have made unannounced returns to Albert Square ahead of the show’s 40th anniversary.
The best pals, who last appeared in 2009 and 2010 respectively, arrived to celebrate Billy and Honey Mitchell’s (Perry Fenwick and Emma Barton) joint stag and hen do.
During their original tenure, Garry and Minty were known for their series of comedic storylines, and proved to be real fan-favourites.
The locals were shocked to reunite with the pair, with Mo Harris (Laila Morse) reckoning they’d only shown up for the free booze.
Alfie Moon (Shane Richie) mentioned Garry’s original exit plot, that saw him sail off into the sunset with then-girlfriend Dawn Swann (Kara Tointon) and her daughter Summer.
Unfortunately, it seems that their relationship hit stormy waters when, according to Alfie, ‘the boat sank.’
We’re not sure if this is physically, or metaphorically, though Garry was keen to big up his new life working in the media. But he wasn’t being exactly truthful…
The lads’ arrival was good timing for Teddy Mitchell (Roland Manookian), who enlisted them to host the quiz he’d arranged.
Later, Billy and Honey were saddened to hear that Garry couldn’t stick around longer for the wedding, whilst Minty filled in Mo and Alfie on the missing years.
He revealed that the infamous boat had indeed sunk – no less than three times(!) – and Dawn reckoned she needed a new life.
Minty had more luck in the love department, as he was now married. He also had adopted a kid who stunk out his attic… but there was a twist. The kid in question is Garry!
He was actually working as a bingo caller.
As they left, Alfie begged Minty to keep in touch. Could we be seeing them in Walford again one day?
There was one noticeable omission from the celebrations, as Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean) realised that her ex-husband Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) had failed to show up.
He’d spent the evening burning old pictures from his youth and smashing a TV that was playing a family video.
To make matters worse, Mo confessed that Phil had coughed up £10k to pay for Billy and Honey’s nuptials, and Sharon knew that his depression was spiralling further.
She, Billy and Kathy Cotton (Gillian Taylforth) raced over to his house, and he was nowhere to be found.
With the smell of smoke filling the air from the scorched snaps, Billy uttered an immortal line, originally said in the very first EastEnders scene in 1985: ‘Cor, it stinks in ‘ere, dunnit?’
As Sharon inspected one of the photos, we cut to an emotional Phil knocking on the door of his childhood home – with mum Peggy (Jaime Winstone) answering.
In tomorrow’s episode, we’re taken back to 1985 for some troubling flashbacks and hallucinations through his eyes.
