It’s no small feat to handle your first Christmas when working as executive producer on EastEnders, but now show boss Ben Wadey has teased what fans have to look forward to this festive season.

Speaking to RadioTimes.com and other press at an event for the show’s yuletide offerings, Wadey spoke about the importance of the festive episodes to the show, and to him personally.

 

 

“For me, growing up and as a fan, Christmas is EastEnders. I always have that countdown to the Christmas episode, and my Christmas Day is normally structured around watching EastEnders.

“So, coming in, I really wanted to not just make Christmas Day amazing and talk to the writers and the team about how big we could go, but actually give a series of treats over that Christmas period. So, we structured it around this ‘past, present, future’ theme.”

 

 

On where the past fits in, Wadey then clarified that this was around the special episode (23rd December 2025) focused on Nigel Bates (Paul Bradley) and his dementia journey, which features returns of iconic characters Pat (Pam St Clement) and Barry Evans (Shaun Williamson), along with Nigel’s late first wife, Debbie Bates (Nicola Duffett).

The episode comes as Nigel’s current wife, Julie Bates (Karen Henthorn) and his best friend Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) debate what is best for Nigel’s future as his condition deteriorates.

Wadey noted: “So, the past, we stepped back in that Nigel episode that [writer] Richard Davidson did a beautiful job on. It’s a really lovely episode, and I’m really proud of it.

“It’s a bold choice to go so emotional that close to Christmas, but I think Christmas is a tough time for people as well as a really happy time – and we’ve got the real range of emotions over December.”