History YMMV / Eastenders

* HighOctaneNightmareFuel: Most of the storylines. Some of them seem to have been written by the Marquis de Sade.

** Not Ronnie?! Raped repeatedly as a child, her family not knowing. Then Ronnie has her baby, and probably fearing its parentage, her father makes her give her up for adoption. Then, she finally escapes, and spends the next couple of decades clearing up after her sister, Roxy. Then they move into Albert Square, and, whilst still sorting out Roxy's life, Ronnie gets a man, Jack. Jack then has an affair with Roxy, and is the father of Roxy's baby. Ronnie's boyfriend is the father of her niece. Nice. Then, on her birthday, she meets up with her father, Archie, again, by accident, who tells her her daughter died. Except she didn't, and then the next few months are spent split between being isolated from the rest of the Mitchells (due to Archie worming his way into their hearts) and persuading Danielle (a Woobie-extraordinaire in her own right) who unbeknownst to Danielle is her long-lost daughter to abort her own grandchild, despite knowing that it would probably be a mistake. Eventually, she decides to forgive Archie, except behind the scenes, Archie knows who Danielle is, and is torturing her psychologically, and even tries to kill her. Eventually, Danielle comes clean at Archie's wedding, only to be cast out by Ronnie herself. Of course, when Ronnie finds out the truth and chases after her, Danielle gets run over and is killed instantly. Naturally, Ronnie's a bit disappointed, and insult is added to injury when Danielle's best mate and adopted father both reject and blame her. She desperately tries to have another baby, but is caught by Jack putting holes in their condoms and he leaves, and then she hooks up with her childhood sweetheart and they seem to be cooking along fine, until it turns out he's had a vasectomy anyway. Eventually, she does get pregnant (by a reformed criminal who is killed in an unrelated plot a little bit later), but, having been pushed against the bar by her father, loses her foetus. Now, her cousin, Sam, is on the run from the law, and Ronnie offers to put up the bail. When Archie loses the opportunity to ingratiate himself with the Mitchells, he persuades Sam to do a runner, so Ronnie loses almost all of her money. Through some XanatosGambit later, Archie gets his hands on The Queen Vic: the Mitchells, and Ronnie's, home. Soon after, he is killed, and she's prime suspect. In the new year, it's revealed to Ronnie's family that Archie raped her as a child: except the only one that believes her is her estranged mother, who knew all along, and only left because she felt jealous of Ronnie, getting all of Archie's attention. Meanwhile, Jack has an affair with Sam, and she has a child by him. On the plus side, Ronnie's FINALLY pregnant by Jack, just in time for the best Christmas Walford has ever had.

* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Janine Butcher, Stella Crawford, Sean Slater, May Wright and Phil Mitchell.

* {{Magnificent Bastard}}: Dirty Den is probably the best in the history of the show. A [[SharpDressedMan sharp-dressed]] DeadpanSnarker and {{Casanova}} who faked his own death to escape an organisation of vicious gangsters then came back years later. Outwitted Phil Mitchell and landed him in prison and then there was this scene: "Merry Christmas, Ange!" He could be thought of as the [[{{Smallville}} Lionel]] [[TropeCodifier Luthor]] of Walford with his own Lex Luthor in the form of his son, Dennis Rickman.

* {{Magnificent Bastard}}: Dirty Den is probably the best in the history of the show but he's outgambited by his MagnificentBitch of a wife, Chrissie Watts.
** Janine Butcher used to be one until VillainDecay set in. These days she's little more than an IneffectualSympatheticVillain.
** Johnny Alan before BadassDecay set in.
** Yusef Khan, so good at being bad that he's been called "Dr. Evil" within the show.
*** He became significantly less Magnificent and more of a Bastard with the domestic abuse storyline.
**** Not to mention similar to Den, was eventually outgambited by his vengeful spouse, Zainab, who not only sown the seeds of his VillainousBreakdown with a merciless TheReasonYouSuckSpeech but ultimately tricked him into his firey death by lying his daughter was in the blaze he created to kill Massood. [[ObiWanMoment Even he looked somewhat impressed by this]]. And let's hear that ReasonYouSuckSpeech!
->'''Zainab''': Masood has Kamil! You've lost, you miserable, pathetic man. And it makes me laugh that now you must kneel in the Mosque and beg Allah for forgiveness! You are a sick, evil, deranged man, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking I HATE YOU!]]
**** Ouch!

** Now we have Yusef Khan, so good at being bad that he's been called "Dr. Evil" within the show.

**** Not to mention similar to Den, was eventually outgambited by his vengeful spouse, Zainab, who not only sown the seeds of his VillainousBreakdown with a merciless TheReasonYouSuckSpeech but ultimately tricked him into his firey death by lying his daughter was in the blaze he created to kill Massood. [[ObiWanMoment Even he looked somewhat impressed by this]].

**** Not to mention similar to Den, was eventually outgambited by his vengeful spouse, Zainab, who not only sown the seeds of his VillainousBreakdown with a merciless TheReasonYouSuckSpeech but ultimately tricked him into his firey death by lying his daughter was in the blaze he created to kill Massood. [[ObeWanMoment Even he looked somewhat impressed by this]].

** Johnny Alan was obviously intended to be one but could never pull it off.

* {{The Scrappy}}: Darren Miller and Billy Mitchell.

** Not Ronnie?! Raped repeatedly as a child, her family not knowing. Then Ronnie has her baby, and probably fearing its parentage, her father makes her give her up for adoption. Then, she finally escapes, and spends the next couple of decades clearing up after her sister, Roxy. Then they move into Albert Square, and, whilst still sorting out Roxy's life, Ronnie gets a man, Jack. Jack then has an affair with Roxy, and is the father of Roxy's baby. Ronnie's boyfriend is the father of her niece. Nice. Then, on her birthday, she meets up with her father, Archie, again, by accident, who tells her her daughter died. Except she didn't, and then the next few months are spent split between being isolated from the rest of the Mitchells (due to Archie worming his way into their hearts) and persuading her own daughter, Danielle, (not that she knows it) to abort her own grandchild, despite knowing that it would probably be a mistake. Eventually, she decides to forgive Archie, except behind the scenes, Archie knows who Danielle is, and is torturing her psychologically, and even tries to kill her. Eventually, Danielle comes clean at Archie's wedding, only to be cast out by Ronnie herself. Of course, when Ronnie finds out the truth and chases after her, Danielle gets run over and is killed instantly. Naturally, Ronnie's a bit disappointed, and insult is added to injury when Danielle's best mate and adopted father both reject and blame her. She desperately tries to have another baby, but is caught by Jack putting holes in their condoms and he leaves, and then she hooks up with her childhood sweetheart and they seem to be cooking along fine, until it turns out he's had a vasectomy anyway. Eventually, she does get pregnant (by a reformed criminal who is killed in an unrelated plot a little bit later), but, having been pushed against the bar by her father, loses her foetus. Now, her cousin, Sam, is on the run from the law, and Ronnie offers to put up the bail. When Archie loses the opportunity to ingratiate himself with the Mitchells, he persuades Sam to do a runner, so Ronnie loses almost all of her money. Through some Xanatos Gamit later, Archie gets his hands on The Queen Vic: the Mitchells, and Ronnie's, home. Soon after, he is killed, and she's prime suspect. In the new year, it's revealed to Ronnie's family that Archie raped her as a child: except the only one that believes her is her estranged mother, who knew all along, and only left because she felt jealous of Ronnie, getting all of Archie's attention. Meanwhile, Jack has an affair with Sam, and she has a child by him. On the plus side, Ronnie's FINALLY pregnant by Jack, just in time for the best Christmas Walford has ever had.

* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Janine Butcher, Stella Crawford, Sean Slater and May Wright.

* {{Magnificent Bastard}}: Dirty Den is probably the best in the history of the show.
** Janine Butcher usec to be one until VillainDecay set in. These days she's little more than an IneffectualSympatheticVillain.

*** Now we have Dr. Yusef Khan and Michael Moon.

* {{Squick}}: The reaction from many during the current Baby Switch storyline. It was so poorly received the producers were forced to wrap it up early despite the fact that compared to some previous storylines on EastEnders, [[DisproportionateRetribution it was pretty tame]].

* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Janine Butcher. She's finally got her big break, inheriting her grandmother's millions but for some reason is still in Walford despite despising it.

*** Then Archie Mitchell came along and stole his crown. He started off as a MagnificentBastard until he raped Stacey Branning shortly before his demise and perhaps started Bradley on his and then there was the fact....oh....he RAPED RONNIE, HIS OWN DAUGHTER, WHILE SHE WAS THIRTEEN! Add this to Archie's attempt to MURDER his own granddaughter, which in light of the above raises certain suspicions about Danielle's [[spoiler:paternity]] or Archie may have thought it was the case, his bankrupting of his family on Christmas Eve and seizing the Vic, caused a pregnant Ronnie to miscarry the day before, manipulated Sam and Billy into assisting him, used Janinie's own inner spark of good to use and humiliate her (throwing her out of the Vic in the middle of the night in her underwear) on Christmas Day, blackmailing Ian and threatened to demolish the Queen Vic to "tear the Heart out of the Community"(and Peggy). Yep. CompleteMonster has definitely earned its place on Archie's business card.

* CompleteMonster: "Nasty Nick" Cotton, who shows up every few years to remind us that he's a completely irredeemable scumbag who'd quite cheerfully sell his own mother if he felt it would benefit him (and he's tried to off her twice, to boot). But the biggest monster in the show's history has to be Trevor Morgan, without a doubt.
** Trevor may well be joined up there by Archie Mitchell who raped Stacey Branning shortly before his demise and perhaps started Bradley on his and then there was the fact....oh....he RAPED RONNIE, HIS OWN DAUGHTER, WHILE SHE WAS A CHILD.
*** Add this to Archie's attempt to MURDER his own granddaughter, which in light of the above raises certain suspicions about Danielle's [[spoiler:paternity]] or Archie may have thought it was the case, his bankrupting of his family on Christmas Eve and seizing the Vic, caused a pregnant Ronnie to miscarry the day before, manipulated Sam and Billy into assisting him, used Janinie's own inner spark of good to use and humiliate her (throwing her out of the Vic in the middle of the night in her underwear) on Christmas Day, blackmailing Ian and threatened to demolish the Queen Vic to "tear the Heart out of the Community"(and Peggy).
*** Don't forget the rape of Stacey and HIS OWN DAUGHTER RONNIE!
** James Wilmot-Brown, Stella Crawford, Tony King, and recently, Michael Moon certainly qualify.

* {{Magnificent Bastard}}: Archie Mitchell
** Johnny Alan until he suffered VillainousBreakdown. Dirty Den and Yusef are also examples and Lucy Beale often approaches MagnificentBitch status.

* {{Squick}}: The reaction from many during the current Baby Switch storyline. It's gotten so bad the producers are being forced to wrap it up early!

*** Aaaaaaand as recently revealed in local television magazines, barely a day or so after she has the baby [[YankTheDogsChain it stops breathing and dies]], pushing Ronnie past the DespairEventHorizon to the point where she ends up stealing Kat's newborn child.

* CompleteMonster "Nasty Nick" Cotton, who shows up every few years to remind us that he's a completely irredeemable scumbag who'd quite cheerfully sell his own mother if he felt it would benefit him (and he's tried to off her twice, to boot). But the biggest monster in the show's history has to be Trevor Morgan, without a doubt.

** Syed Masood. A Muslim man who tried to repress the fact that he was gay, who had a secret on-off relationship with Christian under the nose of his girlfriend and his family. He ended up getting blackmailed by someone in the neighborhood, eventually revealed to be Christian's niece. His homophobic mother forced him into abandoning Christian and marrying his fiancée Amira just to save face in their community. Of course, he ended up going back to the boyfriend and was eventually discovered by Amira, upsetting her to the point of Woobification herself in the process (With no husband, her father would consider her his lifelong slave), leaving him with the guilt of that on his shoulders. He lost everything after this: his family disowned him and then started to fall apart, yelling about how he'd brought shame on them; he split up with Christian, only to later see him injured after being beaten up by Amira's Father; he lost the respect of his entire community... and it was just relentless. He kept trying to explain to his parents, but to no avail. After several weeks of being treated like nothing more than the root of everyone's problems the isolation got so bad that he attempted suicide. He survived, but when he woke up in hospital the first thing he heard was his Mother telling him that his sexuality was a disease and that he'd be better off dead. Next week he goes to a special therapist who claims he can find a cure for being gay.

** Dear God, Syed Masood. A gay Muslim who was forced into abandoning his boyfriend Christian and marrying his fiancée Amira by his homophobic mother. Of course, he ended up going back to the boyfriend and was eventually discovered by Amira, upsetting her to the point of Woobification herself in the process (she said that with no husband, her father would consider her his lifelong slave), leaving him with the guilt of that on his shoulders. He lost everything after this: his family disowned him and then started to fall apart, yelling about how he'd brought shame on them; he split up with Christian, only to later see him injured after being beaten up by Amira's Father; he lost the respect of his entire community... and it was just relentless. He kept trying to explain to his parents, but to no avail. After several weeks of being treated like nothing more than the root of everyone's problems the isolation got so bad that he attempted suicide. He survived, but when he woke up in hospital the first thing he heard was his Mother telling him that his sexuality was a disease and that he'd be better off dead. Next week he goes to a special therapist who claims he can find a cure for being gay.

* InternetBackdraft: for weeks Many fans were bemoaning the upcoming ''Eastenders: E20'' {{spinoff}} and complained that it was turning ''Eastenders'' into ''{{Hollyoaks}}''/''{{Skins}}''. However, now that the first episode has come out, some are now saying it's not so bad.

** Dear God, Syed Masood. A gay Muslim who was forced into abandoning his boyfriend Christian and marrying his fiancée Amira by his homophobic mother. Of course, he ended up going back to the boyfriend and was eventually discovered by Amira, upsetting her to the point of Woobification herself in the process (she said that with no husband, her father would consider her his lifelong slave), leaving him with the guilt of that on his shoulders. He lost everything after this: his family disowned him and then started to fall apart, yelling about how he'd brought shame on them; he split up with Christian, only to later see him injured after being beaten up by Amira's Father; he lost the respect of his entire community... and it was just relentless. He kept trying to explain to his parents, but to no avail. After several weeks of being treated like nothing more than the root of everyone's problems the isolation got so bad that he attempted suicide. He survived, but when he woke up in hospital the first thing he heard was his Mother telling him that his sexuality was a disease and that he'd be better off dead. Next week he attempts to find a cure for being gay.

* {{Narm}}: Peggy saying "Let it burn" as the Vic burns down. Once was enough but repeating it again reduced what was supposed to be an emotional moment into something laughable.

** Dear God, Syed Masood in the recent storyline. A gay Muslim who was forced into abandoning his boyfriend Christian and marrying his female fiance Amira by his homophobic Mother. Of course, he ended up going back to the boyfriend and was eventually discovered by Amira, upsetting her to the point of Woobification herself in the process (she said that with no Husband, her Father would consider her his lifelong slave), leaving him with the guilt of that on his shoulders. This led to him losing everything- his family disowned him and then started to fall apart, yelling about how he'd brought shame on them; he split up with Christian, only to later see him injured after being beaten up by Amira's Father; he lost the respect of his entire community... and it was just relentless. He kept trying to explin to his parents, but to no avail. After several weeks of being treated like nothing more than the root of everyone's problems the isolation got so bad that he attempted suicide. He survived, but when he woke up in hospital the first thing he heard was his Mother telling him that his sexuality was a disease and that he'd be better off dead. Next week he attempts to find a cure for being gay.
*** It's got better for Syed since then. He's back together with Christian but is still disowned as far as his parents are concerned ([[NotSoDifferent though as he once pointed out]] [[CallingTheOldManOut to his father]], they're doing a perfectly good job creating hell for themselves without him, so maybe that's not such a bad thing).

* {{Magnificent Bastard}}: Archie Mitchell
* {{The Scrappy}}: Darren Miller and Billy Mitchell.

* {{Magnificent Bastard}}: Archie Mitchell

* {{Squick}}: The reaction from many during the current Baby Switch storyline. It's gotten so bad the producers are being forced to wrap it up early!

*** Don't forget the rape of Stacey and HIS OWN DAUGHTER RONNIE!