No more carry on as Peggy bows out

CHANNEL HOPPING: ALL cold turkey and no crack makes Phil from “EastEnders” not so much a dull boy — but more of a Jack Nicholson in disguise . . . just ask poor old Peggy Mitchell.

When the soon-to-be departing landlady barricaded her beloved son in the upstairs lounge of the Queen Vic, he immediately set his sights on auditioning for a remake of “The Shining”.

Only when raging Phil unceremoniously hacked his way through the door with no cry of “here’s Ronnie” from behind the bar downstairs, was it clearly all destined to end in yet more Walford tears.

Some wag had gone to the trouble of playing Sophie Ellis Bextor on the juke box though, as the line “I’m gonna burn this god damn house right down,” echoed round the pub. A nice touch, as Phil proceeded to torch the place to the ground in front of his own mum — but not before asking if she was going to “dock” his pocket money.

Honestly, it was almost as if the writers were paying homage to the classic horror flick.

And although nobody pegged it in this great fire of London, it was still time to bid farewell to Peggy as she upped and left in slightly “after the Lord Mayor’s show” fashion the day after.

In her 16-year tenure on The Square, the fiery bar-keep has been through at least as many blokes as Wayne Rooney’s bit on the side (killing most of ‘em off), survived a cancer scare and has had more battles with Pat than a black and white cat.

It’s a little strange then when you consider that for all “soap legend” Peggy’s storylines, “get outta my pub” diatribe, infamous “faaamily” dinners and countless dishing out of slaps across the chops, the one thing Babs Windsor will most fondly be remembered for is that moment when her bra pinged off in “Carry On Camping”.




Soap roar: Ken Barlow’s “other” family rocked up on “Coronation Street” in the shape of Bill Roache’s real-life sons.



The main thing to be gleaned from Ken’s onscreen, right-wing bigot of a son and grandson who’s better friends with Dorothy than Toto, is the fact they’re both slightly less dull than he is.




Soap bore: Corrie crimper Natasha’s fake pregnancy may have Nick fooled for now.



But how long before the knicker factory mogul notices that would-be mum-to-be isn’t showing? The only bump Natasha’s had is one to the head if she thinks this hare-brained scheme can work.