Borehamwood has never been far from the nation's thoughts over the past 20 years — well, at least one corner of the town has regularly attracted millions of television viewers.

EastEnders, which celebrates its 20th anniversary tomorrow, has been filmed in Borehamwood since its inception.

The Mitchell Brothers, Dirty Den, the Slaters, Pauline and Arthur, Ian Beale, and Wellard the dog have all played out their trials and tribulations just a stone's throw from Shenley Road.

The fictional East End borough of Walford was built on derelict land next to the newly-acquired BBC Elstree Studios in Clarendon Road, in 1984 an area that was previously used to film the comedy series Auf Wiedersehen Pet.

Since the first EastEnders episode was aired on February 19, 1985, the soap has launched the careers of dozens of household names such as Ross Kemp, Leslie Grantham and Martine McCutcheon.

It has also a spawned a wealth of 'where are they now?' newspaper columns and touched on almost every subject — from homosexuality, to murder, rape, and euthanasia.

The show, now screened four times a week with a Sunday omnibus, is broadcast around the world, and has got fan clubs as far away as Jerusalem and Houston, Texas, and at its peak attracted a record 30 million British viewers.

That was on Christmas Day 1986 when Den served divorce papers to Angie at the Queen Vic — and thousands afterwards sought out the advice of marriage guidance counsellors.

In its first show Reg Cox was discovered dead and over the following years Albert Square's list of deceased included Queen Vic landlord Eddie Royle, car lot owner Barry Evans, and Dirty Den himself — even if he did find his way back to life.

EastEnders is now preparing to welcome the return of Gillian Taylforth, as Kathy Beale, and Steve McFadden, aka Phil Mitchell, as it aims to bring back millions of viewers — not to mention another goodbye from Dirty Den.