2018 Tour de France

The 2018 Tour de France was the 105th edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's three Grand Tours. The 3,351 km (2,082 mi)-long race consisted of 21 stages, starting on 7 July in Noirmoutier-en-l'Île, in western France, and concluding on 29 July with the Champs-Élysées stage in Paris. A total of 176 riders from 22 teams participated in the race. The overall general classification was won by Geraint Thomas of . Tom Dumoulin () placed second, with Thomas's teammate and four-time Tour winner Chris Froome coming third.

The opening stage was won by Fernando Gaviria of , who became the Tour's first rider to wear the general classification leader's yellow jersey. Peter Sagan () then took the race lead on the following stage. won stage three's team time trial, putting their rider Greg Van Avermaet in yellow. He held the jersey for eight days until the second stage of the three Alpine stages, which Thomas won and took the lead in. He successfully defended it from Dumoulin for the rest of the Tour, which included three stages in the Pyrenees and the penultimate stage's individual time trial, the latter won by Dumoulin.

Sagan, who won three stages, was placed first in the points classification for the sixth time. Julian Alaphilippe of , winner of two mountain stages, won the mountains classification, and 's Pierre Latour won the young rider classification. The team classification was won by , and Dan Martin of won the combativity award.

## Teams

The 2018 edition of the Tour de France consisted of 22 teams. The race was the 25th of the 37 events in the UCI World Tour, and all of its eighteen UCI WorldTeams were entitled, and obliged, to enter the race. On 6 January 2018, organisers of the Tour, the Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), announced the four second-tier UCI Professional Continental teams that received a wildcard invitation to participate in the event. The four teams were , , , from France, and Belgium's , all of which have participated in the race before. This meant that new French team , with their team leader, sprinter Bryan Coquard, missed out on the race. The presentation of the teams – where the members of each team's roster are introduced in front of the media and local dignitaries – took place on Place Napoleon [fr] in the town of La Roche-sur-Yon on 5 July, two days before the opening stage.

New rules by the cycling's governing body, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), reduced the number of riders per team for Grand Tours from 9 to 8, resulting in a start list total of 176, instead of 198, which had been the number of starters since 2010. Of these, 35 competed in their first Tour de France. The riders came from 30 countries. Seven countries had more than 10 riders in the race: France (35), Belgium (19), the Netherlands (13), Italy (13), Australia (11), Germany (11) and Spain (11). The average age of riders in the race was 29.37 years, ranging from the 21-year-old Egan Bernal () to the 40-year-old Franco Pellizotti (). had the youngest average age while had the oldest.

The teams entering the race were:

UCI WorldTeams

UCI Professional Continental teams

## Pre-race favourites

In the lead up to the Tour, the favourite for the general classification was Chris Froome of . Froome had won the 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017 editions of the Tour, and was also the current defending champion at both other Grand Tours, the Vuelta a España and the Giro d'Italia. However, Froome's participation was unconfirmed due to an ongoing anti-doping investigation that began in December 2017, when it was announced that he had returned a urine sample taken at the Vuelta (which had taken place two months earlier) which contained twice his allowed amount of the asthma drug salbutamol. This was considered not as a positive doping result, but as an "Adverse Analytical Finding" (AAF), meaning that he was allowed to continue racing until the case was resolved. He did however face the possibility of losing his Vuelta victory and all subsequent results. The ASO were unhappy with the situation, which was very similar to that of the 2011 Tour pre-race favourite Alberto Contador, who started the tour with his case over a positive test for clenbuterol still unresolved. The UCI conducted an investigation into the AAF, which was still unresolved at the time that Froome won the Giro in May 2018. With an outcome before the start of the Tour unlikely, the ASO attempted to bar Froome from starting the race, citing article 28 of the race's rules, saying that the organiser "expressly reserves the right to refuse participation in – or to exclude from – the event, a team or any of its members whose presence would be such as to damage the image or reputation of ASO or the event". Froome was cleared by the UCI on 2 July, five days before the start of the Tour, with a press statement reading that the authorities had found sufficient evidence "that Mr Froome's sample results do not constitute an AAF". He was thereafter cleared to start the Tour by the ASO as well.

The closest rivals of Froome were thought to be Romain Bardet (), Tom Dumoulin (), Mikel Landa (), Vincenzo Nibali (), Richie Porte (), Nairo Quintana () and Adam Yates (). Porte's best result in the Tour was fifth overall in 2016. He had shown his form so far in the 2018 season by winning the general classification of Tour de Suisse. Although Quintana had placed twelfth overall in the 2017 Tour, his 2018 season so far had been consistent and he had finished second behind Froome in previous Tours. He came to the Tour with a strong team, which included contender Landa, who in 2018 had moved to Movistar from Sky after being a domestique for Froome. The 2017 Giro winner Dumoulin placed second in the 2018 Giro. Nibali had recently won the classic Milan–San Remo, one of cycling's five one-day race "monuments". He had however failed to impress in the stage races leading up to the Tour, finishing 24th in the Critérium du Dauphiné after finishing outside the top 10 in the general classifications at Dubai Tour, Tour of Oman and the Tirreno–Adriatico. He was the only rider on the start list apart from Froome to have won a Tour, the 2014 edition. Bardet finished second and third overall in the two previous Tours and placed third in the Critérium du Dauphiné leading up to the 2018 Tour. Yates' best overall Tour result was fourth 2016; he had shown his form during the season before the Tour with top-five placings in four stage races, including second in the Dauphiné.

Some of the other riders considered as contenders for the general classification were Dan Martin (), Alejandro Valverde (), Rigoberto Urán (), Geraint Thomas () and Primož Roglič ().

The sprinters considered favourites for the points classification and wins on the flat or hilly bunch sprint finishes were Peter Sagan (), Michael Matthews (), Fernando Gaviria (), Marcel Kittel (), Mark Cavendish (), Dylan Groenewegen (), Arnaud Démare () and André Greipel (). Others expected to contend for sprint finishes included Greg Van Avermaet (), Alexander Kristoff (), Sonny Colbrelli (), Nacer Bouhanni () and John Degenkolb (). Triple reigning world road race champion Sagan had won the five previous points classifications of the Tour before his 2017 Tour disqualification after race officials judged that he caused Cavendish to crash. Sagan was again aiming to equal Erik Zabel's record of six points classifications. He was in good form during the season before the Tour, winning the one-day races Paris–Roubaix and Gent–Wevelgem, multiple top ten results one-day races and two points classifications in stage races. Matthews, who won the 2017 Tour's points classification, suffered an early season injury and his sole win for the season was at the Tour de Romandie. Kittel had won fourteen Tour stages, five in 2017, gained two wins so far in 2018, both at the Tirreno–Adriatico. Debutant Gaviria had been second to Kittel at before the latter moved to for the 2018 season. Gaviria amassed a total of seven wins so far in 2018, and additionally the points classification at the Tour of California. The 2011 points classification winner Cavendish's win at the Dubai Tour in February was his only of 2018 so far. Winner of the 2017 Tour's final stage Groenewegen had a total of nine victories for the season going into the Tour, with one coming at Paris–Nice. Démare, who led the points classification in the 2017 Tour, had gained two wins at Paris–Nice and the Tour de Suisse in 2018 before the Tour. Greipel, who turned 36 during the Tour, had taken six wins at stage races during 2018 before the Tour, as well as the points classification of the Tour of Belgium.

## Route and stages

On 12 February 2017, at a rugby union match between France and Scotland at Paris's Stade de France, race director Christian Prudhomme announced the opening stages of the 2018 Tour (known as the Grand Départ) would take place in the Vendée department, in the Pays de la Loire region. Since the inaugural Tour in 1903, the Vendée has hosted the Grand Départ five times, with the last in 2011. Two weeks after the announcement, the ASO revealed that the Grand Départ would take place over three stages, with the third a team time trial. In June 2017, the UCI's Professional Cycling Council (PCC) moved the start of the Tour a week later than usual and originally planned due to a clash with the 2018 FIFA World Cup. The full route was announced on 17 October 2017; it was almost completely within France, with short deviations into Spain in the Pyrenees the only exceptions. Two of the Tour's most historic climbs featured, Alpe d'Huez and the Col du Tourmalet, which last featured in 2015 and 2016 respectively. Notable was stage nine's 21.7 km (13.5 mi) of sett paving, split across fifteen sectors, a feature that was last seen in the 2015 Tour. It finished in Roubaix, home of the "monument" race Paris–Roubaix. For the first time in 60 to 70 years, it included a section of unpaved roads on the Glières Plateau. Overall, the route was thought to offer something for all rider types.

Stage one began in the village of Noirmoutier-en-l'Île on the island of Noirmoutier, before heading along the coast of the Vendée department. The following two stages were loops, with the third taking the route north into the Maine-et-Loire department. The next three stages took place in the region of Brittany, ending with two laps of the short, but steep, climb in Mûr-de-Bretagne. The seventh, eighth and ninth stages headed north-east with finishes in Chartres, Amiens and Roubaix, respectively. A long transfer then moved the race to the Alps. Following three stages in the mountains, the Tour descended into the Drôme department and stage thirteen's finish in the city of Valence. The Massif Central highland region hosted stage fourteen, with the finish in Mende. The next two transitional stages took the race south-west to the Pyrenees across a continuous journey between Millau, Carcassonne and Bagnères-de-Luchon. After two Pyrenean stages, the eighteenth stage took place in the foothills between Trie-sur-Baïse to Pau. The next stage headed back into the mountains, before the penultimate stage, which took place close to the west coast in the French Basque Country. A long transfer took the Tour to its conclusion in Paris with the Champs-Élysées stage.

There were 21 stages in the race, covering a total distance of 3,351 km (2,082 mi), the shortest of the 21st century up to that point. There were two time trial events, stage three's 35.5 km (22 mi) team time trial and stage twenty's 31 km (19 mi) individual time trial. Of the remaining nineteen stages, eight were officially classified as flat, five as hilly and six as mountainous. The longest mass-start stage was stage seven, at 231 km (144 mi), and the shortest was stage seventeen, at 65 km (40 mi). The aforementioned, a mountain stage, was the shortest since 1996 and began with a standing start grid formation, with positions based on riders general classification ranking. The grid formation was an innovation for the Tour, and with shorter distance, was beforehand universally welcomed, but it was thought to have made little effect on the race. There were summit finishes on stages stage eleven to La Rosière, stage twelve to Alpe d'Huez, and stage seventeen to the Col de Portet. The highest point of elevation in the race was the 2,215 m (7,267 ft)-high Col de Portet Pyrenean pass, the first time it had been used in the Tour. It was among nine hors catégorie (English: "beyond category") rated climbs in the race. There were nine new stage start or finish locations. The rest days were after stage nine, in Annecy, and fifteen, in Carcassonne.

## Race overview

### First week: Northern stages

Stage one's bunch sprint was won by Fernando Gaviria, with Peter Sagan coming in second place and Marcel Kittel in third. Gaviria took the yellow and green jerseys as the leader of the general and points classifications respectively. Breakaway rider Kévin Ledanois () collected the most mountains classification points to take the first polka dot jersey as the leader of the classification. Sagan won stage two from a sprint to take the yellow and green jerseys, with Dion Smith of claiming the lead in the mountains classification. Stage three's team time trial was won by whose riders Tejay van Garderen and Greg Van Avermaet became tied for the overall lead, with Van Avermaet moving into yellow for the second time in his career due to him crossing the finish line ahead of Van Garderen in the first two stages being as there was not yet an individual time trial to measure their times down to the 1000th of a second. Stage four was won by Gaviria from a bunch sprint. Sagan further extended his lead in the points competition by winning stage five's uphill sprint finish in Quimper. Also in stage five, Toms Skujiņš of won the mountains points which gave him the polka dot jersey, becoming the first from Latvia to ever lead the mountains classification.

In stage six, which ended atop the Mûr-de-Bretagne climb, Dan Martin attacked with a kilometre remaining and was able to stay away take the victory one second ahead of a large group that the contained the general classification contenders. In the closing kilometres of the stage, Geraint Thomas won a three-second time bonus sprint that brought him to three seconds behind Van Avermaet in the general classification. Overall favourites Romain Bardet and Tom Dumoulin lost time as their tyres punctured late in the stage. The seventh stage was won by Dylan Groenewegen from a bunch sprint. There were multiple crashes in the first week of the Tour with six riders abandoning the race for various reasons, including the 2017 Tour points classification winner Michael Matthews. Groenewegen won a further bunch sprint in the eighth stage. In the sprint, André Greipel and Gaviria were penalised for headbutting each other and lost their stage placing and green jersey points. Stage nine's sett-paving sections caused many issues for the riders, including leading sprinters and two of the classification contenders. Richie Porte abandoned for the second year in a row after crashing in the opening 10 km (6.2 mi). Rigoberto Urán initially tried to continue the race despite injuries sustained during a crash, but was forced to quit the race on the following stage. Chris Froome, his teammate Egan Bernal, Jakob Fuglsang, and Mikel Landa, crashed in the stage along with many other riders; numerous riders had tyre punctures as well, including three for Bardet. His teammate Alexis Vuillermoz was forced to abandon the stage after colliding with a spectator taking photographs. Meanwhile, Yves Lampaert (), John Degenkolb, and Van Avermaet were able escape the remaining riders from the peloton (main group) and together they contested a sprint finish, which was won by Degenkolb. Van Avermaet gained time, as well winning the time bonus sprint, to extend his lead in the general classification. The following day was the Tour's first rest day.

### Second week: Alps and transition west

The first stage in the high mountains and first in the Alps, the tenth, was won by rider Julian Alaphilippe, who attacked on his own with 30 km (18.6 mi) to go from a large breakaway group that included race leader Van Avermaet. The aforementioned retained the yellow jersey and extended his lead to 2 min 22 s, when pundits predicted the first day in the Alps would be his last as overall race leader. Alaphilippe also took lead of the mountains classification. Thomas achieved back-to-back wins both from the group of overall contenders on stages eleven and twelve by pushing the breakaway riders until the very end. In the steep summit finish of the eleventh, Thomas attacked in the final 1 kilometre (0.6 miles), passing lone breakaway rider Mikel Nieve () and managed to distance himself from Froome and Dumoulin by twenty seconds to take the win. On the twelfth stage, which was the final day in the Alps, Thomas won the sprint on the flat finish after the climb to Alpe d'Huez. 's Steven Kruijswijk was caught by the group of overall contenders in the final kilometres after he had launched a solo attack with 70 km (43.5 mi) remaining. Following the stage, the general classification top three was: Thomas in first position, Froome second, 1 min 39 s down, and Dumoulin third, a further 11 seconds behind. General classification contender Vincenzo Nibali, who was fourth overall, was forced to withdraw from the Tour following the stage after an incident near the summit of Alpe d'huez where he fell off his bike fracturing a vertebra taking Roglič down with him. It was initially suspected that the crash had been caused by a police motorcycle driving in front of him, but it later emerged that he became caught in a spectator's camera strap. Nibali's team management saw the lack of crowd control from the police and spectators lighting flares as contributing factors. Following the incident, Christian Prudhomme appealed to fans to show the riders more respect. Many riders left the Tour during the Alpine stages, either being forced to abandon due to fatigue and injury, or were disqualified for finishing outside the cut-off time; riders of note were the sprinters Mark Cavendish, Gaviria, Greipel, Groenewegen, and Kittel.

Sagan won stage thirteen with a surprise attack in the closing meters of the bunch sprint finish, while Alexander Kristoff and Arnaud Démare were together sprinting for the finish line. In stage fourteen, Omar Fraile of launched a late move from the large breakaway after the final climb to win at the Mende aerodrome; the breakaway finished eighteen minutes ahead of the peloton. Stage fifteen, the start of the final week, was once again a breakaway victory, with Magnus Cort taking 's second win in two days. The next day was the second rest day of the race. Following the stage, controversy arose around Team Sky rider Gianni Moscon, who had allegedly punched Fortune-Samsic rider Élie Gesbert during the opening part of the stage. After reviewing footage of the incident, the race jury disqualified him for 'particularly serious aggression'. A non-racing incident occurred during the sixteenth stage when hay bales were placed across the road by local farmers protesting about reductions to their subsidies. The police used tear gas to disperse them, and as the riders rode passed this area, there was still gas in the air. The race was subsequently neutralized for about fifteen minutes because several riders had problems with their eyes and had to rinse them. After the restart, a large breakaway escaped, and Philippe Gilbert (), while in the lead on a descent, lost control of his bicycle and crashed into and over a wall. Later, Adam Yates, having taken the lead, also fell. Gilbert finished the stage and collected the most combative rider award, but would not start the following day. Yates carried on, but was overtaken by Alaphilippe, who took his second stage victory.

### Third week: Pyrenees and finale in Paris

The first of three stages in the Pyrenees, the seventeenth, opened with an uneventful grid formation, which saw the customary early formation of a breakaway group. Froome's challenge faded on the approach to the summit of the Col de Portet and he dropped to third position in the general classification, 2 min 31 s behind Thomas. Dumoulin moved into second place, 1 min 59 s off the lead. Nairo Quintana won the stage after attacking at the bottom of the final climb, moving himself up to fifth overall, behind Primož Roglič. The flat stage eighteen was won by Démare from a bunch sprint. By this point of the Tour, most of the top sprinters had left, and Démare had come close to missing the time cut in the previous stage along with Sagan, who had crashed heavily and was suffering with injuries. On the mountainous stage nineteen, Roglič attacked on the descent following the final climb, to a misty Col d'Aubisque, and soloed to the finish line nineteen seconds ahead of the chasing small group of overall favourites. Roglič took third place from Froome. Thomas was able to consolidate his overall position by picking up six bonus seconds by winning the sprint for second place, thereby extending his lead over Dumoulin to 2 min 5 s. The penultimate stage's 31 km (19.3 mi) individual time trial was won by Dumoulin, who finished one second ahead of Froome. Froome in turn managed to retake third place from Roglič. Thomas came third after surviving a scare when his back wheel locked, but completed the stage successfully, finishing fourteen seconds behind Dumoulin, taking a lead of 1 min 51 s into the final stage.

The final stage in Paris was won by Kristoff in a bunch sprint on the Champs-Élysées. Thomas won the race with no changes in the final stage. Froome came third overall, 2 min 24 s down on Thomas. Sagan won the points classification with a total of 477, 231 ahead of Kristoff in second. Alaphilippe won the mountains classification with 169 points, with the 2017 winner and French compatriot Warren Barguil () second with 80 points. The best young rider was thirteenth-placed overall Pierre Latour (), with fifteenth-placed overall Bernal second. finished as the winners of the team classification, 12 min 33 s ahead of second-placed . Of the 176 starters, 145 reached the finish of the last stage in Paris.

## Classification leadership and minor prizes

Four main individual classifications were contested in the 2018 Tour de France, as well as a team competition. The most important was the general classification, calculated by adding each rider's finishing times on each stage. Time bonuses (time subtracted) were awarded at the end of every stage apart from the time trial stages. The first three riders received 10, 6, and 4 seconds, respectively. Time bonuses of three, two and one seconds, were given to the first three riders to cross a "bonus point" in each of the first nine mass-start stages of the race. It would affect the general, but not the points classification. For crashes within the final 3 km (1.9 mi) of a stage, not including time trials and summit finishes, any rider involved received the same time as the group he was in when the crash occurred. The rider with the lowest cumulative time was the winner of the general classification and was considered to be the overall winner of the Tour. The rider leading the classification wore a yellow jersey.

The second classification was the points classification. Riders received points for finishing among the highest placed in a stage finish, or in intermediate sprints during the stage. The points available for each stage finish were determined by the stage's type. The leader was identified by a green jersey.

The third classification was the mountains classification. Points were awarded to the riders that reached the summit of the most difficult climbs first. The climbs were categorised, in order of increasing difficulty, as fourth-, third-, second-, and first-category and hors catégorie. Double points were awarded at the top of the last mountains in the three mountain stages in the three Pyreneean stages (the Col du Portillon, the Col de Portet and the Col d'Aubisque). The leader wore a white jersey with red polka dots.

The final individual classification was the young rider classification. This was calculated the same way as the general classification, but was restricted to riders born on or after 1 January 1993. The leader wore a white jersey.

The final classification was a team classification. This was calculated using the finishing times of the best three riders per team on each stage; the leading team was the team with the lowest cumulative time. The number of stage victories and placings per team determined the outcome of a tie. The riders on the team that lead this classification are identified with yellow number bibs on the back of their jerseys and yellow helmets.

In addition, there was a combativity award given after each stage to the rider considered, by a jury, to have "made the greatest effort and who demonstrated the best qualities of sportsmanship". No combativity awards were given for the time trials and the final stage. The winner wore a red number bib the following stage. At the conclusion of the Tour, Dan Martin won the overall super-combativity award which was, again, awarded by a jury.

A total of €2,287,750 was awarded in cash prizes in the race. The overall winner of the general classification received €500,000, with the second and third placed riders getting €200,000 and €100,000 respectively. All finishers in the top 160 were awarded money. The holders of the classifications benefited on each stage they led; the final winners of the points and mountains were given €25,000, while the best young rider and most combative rider got €20,000. The team classification winners were given €50,000. €11,000 was given to the winners of each stage of the race, with smaller amounts given to places 2–20. There were also two special awards each with a prize of €5000. The Souvenir Henri Desgrange, given to first rider to pass the summit of the highest climb in the Tour, the Col du Portet on stage seventeen, and the Souvenir Jacques Goddet, given to the first rider to pass Goddet's memorial at the summit of the Col du Tourmalet in stage nineteen. Nairo Quintana won the Henri Desgrange and Julian Alaphilippe won the Jacques Goddet.

- On stage two, Marcel Kittel, who was third in the points classification, wore the green jersey, because first placed Fernando Gaviria wore the yellow jersey as leader of the general classification and Peter Sagan, who was second in the points classification, wore the rainbow jersey of the world champion.
- On stage two, Dylan Groenewegen, who was second in the best young rider classification, wore the white jersey, because first placed Fernando Gaviria wore the yellow jersey as leader of the general classification.
- On stage three, Alexander Kristoff, who was third in the points classification, wore the green jersey, because first placed Peter Sagan wore the yellow jersey as leader of the general classification, and second placed Fernando Gaviria wore the white jersey as leader of the young rider classification.
- On stage seventeen Philippe Gilbert did not start, so no rider wore the red bib as the most combative rider of previous stage.

## Final standings

### General classification

### Points classification

### Mountains classification

### Young rider classification

### Team classification

## UCI rankings

Riders from the WorldTeams competed individually and for their teams for points that contributed towards the World Tour rankings. Riders from both the WorldTeams and Professional Continental teams also competed individually and for their nations for points that contributed towards the UCI World Ranking, which included all UCI road races. Both rankings used the same points scale, awarding points to the top sixty in the general classification, each yellow jersey given at the end of a stage, the top five finishers in each stage and for the top three in the final points and mountains classifications. The points accrued by Thomas moved him from 20th to second in the World Tour individual ranking and from 41st to fourth in the individual World Ranking. Sagan kept his position at the top of both rankings, with and Belgium also holding the lead of the World Tour team ranking and World Ranking nation ranking respectively.

## See also

- 2018 in men's road cycling
- 2018 in sports
- 2018 La Course by Le Tour de France


A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010 film)

A Nightmare on Elm Street is a 2010 American supernatural slasher film directed by Samuel Bayer (in his feature directorial debut), written by Wesley Strick and Eric Heisserer, and starring Jackie Earle Haley, Kyle Gallner, Rooney Mara, Katie Cassidy, Thomas Dekker, and Kellan Lutz. Produced by Michael Bay and Platinum Dunes, it is a remake of Wes Craven's 1984 film of the same name, as well as the ninth overall installment of the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. The film is set in a fictitious town in Ohio and centers around a group of teenagers living on one street who are stalked and murdered in their dreams by a disfigured man named Freddy Krueger. The teenagers discover that they all share a common link from their childhood that makes them targets for Krueger.

A Nightmare on Elm Street was originally to follow the same design as Platinum Dunes' other remake, Friday the 13th, where the writers took the best elements from each of the films in the original series and created a single storyline with them. Eventually, they decided to use Craven's original storyline but tried to create a scarier film. To that end, they decided to remove the one-line quipping Freddy, who had become less scary and more comical over the years, and bring back his darker nature. The writers developed the character to be a child molester, something that Craven wanted to do originally in 1984 but changed to a child killer instead. Freddy's physical appearance was changed with the use of computer-generated imagery to be closer to that of a burn victim.

Because of the positive experiences Platinum Dunes' producers had in the area, A Nightmare on Elm Street was filmed primarily in Illinois. Craven expressed his displeasure when he was not consulted on the project. Robert Englund, who portrayed Freddy in the previous eight films, voiced his support of the remake and the casting of Haley in the role of Freddy.

A Nightmare on Elm Street had its world premiere at Hollywood on April 27, 2010, and was theatrically released in North America on April 30, 2010, by Warner Bros. Pictures and New Line Cinema. Despite negative reviews from critics, the film grossed over \$63 million at the domestic box office and \$117.7 million worldwide, making it the highest-grossing film in the franchise.

## Plot

While at the Springwood Diner, Dean Russell falls asleep at the table and meets a severely burned man in seared clothes wearing a bladed gardener's glove on his right hand. In the dream, the burned man cuts Dean’s throat; in reality Dean cuts his own throat as his friends Kris Fowles and Nancy Holbrook look on. At Dean's funeral, Kris sees a photograph of her and Dean as children but cannot recall knowing Dean before high school. Kris begins to have nightmares about the burned man and then refuses to go to sleep for fear that she will die like Dean. Jesse Braun, Kris' ex-boyfriend, shows up to keep her company while she sleeps, but Kris meets the burned man in her dreams and is murdered. Covered in Kris' blood, Jesse runs to Nancy's house and learns that Nancy has been having nightmares about the same man — Freddy Krueger.

Jesse is arrested by the police under suspicion of murdering Kris and is killed by Krueger when he falls asleep in his jail cell and in front of his cellmate. As her friends die, Nancy questions everyone's connection to each other, given that none of them can remember each other before their teenage years. Nancy and her friend Quentin Smith discover that they attended the same preschool. Nancy's mother Gwen reluctantly tells Nancy and Quentin about Krueger, the preschool's groundskeeper who was accused of molesting the children, including Nancy. Gwen explains that Nancy was his favorite and that she came home one day and told her mother about the things Krueger did to her in a secret location. Gwen alerted the other parents, including Quentin's father Alan, but she tells the teenagers that Krueger escaped before he was arrested. Refusing to believe her mother's story, Nancy attempts to track down the remaining kids from the school but discovers that all of them have been killed. Following Jesse's death, only she and Quentin are left. Meanwhile, Quentin falls asleep during his swim practice and sees a flashback to the parents, led by Alan, tracking Krueger down and burning him alive.

As a result of their insomnia, Nancy and Quentin have sporadic microsleeps and become hypnagogic, causing them to dream and hallucinate randomly. To try to stop Krueger, they decide to go to the preschool to learn what they can. On the way, Nancy is attacked by Krueger when she hallucinates, during which she pulls a piece of Krueger's sweater out of the dream world into reality. Quentin takes Nancy to the hospital, where he steals adrenaline to help them stay awake. Nancy and Quentin eventually make it to the preschool and uncover Krueger's hidden room to find proof of his crimes; they realize that Krueger, now a vengeful ghost, wants revenge on them for disclosing his abuse. Nancy decides to pull Krueger out of the dream world and kill him in the real world. Quentin tries to stay awake long enough to pull Nancy out of her dream when she grabs Krueger, but he falls asleep and is attacked.

Krueger goes after Nancy and explains that he deliberately left her for last so that she would be comatose. Quentin awakens and uses the adrenaline to wake Nancy, who then pulls Krueger into reality. They fight and Nancy uses a broken paper cutter blade to kill him before she torches the room with Krueger's body inside. She and Quentin escape and are rescued by the police officers and firefighters, who are unable to find Krueger's remains. After Nancy and her mother return home from the hospital, Krueger suddenly appears in the mirror's reflection. While Nancy screams, Krueger kills Nancy's mother before pulling her body through a mirror and disappearing as the movie cuts to black.

## Cast

- Jackie Earle Haley as Fred "Freddy" Krueger
- Kyle Gallner as Quentin Smith
- Rooney Mara as Nancy Holbrook
  - Kyra Krumins as young Nancy
- Katie Cassidy as Kris Fowles
  - Julianna Damm as young Kris
- Thomas Dekker as Jesse Braun
  - Bayden Coyer as young Jesse
- Kellan Lutz as Dean Russell
  - Max Holt as young Dean
- Clancy Brown as Alan Smith
- Connie Britton as Dr. Gwen Holbrook
- Lia Mortensen as Nora Fowles
- Kurt Naebig as Mr. Russell
- Jennifer Robers as Mrs. Russell
- Christian Stolte as Mr. Braun
- Andrew Fiscella as a Prison Inmate

## Production

### Development

In 2008, Michael Bay and his Platinum Dunes production company began the process of rebooting the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise with a remake of the original 1984 film. Producer Brad Fuller explained that they would follow the same tactic from their Friday the 13th remake and would abandon the things that had made the series less scary—the film's antagonist, Freddy Krueger, and would not be "cracking jokes" as had become a staple of his character. The focus was to "make a horrifying movie". Fuller said that the film is a remake of the 1984 film, but clarified that they would borrow character deaths and dream sequences from the entire series.

In February 2009, Samuel Bayer was hired to direct the film. According to New Line production chief Toby Emmerich, Michael Bay advocated heavily for Bayer because he had "the ability to capture the kind of seductive and unsettling imagery that would make Nightmare feel like a fresh, visually arresting moviegoing experience." Bayer declined Platinum Dunes' offer twice but finally accepted after Bay emailed him and explained the kind of business opportunity it would be.

In June 2009 interview, Craven, who directed the original movie and was not consulted for the remake, expressed displeasure with the new film. In contrast, Robert Englund, who portrayed Freddy throughout the film series, felt it was time for A Nightmare on Elm Street to be remade. Englund liked the idea of being able to "exploit the dreamscape" with computer-generated imagery and other technologies that did not exist when Craven made the original in 1984. Bayer believes that his film paid homage to what Craven did in 1984, but did not replicate it entirely. Bayer recognized that Craven attempted to put more meaning into his films and that the character of Freddy Krueger affected the lives of a generation of people. For Bayer, remaking A Nightmare on Elm Street was about bringing that feeling to a new generation with a new spin on the character and story.

Fuller and Form likened the new film to their 2003 remake of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre but instead of a remake, they saw it as more of a reimagining. The pair also explained that A Nightmare on Elm Street would have a different tone than their Friday the 13th remake. Form states: "I think a Friday the 13th movie like we made was really fun. You know, sex, drugs and rock and roll, and I think a Nightmare movie is not that."

When asked why New Line was rebooting the Nightmare on Elm Street film series, Emmerich explained: "The Nightmare films are profoundly disturbing on a deep, human level because they're about our dreams. It's why we thought that we could reach an especially broad audience with a new film, since the feeling of having your dreams being invaded was something that would translate to any country and any culture." Overall, Bayer wanted to create a film in "a darker world" that made the audience ask, "What makes a monster?"—is it a monster because of its physical appearance, someone with a scarred face and a clawed glove, or is it a monster because of something deeper within the man himself.

### Writing

Wesley Strick was initially hired to pen a script for a new A Nightmare on Elm Street because he had impressed Emmerich with a prequel script he wrote for the 1995 film Seven. Eric Heisserer was subsequently hired to provide a rewrite of Strick's script before the film moved into production. When Bayer came on board he received a script that reflected the combined efforts of Strick and Heisserer and which still "needed to be tinkered with". Bayer explained that the script goes deeper into "[Freddy] as a person [and] how he became the thing he was". Bayer expressed that unlike the Friday the 13th remake that picked the best parts from the first four films, the Nightmare on Elm Street remake was coming straight from the first film.

For the remake, Freddy was brought back to his darker roots and away from the comical character he had become in later A Nightmare on Elm Street sequels. Fuller pointed out that this Freddy did have one-liners but they come from a darker sense of humor and were not intended to be as campy as in previous films. Craven's original characterization of Freddy as a child molester was used because if Freddy killed children, as in the original, it would have been easy for the teenage characters to figure out using the Internet what had happened. In an effort to keep the story fresh, Heisserer developed the concept of micro-naps because the dream-reality sequences could become repetitive. The micro-nap allowed them to "blur reality and the dream world, and get some great scares".

In March 2019, Heisserer had expressed his dislike for the finished product and spoke of the film's production: "On my first day on set, a crew member told me, 'In this intro scene for the two leads, we decided there wasn't enough dialogue for them at this party so we took some dialogue from page 87 and put it here'". In a follow-up tweet, Heisserer wrote "In case you were wondering, this is NOT how it works".

### Casting

Robert Englund didn't reprise the role of Freddy Krueger for the remake; Englund had performed the role for the eight previous films. Jackie Earle Haley was cast to take over Englund's most well-known role in April 2009. Initially, the studio wanted to cast an unknown for the role of Freddy Krueger, but it was Haley's performance in Little Children that impressed Emmerich enough to cast the actor against the original intentions. Emmerich explained: "Freddy is this incredible stew of malevolence and anger, but he also has a hint of vulnerability, and Jackie really has all of that and more. He just seemed completely right for the part." Bayer stated that he and producers Form and Fuller managed to acquire the screen test Haley gave as Rorschach for Watchmen; after viewing it, Bayer said it "blew [his] mind", and that he knew Haley would be able to go deep and create a believable character who was a psychopath "with a burned face and a claw."

Haley said the first time he heard his name mentioned in conjunction with the character was from people on the Internet who suggested he be cast. Later he learned that his agents were already in talks with Brad Fuller. Haley also said that he was apprehensive about taking on the role of a character with such a dark past—that of a child murderer—for about a "minute and a half". Knowing the Freddy Krueger in the remake would be even darker, Haley came quickly to the realization that he was doing a horror film and this was just a fictional character. Haley said that once he embraced the idea of Freddy as a "mythical boogeyman", it became "very freeing" for him as an actor. Haley's opinion of the original movie however was not a positive one. Jay Bauman, a stand-in for Kyle Gallner during the production recalls Haley saying during the filming "I hadn't seen [the original] since it was first in theatres so I watched it in my hotel the other night- and it was just the worst movie I have ever seen!"

Haley was contracted for three films which includes the remake and two sequels. Englund agreed with the casting of Haley and that he felt Haley's physical size worked in this role. Haley stated that he did not intend to have Englund's original performances influence his own and that he used the frustration of having to sit in the make-up chair for three-and-a-half hours as his motivation to get into character.

Rooney Mara plays the role of Nancy Holbrook; Mara was also contracted for a sequel. Bayer describes Nancy as "the loneliest girl in the world". Mara stated that her Nancy is different from the role of Nancy Thompson, performed by Heather Langenkamp, and described her character as "socially awkward and timid and really doesn't know how to connect with people". Kyle Gallner was cast as Quentin, who forms a connection with Nancy. Gallner described his character as "a mess, more jittery and more 'out there' than Nancy is". Gallner pointed out that his character is like this because of the amount of pharmaceuticals he ingests to stay awake. Producer Brad Fuller commented that Gallner brought a sense of "humanity and relatability" to the role with his compassion and intellect. Other cast members include Katie Cassidy, Thomas Dekker, and Kellan Lutz. Cassidy performed the role of Kris. According to Cassidy, Kris becomes an emotional wreck throughout the film. Cassidy described her character's ordeal: "She is literally dragged through hell, having to crawl through dark, claustrophobic tunnels. She's always crying and freaking out as her nightmares of Freddy bleed into her everyday life. Kris suspects there's something that connects her with the others; she even confronts her mother about it, but no one's talking."

Dekker portrays Jesse, Kris's ex-boyfriend. According to Dekker, "Jesse kind of knows what's going on but refuses to believe it." Dekker explained that Jesse spends so much time trying to convince himself that Freddy is not real, that by the time he does meet Freddy face-to-face, "he's just a mess. ... There's no bravado about it. His terror is very real." Lutz plays Dean, Kris's current boyfriend and "a well-liked, well-off high school jock." Connie Britton, Clancy Brown and Elvis Jasso Marín also star. Gallner and Mara explained that the teenagers in the remake are "a little more aware" of Freddy and their situation, whereas in the original Nancy and her friends were "more mellow" and "nonchalant" until they were finally killed.

### Krueger's design

Form and Fuller explained that Freddy's physical appearance would more accurately resemble a burn victim. Form later clarified that there was a fine line they did not want to cross when it came to making Freddy look like a burn victim. According to the producer, the crew had many reference photos of burn victims which detailed how white the skin would appear after healing. Form did not want the audience to turn away in disgust every time Freddy was on the screen, so they opted to hold back on some of the realism. Fuller noted how horrific the images were and how difficult they were to look at. The special effects crew that worked on The Dark Knight and created the computer-generated images (CGI) for Two-Face, were brought in to work on the CGI for Freddy's face. The CGI is used in conjunction with the special effects make-up that Haley wears. The prosthetic appliances used to create Freddy's physical look were designed by Andrew Clement. Haley described the experience of wearing the prosthetic devices and make-up as "pretty encumbering".

When production started, Clement and his crew would spend six hours applying Haley's make-up; eventually, the crew was able to streamline the process. According to Haley, the make-up crew would glue individual prosthetic devices from his head all the way down his back. The appliances were then blended together to create a seamless appearance. Haley spent approximately three hours and twenty minutes each day in the make-up chair to apply the appliances; on occasion, it would take almost four-and-a-half hours when the crew also needed to apply the prosthetic skull cap. Haley did not need to worry about the skull cap most days because he was able to wear the fedora on top of his head. Haley also had to wear contact lenses—one bloody, one cloudy. The cloudy contact lens made it difficult for the actor to see. Haley also had to work on developing Freddy's voice for the film. According to Haley, the process of coming up with the perfect voice for Freddy was "this organic process of embodying the character", and not about just "sitting around the table and going, 'Let me try this voice and this voice'". Haley and Bayer admitted that some of the voice would be digitally enhanced to give it a "supernatural quality" and differentiate it from the voice Haley used as Rorschach in Watchmen.

### Filming

With a budget of \$35 million, principal photography began on May 5, 2009 and officially wrapped on July 10 the same year. Because of the positive experiences Platinum Dunes' producers had in the area when producing The Amityville Horror and The Unborn, they chose to film in Illinois. Platinum Dunes also received a thirty percent tax break for filming in the state. The producers looked for locations that were "old and decaying" to mirror the look of Krueger. They settled on the Ryerson Steel warehouse on the west side of Chicago to film most of the scenes in which the townspeople burn Krueger alive.

New Line contracted with two high schools in Illinois, Elk Grove High School and John Hersey High School, to shoot scenes for the remake. According to Nancy Holman, principal of Elk Grove High, the studio contacted schools across the nation looking for one that had a swimming pool. Although filming took place at both schools, neither was identified by name. The studio cast 200 extras for various school scenes, including one in the pool, but required that all students who auditioned be at least 16 years old. Lenore Gonzales Bragaw, school board president, was initially apprehensive about the deal as she disliked the idea of the studio filming "scenes of violence" at the schools; Bragaw agreed once she was assured that no one would be killed during the pool scenes.

On May 22, 2009, the Nightmare on Elm Street film crew went on location to the city of Gary, Indiana to film scenes at a Methodist church. The studio had negotiated with the city for months before finally settling on a deal. According to Ben Clement, the executive director of the Gary Office of Film and Television, the studio was looking for "an architectural style that would fit the story line of the film". The film crew returned to the streets of Gary first in June to film a dream sequence that takes place on Elm Street and later in December to shoot some scenes in a diner.

According to Fuller and Form, Warner Bros. suggested A Nightmare on Elm Street be released in 3D because of the increased box office revenue of recent 3D films. It was the opinion of the Platinum Dunes producers that if a film was not initially conceived as 3D, then it should not be converted to 3D; Fuller and Form fought the studio to keep the remake 2D. Warner Bros. and Platinum Dunes came to agree that a 3D movie would not be "the best version of the movie".

## Music

The score to A Nightmare on Elm Street was composed by Steve Jablonsky and recorded by a 60-piece string ensemble of the Hollywood Studio Symphony. The movie soundtrack was released by WaterTower Music on April 27, 2010. Charles Bernstein's original A Nightmare on Elm Street theme and "Jump Rope" rhyme, The Hit Crew's "Un Homme Et Une Femme", and The Everly Brothers' "All I Have to Do Is Dream" are heard in the film but only Bernstein's "Jump Rope" rhyme is included in the soundtrack.

## Release

### Marketing

In March 2010, the National Entertainment Collectibles Association (NECA) released two new Freddy Krueger action figures; one pre-burned Freddy with Jackie Earle Haley's likeness, and one based on the new burn design from the Nightmare on Elm Street remake. NECA also released a replica of Freddy's clawed glove. An online game was released in conjunction with the film—the player attempts to keep a young girl awake using coffee, cold showers, self-mutilation, and other means, to keep her safe from Freddy.

### Theatrical

A Nightmare on Elm Street was released on April 30, 2010, to 3,332 theaters and approximately 4,700 screens, making it the twelfth-widest opening for an R-rated film in the United States. Comparatively, the original A Nightmare on Elm Street was only released to 165 theaters at its opening on November 9, 1984 and by the end of its box office run its widest release was 380 theaters. The 2010 remake holds the record for widest A Nightmare on Elm Street release, beating out Freddy vs. Jason by 318 theaters.

### Home media

A Nightmare on Elm Street was released on DVD and Blu-ray on October 5, 2010. The DVD's only feature is a featurette, "Freddy Krueger Reborn". The Blu-ray special features include the DVD's featurette along with a deleted scene, an alternate opening and ending, and the Maniacle Movie Mode.

## Reception

### Box office

Early estimates put A Nightmare on Elm Street's opening-day gross at approximately \$15 million with a projected opening weekend of \$35 million. Included in the \$15 million was the \$1.6 million the film made from midnight showings on Thursday night from 1,000 theaters. As a result, A Nightmare on Elm Street broke the record for midnight openings for a horror film that was previously held by the Friday the 13th remake in 2009 that grossed \$1 million. Ultimately, the film finished its opening with \$32,902,299, placing first for the weekend ahead of How to Train Your Dragon (6th week in release), Date Night (4th week in release), The Back-up Plan (2nd week in release), and Furry Vengeance (1st week in release). A Nightmare on Elm Street dropped 72 percent in its second weekend, earning \$9,119,389. It dropped to second place behind the newly released Iron Man 2. The film dropped an additional 54 percent in its third week, bringing in \$1.5 million, though it remained in the top 10 rankings for the weekend, placing sixth overall. The film remained in the top ten for the fourth weekend in a row, grossing approximately \$2,285,000 and finished eighth for the week. In its fifth weekend, the film fell out of the box office top ten and finished eleventh with an estimated \$910,000. After the opening weekend, Platinum Dunes hinted at the possibility of a 3D sequel, but it was never produced.

As of July 6, 2010, A Nightmare on Elm Street has earned \$63,071,122 at the domestic box office. With its \$63 million in domestic box office, A Nightmare On Elm Street was the second-highest-grossing film among slasher remakes of the time—When a Stranger Calls (2006), Black Christmas (2006), Halloween (2007), Prom Night (2008), and My Bloody Valentine 3D (2009); Friday the 13th (2009) was first with \$65 million. The film was officially released overseas on May 8, 2010. In its opening weekend, it took in approximately \$6.5 million throughout ten foreign territories. It also secured first place for the weekend at the Russian box office with \$3 million. Since its opening, the film has taken in approximately \$54,654,610 in the overseas box office giving it a worldwide total gross of \$117,729,621.

The 2010 remake's opening weekend, \$32,902,299, put it ahead of the individual box office grosses for A Nightmare on Elm Street, A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge, A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child, and Wes Craven's New Nightmare, which made \$25,504,513, \$29,999,213, \$22,168,359, and \$19,721,741, respectively. When breaking the inflation-adjusted grosses down by per theater capita, the 1984 film averaged \$16,585 per cinema compared to the remake's \$9,874. Comparing the film to other Platinum Dunes remakes, A Nightmare on Elm Street is second in opening-weekend gross behind Friday the 13th with \$40,570,365. The film sits ahead of the other Platinum Dunes remakes, which includes The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (\$28,094,014), The Amityville Horror (\$23,507,007), and The Hitcher (\$7,818,239). As of 2018, A Nightmare on Elm Street is number nineteen on the list of top opening weekends for the month of April.

In 2018, the remake is ninth in slasher films and eighth in horror remakes for all-time-highest-grossing films (unadjusted dollars). When comparing its opening weekends to other slasher films and horror remakes, A Nightmare on Elm Street sits in fifth spots for both categories. The 2010 remake was the second-highest-grossing film in the franchise in North America, just behind Freddy vs. Jason (unadjusted dollars) but number one worldwide.

### Critical response

` Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C+" on an A+ to F scale. Their exit polls showed that audiences were evenly divided between males and females with 40% between 18 and 24 years of age and 20% under 18.`

Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly gave it a B− and concluded that, "I did jump a few times, and I liked Haley's dour malevolence, but overall, the new Nightmare on Elm Street is a by-the-numbers bad dream that plays a little too much like a corporately ordered rerun. One, two, Freddy's coming for you. Three, four, we've been there before." Xan Brooks of The Guardian gave the film 3/5 stars, writing: "Debut director Samuel Bayer was not hired to dismantle the franchise but to shoot it afresh." Richard Corliss of Time wrote: "I liked the new Nightmare, but I know that any new version of a revered text — a favorite old book, play or movie — invites invidious comparison."

Michael Rechtshaffen of The Hollywood Reporter criticized the acting as "lethargically lifeless" and criticized Haley's portrayal of Krueger saying, "Even with his electronically deepened voice and a pointless amount of backstory, there's just no replacing Englund." Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film one star out of four because he "stared at A Nightmare on Elm Street with weary resignation. The movie consists of a series of teenagers who are introduced, haunted by nightmares and then slashed to death by Freddy. So what? Are we supposed to be scared? Is the sudden clanging chord supposed to evoke a fearful Pavlovian response?" Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave the film 1.5/4 stars, writing: "it’s the Bay touch you feel in the way actors register as body count, characters go undeveloped, and sensation trumps feeling. A nightmare, indeed."

On January 5, 2011, the film won the People's Choice Award for best horror film. Robert Englund, the actor who portrayed Freddy Krueger in the original series, disliked the remake and claimed it suffered from ineffective make-up effects and a lack of empathetic characters.

2010 American slasher film by Samuel Bayer

A Nightmare on Elm Street (franchise) films

Films with screenplays by Eric Heisserer


Abi Branning

Abi Branning is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Lorna Fitzgerald. She was introduced by executive producer Kate Harwood on 3 July 2006 as an extension to the Branning family, along with father Max (Jake Wood), mother Tanya Branning (Jo Joyner) and older sister Lauren Branning (Madeline Duggan/Jacqueline Jossa). Her storylines involve her friendships and relationships with Ben Mitchell (Charlie Jones/Joshua Pascoe/Harry Reid) and Jay Brown (Jamie Borthwick), her toxic friendship with Babe Smith (Annette Badland), faking a pregnancy so that Ben would not leave her for Paul Coker (Jonny Labey), being a suspect in the murder of Lucy Beale (Hetti Bywater), her affair with Lauren's fiancé, Steven Beale (Aaron Sidwell), and falling pregnant by him.

In September 2017, it was announced that Fitzgerald and Jossa had been axed by executive consultant John Yorke. Abi's exit storyline involved her and Lauren falling from the roof of The Queen Victoria public house on Christmas Day 2017, leading to Abi giving birth prematurely to daughter, also named Abi, and being confirmed brainstem dead in later episodes. Abi's final scenes aired on 19 January 2018 after her life support is withdrawn. The character's funeral took place on 16 February 2018.

For her portrayal as Abi, Fitzgerald was nominated for Best Young Actor at the 2010 Inside Soap Awards, and went on to win Best Dramatic Performance from a Young Actor or Actress at the 2012 British Soap Awards. Kate White of Inside Soap praised her portrayal of Abi, saying that Fitzgerald is the "brightest young star in soap", adding "Abi's destined for great dramatic things". A writer from the Western Mail said that Abi's relationship with Jay Brown (Jamie Borthwick) is "Walford's answer to Romeo and Juliet". However, some critics were less positive, with one saying in 2012 that the audience were "not nearly" seeing as much of the "classic characters" due to the younger cast receiving more screen time.

## Storylines

Abi moves to Albert Square with her parents Max Branning (Jake Wood) and Tanya Branning (Jo Joyner), and sister Lauren Branning (Madeline Duggan), where she befriends Ben Mitchell (Charlie Jones). Soon after, when Max's affair with his son Bradley Branning's (Charlie Clements) wife, Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner), is revealed, Max and Tanya separate and eventually divorce. Abi begins to live sporadically with each parent, frequently defending Max to Tanya and Lauren, until Max and Tanya reunite, however Abi leaves with Tanya after learning of Max's financial problems. Abi starts to take an interest in Max's lodger Darren Miller (Charlie G. Hawkins), who is left uncomfortable when she tries to kiss him, telling her she is too young. She later develops a crush on Jay Brown (Jamie Borthwick), and the two begin dating. Jay and Abi cuddle up as they are watching television, but Max believes they are about to have sex, so he throws Jay out and rips Abi's bridesmaid dress to Greg and Tanya's wedding. They go to buy a new one, but they have a car crash on Greg and Tanya's wedding day. They suffer minor injuries and both recover. Despite Abi's insecurities over Jay's friendship with Lola Pearce (Danielle Harold), she and Jay remain together, and eventually Max comes to accept them as a couple.

Jay proposes to Abi and she accepts, but she is faced with a dilemma when she is offered the chance to go to Costa Rica to help with sea turtle conservation. Jay gives Abi an ultimatum, threatening to break up with her if she goes to Costa Rica, but she goes regardless. She returns weeks later and the pair reconcile. Abi meets her cousin Dexter Hartman (Khali Best), not knowing they are related, and this causes Jay to be jealous until the truth of their relationship is revealed. Abi tries to support Lauren (now played by Jacqueline Jossa) with her drinking problem, however, this ends badly when Lauren destroys Abi's revision notes. Max is framed for causing a car crash that leaves Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) hospitalised. Abi and Lauren struggle to pay Max's legal costs, as well as their bills. Abi receives her exam results and discovers she has not gained the grades to go to university to become a vet, but Lauren, believing that Abi has passed the exams, throws a party, during which Abi blurts out that she blames Lauren for her poor results because she has an alcohol problem. Abi decides to continue studying, but when Max goes to prison, she has to take a job and struggles to find time for her studies. Max is proven innocent and returns home to support his family. In an argument between Jay and Dexter, Abi discovers that on a holiday, Jay kissed a barmaid. She also finds out that Lola knew and furiously confronts her. However, after a heart-to-heart with Jay, they decide to work through their issues and she fixes things with Dexter and Lola as well. She also takes in a stray dog, Tramp.

Abi's final A Level results come through and she tells everyone that she has got what she needed to get into the University of Liverpool. However, she later confides in Jay that she has been lying, as not to disappoint her family. He encourages her to go through clearing and she gets a position doing a similar course at the University of Bolton. Jay decides to go with Abi. Ben returns from prison and reveals he thinks Jay is in love with Lola, and he confesses this to Abi when she confronts him. He then ends things to stay in Walford. Devastated, she wants to leave for Bolton immediately, but when Max refuses to take her, she drives the car herself, accidentally running over Tramp, killing him; she callously declares that "things die". After her break up with Jay, Abi becomes a much nastier and bitter person. She begins a relationship with Ben (now played by Harry Reid), which is discovered by Emma Summerhayes (Anna Acton) who informs Max of the relationship. Max demands that Abi does not see Ben any more, which Abi refuses to do. After she moves in with him, Ben reveals to her that he might still be gay and is worried he will never get over his homosexuality, but Abi assures him that they will make things work.

Following Ben's arrest for Lucy Beale's (Hetti Bywater) murder, Abi tells Phil that Max assaulted Lucy to get Ben off. Despite being innocent, Max turns himself in and is formally charged while Ben is released. Stacey visits Max, who tells her that he thinks Abi killed Lucy. Stacey confronts Abi, who attacks Stacey, blaming her for her parents' split and Bradley's death. Ben and Abi continue their relationship, but Ben is secretly seeing Paul Coker (Jonny Labey). Babe Smith (Annette Badland) offers Abi work in the pub kitchen, and Abi tells Babe that she is able to turn a blind eye to Ben's homosexuality, as long as he loves her. However, when Abi finds a present that Ben has got for Paul, she realises he has feelings for Paul and confides in Babe, who helps her to publicly announce that she is pregnant. Ben asks Abi to have a termination but then changes his mind, saying he wants the baby. Abi then goes to Babe, panicking because she has lied and is not really pregnant. She decides to tell Ben the truth, but as she is about to do so, he tells her he has caught chlamydia. Abi later tests positive for chlamydia. Babe pushes Abi into Ben as he is pushed by Phil, knocking her to the ground. Babe takes Abi away from the square, and on their return, Abi tells Ben she has had a miscarriage. When she later sees Ben being comforted by Paul, she feels uneasy.

Abi and Babe discover that Ben's half-sister Louise Mitchell (Tilly Keeper) has been using Phil's credit card, so they force her to return everything she has bought. After a spat with Abi, Babe sends Ben a letter, telling him of the fake pregnancy. Louise finds the letter and blackmails Abi, telling her to move away with Ben. Abi tries to persuade Ben into moving but he refuses, saying he needs to be there for alcoholic Phil. Abi accidentally confesses, after which Ben gets drunk and kisses Abi in the pub toilets and starts to undress her, but then drags her into the pub in her underwear and reveals via the karaoke microphone that she made up her pregnancy. Babe emotionally blackmails Abi, forcing her to resign. Abi exposes Babe's secrets to the pub's landlord, Mick Carter (Danny Dyer), so he tells Abi that she can keep her job. Abi locks Babe in the kitchen freezer room as an act of revenge, although Babe frames her sister, Sylvie Carter (Linda Marlowe). Abi is then reinstated at the Vic by a seemingly apologetic Babe but her behaviour, when alone in the kitchen with Abi, is threatening. Babe later leaves Walford after being thrown out by her family, so Abi runs the kitchen alone.

Abi tells Lauren's boyfriend, Steven Beale (Aaron Sidwell), that they would make a good couple during a heart-to-heart. Abi and Steven have an affair and Abi learns that Steven is lying about having a brain tumour so that Lauren will not leave him. Despite being against the idea, Abi does not tell Lauren as Steven promises Abi he is planning to leave Lauren to be with her. Then Abi is stunned by Steven's public marriage proposal to Lauren. Jane overhears Abi and Steven talking about their relationship and confronts them. Abi then discovers she is pregnant by Steven. Abi helps Steven keep up the lie by giving him a brain scan from a dog and animal medication that will give him symptoms of an illness, as well as helping to keep Lauren away from doctor's appointments that Steven has invented. Abi discovers that Ian's restaurant is on fire and goes inside. She finds Jane on the floor struggling to breathe. A pipe falls onto Abi, knocking her unconscious, but Max and Steven soon find her and drag her out. She is taken to hospital with Lauren by her side in the ambulance. At the hospital, Abi tells Steven he is going to be a father. Steven declares his love for her and makes a promise that he will make their relationship work. Steven then dies from injuries inflicted by Max during the fire, leaving an unaware Abi devastated.

Out of jealousy that Lauren is getting all the attention, Abi tries to tell Lauren about her pregnancy, but Lauren angrily mistakes this as gloating about her own abortion. Upset at the accusation, Abi says that she wishes Lauren died instead and that she never deserved Steven. Steven's tumour lie is revealed, so Abi attends Steven's funeral as the sole mourner and declares her love. Abi is fired from her job at the vets when they have CCTV evidence of her stealing medication. She asks Mick to extend her working hours at the pub, but he makes her redundant as they need to save money. Lauren eventually learns the truth about Abi and Steven's affair when she catches Abi wearing her wedding dress. Lauren is disgusted to learn that Abi is pregnant with Steven's baby, but over time, Lauren becomes more supportive.

Abi goes away, and on her return, is confused when people are showing hatred towards Max, unaware that he was involved in a plan to redevelop Albert Square, including turning business into luxury flats and evicting people from their homes and places of work. Abi and Lauren discover that Max knows Abi is pregnant; Lauren disowns him while Abi tries to offer support, but he insults her. However, they later make amends. On Christmas Day, Tanya returns to take Lauren and Abi away from Walford, revealing that Max killed Steven and tried to kill Jane. Lauren and Abi reject Max. Max goes to the roof of the Queen Vic, planning to jump, so Lauren and Abi climb on to the ledge to try and stop him. As Max agrees to his daughter's pleas to not jump, Lauren slips on the wet surface and Abi grabs her hand to stop her falling; both sisters fall off to the ground. Still alive, they are taken to hospital, where an ultrasound shows Abi's baby is alive. Abi has a CT scan and Lauren has surgery. Lauren recovers but Dr. Harding (Nick Waring) tells Max that Abi is brainstem dead and has no chance of regaining consciousness. Abi's baby is delivered via cesarean section. Max is hopeful that Abi will recover and does not tell Lauren the truth, but she slaps Max when she finds out. Max obtains a court order to stop Abi's life support being withdrawn and plans to take her to the US for a treatment that will cost £2,000,000, but Harding urges Max to do the dignified thing for Abi as she is already dead and as Abi is not a minor, he has no legal right to take her. Max names her baby Abi Branning, in her memory.

## Character creation and development

### Introduction and characterisation

Abi was introduced into the series in 2006, by executive producer Kate Harwood. The character and her casting was announced on 25 May 2006. She and her immediate family, father Max (Wood), mother Tanya (Joyner) and older sister Lauren (Duggan, recast to Jossa in 2010), are an extension of the Branning family, who have appeared in EastEnders since 1993. Fitzgerald, in her first major television role, began filming for the soap in May 2006 and made her first on-screen appearance in July. Fitzgerald's mother commented on her daughter's casting: "Personally, I feel I want to show how proud we are of her and to thank everyone who has prayed for her and helped her in any way. At first, it is just the look they go for. Then it is more intensive and she had to read from a script. By the second audition, she was still up against 60 or 70 people. You start thinking about it when she gets to the third audition, but when the agent rang up and said she had got the part it was an overwhelming feeling. You don't know what it means until that point". Fitzgerald was offered the part about three months after her final audition. As Fitzgerald was only 10 years old when she got the part, she was required to balance her filming requirements with schooling in Northampton, and learning lines. In 2012, she told Inside Soap that she thought she had messed up her audition, and did not realise how big the show was until she was older. In 2014, she told BBC Radio 1 that when she met Wood and Joyner, her on-screen parents, she realised it did not matter that she had messed up her lines in her last audition, because she looked like them both. Fitzgerald was required to cry on her first day of filming, and admitted in 2014 that this was embarrassing, and she was unable to produce tears, but was "just making noises". Fitzgerald was chaperoned by her mother until she was 16.

> She may be young, but she's packed plenty of drama into her years. She's been hit by Deano's car, watched her parents' marriage unravel, ravel, unravel again etc. She also discovered Trina's dead body in Charlie's summer-house. Most kids would have nightmares for weeks after a sighting like that. Water off a duck's back when you're Derek Branning's niece, though.

Abi has been described by the official EastEnders website as the family's "golden girl" compared to Lauren, hinting that she knows how to get her own way. She has been described as "bubbly" and "self-assured" with a nose for mischief. She has also been described as having the biggest heart in Walford, bringing out the best in the people around her. Jane Simon of the Daily Mirror said that Abi is a "real soft touch". Jon Wise from The People said that after Abi received a makeover in 2010, she "actually turned out to be quite pretty". In 2012, Fitzgerald told Inside Soap's Laura-Jane Tyler that Abi has grown up in her first six years on screen, and is now sensible, "like a mother hen" and has had to mature quickly because of the dramatic situations she has been involved in. Tyler added that Abi is the most level-headed and sensible member of the Branning family and "puts her [family] to shame with her mature approach to [their problems]."

### Early development

Abi's earlier storylines consist of her parents fighting for custody of her and her siblings, being injured in a collision with Deano Wicks' (Di Angelo) car and helping her friend Ben (Jones) with his abuse from stepmother Stella Crawford (Thompson) In February 2011, Abi was involved in a car accident with Max and would suffer severe injuries after their car collides with a lorry on the way to Tanya's wedding to her new partner Greg (Booth). The crash scenes were filmed on 6 March 2011 and aired on 14 April 2011. After these minor storylines, Joyner said that Fitzgerald should be involved in more complex storylines in 2012. She said, "I think it's going to be an exciting year for Lorna. She's been a natural on the show ever since she was younger, and I think she's one of our best actresses. What's lovely about this year is that she'll be doing her GCSEs, and then once that's out of the way, she can get something that's a bit heavier and a bit bigger. She'll be old enough to work longer hours, so I think they'd be mad if they didn't give her something to sink her teeth into at some point this year".

In November 2010, after sister Lauren was recast to Jossa, Jossa stated that she enjoys working with Fitzgerald, adding the two have a lot in common. Jossa, in 2012, wanted Lauren and Abi to bond more. She commented: "I think realistically they would when they're going through a family problem like this. It would bring the family a little bit closer. I think they are quite close already and they have a lot of family banter! They may not like each other as people, but they love each other as family". In December 2012, Fitzgerald conducted her first magazine interview and spoke of a storyline where Abi comforts Lauren over a relationship break up, saying "It's nice to see the little [sister] taking care of the bigger one."

### Jay Brown and Ben Mitchell

In March 2011, Abi starts a relationship with Jay (Jamie Borthwick). Borthwick admitted that he is enjoying filming Jay and Abi's relationship. Speaking of Jay and Abi's relationship, Borthwick told Inside Soap, "I think Abi and Jay are a good couple," he said. "Jay's a right one – he's already had a crack at Abi's sister Lauren and now he's going for the younger one. He's got an eye for the Branning women". Fitzgerald said that Jay and Abi are "cute together" but she cringes at Abi because she is "lovey-dovey". The couple split in 2014 and Abi begins a relationship with Ben, knowing that he is gay but dismissing this and branding it a "phase". Speaking of his role, newcomer Harry Reid stated that Ben would "manipulate" Abi in his attempts to prove that he is straight.

### Departure

On 10 September 2017, it was announced that Fitzgerald had been axed from the show by executive consultant John Yorke, along with Jacqueline Jossa. A spokesperson said: "We can confirm Jacqueline and Lorna will be leaving. They have been wonderful to work with and we wish them all the best for the future." Fitzgerald's final episode was broadcast on 19 January 2018, in which the character dies. At the end of the episode, instead of the usual closing title sequence, the image, focused on Abi's face, fades to black and no theme music is played.

## Reception

Fitzgerald was nominated for the "Best Young Actor" at the 2010 Inside Soap Awards for her portrayal of Abi though lost out to Coronation Street'''s, Alex Bain, who plays Simon Barlow. Fitzgerald won the award for "Best Dramatic Performance from a Young Actor or Actress" at the 2012 British Soap Awards 2012 an award which Tony Stewart from the Daily Mirror said was "well deserved". Fitzgerald said she did not expect to win the award. In January 2012, Kate White of Inside Soap praised both Fitzgerald and her character, saying "In Fitzgerald, EastEnders has the brightest young star in soap. The rest of her family are getting all the juicy stuff right now, but Abi's destined for great dramatic things. Mark our words". Her colleague, Steven Murphy, said Inside Soap had "long admired" Fitzgerald.

Stewart said, due to Max's past events with his family, what Abi might say when Max objects to her relationship with Jay, "It won't be her setting a gerbil on him", calling her a "goody-two-shoes". A writer from the Western Mail said that the Branning/Mitchell Feud makes Abi and Jay feel like "Walford's answer to Romeo and Juliet". Two writers from the Daily Mirror mocked the storyline where Abi turns down the trip to Costa Rica. One said, "An extreme case of soap agoraphobia as brilliant Abi sensibly turns down the chance to spend eight weeks in the tropical paradise of Costa Rica. But in the tiny micro-world of EastEnders, even the three-mile odyssey from Walford to the West End is considered an epic journey. So Central America is simply out of the question" with another saying, "Abi was a little girl arranging tearful funerals for her pets. But now she's a young teenager, secretly engaged to boyfriend Jay and planning to run away together. He then gives Abi an ultimatum: him or her trip to Costa Rica. Best pass her the suncream, then". However, Abi, along with the younger members of the cast were thought to be the blame of declining ratings for the show; "In the last two months, viewers have seen lots of Lauren, Lucy Beale (Hetti Bywater), Whitney Dean (Shona McGarty), Fatboy (Ricky Norwood), Ben Jay, Abi and Anthony Moon (Matt Lapinskas) – but not nearly so much of the classic characters". Inside Soap noted that Abi and Jay's relationship was popular with viewers.

The 2016 storyline in which Abi lies that she has suffered a miscarriage to cover up a pregnancy lie was criticised by Zoe Clark-Coates, co-founder and CEO of The Mariposa Trust, who said, "To regularly see TV shows using fake miscarriages as light entertainment could make people question genuine losses." In August 2017, Fitzgerald was longlisted for "Best Bad Girl" at the 2017 Inside Soap Awards, while she and Aaron Sidwell (Steven Beale) were longlisted for "Best Partnership". Fitzgerald made the viewer-voted shortlist in the "Best Bad Girl" category, but lost out to Gillian Kearney, who portrays Emma Barton in Emmerdale. The scene where Lauren and Abi fell from the roof of The Queen Vic was awarded "Scene of the Year" at the 2018 British Soap Awards, tying with Doctors who also won the same award for "The Bollywood Proposal". Abi's death was nominated for "Most devastating Soap Death" at the 2018 Digital Spy Reader Awards; it came in seventh place with 6.4% of the total votes.

## See also

- List of EastEnders'' characters (2006)
- List of soap opera villains
- "Who Killed Lucy Beale?"

Fictional character from the British soap opera EastEnders

Television characters introduced in 2006