EastEnders
"EastEnders" is broadcast around the world in many English-speaking countries. New Zealand became the first to broadcast "EastEnders" overseas, the first episode being shown on 27 September 1985. This was followed by the Netherlands on 8 December 1986, Australia on 5 January 1987, Norway on 27 April, and Barcelona on 30 June (dubbed into Catalan). On 9 July 1987, it was announced that the show would be aired in the United States on PBS. BBC Worldwide licensed 200 hours of "EastEnders" for broadcast in Serbia on RTS (dubbed into Serbian); it began airing the first episode in December 1997. The series was broadcast in the United States until BBC America ceased broadcasts of the serial in 2003, amidst fan protests. In June 2004, the satellite television provider Dish Network picked up "EastEnders", broadcasting episodes starting at the point where BBC America had ceased broadcasting them, offering the series as a pay-per-view item. Episodes air two months behind the UK schedule. Episodes from prior years are still shown on various PBS stations in the US. Since 7 March 2017, "EastEnders" has been available in the United States on demand, 24 hours after it has aired in the United Kingdom via BritBox, a joint venture between BBC and ITV.
List of EastEnders characters (1986)
The following is a list of characters that first appeared in the BBC soap opera "EastEnders" in 1986, by order of first appearance. All characters were introduced by the show's co-creator Julia Smith. The first character to be introduced during the year is John Fisher (Dave Dale), a drag queen hired for The Queen Victoria pub. Jan Hammond (Jane How), the long-term mistress of Den Watts (Leslie Grantham), was introduced in January. March sees the first appearances of The Firm mobster Brad Williams (Jonathan Stratt), Dot Cotton's (June Brown) husband Charlie Cotton (Christopher Hancock) and new brewery area manager James Willmott-Brown (William Boyde). The newborn daughter of Michelle Fowler (Susan Tully), Vicki Fowler (Emma Herry), was introduced in May. Judith Jacob and Pam St. Clement made their debuts as health visitor Carmel Jackson and Pat Butcher, the former wife of Pete Beale (Peter Dean), in June. June also sees the beginning of a new storyline, The Banned, which introduces Harry Reynolds (Gareth Potter), Tessa Parker (Josephine Melville) and Eddie Hunter (Simon Henderson). Irene (Katherine Parr), the aunt of Lofty Holloway (Tom Watt), begins appearing from July. Michael Cashman and Donald Tandy joined the cast as middle-class yuppie Colin Russell and army war veteran Tom Clements respectively in August. New general practitioner Jaggat Singh (Amerjit Deu) and Barry Clark (Gary Hailes), a love interest for Colin, make their first appearances in November. Rezaul Kabir (Tanveer Ghani), the cousin of Naima Jeffery (Shreela Ghosh), is introduced in December. Additionally, multiple other characters appear throughout the year.