EastEnders 40th Anniversary Week

EastEnders 40th Anniversary Week is a group of five episodes of the BBC soap opera EastEnders, broadcast on BBC One. Devised to celebrate the programme's 40th anniversary, the episodes were broadcast on each day from 17 to 20 February 2025, including a double episode on 19 February and a live episode on 20 February. During the episodes, which take place over the course of Billy (Perry Fenwick) and Honey Mitchell's (Emma Barton) wedding, Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) attempts suicide, Cindy Beale (Michelle Collins) learns Kathy Cotton (Gillian Taylforth) was the culprit of her attack on the previous Christmas, Denise Fox (Diane Parish) chooses to rekindle her relationship with Jack Branning (Scott Maslen) over Ravi Gulati (Aaron Thiara), and Sonia Fowler (Natalie Cassidy) gives birth to a baby girl. The episodes also feature The Queen Victoria public house exploding, resulting in the deaths of Martin Fowler (James Bye) and Reiss Colwell (Jonny Freeman).

The episodes were directed by Lance Kneeshaw and produced by Chris Clenshaw. Bryan Kirkwood and Simon Ashdown respectively wrote the first two episodes on 17 and 18 February, whilst Kevin Rundle wrote the hour-long episode broadcast on 19 February. The live episode, the show's fourth overall and first since 2015, was written by Lauren Klee. After Bye told Clenshaw he planned to leave his role as Martin, Clenshaw decided to incorporate his departure into the live episode as Martin was an important character in the show's history. In a first for the show, viewers had an interactive role, as they were given the opportunity to choose which man Denise chooses to pursue a relationship with, out of Jack and Ravi. They were also given the choice of the name Sonia chooses for her daughter, between Julia and Toni, both names referring to the show's creators Julia Smith and Tony Holland. The results of both votes were revealed in the live episode, turning out to be Jack and Julia, respectively. To promote the anniversary, two documentaries were released that covered the show's history and cast members made appearances in other media.

The episodes were a ratings success, all receiving more than 4 million viewers and ranked in the week's top fifteen highest-viewed broadcasts. Critics praised Anita Dobson's cameo appearance as Angie Watts, the conclusion to Phil's mental health storyline, Bye and Lacey Turner's performances, Martin's death scene, and the lack of technical errors in the live broadcast; however, it did receive some criticism for being unrealistic.