Walford exec discusses three-hander

EastEnders is to screen its first all-female three-hander on Tuesday, an episode which the show's boss has described as "exciting and unique".

Tuesday's episode of the Walford soap - written by Wendy Granditer - focuses entirely on the crossroads reached by Ronnie Mitchell (Samantha Womack), Bianca Jackson (Patsy Palmer) and Dot Branning (June Brown).

Most of the action takes place in The Vic as Ronnie and Bianca come to blows, before realising that they have more in common than they originally thought. Dot, meanwhile, struggles to come to terms with the imminent return of her husband Jim (John Bardon).

Each character has an important decision or realisation to make and by the end of the 30 minutes, they know their next move.

Speaking about the episode, executive producer Diederick Santer told the show's official website: "We realised that three of our most loved female characters had big turning points this week - Ronnie trying to make the right decision about her relationship with Joel, Dot facing a tough choice about Jim and Bianca finally allowing herself to recognise her true feelings for Ricky.

"We decided to give those characters - and the brilliant actresses who play them - some space to thrash out their dilemmas in the form of a (nearly) three-handed episode."

He added: "Usually when we do a two-hander, we're playing out a story for two characters who are very close, but in this case, unusually, we're featuring characters who don't usually relate to one another. But that is what makes this episode all the more exciting and unique."

Last year, June Brown filmed soapland's first single-hander. She was nominated for the best actress BAFTA award as a result, but missed out to Anna Maxwell Martin for her role in Channel 4's Poppy Shakespeare.

> Click here to read more about the three-hander episode