EastEnders - Frank Butcher's First Appearance (8th September 1987)

Requested By: eastenders fan
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[@AlbertSquareAfterDark]

First ever mention of Janine… and a legend was born.

[@hausofeastenders8686]

Frank is my favourite Male Eastenders character of all time.. so iconic!!!!

[@JakTheLad]

One of the greats

[@fionahamilton7231]

Mine too .

[@danw1374]

Same here. He stole the whole show for me. What a legend. I miss him very much. RIP Mike.

[@NightcapLover]

Me to, the man was a legend, BRILLIANT character.

[@1985SJW]

Frank Butcher was a proper geezer with all the Cockney slang. At my work me and a work colleague has got a crazy banter thing going on I get called Frank and I call her Pat 🤣🤣🤣

[@anthonymooney8636]

My favourite East End couple the banter between them to over the years was fantastic

[@poppycock31185]

Yeah, it really was. The writing during that period was absolutely amazing but Mike Reid took an already wonderful character and took it to another level. He was so believable as Frank that it's hard to imagine the character is/was not a real person. That goes for a lot of the characters from back in the day. But considering how massive a personality Mike Reid was as a person it really did take a lot of talent for him to take on another persona and make it strong enough to not just seem like Mike Reid playing a role on tv.

[@poppycock31185]

And of course credit to Pam for creating a character equally as strong to interact with Frank.

[@DCI-Frank-Burnside]

A lazy afternoon by the Thames with Pat Butcher, every red blooded man's dream.

[@poppycock31185]

Speak for yourself sunny Jim.😂 I am as straight as a die and I would rather spend the night with Frank Butcher than Pat.😂

[@poppycock31185]

Although I would take Pat over Big Mo. *shudders*😫

[@poppycock31185]

I have been watching old repeated Eastenders episodes lately and the show today is incomparable. The writing back in the day was about as good as tv gets. The realism and how relatable the characters were really was phenomenal. Throughout each episode there were these little moments and lines that made it hard to not believe you were watching real people in real situations(even though you obviously know that you weren't). I am not sure how much of that was ad libbed or scripted but it made the show so good and Mike Reid was one of the best at doing things that made his character so believable. The further back you go the more of that there seemed to be. I haven't watched Eastenders for over fifteen or so years and when I did used to watch it was from around 1998 to 2005. Recently I've been watching episodes from the early nineties and I can see why it became so popular.

[@johnhuggins1394]

It was a lot better then Now it's,let's cram as many gay characters in as possible

[@dougied4827]

Can’t watch it anymore naff characters, terrible writing all the big characters have left. I remember being so excited for the next episode and the whole family would be sitting in the lounge to tune in.

[@poppycock31185]

@@dougied4827 I agree and relate to all that. People say that the reason families no longer sit around the TV together to watch certain shows is because of the internet and the way technology has changed how we consume things. I guess that is partly true but I also believe that the biggest reason is that there is nothing worth watching for the whole family anymore. All of the classic shows have become unwatchable and the few shows that are decent are either aimed at kids or contain content too mature for young viewers. I also think that the main problem is that nowadays everything on TV is just a platform for somebody to push their political agendas and beliefs down viewers necks. EastEnders always touched on real life and politics but being entertaining was always the overriding goal. I tried to watch one of the recent episodes but nothing made sense and I could not get into it at all. It was like whoever writes the show nowadays has completely scrapped the past and the evolution of the characters.

[@poppycock31185]

Sorry for writing so much 😆 but I forgot to add that I agree with your comment about how many of the characters that made the show being gone is another reason why I can't get into the present show. But a good writer could create new characters just as interesting.

[@chris7921]

The only resemblance this show has now is in its name, it is absolute tripe now, the storylines are so far removed from real life, the acting is atrocious, even with its old cast, I recently watched a clip with Cindy Beale shouting at Bobby Beale and it was like watching panto, the acting is embarrassingly bad, the characters are wooden and two dimensional, it’s like watching Hollyoaks, I call it Hollyoaks on steroids I can’t see the show lasting after it’s 40th anniversary to be honest, not with the amount of people cancelling their TV license and quite rightly so

[@VultureClone]

"Her name's Janine. Isn't she cute." Lol! Oh boy...if only they knew then.

[@laurallama73]

VultureClone right?!😏

[@michaelcollins2030]

Yeah that he made the incarnation of the evil queen

[@connorbegley2539]

It’s crazy how much Frank’s voice changed only four years after this

[@callum0592]

Den,Frank,Phil and Grant. Four of The greatest lead Males.

[@apnoakes]

They obviously changed Frank's backstory later on as he actually had 4 kids in all.

[@ayhanhergunerler3021]

Good old frank 👍👍

[@amyclarke41]

rip frank and pat !80s 😣

[@NightcapLover]

Hands down, best tv soap character ever, ladies and gents, I present to you, Mr Mike Reid, LEGEND!!

[@laurallama73]

RIP Green eyeshadow🤧

[@gimmesometruth9507]

Janine's not a problem? Hahaha

[@chrisdawson6156]

I miss the episode where a puppet version of Frank butcher said WHAT YOU GOT ME DOWN AS SOME SORT OF DOUGHNUT BEHAVE YOURSELFS

[@racheleastwood5588]

Great show back then

[@setraobondi5390]

Bring Pat and Frank back on the show I love Frank and Pat

[@rickhardman7376]

mike ried died

[@legin3753]

Mike Reid was a legend watch some of his comedy shows on here

[@jhibberd6290]

"You look fantastic" Take your sunglasses off Frank

[@jamesbailey9007]

Pat - don't touch what you can't afford Frank lol

[@brianbeveney6166]

LEGENDARY!

[@thunor3656]

This is my car lot boy! Rickyyyy! Ya pillock

[@francofan100]

It's funny how this clip suggests that there's a shadow over David's paternity as well as Simon's.

[@amiestegasaurus4961]

Quality!

[@JayJay-nc7pr]

This was probably my the first mention of David, yet it would be years before he would appear

[@francofan100]

He was mentioned by Lou when the show started in 1985 when she was rowing with Pete/Kathy ... "How old are David and Simon now? 19? 20? But you never see 'em!"

[@bensmithkent22]

An excellent character himself. When frank was onto him from day one for being one slippery operator then the power struggle they had in the car lot one time over the name was comedy gold.

[@PeterShieldsukcatstripey]

gosh they were only 45 here

[@danw1374]

I'm 45 now and that's a little worrying! As this doesn't feel like it was that long ago.

[@PeterShieldsukcatstripey]

@@danw1374 people seem to look younger longer nowadays.

[@monkeytennis8861]

Mike Reid was 47

[@H.K.5]

@@PeterShieldsukcatstripey Yeah when they stay off the drugs.

[@PeterShieldsukcatstripey]

for my mate Chris who lives in Greenwich.

[@lukej896]

Good times

[@gordontaylor5373]

Pat says she and Frank met in Clacton. I thought they met at Butlins in Bognor Regis.

[@abseiduk]

Omg is that the cutty Sark? I was there in 1987.

[@thesecondYouTube]

7:17 They were going to abort Janine. Amazing bit of writing that. Then she turns out as feeling so unwanted, bitter then evil.

[@Zippdown]

Some big farts from Pat straight off

[@97channel]

4:17 "You looked -like- a knockout.".

[@lokilaufeyson7700]

Could you upload the Spain scenes with frank and pat And when he asks her to marry him Plus the full episode of Peggy and pat two hander where they argue about frank and Roy has gone awol

[@Wim2600]

Never realised Frank was originally introduced as having 3 kids instead of four. I wonder when it was decided to add another one.

[@user-fu1cj4fc7o]

Cheggers plays Pop

[@PeterShieldsukcatstripey]

greenwich

[@KimI-zp3fk]

3 kids Frank…..what happened to Claire 😂

[@carolinekeep9172]

I wasn't born

[@imogenoneill1017]

Where is franks distinctive voice?

[@johnhuggins1394]

Now it would be,did you get my text? That's if he knew her mobile number

[@jaywest3734]

Pat was in it first?

[@jasminnemcdonald94A]

Where's the fire?

[@ryanhills4907]

Why was he called frank butcher he wasn’t even a butcher he was a car salesman

[@peter0010]

His surname is Butcher...?

[@AttackShadow3463]

Frank was not only the original Butcher but he was the first Butcher to show up on EastEnders

[@Instasamps]

Did they meet when pat was on the game?