Ethel Skinner is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera
EastEnders, played by Gretchen Franklin. Ethel also features in a 1988
EastEnders special episode, entitled "CivvyStreet", set on Albert
Square during World War II, in which she is played by Alison
Bettles.Ethel is an EastEnders original character and in the early
years she can always be found wandering the neighbourhood with her
adored pug Willy. She and Dot Cotton (June Brown) are lifelong
friends, and although they wind each other up, they are completely
dependent on each other. Ethel trusts Dot so much that she even asks
her to help her die in 2000 after she is diagnosed with terminal
cancer.Ethel Skinner is one of the original characters that appears in
the first episode of EastEnders in 1985 and her early history is
depicted in the 1986 authorised novel The Flower of Albert Square,
which directly contradicts the later EastEnders flashback episode,
"CivvyStreet". In the novel, Ethel grows up with her family in
Beckton, which is bombed during the war, killing her parents and
leading her to live with her uncle and aunt in Hackney. She later
meets William (Ian Brimble) and moves to Albert Square after the war,
after he proposes. However, in the television episode, Ethel is said
to have lived in Albert Square for most of her life, remaining there
through the war and witnessing the death of her entire family, who are
killed by a doodlebug. This tragic event sends a young Ethel into
shock and subsequently she develops eccentric behaviour. She begins
dressing outrageously, wearing garish make-up, flirting with anyone in
trousers, and knocking back gin, traits that lasts well into her
old-age. In a 1986 episode of EastEnders, Ethel says she had an
argument with her father during the war and left home, saying she
would never return as long as he was there; she returned the next day
and both her parents had been killed by a doodlebug.
EastEnders, played by Gretchen Franklin. Ethel also features in a 1988
EastEnders special episode, entitled "CivvyStreet", set on Albert
Square during World War II, in which she is played by Alison
Bettles.Ethel is an EastEnders original character and in the early
years she can always be found wandering the neighbourhood with her
adored pug Willy. She and Dot Cotton (June Brown) are lifelong
friends, and although they wind each other up, they are completely
dependent on each other. Ethel trusts Dot so much that she even asks
her to help her die in 2000 after she is diagnosed with terminal
cancer.Ethel Skinner is one of the original characters that appears in
the first episode of EastEnders in 1985 and her early history is
depicted in the 1986 authorised novel The Flower of Albert Square,
which directly contradicts the later EastEnders flashback episode,
"CivvyStreet". In the novel, Ethel grows up with her family in
Beckton, which is bombed during the war, killing her parents and
leading her to live with her uncle and aunt in Hackney. She later
meets William (Ian Brimble) and moves to Albert Square after the war,
after he proposes. However, in the television episode, Ethel is said
to have lived in Albert Square for most of her life, remaining there
through the war and witnessing the death of her entire family, who are
killed by a doodlebug. This tragic event sends a young Ethel into
shock and subsequently she develops eccentric behaviour. She begins
dressing outrageously, wearing garish make-up, flirting with anyone in
trousers, and knocking back gin, traits that lasts well into her
old-age. In a 1986 episode of EastEnders, Ethel says she had an
argument with her father during the war and left home, saying she
would never return as long as he was there; she returned the next day
and both her parents had been killed by a doodlebug.
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