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Anthony John Holland (18 January 1940 – 28 November 2007) was a British screenwriter, best known as a writer and co-creator (with Julia Smith) of the

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soap opera '' EastEnders''.

Early life

Holland was the oldest of three children born to John and Pat Holland, with his younger twin brothers Allan and Bryn. As a military family, Holland moved around with the postings assigned to his father and spent time in Aldershot, Gravesend and Chelmsford.

Early career

Holland began his career as an actor, appearing in the 1966 '' Doctor Who'' serial '' The Savages'' and later ''Message for Posterity'', a 1967 serial for ''

The Wednesday Play ''The Wednesday Play'' is an anthology series of British television plays which ran on BBC1 for six seasons from October 1964 to May 1970. The plays were usually original works written for television, although dramatic adaptations of fiction ...

''. In the latter year, a play Holland had developed - ''The Isle is Full of Noises'' - was taken up by the BBC and produced by ''

Thirty-Minute Theatre ''Thirty-Minute Theatre'' was a British anthology drama series of short plays shown on BBC Television between 1965 and 1973, which was used in part at least as a training ground for new writers, on account of its short running length, and which t ...

''; it was from there that Holland turned to script-writing. Through his agent, Holland landed a job as a writer and script editor on ''

Z-Cars ''Z-Cars'' or ''Z Cars'' (pronounced "zed cars") is a British television police procedural series centred on the work of mobile uniformed police in the fictional town of Newtown, based on Kirkby, near Liverpool. Produced by the BBC, it debut ...

'' in 1970. It was here that he met producer and director Julia Smith, and started a long and successful working relationship with her. Holland and Smith became an established producer/script-editor team during their time on ''Z-Cars'' and went on to work for the BBC's hospital drama, ''

Angels In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God. Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles incl ...

''. It was during their time on ''Angels'' that the format of the programme was changed from weekly 50 minute-long episodes to a bi-weekly half-hour serial, with the further possibility of the show being aired all year round.

''EastEnders''

In 1983, the

...
approached Holland and Smith to produce a new programme for their channel, a bi-weekly soap-opera that would rival the long-established ITV favourites, '' Coronation Street'', '' Crossroads'' and ''

Emmerdale Farm ''Emmerdale'' (known as ''Emmerdale Farm'' until 1989) is a British soap opera that is broadcast on ITV1. The show is set in Emmerdale (known as Beckindale until 1994), a fictional village in the Yorkshire Dales. Created by Kevin Laffan, '' ...

''. The

...
wanted this new serial to reflect 'London, today!' and together, Smith and Holland came up with the idea of a programme set in a Victorian square within the East End of London, focusing on its close working-class families and eccentric

Cockney Cockney is an accent and dialect of English, mainly spoken in London and its environs, particularly by working-class and lower middle-class Londoners. The term "Cockney" has traditionally been used to describe a person from the East End, or ...

inhabitants. Thus, '' EastEnders'' was born. Holland and Smith wanted the primary focus of ''EastEnders'' to be a large extended family, representative of the type most typically found in the East End of London. Holland was from a large London family himself, and in creating some of the series' characters, he was able to use some of his own experiences as inspiration for the central ''EastEnders'' clan the Beales and the Fowlers. In creating the stories and characters, Holland delved into family stories, past and present. His aunt

Lou Beale Lou Beale is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders'', played by Anna Wing. Her first appearance is in the first episode, which was broadcast on 19 February 1985, and her last is in episode 362, first shown on 26 July 1988, ...

came to inspire the ''EastEnders'' character of the same name, along with her two children

Peter Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...

(Pete) and Pauline. Holland also used some of his experiences as a barman in London's pubs and clubs to create the dynamic pairing of Den and

Angie Watts Angie Watts is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders'', played by Anita Dobson from the first episode of the series until 1988, when Dobson decided to leave, and the character was written out. Angie is well known for her ...

, the owners of

the Queen Victoria The Queen Victoria (more often referred to as The Queen Vic or The Vic) is the Victorian public house in the BBC soap opera, ''EastEnders''. It has the fictional address of 46 Albert Square, Walford, London E20. Appearance and developmen ...

public house. Holland worked on ''EastEnders'' for four years, initially as script-editor and going on to script many episodes himself. After four years, Holland and Smith decided to leave ''EastEnders'' together in 1989 following a dispute with BBC bosses as to whether the character of

Den Watts Dennis "Den" Watts is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders'', played by actor Leslie Grantham. He became well known for his tabloid nickname, "Dirty Den". Den was the original landlord of The Queen Victoria public house fr ...

(played by Leslie Grantham) could return to the series following his exit in February of that year after being shot and supposedly killed. The character would ultimately return to the soap in 2003, having survived the shooting despite being presumed dead. On his departure from ''EastEnders'' in 1989, Holland was approached by Ireland's national broadcaster RTÉ to give their new urban soap opera ''

Fair City ''Fair City'' is an Irish television soap opera which has been broadcast on RTÉ One since 1989. Produced by the public service broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ), it first aired on Monday, 18 September 1989. It has won several awa ...

'' its structure and story-lines for the first season.All’s fair in love and war
'' Irish Independent''. URL last accessed 20 October 2009 In 1991, Holland and Smith were hired by the BBC to produce ''

Eldorado El Dorado (, ; Spanish for "the golden"), originally ''El Hombre Dorado'' ("The Golden Man") or ''El Rey Dorado'' ("The Golden King"), was the term used by the Spanish in the 16th century to describe a mythical tribal chief (''zipa'') or king o ...

'', loosely based around the lives of

expats An expatriate (often shortened to expat) is a person who resides outside their native country. In common usage, the term often refers to educated professionals, skilled workers, or artists taking positions outside their home country, either ...

in Spain. Their new soap opera was launched in July 1992, but, plagued by a string of on- and off-screen problems, it received little of the success of ''EastEnders'', and was axed a year later, in July 1993, despite a radical overhaul and improving ratings. In 2001, Holland was awarded a Special Achievement Award from

The British Soap Awards The British Soap Awards (BSAs) are an annual awards ceremony in the United Kingdom which honours the best moments in British soap operas. The ceremony is televised on ITV and has been presented by Phillip Schofield since 2006. The trophies gi ...

; and in 2004, he appeared on the

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

documentary ''How Soaps Changed The World''.

Personal life

Holland entered into a

civil partnership A civil union (also known as a civil partnership) is a legally recognized arrangement similar to marriage, created primarily as a means to provide recognition in law for same-sex couples. Civil unions grant some or all of the rights of marriage ...

with Paul Wade in May 2007. Holland died on 28 November 2007, aged 67, after a long illness. The following day's edition of ''EastEnders'' was dedicated to him.

References

External links

*
Obituary in ''The Times'', 1 December 2007

{{DEFAULTSORT:Holland, Tony 1940 births 2007 deaths 20th-century English screenwriters 20th-century LGBT people 21st-century LGBT people English soap opera writers English television writers English gay actors English gay writers LGBT screenwriters People from Shoeburyness British male television writers