Den’s divorce is Brits favourite Christmas classic

The moment when ‘Dirty Den’ Watts served his wife Angie with divorce papers on Christmas Day 1986 has been voted the best Christmas soap storyline of all time by 1,500 TV fans on MSN Entertainment.

The classic EastEnders scene came top of the poll after fans were asked to vote for their favourite ever Christmas soap storylines in an online poll by MSN Entertainment.

Den’s divorce dealings polled over 40% of the public vote, meaning the dramatic storyline edged out Tiffany Mitchell’s death in 1998 (37%) and Cilla Battersby-Brown blowing up the Corrie chippy in 2005 (13%) in the battle for Christmas soap supremacy.

Lest we forget 2008

Fans also had their say on 2008’s best soap plot and EastEnders came out on top again. A quarter (26%) of TV fans listed Max Branning being buried alive by his wife Tanya as their plot of the year, narrowly beating Liam Connor’s murder in Coronation Street (23%).

Christmas cancelled for Corrie?

When it comes to which soap TV fans will be glued to this Christmas, the results again show a resounding victory for EastEnders in the TV ratings war. Over half (53%) of those polled said they’ll be glued to the shenanigans in Albert Square, while under a third (27%) claim they’ll be tuning in to Coronation Street. Lagging behind soapland’s ‘big two’ is student favourite Hollyoaks (14%) and countryside classic Emmerdale (5%).

Back from the dead

When asked which major character they’d like to see return from the dead this Christmas, a third (37%) of TV fans voted for Eastenders’ Tiffany Mitchell, wife of hard man Grant and best friend of current favourite Bianca Jackson.

Corrie stalwart Vera Duckworth was the choice of a quarter (24%) of TV fans, and the recently-departed Hollyoaks favourite Max Cunningham scooped more than a fifth (22%) of votes.

I should be so lucky

Some of the country’s biggest TV and music stars have cut their celebrity teeth on our favourite soaps, with many moving on to bigger and better things. As for who’s been the most successful, almost two thirds (60%) of TV fans voted Queen of the charts, Kylie Minogue, as their favourite former soap star. Grant Mitchell-turned documentary maker Ross Kemp took a quarter (24%) of the votes, with Brookside’s Anna Friel (8%) and Eastenders’ Martine McCutcheon (5%) and Michelle Ryan (4%) completing the list.

Pucker up!

2008 was the year Corrie’s Liam and Carla Connor finally succumbed to their lust for each other, and the sexy storyline helped the pair scoop the majority of votes for the stars TV fans would like to kiss under the mistletoe this Christmas. Carla Connor, played by Alison King, edged out Eastenders’ Stacey Branning played by Lacey Turner (26%) in the battle to become Soapland’s sexiest female of 2008.

The fans’ choice for mistletoe smooch with a sexy soap male was more clear cut, as Corrie’s Liam Connor, played by Rob James Collier, romped home with more than two fifths (42%) of TV fans’ votes. He beat EastEnders’ Sean Slater, played by Rob Kazinsky (33%), and Hollyoaks’ Russ Owen, played by James Mannion (12%).

MSN Entertainment’s Mike Lok said “Christmas soaps have become as much of a national institution as the Queen’s speech and we’re sure that the writers and actors have got some more festive gems up their sleeves this Christmas. With all the great storylines going on at the moment, fans will surely be in for a treat as the soaps head to a dramatic climax on Christmas Day!”

For all the gossip on the Christmas soap stories and the latest in entertainment and celebrity news, visit MSN Entertainment (http://entertainment.uk.msn.com/).