EastEnders fans are warmly recalling the moment Pat Butcher ordered an orange juice in The Vic in possibly the soap's least dramatic ever "duff duff" moment.
While normally a "duff duff" scene involves a death, a brawl, a dramatic revelation or at least some cross words, this particular scene from the 1990s sees Pat ask for an orange juice before the episode ends.
The clip has resurfaced on the internet thanks to one fan who tweeted: "I’m obsessed with this EastEnders episode where Pat Butcher dramatically orders an orange juice at the Vic and it then cuts to the credits".
I’m obsessed with this Eastenders episode where Pat Butcher dramatically orders an orange juice at the Vic and it then cuts to the credits 😭 x pic.twitter.com/RII6j0IeOESeptember 22, 2022
One fan replied: “That Duff duff is right up there with Kathy’s knitting machine breaking!! DID SHE GET HER ORANGE JUICE? Tune in next Tuesday!”
The knitting machine scene we have to say is another classic. It took place in 1987 and sees a devastated Kathy tell Ian, Michelle and Lofty: "That's it, in it. We've blown it!" And then the "duff duffs"!
The Pat scene makes a bit more sense in that she had just been released from prison for drink driving after hitting a teenager who died from their injuries.
Explaining this a fan wrote: "The boring context to this clip is that she’d just got out of prison for a drink driving incident where she killed someone, and on her first day back to the Queen Vic she 'demonstrated' her sorrow by not ordering an alcoholic drink."
People also debated other very undramatic episode endings, including one where the camera simply zooms in on Pauline Fowler (Wendy Richard).
Pat, played by Pam St Clement, and Frank Butcher (Mike Reid) were two of the soap's best-ever characters. The no-nonsense matriarch, who enjoyed a fiery friendship with Peggy Mitchell (Barbara Windsor) first appeared in EastEnders in 1986 and died in 2012 after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
Pam reappeared as Pat, opposite Barbara Windsor, for a few minutes as an imagined figure in conversation with the terminally ill Peggy Mitchell. Peggy then died.
