Hollywood director Quentin Tarantino, the creator of classic cult films such as Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs and Kill Bill, is to turn his hand to a project more subtle and nuanced - he is to direct the Christmas episode of the BBC1 soap EastEnders.
Tarantino had wanted to be involved in the October 30 episode which dealt with the 'demise' of Albert Square philanderer Max Branning, but the BBC have offered him a substantial sum to produce an Xmas special that nobody will forget.
The quirky director has been casting a glance over scripts from the past couple of weeks, to get a 'feel' for the miserable soap, and has said that he already has several radical new plotlines in mind.
One involves Phil Mitchell, who Mr Tarantino says needs to be rather more assertive; instead of shoving Ian Beale's head down the toilet for the umpteenth time, Phil murders the cafe owner with a machete one night after the cafe has closed, disembowels him, and leaves Ian's entrails in a plastic tupperware dish in the fridge.
Dot Cotton also meets her end, not from smoking, but when she is shot down in a hail of bullets by armed robbers after a raid on the launderette goes tragically right.
The Queen Vic is the scene of a grisly bloodbath when Peggy severs a major artery when shaving her underarms, and has to call "Time" fifteen minutes early, and Stacey Slater is gang-raped by some of Bradley's workmates, but doesn't tell him. Instead, she arranges to have the rapists come round again the following Wednesday for more.
The Hollywood connection and increased violence is bound to push ratings figures through the roof, and BBC bosses are excited about the future of Britain's most popular soap.
Said one BBC executive:
"It's bound to have an effect on the audience, and we're expecting a move from the sad-fucker-whinging-slash-my-wrists type, to the sad-fucker-shouting-swearing-slash-someone-else's-wrists type."
