Over the Moon

NO sooner had Peggy Mitchell taken her own advice, “Get outta my pub”, and left Walford, than a pair of familiar faces reappeared – Alfie and Kat Moon.

Whether they can fill the gap left by the Mitchell matriarch remains to be seen, but they always were a lively pair who have provided Albert Square followers with some of their most cherished moments in the past.

Kat’s return, in blonde wig and trenchcoat, caused chaos in the Slater household (no change there, then) and was followed by Alfie’s equally unexpected reappearance.

The fact that Kat told everyone Alfie was dead was a clue that all is not well in the Moon household. There was another shock when Kat opened her coat to reveal a baby bump and tells Alfie, “I ain’t fat, I’m pregnant – and it’s not yours.”

With a vacancy behind the bar of the Vic, it could well be that Alfie and Kat are going to become the new Den and Angie – and look at their tempestuous relationship.

No doubt EastEnders fans are over the Moon with the return of Shane Richie and Jessie Wallace as the pair – and as a treat BBC celebrates with a special programme, EastEnders: Kat And Alfie’s Return.

This documentary follows the actors as they return to the soap, and as well as looking back at classic moments featuring the Moons, also profiles Kat’s family, the Slaters, and follows the production team as it films the destruction of East- Enders’ most iconic landmark, the Queen Vic. The programme also features interviews with other members of the cast and crew.

FRIDAY night is chat night with two talk shows. Jonathan Ross and Michael Parkinson may have hung up their clipboards but there’s no shortage of candidates to take their place.

Paul O’Grady Live has the artist formerly known as Lily Savage doing what he does best. Both on C4 and ITV he’s shown himself a natural host in past shows.

So far in this series, he’s welcomed Tom Jones, Britain’s Got Talent winner Spelbound, Enrique Iglesias and Nicole Scherzinger among others.

Tonight, it’s the turn of Kylie Minogue to talk about her career and perform her latest single, Get Outta My Way, complete with spectacular dance routine. Fans would expect no less.

O’Grady will also be chatting to Bob Hoskins and the chances are he won’t leave without mentioning his latest film Made In Dagenham, which opens next week.

The new boy on the chat show block is comedian Rob Brydon. In the second of his imaginatively titled series The Rob Brydon Show, he gets to talk to James Corden and Mark Ronson. And he’ll be swapping jokes with rising stand-up Carly Smallman.

EVERY day, Eddie Stobart drivers cover the equivalent of the distance to the moon and back three times over. The Carlisle-based firm employs more than 5,000 people, who work around the clock to make a delivery every 4.6 seconds, as well as running two ports, two airports and countless freight trains.

The company gets its own six-part documentary series, Eddie Stobart: Trucks And Trailers. The opener follows veteran driver Mo Goulding, a Stobart trucker for 34 years.

He takes great pride in his reputation for getting deliveries made in time, but his planners have failed to take into account of a blockage on the M25 that forces him onto London’s notorious North Circular. It looks as if Mo is about to commit the cardinal sin of trucking – failing to deliver his load on time.

Meanwhile, fuel-tanker driver Mark Ashurst is training a new recruit in one of the most dangerous jobs in the company.

He regularly drives a potentially lethal load of 36,000 litres of fuel.

“If it did split open, it would explode,”

the driver reflects. “It would be like something from an Arnold Schwarzenegger film.”