Yes, it’s Another Very Moving TV Moment!
Hi all. Here we have another entry of my favourite moving TV moments. Instead of adding 5 at a time, I am going to feature a few single ones as and when I think of them. Oh, and coming soon will be a look at moving moments outside of TV and in another medium. As always, let me know your thoughts on today’s entry, and if you did not see the original post, there is a link after this one.
Right, take care. Ben x
And to feature in this list, the scene in question does not have to be sad, it can be moving in a positive way, too. Let me know in the comments what you think of the selections! Were you moved when you watched these moments?
Huge Spoiler Ahead
1. The Whole Episode: ‘Shakil Kazemi’s Funeral’
(EastEnders)
In my last list, I mentioned how the Glee episode ‘The Quarterback’ was especially moving due to its relation to real-life events. This 2017 episode of EastEnders, which was conceived as part of an ongoing arc focusing on knife-crime, was also made all the more moving due to its devastating real-life connections.
Unfortunately, the real-life connections exist because knife crime most certainty is a real-world problem. Knife crime takes so many lives every year in the UK alone, and sadly we have such a long way to go regarding the fight against it.
EastEnders has a history of using their platform to highlight important issues and that is what they were doing once again with a storyline that sees best friends Keegan and Shaki stabbed. Keegan survives but Shaki does not make it, and it is his funeral episode that takes place a couple of months after the incident that forms my selected episode for this list.
The death of a young character with his whole life ahead of him and the shockwaves that it sends through the residents of Albert Square was acted by its cast and written/directed by the crew to the high standard we have come to expect from the long-running soap. Bonnie Langford and Davood Ghadami’s portrayal of Mother and Brother respectively was exceptionally delivered.
But the usual cast was not all that made this episode stand out and pave the way for even more powerful scenes. For as good as the actors and actress’ can be in a serial drama like EastEnders, nothing can be as effective and raw than when the stories are real and the people featured are real. And the victims are real.
Intercepted with the characters actions as the funeral progresses, we see clips of families who have lost love ones to knife crime in real-life. Their accounts are as moving and powerful as you would expect.
Perhaps on paper, and if it had not been put together as sensitively and with as much skill as it had, this special episode may not have worked. To my knowledge, this is the first time real-world scenes have been mixed with acted ones in UK soap.
But, I, and I know many others, thought everyone responsible put this groundbreaking episode together very well indeed, making, for me, one of, if not, the most moving episodes in EastEnders history, and soap in general. Especially towards the ending scene which had the real-life relatives of those affected by knife crime stand with the character of the show…
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