Eastenders' 'Dirty' Den Watts has been voted as favourite TV soap comeback, in an AOL online poll of viewers' favourite "back from the dead" moments.
Over 23,000 British soap fans voted in the poll, run from 8th-23rd March on AOL's UK website. 'Dirty' Den took over a third of the votes (37%) to take the top spot, beating Harold Bishop's return to Neighbours by 3,000 votes.
Despite the recent news of a movie remake, Dallas' famous comeback kid, Bobby Ewing, could only manage fourth place, with 17 per cent of the votes, for his now-legendary shower scene.
Bottom of the list was Home and Away's Bobby Simpson, who scraped only five per cent of votes for perhaps the most inventive comeback, emerging as she did from ex-boss Ailsa's fridge!
Den was missing from Albert Square for 14 years, after a dangerous encounter in 1989 with a bunch of daffodils that left him presumed dead. His return was short-lived however and he has since been buried under the concrete floor of The Vic' by new wife, Chrissie.
"Den was one of those characters you either love or hate - and while a lot of people may have been glad to see the back of him, there were just as many glad to see him back", said AOL UK's Paul Johnston, who conducted the poll.
The all-time top five soap comebacks, as voted, are:
1. 'Dirty' Den Watts 8,700 (37%)
2. Harold Bishop 5,080 (21%)
3. Kim Tate 4,623 (20%)
4. Bobby Ewing 4,008 (17%)
5. Bobby Simpson 1,246 (5%)
Notes:
An AOL spokesperson will be available for interviews.
Contact Philip Hale to arrange on 020 7348 4614.
ISDN number for interviews: 020 7348 8012.
About AOL:
AOL is a leading provider of digital communications and content to UK consumers. AOL offers dial-up, broadband, voice and portal services and has more than 2.3 million subscribers in the UK, including more than one million on broadband.
AOL subscribers in the UK spend more than two hours a day on average connected to the internet. The AOL service and portal deliver a range of market-leading online content, including music, film, sport, news, shopping and community, as well as email, instant messenger, VOIP, safety and security features. AOL is also one of the leading online destinations for advertisers in the UK.
The AOL branded services are supplied to UK subscribers by AOL Europe Services SARL, a company in the AOL group based in Luxembourg. AOL (UK) Limited provides marketing and other support services. Both companies are part of AOL Europe, a business unit of AOL LLC, which operates a leading network of Web brands and is a majority-owned subsidiary of Time Warner Inc.
