We thought we’d never see Anthony Trueman (Nicholas Bailey) again after he was offered up to the soap Gods as EastEnders traditional Christmas sacrifice this year.
Returning to Walford after a 20 year absence, Anthony found himself drawn back into the orbit of former flame Zoe Slater (Michelle Ryan), which, quite frankly, hasn’t been the safest place to be.
I suppose that’s evident, what with him being dead…
EastEnders uploaded a tribute to the dearly departed doctor, captioning the clip: ‘Since arriving all the way back in 2000, Anthony Trueman has certainly stirred up some chaos!
‘Today we’re saying goodbye to both Anthony and the wonderful Nicholas Bailey, we will miss you hugely’
Anthony returned not long after Zoe, who was desperate to find her son. She’d left him at the hospital immediately following the birth of him and his twin sister, who Zoe was convinced had been stillborn.
Though she announced that Dennis Rickman (Nigel Harman) was the baby-daddy, she later admitted that this had been a lie designed to extract cash from Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean) and, in truth, she had no idea who the father was.
This turned out to be another lie. Zoe’s had a strange relationship with the truth since her return.
Anthony used his medical connections to dig into what had happened to Zoe’s babies post-birth, and realised the dates meant that he was the father of the twins and also learned that the daughter had been resuscitated.
Whilst in the middle of an argument with Chelsea Fox (Zaraah Abrahams) over the revelation that his wife had sought a restraining order on him, Anthony dropped the bomb that he had two children out there. He later told Zoe’s mum, Kat Moon (Jessie Wallace), that he’d discovered both babies had died, dead-set on finding them himself and keeping them away from Zoe.
The revelation on Christmas Day that Anthony had lied about the twins fate put him squarely at odds with his dad, Patrick Trueman (Rudolph Walker), and his return to the Vic for a final showdown with Zoe, resulted in them both sustaining head injuries and collapsing on the floor.
Zoe woke up. Anthony didn’t.
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Jasmine Fisher (Indeyarna Donaldson-Holness) then revealed herself as the missing daughter, and, the stalker that’d been terrorising Zoe for months, working in tandem with Chrissie Watts (Tracy-Ann Oberman).
When the police discovered that Anthony had sustained two blows to the head, the second having occurred while Zoe was unconscious, Kat decided that Chrissie was to blame, though Zoe was determined to take the rap for the killing in order to protect Jasmine from Chrissie’s wrath.
It turned out, however, that Jasmine herself had killed her dad, which she revealed while visiting his body in the chapel of rest, revealing a video of the murder while wishing for him to ‘rot in hell’.
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With Nicholas reprising his role for the reveal of how he died and at who’s hands and as a corpse, viewers got a final glimpse of the troubled doctor.
In a touching video shared to Instagram, ‘Enders boss, Ben Wadey presented Nicholas with a gift upon the conclusion of his final scene. ‘Thank you so much for all of your time here with us, it’s been a total delight having you round here.’
‘You came back to us as Anthony, but also, you’re such a lovely guy to have around. You’ve been a joy to work with. Everyone’s loved working with you. We’re gonna really miss you, so, thank you.’
Surrounded by his on-screen family, Jasmine, Patrick, Chelsea, Denise Fox (Diane Parish), Yolande Trueman (Angela Wynter) and Kim Fox (Tameka Empson) who clapped, cheered and re-affirmed their love for Nicholas, he pulled them all in for a family photo.
After saying his goodbyes to the crew, Nicholas said: ‘So that’s it for Anthony – the final curtain has dropped on Anthony Trueman, who I’ve played for 25 years
‘I want to shout out to the fans. Thank you for everything, for all your support, opportunities and abundance this has brought me. Thank you to everybody who has made this happen. It’s been such an honour and privilege to work here. Wherever I go in the world, this will always be home. So you take care and keep watching.’
The clip finished with a montage of Anthony’s ‘greatest hits’; his clashes with criminal brother, Paul (Gary Beadle), sleeping with Kat, sleeping with Zoe, sleeping with Kat and Zoe and the missing-children saga that played out upon his return.
