Jan's physical arrival at the Vic in January 1986 was one of the show's dramatic highlights. Her invasion of Angie's territory was a springboard to future emotional fireworks and a precursor to Angie's further dependence on alcohol and her attempted suicide. Dobson had been opposed to the suicide storyline from the beginning, she fought hard to get the scripts changed but she was eventually persuaded to play the scenes and was applauded for a "brilliant performance". However Angie's suicide attempt provoked a massive reaction, not all of it favourable. There was a public outcry about the last two shots of the suicide episode, and Julia Smith subsequently had to cut one of them for the omnibus edition. Some accused the programme of sensationalising suicide and giving ideas to copy-cats. The buildup to Angie's desperate action and its sickening aftermath were intended to demonstrate the full despair of her situation and Holland and Smith have maintained that the horror of its on-screen depiction was meant to deter, not encourage, the act. Den and Angie's traumatic two-hander episode in October 1986 was a risky experiment. A thirty-minute episode with only two people in it had never been attempted in a soap before. Holland and Smith feared that the episode would not hold up, however press and audience alike were in agreement that it did. Once it was done, it set a precedent and the programme has featured two-handers ever since. The episode was structured like a "tennis match" between Angie and Den, with a non-speaking window-cleaner forever strolling innocently into the action. It began with Den trying to tell Angie that he wanted a divorce. Angie was shocked and for a moment defeated, but she then dropped her bombshell and told Den that she only had six months to live. At first Den didn't believe her, but eventually Angie's hysterical performance convinced him. He crumbled and promised to stay with her and only after he left did Angie smile in triumph, letting the audience in on her secret that it was all a big lie. Written by Jane Hollowood and directed by Antonia Bird, this episode is considered to be one of the finest episodes in EastEnders catalogue. The Den/Angie/Jan triangle was to continue for many months. The climax was a trip to Venice when Angie, convinced that Den had finished with his mistress, was taken there for a second-honeymoon, returning to