through any row you have, whatever it is, be together and you could be the future Morecambe and Wise. I think they have proved that in many ways." According to the BBC, Byker Grove tackled "many controversial issues" including a gay storyline between characters Noddy and Gary which even led The Sun to call for Robinson to be sacked at the time. Robinson left Byker Grove in 1998 to become the executive producer of EastEnders but the series continued until 2006. EastEnders Having previously worked for producer Julia Smith on Angels, Robinson was employed to be lead director of BBC1's soap opera EastEnders when it launched in 1985. His early casting included actors for the iconic characters "Dirty" Den Watts (Leslie Grantham), Pauline Fowler (Wendy Richard), Dot Cotton (June Brown), Nick Cotton (John Altman), Ian Beale (Adam Woodyatt), Charlie Cotton (Christopher Hancock) and Tony Carpenter (Oscar James). In 1998 Robinson was appointed executive producer of EastEnders by Mal Young (BBC Head of Drama Series) and Peter Salmon (Controller of BBC1), and nicknamed the "Pope of Soap" by The Sun. During his reign EastEnders won the BAFTA for "Best Soap" in consecutive years (1999 and 2000) and many other awards. Robinson soon earned the additional tabloid soubriquet "Axeman of Albert Square". He wrote out a large number of characters in one hit, including Sanjay Kapoor (Deepak Verma), Gita Kapoor (Shobu Kapoor), Neelam Kapoor (Jamila Massey), Michael Rose (Russell Floyd), Susan Rose (Tilly Vosburgh), Bruno and Luisa di Marco (Leon Lissek and Stella Tanner), Ruth Fowler (Caroline Paterson), George Palmer (Paul Moriarty) and original character Dr Legg (Leonard Fenton). He later went on to axe others including Tony Hills (Mark Homer), Simon Raymond (Andrew Lynford) and Huw Edwards (Richard Elis), and oversaw the high-profile exits of Tiffany Mitchell (Martine McCutcheon), Grant Mitchell (Ross Kemp) and Bianca Butcher (Patsy Palmer). In their place Robinson introduced new long-running characters including Melanie Healy (Tamzin Outhwaite), Jamie Mitchell (Jack Ryder), Lisa Shaw (Lucy Benjamin), Steve Owen (Martin Kemp), Billy Mitchell (Perry Fenwick) and reintroduced Janine Butcher as a villain played by Charlie Brooks. Later career Robinson left EastEnders in 2000 to serve as Head of Drama for BBC Wales. He was executive producer on a BBC Wales production Care that won the Best Single Drama BAFTA Award in 2001. In May 2003, Robinson left the UK for Cambodia to devise and produce a HIV health-related TV