in October 1994 with some of EastEnders most popular and renowned episodes, which have been dubbed "Sharongate". The episodes centred around Grant's discovery that his wife had been having an affair with his brother and they were watched by 25.3 million viewers. On-screen Grant heard Sharon unwittingly confessing to the affair on tape. He reacted by playing it to a pub full of people at Phil's engagement party and then beat his brother unconscious. The writer of Sharongate, Tony Jordan, has stated that of all the storylines he has penned for the soap, Sharongate is the one he is most proud of. He comments "Three of the strongest characters that have ever been in EastEnders are the Mitchell brothers and Sharon [...] when we actually blew that story it was incredible [...] being able to reach that many people with your work is what makes EastEnders exciting." Reporter for The Guardian, Sally Vincent, has commented on Sharongate's success: "It wasn't so much the guilt-stacked, long-drawn-out business of Sharon 'n' Phil's helpless lust for each other—all that unseemly face-sucking while her hubby/his brother, the ape-like Grant, languished in gaol for trying to set fire to everyone—that broke the ratings record, nor was it the ingenious ruse of using the [DJ's tape deck] to broadcast Sharon's poignant little confession to the entire clientele of Walford's Queen Vic [pub]. It was the fact that we'd all watched Sharon grow up. We knew that she was a nice little person, vulnerable, brave, sweet-natured and kind to the dog. We were sorry for her [...] Neither of those Mitchells deserved her, so when one punched the other and half-killed him for tampering with his lady-wife, we didn't much care. We were sorry to see [Sharon] go." Sharongate has proven to be a popular storyline with viewers. In 2001 it was voted the second "Best Ever Soap Moment" in an ITV televised poll, and it was voted the sixth top soap opera moment of all time in a poll of 17,000 people for What's on TV magazine in 2003. In 2010, Michael Hogan from The Telegraph ranked it the sixth of the top ten "unforgettable moments" of EastEnders. In a 2012 nationwide poll of 1,000 people published in Inside Soap, 'Sharongate' was voted as the greatest soap opera moment of the past 20 years. Departure (1995) Letitia Dean decided to quit the role of Sharon in