WOODEN LEGG
The doctor is out with EastEnders stalwart Leonard Fenton dead at 95. Following a longstanding and respected career before Walford, reliable GP Dr. Harold Legg became Fenton’s defining role. Dr. Legg, devised as a representation of the Jewish immigrant population at East End, was heavily based off Fenton himself, a Jew who changed his surname from Finestein to avoid antisemitism during WWII. Among the characters in the debut episode, Dr. Legg was a well-respected presence of the early years, helping the community with their health issues and soothing Dot Cotton’s hypochondria. His later lapses in judgement, culminating with three-year-old Vicki Fowler almost dying after he failed to properly diagnose meningitis, led to him temporarily retiring from his practice. His appearances from the 90s on were more sporadic, and he returned for his final storyline in 2018. Dr. Legg was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and spent his final months reminiscing with Dot Cotton about his wife, who died during a WWII air raid. Dr. Legg was killed off in early 2019, and now Fenton himself follows suit three years later, of a less dramatic old age.
Six teams get a Legg up, including Deathray’s soaps theme and regulars Lard Bazaar and Phantom’s Pick ‘n’ Mix.
Leonard Fenton
29 April 1926 – 29 January 2022, aged 95
6 TEAMS (💀💀💀💀💀 5 POINTS)