1. Anthony John Holland was a British screenwriter and actor.
12 Facts About Tony Holland
1. 2.
Tony Holland is best known as the writer and co-creator of the BBC soap opera EastEnders.
3.
Tony Holland was born in Shoeburyness, Essex, England, the oldest of three children, to John and Pat Tony Holland.
4.
Tony Holland began his career as an actor, appearing in the 1966 Doctor Who serial The Savages and later Message for Posterity, a 1967 serial for The Wednesday Play.
5.
Tony Holland was from a large London family himself, and in creating some of the series' characters, he was able to use some of his own experiences as inspiration for the central EastEnders clan the Beales and the Fowlers.
6.
In creating the stories and characters, Tony Holland delved into family stories, past and present.
7.
Tony Holland used some of his experiences as a barman in London's pubs and clubs to create the dynamic pairing of Den and Angie Watts, the owners of the Queen Victoria public house.
8.
Tony Holland worked on EastEnders for four years, initially as script-editor and going on to script many episodes himself.
9.
On his departure from EastEnders in 1989, Tony Holland was approached by Ireland's national broadcaster RTE to give their new urban soap opera Fair City its structure and story-lines for the first season.
10.
In 2001 Tony Holland was awarded a Special Achievement Award from The British Soap Awards; and in 2004, he appeared on the Channel 4 documentary How Soaps Changed The World.
11.
Tony Holland entered into a civil partnership with Paul Wade in May 2007.
12.
Tony Holland died on 28 November 2007, aged 67, after a long illness.