The episode received positive reviews, with Karen Edwards from Heat calling it "special" and praising Harold's performance, and Jane Rackham from the Radio Times calling it "highly topical", though Boyd Hilton from Heat felt that Billy's torch bearing was a "gimmick" and the whole episode should have been live.

It was accompanied by a special, one-off BBC Red Button episode called "Billy's Olympic Nightmare".

At the same time, it was announced that in reality, Fenwick would carry the torch through the fictional setting of Albert Square, with live footage shown in the second episode on 23 July 2012.

While this may be a fictional one-off for Billy, it's a real once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me and I am thrilled that Walford and Albert Square will be part of this amazing event.

"[2] He later added: "I think it's great that EastEnders has done this storyline, because it would be totally wrong and remiss not to acknowledge the biggest event in our lifetime, which technically—in fictional land—is five minutes up the road from Walford.

"[5] Carl Doran, the creative head of the Torch coverage across the BBC, revealed in a blog on BBC Online, that the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) and EastEnders production team had worked for two years to organise the flame being shown live on EastEnders, saying "We've been looking into the practicalities and many challenges of getting the torch to Walford in time for an EastEnders slot while it makes a whistle-stop tour through London's 32 boroughs in the final week of the 70-day journey around the UK.

We also discussed the idea of trying to record it on tape like a traditional EastEnders episode as well, but we always wanted it to be as authentic as possible and so it will be the real torch and flame and it will happen live.

"[9] In an interview with Digital Spy, she said that she was "really, really nervous" and that the prospect of acting the birth was "very scary", but added, "I really appreciate that they've given me the opportunity, especially considering that I haven't been here at EastEnders for that long.

"[10] She found it "quite difficult" to imagine what it would be like to act out as she has no children, but had watched Channel 4 show One Born Every Minute to help, as she did not want to "overdo the scene or make it look really fake.

[12] The torch made a special detour from London[13] to the EastEnders set in the BBC Elstree Centre, Borehamwood.

[14] Fenwick's route saw him carry the torch from the fictional location of Bridge Street, past The Queen Victoria public house and around Albert Square.

The episode stars comedian Omid Djalili as a cab driver named Hercules, plus athletes Kelly Holmes, Tessa Sanderson, Kriss Akabusi, Mark Foster, newsreader Sonali Shah, and television presenters Matt Baker and Alex Jones as themselves.

[24] Boyd Hilton from Heat said Billy carrying the Olympic torch was a "gimmick", and said the entire episode should have been live,[25] whilst Heat's Karen Edwards said Harold acting out a live birth would be "amazing", adding, "much respect goes out to Danielle who will be working hard to make the episode a success.

[28] Laura Morgan from All About Soap said the live segment was "seamless", saying it deserved a gold medal for "the best thing on TV last night".

[30] After the episode, five of the ten top trending topics on social networking site Twitter related to the live event.

[31] Official ratings from the Broadcasters' Audience Research Board showed that the episode gained 8.11 million viewers.

It was the fourth most-watched programme on BBC One that week and the fifth most-watched programme on UK television that week, beaten by the previous episode of EastEnders, the first episode of Coronation Street broadcast on that day, and the following Friday's broadcasts of the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony and opening ceremony countdown.

[34] In April 2013, the episode was nominated for "Spectacular Scene of the Year" at The British Soap Awards, for Billy carrying the torch.