"CivvyStreet" (sometimes written as "Civvy Street") is a spin-off episode of the British television soap opera EastEnders, broadcast on BBC1 on 26 December 1988.

[3] Described as "nostalgic" by the BBC,[4] it looks at the early life of the residents of Albert Square and features a young Lou Beale, Ethel Skinner and Reg Cox, who was a minor character found dead in the first episode of EastEnders in 1985.

[6][7] Actress Karen Meagher was cast as a young Lou Beale, who struggles to raise her children, after her husband Albert (played by Gary Olsen) is called up.

Alison Bettles plays Lou's "flirty" friend Ethel, who an Inside Soap writer said was "true to the latter-day version" portrayed by Gretchen Franklin.

[3] Olsen commented in 1996 on the legacy of the episode in EastEnders, joking that he regularly appears in the show: "I did a special which was set in the war, called Civvy Street, and I played Albert Beale.

[10] Official ratings from the Broadcasters' Audience Research Board showed that the episode gained 7 million viewers and achieved 74th place in the British Top 100 programmes for that week.

[11][12] In 1999, Steve Pratt of the Northern Echo said of the episode: "EastEnders went back to Albert Square during the Blitz in a programme called Civvy Street.