Morning, Albert Square. Den Watts, landlord of the Queen Vic, and two neighbours, unemployed father Arthur Fowler and café owner Ali Osman, break into Reg's flat to find the old man unconscious in his chair. The flat is a mess and a half bottle of whisky lolls at his feet. Den sets off to summon Doctor Legg, the local G.P.
As Reg is carried into an ambulance, a small crowd of onlookers gather: two elderly ladies, Ethel and Lou, Asian shopkeeper Saeed Jeffrey, his wife Naima, and Pauline Fowler.
Ethel arrives for her cleaning job at the pub and tells Angie, Den's wife, about the goings on. Ethel complains life in the square is worse than in the old days when neighbours looked out for one another. Den teases Ethel. Den and Angie have their own reason to remember the old days - today is their seventeenth wedding anniversary.
Saeed and Naima are new to the Square, and have just inherited the shop from Saeed's father, and Saeed is anxious about whether they will fit in. Meanwhile, in the laundrette, Arthur and Pauline worry about revealing their secret to Lou, Pauline's formidable mother.
Local bad boy Nick Cotton insults the Asian shopkeepers as well as Ali.
By afternoon, the news about Old Reg still obsesses the residents. Ali's wife Sue is sensitive about the issue, because she and Ali are the immediate neighbours. She argues with Lou and complains that despite their expressions of concern, no one on the Square really liked or cared about Old Reg. Ali tries to placate his wife.
Teenagers Michelle and Mark Fowler, Ian Beale and Sharon Watts hang out around the market. Sharon has just bought a present for her mother and is anxious whether her mother will like it. Another piece of gossip circulates the square - Pauline has visited Doctor Legg. Pauline's brother Pete worries, and daughter Michelle goes to visit her mother at the laundrette. Later, the mystery is revealed, Pauline is pregnant: Lou is outraged. She rails at Arthur for being unemployed and irresponsible enough to create another child. Nevertheless Pauline and Arthur are pleased by the news.
Later, at the Queen Vic, a darts game between Ali and Nick turns into a brawl. Den Watts breaks up the fight and bars them from the pub. In retaliation Nick puts his fist through the glass door.
