In 1986, the Vic recruited John Fisher to provide entertainment for guests.
Tara Misu, the drag queen, won the hearts of EastEnders viewers during Thursday’s episode (7 July). After his father Avery Baker passed out while in Karen and Mitch’s apartment, leaving the family anxiously awaiting word on his condition, Felix Baker arrived at Walford General.
Felix (Matthew Morrison) looked stunning when portraying his alter ego Tara Misu and made a dramatic appearance while searching for his brother Finley. To her daughter Bernie’s amazement, Tara first gave her long-lost uncle Mitch (Roger Griffiths) a hearty embrace before continuing to make fun of Karen Taylor (Lorraine Stanley) by calling her “yo yo knickers!” (Clair Norris).
Although Tara was dubbed as the “first” drag queen on EastEnders, the 1986 episode of the BBC One soap opera John Fisher appears to have gone unmentioned. When John Fisher (Dave Dale) first arrived in Walford 36 years ago, the Queen Vic’s owners Dirty Den (Leslie Grantham) and Angie Watts (Anita Dobson) had hired him as a drag queen to provide entertainment for patrons.
The initial performance was well received until John got into a fight with Ian Beale’s father, Pete Beale (Peter Dean). The brawl between Pete and John had to be broken up by Dirty Den, but the evening was abruptly ended when his sideshow appearance prompted the Vic to close its doors early. Oh my goodness, we like drama like this!
After two months of successfully performing as his drag queen alter ego in the pub and becoming friends with Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean), John left Albert Square. Older EastEnders viewers are aware of John Fisher’s drag performance and have used social media to “remind” viewers of the character’s existence.
One user tweeted the following: “With the announcement of a new character for #EastEnders Being a drag queen, Dave Dale was the first drag performer to portray John Fisher on EastEnders for eight weeks in 1986.”
A second person responded, “NOT the first drag queen on Eastenders I’m afraid, that was John Fisher played by Dave Dale in 1986,” in reference to Tara Misu’s EastEnders entrance.
one more said: “Why does no one now conduct quality research? David Dale was the first drag queen to appear in the inaugural episode of Eastenders.”
