How do we love EastEnders? Let us count five ways…

An exhibition last week to mark the 25th anniversary of EastEnders was pretty skimpy but did contain some revelations. Observer theatre critic and soap fan Susannah Clapp shares her highlights. Frocks A long line of wedding dresses (from Heather's to Amira's) stretches to the crack of doom. The one Archie wanted Peggy to wear was vindictive: stumpy, shiny and gold-beige, it would have made her look like a piece of butterscotch. Spelling mistakes A prison letter to Dot Cotton from her villainous son addresses her (aptly?) as "Mar". The well-stocked Walford graveyard has a noticeboard calling it a "Cemetary". Ear furniture The famous adornments of Pat (below) glitter on a plinth. Free of their lobey moorings, the green medallions and red dangling loops glare gigantically away: they should be in a cage. Pauline's sponge bag Overlooked by her nylon launderette overall, and sitting beside a woolly tea-cosy and a Charles'n'Di mug, this is an object of antique alarm. Together with a bullet-like atomiser of L'Aimant, it contains a comb with teeth the size of an instrument of torture. Archie's parts His will, on display, is picky about what happens to these. It states that "his internal parts" can be used for transplant purposes. What about the other bits?