Real doof doof EastEnders fans stunned to learn theme tune has LYRICS as Sophie Ellis Bextor belts out song on stage
EASTENDERS fans have been left stunned after learning its iconic theme tune has lyrics.
The instantly recognisable theme tune is known for the ‘doof doofs’ drum beat and piano melody – but social media users are only just realising that it had words added to it a year after EastEnders debuted in 1985.
A resurfaced clip of Sophie Ellis-Bextor performing the track live in 2018 at the then-new Soho House venue in White City, has got some fans in a spin and sharing their disbelief in the comments.
One wrote: “I had no idea the EastEnders tune had words to it.”
Another joked: “I thought the lyrics were ‘doof doof, doof doof’.”
While a third added: “Not going to lie this has blown my mind.”
In 1986, she released the track Anyone Can Fall In Love, a pop version of the theme tune with actual lyrics.
The song was released a year after’s the soap’s debut due to it’s popularity with audiences, with lyricist Don Black commissioned to add words.
And it’s not the only variation of the tune.
Die-hard viewers will be familiar with the Julia’s Theme, a slower, piano-led variation, usually reserved for death scenes or the exits of major characters.
Some characters even got special versions made for them, with Kathy Beale, Peggy Mitchell and Pat Evans all bowing out of the soap with personalised tunes.
The iconic ‘doof doofs’ are a huge part of the theme tune, with each episode closing on a dramatic moment before the drums kick in.
Earlier this month Tamzin Outhwaite confessed hearing the ‘doof doofs’ triggers her due to her many emotionally draining story lines on the soap.
Tamzin, 55, starred as feisty Melanie Owen from 1998 to 2002 and made a brief return in 2018.
Appearing on Love Your Weekend with Alan Titchmarsh recently, she said: “It triggers me when I hear it, but it’s more that the storylines and everything…
“The amount that you go through in a very short period of time as a character, you know, you’re sliding down walls, crying and so I think when I hear that that kind of takes me back to a time where I was probably crying.”