EastEnders airs tribute to long-serving director Michael Owen Morris

EastEnders aired a closing-credits tribute to director Michael Owen Morris on September 28, displaying his photograph and the message “In loving memory of Michael Owen Morris 1947-2026.” Reports say Morris died earlier this year; the tribute gave his birth and death years but did not identify when he died or the cause. Morris was a long-serving director on the BBC soap. He began working on EastEnders in 2003 and directed episodes regularly through 2019, later returning to direct an episode in 2023. That return was for a storyline set in France that revealed Cindy Beale was alive after her presumed death in 1998 and reunited her with Ian Beale and their son, Peter. Accounts describe Morris as having directed more than 200 episodes of the series. One report gave an exact total of 241, but that figure was not consistent across the coverage. He also worked as a producer on some episodes and directed the 2004 special Pat and Mo, which explored the earlier relationship between Pat Evans and Mo Harris.