EAGLE-eyed EastEnders viewers would have spotted a local hotel as the backdrop for last night s episode of the show. Sopwell House Hotel in Cottonmill Lane, St Albans, featured in the soap as the destination of a luxury break for characters Peggy and Pat.

EAGLE-eyed EastEnders viewers would have spotted a local hotel as the backdrop for last night's episode of the show.

Sopwell House Hotel in Cottonmill Lane, St Albans, featured in the soap as the destination of a luxury break for characters Peggy and Pat.

While trying to book some spa treatments, the pair agree to be witnesses for a civil ceremony between two men but the proceedings don't run smoothly.

Peggy and Pat find themselves sitting in the hotel grounds advising the men about whether or not to press ahead with the commitment to each other.

Following this, as the two women sit at the bar discussing Pat's recent revelation that she is moving to Spain, Ricky and Diane Butcher turn up out of the blue to bring them the news that their father, Frank, has died.

Mike Reid who played the famous character Frank Butcher in the show died last year and this week's EastEnders episodes are dedicated to his farewell.