[Newshound47]

Wonder why that is? Seems very strange

The spoilers suggest it might just be a creative reason.

[Nobby]

The following days episode is replaced by a Garden Rescue repeat.

It must either be a special EastEnders (the zombie rises from the cafe floor maybe) or Garden Rescue is just a placeholder that might be replaced with something else nearer the time.

www.bbc.co.uk 

BBC One - Garden Rescue, Series 7 (Shortened Versions), Chorlton
Charlie takes on Lee to design a garden inspired by New Orleans.
  Source: www.bbc.co.uk

[JasonB]

How far in to the series are Drama now? They must be catching up quite fast?

[James2001]

Wonder why that is? Seems very strange

Probably sport related, usually is/

[Ash101]

Probably sport related, usually is/

Doesn’t look like it. Garden Rescue on in its place on Thursday?

[excel99]

How far in to the series are Drama now? They must be catching up quite fast?

Spring 2005

The spoilers suggest it might just be a creative reason.

I could be reading too much into this, but the BBC schedule page does list it as a single one hour episode, rather than two 30 minute episodes
www.bbc.co.uk 

BBC One London - Schedules, Wednesday 17 April 2024
This is the daily broadcast schedule for BBC One London
  Source: www.bbc.co.uk

[IanJRedman]

Tomorrow's episode will feature inserts of Emma Barton and Jamie Borthwick running the London Marathon in character as Honey and Jay (recorded today, obviously, with crews at the start and finish lines, Tower Bridge and the Cutty Sark). Because these scenes have been recorded and post-produced so close to transmission, the episode will release on iPlayer at 1pm rather than 6am.

[London Lite]

Tomorrow's episode will feature inserts of Emma Barton and Jamie Borthwick running the London Marathon in character as Honey and Jay (recorded today, obviously, with crews at the start and finish lines, Tower Bridge and the Cutty Sark). Because these scenes have been recorded and post-produced so close to transmission, the episode will release on iPlayer at 1pm rather than 6am.

The scene with Billy with Honey and Jay which was supposedly in Blackheath warming up I don't think was filmed yesterday. It looked like it'd been filmed in a nearby field to Elstree and I'm not sure about the scenes after they finished the marathon were filmed on the day either. Both actors looked like they hadn't just finished the course. I just can't see them just running for six hours and then filming that scene.

However what was certainly filmed yesterday were the scenes filmed at the start line, Greenwich and Tower Bridge which in the latter scene featured other actors talking to them in character briefly.

[Flux]

The scene with Billy with Honey and Jay which was supposedly in Blackheath warming up I don't think was filmed yesterday. It looked like it'd been filmed in a nearby field to Elstree and I'm not sure about the scenes after they finished the marathon were filmed on the day either. Both actors looked like they hadn't just finished the course. I just can't see them just running for six hours and then filming that scene.

However what was certainly filmed yesterday were the scenes filmed at the start line, Greenwich and Tower Bridge which in the latter scene featured other actors talking to them in character briefly.

I think that all probably matches what was to be expected. Clearly anything important for the narrative was shot in advance, as the actual marathon footage would be - to a degree - unpredictable and needed to be droppable. It was done very well, although I'm sure the footage using Gaby Logan's voice incorrectly used all tracks of an export, with the world feed audio mixed in with the BBC feed, since her commentary seemed very low in the mix.

I did have to laugh at the Daily Fail going all out clickbait again though with the headline "EastEnders bosses DELAY release of upcoming episode" (in order to edit in the marathon footage). What did they expect? That they'd be releasing it at 6am before the marathon had even been run?!

[UTVLifer]

They filmed the pre/post marathon scenes on location in the weeks before the marathon itself

youtu.be