Shannis
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Shannis (a portmanteau of Sharon and Dennis) is a term to describe the relationship between the characters of Dennis Rickman played by Nigel Harman and his adoptive sister Sharon Watts played by Letitia Dean, in the popular BBC1 soap opera EastEnders.
The term is said to have originated from fans on the official EastEnders message board, but various media sources subsequently used the phrase.
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[edit] The beginning
Sexual tension between the pair built during September 2003. When Dennis was beaten up by Phil's heavies, Sharon and Phil slapped one another in a packed Queen Vic. After Sharon belittled Dennis in comparison to their father, Den Watts, Dennis retorted that she didn't even know Den was alive. Sharon had thought that her adoptive father had died when he was shot by the canal. On the 29th September Dennis confessed his feelings for Sharon and they slept together. As a pretext to leave Sharon went to lock up Angie's Den, where her father greeted her with the words "Hello Princess".
[edit] Sharon and Dennis's forbidden affair
Their father's return prompted Sharon to tell Dennis that he reminded her too much of her father and that they could never be together but in time she found that she had been lying to herself and Dennis all along. Their fling remained a secret. Sharon was initially hostile to Den but soon seemed to forgive him. Dennis's unhappy childhood in care had left him psychologically troubled and desperate for Den to live up to his ideal of a father but Den was less interested in the son he'd never known he had than with daughters Sharon and Vicki. In March 2004 Dennis and Sharon finally realised their feelings and went public but Den tried various schemes to split them up, eventually succeeding in taunting Dennis into a rage during which he accidentally hit Sharon.
Dennis started seeing Zoe Slater but still loved Sharon and she soon became jealous. When Dennis gave Sharon a teddy he won at the fair Zoe became upset and Dennis broke up with her. After they spent the day looking after baby Bobby Beale together Dennis declared his love for Sharon but she wasn't convinced and Dennis ended up back with Zoe. In September 2004 Dennis started sneaking into Sharon's bedroom to have sex with her an arrangement which continued in secret but Den guessed when Zoe confided her concerns and tried to split them up again.
On Christmas Day 2004 Dennis and Sharon finally confessed to their family about their relationship but Den said they could only be together "over my dead body", perhaps foreshadowing his exhumation on their wedding day. Den told the distraught Zoe to fake a pregnancy, which was cruel knowing that Sharon had been diagnosed as infertile and Dennis could never be an absent father as Den had been towards him. Sharon left for America with her sister Vicki whilst Dennis stayed. Den exploited Zoe's urgent need to get pregnant to extort sex from his son's girlfriend and take revenge on Dennis for stealing Sharon's affections. When Dennis eventually caught them in bed together his father simply smirked "Hello son". Dennis told Den's wife Chrissie what had been going on and left the Square to see his beloved Sharon.
[edit] The end
On June 17, 2005 Sharon and Dennis returned together and on July 15 she accepted his proposal of marriage, much to Chrissie's chagrin; in their absence she had murdered their father and had been looking forward to seeing the back of them. The wedding went ahead on August 29 but the celebrations were interrupted by Sam Mitchell exhuming Den from the cellar of the Vic with a pickaxe. Sam was arrested but eventually Dennis and Sharon helped former foes Phil and Grant Mitchell free their sister and have Chrissie charged instead. On Christmas Day Sharon announced that the diagnosis of infertility had been mistaken as she was expecting Dennis's baby. Their joy lasted only a week as on New Year's Eve, Dennis was stabbed to death in the Square by a hooded hitman.
Six months later, news reached Walford that Sharon had given birth to a son called Dennis. By then, it had already been revealed that Danny Moon had killed Dennis under the orders of Johnny Allen. Danny was already dead, having been shot by his brother Jake. Johnny was later found guilty of ordering Dennis's murder (as well as killing Andy Hunter) but died later in 2006.
