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EastEnders

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EastEnders is a popular BBC television soap opera which was first broadcast on February 19, 1985.


Setting

It is set in and around the fictional Albert Square, ostensibly located in the equally fictional London borough of Walford in London's East End. Much of the action revolves around the street market and the nearby public house, the Queen Victoria. There is also a launderette, a cafe, a mini-supermarket and a nightclub.

Walford has a fictional London postal district, London E20, and a fictional tube station, Walford East, which is located on the EastEnders tube map in the position normally occupied by the real Bromley-by-Bow tube station.

It is actually filmed at Borehamwood to the north-west of London.

Broadcasting times

EastEnders is currently broadcast in the U.K. at the following dates/times on BBC One:

  • Monday - 8:00 PM
  • Tuesday - 7:30 PM
  • Thursday - 7:30 PM
  • Friday - 8:00 PM
  • Sunday - 1:30 PM (omnibus)

EastEnders is usually repeated on BBC Three at 10:00 PM. Old reruns are usually broadcast on UKTV Gold.

Storylines

The opening episodes had explored social-realist type storylines: unemployment, poverty, racism, family and social problems. In the early years stories frequently focused on the families of Pauline Fowler (Wendy Richard) and her brother Pete Beale. Pauline's husband Arthur (Bill Treacher) battled unemployment, financial hardship, and his tough mother-in-law Lou Beale (Anna Wing). An opening story was the unplanned pregnancy of Pauline. Lou died in 1988. After much tumoil and two stints in prison for theft, Arthur died in 1996.

As the series progressed it slowly became less realistic with greater emphasis on sensational audience-grabbing stories. Storylines increasingly focused on secret partner-switch type affairs concerning closely-related married couples in the show. Brothers Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) and Grant Mitchell (Ross Kemp) each had affairs with each other's partner, Bianca Jackson had an affair with her mother's fiance. Today Pauline Fowler and Pete's son Ian Beale (Adam Woodyatt) are the only characters to have remained in the series its entire run. Another enduring presence is Pete's ex-wife, the monumental Pat (Pam St Clement) who has been in the series since 1986. Initially a hard bitch, Pat has now softened and is a much more sympathetic character.

The Queen Victoria, or the Queen Vic as it is known to its customers, is the primary meeting place for the show's characters and is the site of many of the show's major storylines. The first known landlord, Dirty Den Watts (played by Leslie Grantham), endured an acrimonious divorce from his wife Angie (Anita Dobson), only to be shot and presumed killed by gangsters. A subsequent landlady Peggy Mitchell (Barbara Windsor) emerged as a leading character in the 1990s, enduring breast cancer, marriage to the rogueish Frank Butcher (Mike Reid) who ultimately cheated on Peggy with his ex-wife Pat, and coping with the on-going problems of her adult sons Phil and Grant.

The highly popular Slater family were introduced in September 2000 and quickly began to dominate storylines. The Slaters were father Charlie, his adult daughters Lynne, Kat, Little Mo and the teenaged Zoe, and Charlie's mother-in-law Mo Harris and Lynne's fiance Gary Hobbs. After several months it was revealed to viewers that Zoe was not Charlie's daughter; she was actually the daughter of her "sister" Kat, born after Kat had been raped by Charlie's brother when she was just 14. The Slaters have also endured the family partner-swap plotlines, including Kat and Zoe both having intense love affairs with local Doctor Anthony Trueman. Lynne Slater's fiance Gary had also had a secret crush on Kat, and would later have a one-night-stand with Ian Beale's wife Laura. Much to everyone's displeasure this incident produced a baby son just as Lynne herself was trying but failing to conceive. Other sensational storylines with little basis in realism included the Who Shot Phil Mitchell story in 2001, and the shock return from the dead of Dirty Den Watts in October 2003.

Background and Popularity

The show started airing on the first night of a major ident change for the channel, with the show representing the "new face" of the BBC. Critics first derided the new offering, as it was clear that BBC wished to bridge the gap between the network and its competitor, ITV. One news source went as far as to accuse the channel of only having the guts to air the soap after Patricia Phoenix, England's premier soap diva, left Coronation Street.

It was the brass at BBC who had the last laugh, however, as EastEnders became wildly popular and displaced Coronation Street from the top of the ratings for the remainder of the 1980s. While the show's ratings have fallen since its initial surge in popularity, the programme continues to be largely lucrative for the BBC.

EastEnders is one of the more popular programmes on British television and used to regularly attract between 15 and 20 million viewers. Its main rival for ratings is usually Coronation Street on rival station ITV. In order to maximise ratings the BBC and ITV are usually careful to avoid scheduling clashes between their flagship soaps. A highly-publicized scheduling conflict in 1994 had Coronation Street winning handily, and since then EastEnders has not aired at the same time as its rival.

On 20 September, 2004 Louise Berridge, the then executive producer of the show quit following massive criticism of the show. The following day the show received its lowest ever ratings (6.2 million) when it went head-to-head against Emmerdale, ITV's usually less-popular soap, which was watched by 8.1 million. A few weeks later the producers announced a major shake-up of the cast with the highly-criticised Ferreira family, first seen in June 2003, set to leave at the beginning of 2005.

EastEnders has generally carried a reputation for hard and gritty storylines. However it has generally remained a populist series and has generally avoided the even tougher storylining and dramatic heights of Brookside, which tackled issues in a more direct way. Brookside was decommissioned in 2003 after a twenty-year run, due to declining ratings. Brookside lead the way for more conservative soaps to follow: EastEnders, whilst gritty, required the creative input of Brookside's creators such as Mal Young to maintain its ratings.

International screenings

It is aired around the world in many English-speaking countries, including New Zealand and Canada. The show aired in the United States until BBC America ceased telecasts of the serial in 2003, amidst fan protests (although as of 2005, episodes are still shown on various PBS stations in the US). The series was screened in Australia by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation from 1987 until the early 1990s. Currently the series is seen in Australia only on cable TV's UK.TV.


Cast

Present

Soon to depart

Past

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