'' is a popular Eastenders is currently the second most popular soap opera in the UK, behind
Coronation Street .
''EastEnders'' storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in
Albert Square , a Victorian square of terraced houses, a pub, a street market and various small businesses, in the
East End Of London ,
England .
The series was originally screened as two half-hour episodes a week. Today four episodes are broadcast each week on
BBC One and an
Omnibus edition screens on Sunday afternoons. It is one of the
UK 's highest-rated programmes, often appearing near or at the top of the week's
BARB ratings. Within eight months of its launch, it reached the number one spot in the ratings, and has almost consistently remained amongst the top-rated programmes in
Britain ever since. The average audience share for an episode is currently between 35 and 40%.
The invention of producer
Julia Smith and script editor
Tony Holland , ''EastEnders'' has remained significant in terms of the BBC's success and audience share, and also the history of British television drama, tackling many controversial and taboo issues previously unseen on mainstream television in the UK.
''EastEnders'' has won five
''EastEnders'' is set in the
In the past, fans have tried to establish the actual location of Walford within London.
Walford has the
Postal District of
E20 , and fans have also tried to pinpoint the location using this information. However, in reality London East postal districts stop at E18; the show's creators opted for E20 instead of E19 as it was thought to sound better.
1 The strongest claim to being the 'real' Albert Square is held by
Ridley Road Market in
Dalston , a short pedestrianised road that features a daily market and established street vendors. The postcode for the area,
E8 , was one of the working titles for the series.
In reality, at least two Albert Squares do exist in the
Little known facts are that the tube bridge is actually based on the bridge adjacent to BBC TV centre, the QUEEN VIC is based on the old pub that used to exist at the end of Scrubbs Lane and, the most remarkable, the Interior of the Fowlers' was based on a house in Hospital Road, Colchester in ESSEX.
See Also: List of characters from EastEnders
''EastEnders'' was built around the ideas of '
Clan s' and strong families, with each character having a place in the community. This theme encompasses the whole Square, making the entire community a family of sorts, prey to upsets and conflict, but all pulling together in times of trouble. Co-creator
Tony Holland was himself from a large East End family, and such families have typified ''EastEnders''. The first central family was
The Beale And Fowler Clan consisting of
Pauline Fowler , her husband
Arthur , and teenage children
Mark and
Michelle . Living nearby was Pauline's twin brother
Pete Beale , his wife
Kathy and their son
Ian . Pauline and Pete's mother was the domineering
Lou , who resided with Pauline and her family. Holland drew on the names of his own family for the characters.
2
The Watts and Mitchell families have been central to many notable ''EastEnders'' storylines — ''EastEnders'' in the 1980s having been largely dominated by the Watts, while the 1990s focused heavily on the Mitchells.
Peggy Mitchell , in particular, is notorious for her ceaseless repetition of such statements as "You're a Mitchell!" and "It's all about family!". The 2000s saw a new focus on the largely female Slater clan, before the return of an emphasis on the Watts and Mitchell families. Key people involved in the production of ''EastEnders'' have stressed how important the idea of strong families is to the programme.
Some families feature a stereotypical East End
Matriarch . Indeed the matriarchal role is one that has been seen in various reincarnations since the programme's inception, often depicted as the
Epicentre of the family unit.
3 The original matriarch was Lou Beale, though later examples include Pauline Fowler,
Mo Butcher ,
Mo Harris ,
Pat Evans and Peggy Mitchell. These characters are seen as being loud and interfering but most importantly, responsible for the well-being of the family and usually stressing the importance of family, reflecting on the past.
Female characters in general are central to the programme. Strong, brassy, long-suffering women who exhibit .
A gender balance in the show is maintained via the inclusion of various 'macho' male personalities such as Another recurring male character seen in ''EastEnders'' is the 'loser' or 'soft touch', males often comically under the thumb of their female counterparts, which have included Arthur Fowler,
Ricky Butcher and
Lofty Holloway .
Over the years ''EastEnders'' has typically featured a number of elderly residents, who are used to show vulnerability, .
''EastEnders'' has been known to feature a 'comedy double-act', originally demonstrated with the characters of Dot and Ethel, whose friendship was one of the serial's most enduring."
Remembering EastEnders' Ethel ", ''BBC''. URL last accessed on
2006-10-24 . Other examples include
Paul Priestly and
Trevor Short ,
Huw Edwards and
Lenny Wallace , and
Garry Hobbs and
Minty Peterson .
The majority of ''EastEnders''' characters are .
Middle-class characters do occasionally become regulars, but have been less successful and rarely become long-term characters. In the main, middle-class characters exist as villains, such as
James Wilmott-Brown and
Stella Crawford , or are used to promote positive
Liberal influences, such as
Colin Russell or
Rachel Kominski .
''EastEnders'' has always featured a culturally diverse cast which has included .
Other recurring characters that have appeared throughout the serial are 'lost girls' such as
Mary Smith and
Donna Ludlow ,
Delinquent s such as
Mandy Salter ,
Stacey Slater and
Jay Brown , villains such as
Nick Cotton and
Trevor Morgan , bitches such as
Cindy Beale and
Janine Evans and cockney '
Wide Boy s' or '
Wheeler Dealers ' such as
Frank Butcher and
Alfie Moon .
''EastEnders'' has a high cast turnover and characters are regularly changed in order to facilitate storylines or refresh the format."
The Soap Business ", ''polity.co.uk''. URL last accessed on
The show has also become known for the return of characters after they have left the show. Sharon Rickman has completed six separate stints on the programme, as did Frank Butcher, and writers stunned viewers by bringing back Den Watts, fourteen years after he had seemingly died."
Dirty Den 'to return' to Walford " ''Digital Spy''. URL last accessed
2006-09-24
See Also: List of EastEnders crew members
in Albert Square (
12 October 2006 ).]]
''EastEnders'' is filmed at the and are usually filmed about 6–7 weeks in advance of broadcast. During the winter period, filming often takes place up to 8 or 9 weeks in advance, due to less daylight for outdoor filming sessions. The famous
Two-handers (when only two actors appear in an episode) was originally done for speed; while a two-hander is being filmed, the rest of the cast can be making another episode.
Online fans have the chance to watch filming on the ''EastEnders'' and
George Street . The page also displays which episode is currently being filmed, the date it will be broadcast, and an extract of the script from that episode.
During the
''EastEnders'' covers a multitude of different issues within its storylines. However, ''EastEnders'' has, for the most part, remained a populist series and has generally avoided the arguably tougher stories of ''
Brookside ''. ''Brookside'' had also launched as a social realist drama, leading the way for more conservative soaps like ''EastEnders'' to follow. Arguably, the difference between them was that whilst ''Brookside'' confronted issues, it was more
Sensationalist and ''EastEnders'' tried to maintain
Realism .
The programme makers emphasised that it was to be about 'everyday life' in the inner city 'today' and regarded it as a 'slice of life'. Creator/producer Julia Smith declared that "We don't make life, we reflect it". She also said, "We decided to go for a realistic, fairly outspoken type of drama which could encompass stories about
Homosexuality ,
Rape ,
Unemployment ,
Racial Prejudice , etc., in a believable context. Above all, we wanted realism".
In the 1980s, ''EastEnders'' featured gritty storylines involving drugs and crime, representing the issues faced by working-class Britain much as ''
Coronation Street '' did in the 1960s.
Such storylines include the rape of Kathy Beale in 1988 and Michelle Fowler's
Teenage Pregnancy . The show also dealt with
Prostitution , mixed-race relationships,
Shoplifting ,
Sexism ,
Divorce ,
Domestic Violence and
Mugging s.
As the show progressed into the 1990s, ''EastEnders'' still featured hard-hitting issues such as Mark Fowler discovering he was
HIV Positive in 1991 and the death of his wife
Gill from
AIDS -related illness,
Murder ,
Adoption , Peggy Mitchell's
Breast Cancer and
Mastectomy , and
Phil Mitchell 's
Alcoholism and violence towards wife Kathy.
Aside from this, soap opera staples of youthful romance, jealousy, domestic rivalry, gossip and extra-marital affairs are regularly featured.
See Also: History of EastEnders
The idea for a new soap opera on BBC1 was conceived in 1983, by BBC executives. They gave the job of creating this new soap to script writer
Tony Holland and producer
Julia Smith , famous for their work together on ''
Z Cars ''. They created twenty-four original characters for the show, based upon Holland's own family, and people they remembered from their own expereinces in the East End.
They cast actors for their characters, and began to film the show at the
BBC Elstree Centre in
Borehamwood ,
Hertfordshire .
Simon May and Alan Jeapes created the title sequence and
Theme Tune , and the show with a working title of ''East 8'' was renamed ''Eastenders'', when Smith and Holland realised they had been phoning casting agencies for months asking whether they had "any real East Enders" on their books. Julia Smith thought "''Eastenders''" "looked ugly written down", and capitalised the second 'e', and thus the name ''EastEnders'' was born.
The show was first broadcast on
19 February 1985 , and became wildly popular, displacing ''Coronation Street'' from the top of the ratings for the rest of the 1980s, much of the 1990s, and to some extent in the 2000s.
'' cover marking the third episode in a week being added, and the Vic siege storyline.]]
For the past 20 years, ''EastEnders'' has remained at the centre of BBC One's primetime schedule.
''EastEnders'' is currently aired at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday and Thursday, and 8 p.m. on Monday and Friday. The
Omnibus is aired on Sunday, though the exact time differs.
Originally, ''EastEnders'' was shown twice weekly at 7 p.m., however in August 1985 it moved to 7:30 p.m. as Michael Grade did not want the soap running in direct competition with ''Emmerdale Farm''; the BBC had originally planned to take advantage of the 'summer break' that ''Emmerdale Farm'' usually took in order to capitalise on ratings, but ITV added extra episodes and repeats so that ''Emmerdale Farm'' was not taken off air over the summer. Realising the futility of the situation, Grade decided to move the show to the later 7:30 p.m. slot, but to avoid tabloid speculation that it was a 'panic move' on the BBC's behalf, they had to "dress up the presentation of that move in such a way as to protect the show" giving "all kinds of reasons" for the move.
In 1998, ''
EastEnders Revealed '' was launched on
BBC Choice (now
BBC Three ). The show takes a look behind the scenes of the ''EastEnders'' and investigates particular places, characters or families within ''EastEnders''. ''EastEnders Revealed'' is the only BBC Choice programme to last the entire life of the channel and is still running on BBC Three. An episode of ''EastEnders Revealed'' that was commissioned for BBC Three attracted 611,000 viewers.
In February 2005, there were reports that the ''EastEnders'' schedule was threatened due to production problems. Newspaper reports indicated that the show faced being taken off air for a fortnight after a storyline shortage. However, this was denied by the BBC. In March of the same year, as
Peter Fincham became the BBC One controller, rumours were sparked that ''EastEnders'' could air in a new time slot.
''EastEnders'' is usually repeated on BBC Three at 10 p.m. and old
As part of the BBC's digital push, ''
EastEnders Xtra '' was introduced in 2005. The show was presented by
Angellica Bell and was available to digital viewers at 8:30 p.m. on Monday nights. It was also shown after the Sunday omnibus. The series went behind the scenes of the show and spoke to some of the cast members.
A new breed of behind-the-scenes programmes have been broadcast on '' was broadcast on July 20, 2007 after the death of Stella Crawford and looked at the various female characters in EastEnders past and present.
On .
From .
On . There have also been adverts in magazines, featuring characters such as Dot Branning, May Wright, Dawn Swann, Stacey Slater and Bradley and Max Branning. The latest advert surrounds the changes about to take place in the Vic now that Mitchell Sisters, Ronnie and Roxy have taken the helm. There have also been adverts on radio.
''EastEnders'' is aired around the world in many It airs in Australia on
UKTV and is
Simulcast on
RTÉ One in Ireland.
In June 2004, the
Dish Satellite Network picked up ''EastEnders'', airing episodes starting at the point where
BBC America had ceased broadcasting them, offering the serial as a pay-per-view item. Dish first broadcast two weeks' worth of shows each week to catch up. In approximately February 2005, the programming reached the point of being one month behind the new shows being aired in the UK. At that point, Dish stopped its double-helping schedule, and now maintains the schedule of airing the new programmes consistently one month behind the UK schedule. Episodes from prior years are still shown on various PBS stations in the US.
The American in
New York City schedules two episodes on Saturday nights.
North Carolina 's public television outlet,
UNC-TV , runs two episodes per week, and receives generous financial support from the fundraising efforts of the North Carolina ''EastEnders'' Fan Club. Except on one occasion where public support dried up,
KTEH-TV of
San Jose, California , has run the series, between 2 to 4 episodes weekly, since the early 1990s. TPT, Twin Cities (Minneapolis/St Paul) airs 2 episodes every Friday evening. Most PBS stations are nearly 5 years behind in the storyline, and those showing fewer than four episodes weekly are falling further behind.
The series was screened in
Australia by the
ABC from 1987 until the early 1990s. Currently the series is seen in Australia only on pay-TV channel
UK.TV . In
New Zealand , it was shown by
TVNZ on TV One for several years, but is now on
Prime each weekday afternoon at 1pm. In
Ireland , it is shown on
RTÉ One at the same time as
BBC One , which is also widely received in the country. This sometimes creates the situation whereby RTÉ completes the airing of an episode before the BBC (usually only by a few seconds, or minutes at most). This is due to the same scheduled start times for the episodes (also differs by several seconds or minutes), but different advertisement formats which causes one to always marginally finish before the other.
EastEnders is also shown on the
''EastEnders'' proved highly popular and Appreciation Indexes reflected this, rising from 55–60 at the launch to 85–95 later on, a figure which was nearly ten points higher than the average for a British soap opera. Research suggested that people found the characters true to life, the plots believable and, importantly in the face of criticism of the content, people watched as a family and regarded it as viewing for all the family. Based on market research by BBC commissioning in 2003, ''EastEnders'' is most watched by 60–74 year olds, closely followed by 45–59 year olds. An average ''EastEnders'' episode attracts a total audience share between 35 and 40%. Aside from that, the 10 p.m. repeat showing on .
The launch show attracted 17 million viewers in 1985; this was perhaps helped by the amount of press attention it received, something which continues today."
The soap that just won't wash ", ''Rumah Kecil''. URL last accessed
2007-04-02 .
On
But in January 2005, after just four months, Kathleen Hutchison left ''EastEnders''. She is also said to have rejected several planned storylines and demanded re-writes. This was one of the reasons storylines such as the Real Walford football team were suddenly ignored. But through her short reign she led ''EastEnders'' to some of its most healthy viewing figures in months.
John Yorke immediately stepped into her position until a few weeks later when
In the autumn of 2005, ''EastEnders'' had seen its average audience share increase. This was thanks to a succession of ratings-grabbing storylines which included the arrest of . 12.6 million viewers watched as
Dennis Rickman was stabbed by a mystery attacker on
30 December 2005 , and the aftermath attracted 12.34 million viewers on
2 January 2006 .
Since then ''EastEnders'' has beaten ''Coronation Street'' in the ratings several times, although ''Coronation Street'' continues to average more on a regular basis. Ratings reached an all-time low in July 2006 with 5.2 million viewers, followed two days later by only 3.9 million when the series was scheduled against the action packed hour long episode of ''Emmerdale'' on ITV1 featuring several characters trapped in an exploding show home. "
3.9 m, Ratings drop to a new low " ''The Sun''. URL last accessed on
2006-07-15
Christmas Day 2006 saw ''EastEnders'' as the top rated soap; 10.7 million viewers watched to see the death of Pauline Fowler."
Vicar of Dibley tops Christmas TV ", ''
BBC News ''. URL last accessed
2007-01-02 In previous two weeks to that, it reached 9.90 and 9.85 million viewers.
In
''EastEnders'' received its second lowest ratings on
17 May 2007 , when 4.0 million viewers tuned in to see Ian Beale and Phil Mitchell's car crash, part of the show's most expensive stunt. This was also the lowest ever audience share, with just 19.6%. This was attributed to a conflicting one hour special episode of ''Emmerdale'' on ITV1 which revealed the perpetrator in the long running
Tom King Murder Mystery Storyline . ''Emmerdale'''s audience peaked at 9.1 million. Ratings for the 10 p.m. ''EastEnders'' repeat on BBC Three reached an all time high of 1.4 million.
1011
Between 2001 and 2002, ''EastEnders'' was the 10th most searched-for TV show on the Internet."
Most searched-for TV show " ''
''EastEnders'' holds the record for the most watched soap episode in Britain. In 2001, ''EastEnders'' went head to head with rival soap '' Since ''EastEnders'' began in 1985, at least one of its episodes have rated higher than any other British soap opera throughout each decade. This includes the 1980s, 1990s and so far the 2000s.
''EastEnders'' has received both praise and criticism for most of its storylines, which have dealt with difficult themes, such as violence, rape and murder.
In 1997 several episodes were shot and set in Ireland, resulting in criticisms for portraying the Irish in a negatively stereotypical way. Ted Barrington, the Irish Ambassador to London at the time, described the portrayal of Ireland as an "unrepresentative caricature," stating he was worried by the negative stereotypes and the images of drunkenness, backwardness and isolation. Jana Bennett, the BBC's then director of production, later apologised for the episodes, stating on BBC1's news bulletin: "It is clear that a significant number of viewers have been upset by the recent episodes of ''EastEnders'', and we are very sorry, because the production team and programme makers did not mean to cause any offence." A year later BBC chairman Christopher Bland admitted that as result of the Irish-set EastEnders episodes, the station failed in its pledge to represent all groups accurately and avoid reinforcing prejudice.
BBC sets out pledges , ''BBC News''. URL last accessed
2007-06-21 .
Mary Whitehouse argued at the time that ''EastEnders'' represented a violation of "family viewing time" and that it undermined the
Watershed policy. She regarded ''EastEnders'' as a fundamental assault on the family and morality itself. She made reference to representation of family life and emphasis on psychological and emotional violence within the show. She was also critical of language such as "bleeding", "bloody hell", "bastard" and "for
Christ 's sake". However, Whitehouse also praised the programme, describing
Michelle Fowler 's decision not to have an abortion as a "very positive storyline". She also felt that ''EastEnders'' had been cleaned up as a result of her protests, though she later commented that ''EastEnders'' had returned to its old ways. Her criticisms were widely reported in the tabloid press as ammunition in its existing rivalry with the BBC. The stars of ''Coronation Street'' in particular aligned themselves with Mary Whitehouse, gaining headlines such as "STREETS AHEAD! RIVALS LASH SEEDY EASTENDERS" and "CLEAN UP SOAP! Street Star Bill Lashes 'Steamy' EastEnders".
The long-running storyline of Mark Fowler's
HIV was so successful in raising awareness that in 1999, a survey by the National Aids Trust found teenagers got most of their information about HIV from the soap, though one campaigner noted that in some ways the storyline was not reflective of what was happening at the time as the condition was more common among the
Gay Community . Still, Mark struggled with various issues connected to his HIV status, including public fears of contamination, a marriage breakdown connected to his inability to have children and the side effects of combination therapies. However, in 2003, when the makers of the series decided to write Mark out of the series, he left Walford to travel the world, and news of his death came the
Following Year .
The
Child Abuse storyline with Kat Slater and her uncle Harry saw calls to the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (
NSPCC ) go up by 60%. The chief executive of the NSPCC praised the storyline for covering the subject in a direct and sensitive way, coming to the conclusion that people were more likely to report any issues relating to child protection because of it. In 2002, ''EastEnders'' also won an award from the Mental Health Media Awards held at BAFTA for this storyline.
''EastEnders'' is often criticised for being too violent, most notably during a
Domestic Violence storyline between Little Mo Morgan and her husband Trevor. As ''EastEnders'' is shown pre-watershed, there were worries that some scenes in this storyline were too graphic for its audience. Complaints against a scene in which Little Mo's face was pushed in
Gravy on Christmas Day were upheld by the Broadcasting Standards Council. However, a helpline after this episode attracted over 2000 calls.
Erin Pizzey , who became internationally famous for having started one of the first
Women's Refuges , said that ''EastEnders'' had done more to raise the issue of violence against women in one story than she had done in twenty-five years.
Originally there was a storyline written that the whole Ferreira family killed their pushy father
In 2003,
Shaun Williamson , who played
Barry Evans , said that the programme had become much grittier over the past ten to fifteen years, and found it "frightening" that parents let their young children watch.
The BBC was accused of anti-religious bias by a and it ridicules
Religion to some extent."
In July 2006, former cast member
In August 2006, a scene involving Carly Wicks and Carly and Jake's sex scenes were later removed from the Sunday omnibus edition.
The showdown of Rob, Dawn and May's storyline where May stated to Dawn she would give her an elective cesarean (Dawn being handcuffed to the bed) prompted 200 complaints reported by The Sun "
200 complaints for eastenders " "The Sun". URL last accessed
2007-07-20
The 2007 domestic abuse storyline involving Ben Mitchell and Stella Crawford has attracted sixty complaints from viewers, who found scenes where Ben was attacked by bullies as Stella looked on "upsetting"."
Fan fury at Ben's bullying ", ''The Sun''. URL last accessed
2007-03-31 .
A scene was cut from the omnibus shown on .
In May 2007, it was decided that the ending of a current storyline featuring characters of . but the BBC has defended its actions by stating that "In the current circumstances it was felt any storyline that included a child abduction would be inappropriate and could cause distress to our viewers."
Comedian
Bill Bailey once parodied the show, singing "Everyone is going to die" to the tune of the theme music. He continued, "It's so depressing, isn't it? East London is a vibrant place".
See Also: EastEnders in popular culture
Since its premiere in
1985 , ''EastEnders'' has had a large impact on
Popular Culture . In its 22 year history, it has been referred to in many different media, including songs and television programmes.
See Also: EastEnders books
Many books have been written about ''EastEnders''. Notably, from 1985 to 1988, author and television writer
Hugh Miller wrote seventeen
Novel s, detailing the lives of many of the show's original characters before 1985, when events on screen took place.
Kate Lock also wrote four novels centered around more recent characters; Steve Owen, Grant Mitchell, Bianca Jackson and
Tiffany Mitchell . Lock also wrote a character guide entitled ''Who's Who in EastEnders'' in 2000, examining main characters from the first fifteen years of the show.
Show creators Julia Smith and Tony Holland also wrote a book about the show in 1987, entitled ''EastEnders: The Inside Story'', telling the story of how the show made it to screen. Two special anniversary books have been written about the show; ''EastEnders: The First 10 Years: A Celebration'' by Colin Brake in 1995 and ''EastEnders: 20 Years in Albert Square'' by Rupert Smith in 2005.
