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What is EastEnders?

Wondering what all the fuss is about? Here's a whistle stop guide to EastEnders.

Source: Wikipedia

Introduction

EastEnders is a long-running, popular British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985. It currently ranks as one of the most watched shows in the United Kingdom. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End of London. The series primarily centres around the residents of Albert Square, a Victorian square of terraced houses, and its neighbouring streets, namely Bridge Street, Turpin Road and George Street, and which encompasses a pub, street market, night club, community centre, cafe and various small businesses, in addition to a park and allotments.

The series was originally screened as two half-hour episodes per week. Today, four episodes are broadcast each week on BBC One. 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 remained, almost consistently, among the top-rated TV programmes in Britain ever since.

Created by producer Julia Smith and script editor Tony Holland, EastEnders has remained a significant programme in terms of the BBC's success and audience share, and also in the history of British television drama, tackling many controversial and taboo issues previously unseen on mainstream television in the UK.

Where is Walford?

EastEnders is set in the fictional London Borough of Walford. However, the central focus of the show is that of the fictional Victorian square named Albert Square. The fictional Albert Square was built around the early 20th century, named after Prince Albert (1819–1861), the husband of Queen Victoria (1819–1901, reigned 1837–1901). Thus, central to Albert Square is The Queen Victoria Public House.

Fans have tried to establish the actual location of Walford within London. Walford East is a fictional tube station for Walford, and with the aid of a map that was first seen on air in 1996, it has been established that Walford East is located between Bow Road and West Ham, which realistically would replace Bromley-by-Bow.

Walford has the postal district of E20. The postcode district was selected as if it were part of the actual E postcode area which covers much of East London although the next unused postcode district in the area was, and still is, E19. The E stands for Eastern. In 1917, the current postal districts in London were assigned alphabetically according to the name of the main sorting office for each district. If Walford had been assigned in this scheme, it would have been given E17, which is the current postcode district for Walthamstow. Fans have tried to pinpoint the location using this postcode, 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.

In reality, at least two Albert Squares do exist in the East End of London, one in Stratford and the other in Ratcliff, E1. However, the show's producers actually based the Square's design on the real life Fassett Square in Dalston. Ridley Road Market is a short pedestrianised road that features a daily market and established street vendors, that includes Fassett Square at one end and Walford Road at the other. The postcode for the area, E8, was one of the working titles for the series. The name Walford is both a street in Dalston where Tony Holland lived and a blend of Walthamstow and Stratford—the areas of London where the creators were born. Other parts of the Square and set interiors are actually based on various other locations. The bridge is based upon the one adjacent to BBC TVC, the Queen Vic on the old pub at the end of Scrubs Lane and the interior to the Fowlers is actually based on house in Manor Road Colchester, close to where the Supervising Art director lived. Adding to the realism of the setting is the local newspaper, the fictional Walford Gazette, mirroring the area's own Hackney Gazette, in which local news events such as the arrests or murders of characters appear.

Characters

EastEnders was built around the ideas of relationships 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. Pauline's twin brother Pete Beale, his wife Kathy and their son Ian all lived nearby. 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.

The Watts and Mitchell families have been central to many notable EastEnders storylines—EastEnders in the 1980s having been largely dominated by the Wattses, 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. From 2006, the Branning family became an increasing focus of many of the show's storylines, the family an extension of the popular Jackson family of the 1990s.

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 centre of the family unit. The original matriarch was Lou Beale, though later examples include Pauline Fowler, Mo Butcher, Mo Harris, Pat Evans, Peggy Mitchell and Zainab Masood. 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.

As is traditional in British soaps, female characters in general are central to the programme. Strong, brassy, long-suffering women who exhibit diva-like behaviour and stoically battle through an array of tragedy and misfortune. Such characters include Angie Watts, Kathy Mitchell, Sharon Rickman and Pat Evans. Conversely, there are female characters who handle tragedy less well, depicted as eternal victims and endless sufferers, who include Sue Osman, Little Mo Mitchell, Laura Beale and Lisa Fowler. The 'tart with a heart' is another recurring character, often popular with viewers. Often, their promiscuity masks a hidden vulnerability and a desire to be loved. Such characters have included Pat, Tiffany Mitchell, Kat Moon and Stacey Slater.

A gender balance in the show is maintained via the inclusion of various 'macho' male personalities such as Phil and Grant Mitchell, 'bad boys' such as Den Watts and Dennis Rickman and 'heartthrobs' such as Simon Wicks and Jamie Mitchell. Another recurring male character type is the smartly dressed businessman, often involved in gang culture and crime and seen as a local authority figure. Examples include Steve Owen, Jack Dalton, Andy Hunter and Johnny Allen. Following criticism aimed at the show's over-emphasis on 'gangsters' in 2005, such characters have been significantly reduced. 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. Other recurring characters that have appeared throughout the serial are 'lost girls' such as Mary Smith and Donna Ludlow, delinquents 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 boys' or 'wheeler dealers' such as Frank Butcher and Alfie Moon.

Over the years, EastEnders has typically featured a number of elderly residents, who are used to show vulnerability, nostalgia, stalwart-like attributes and are sometimes used for comedic purposes. The original elderly residents included Lou Beale, Ethel Skinner and Dot Cotton. They were later joined by the likes of Jules Tavernier, Marge Green, Nellie Ellis and Jim Branning. Focus on elderly characters has decreased since the show's inception. The programme has more recently included a higher number of teenagers and successful young adults in a bid to capture the younger television audience. This has spurred criticism, most notably from the actress Anna Wing, who played Lou Beale in the show. She commented "I don't want to be disloyal, but I think you need a few mature people in a soap because they give it backbone and body... if all the main people are young it gets a bit thin and inexperienced. It gets too lightweight."

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. 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 working-class. 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, May Wright 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 black, Asian, Turkish and Polish characters. "The expansion of minority representation signals a move away from the traditional soap opera format, providing more opportunities for audience identification with the characters and hence a wider appeal." Despite this, the programme has been criticised by the Commission for Racial Equality, who argued in 2002 that EastEnders was not giving a realistic representation of the East End's "ethnic make-up". They suggested that the average proportion of visible minority faces on EastEnders was substantially lower than the actual ethnic minority population in East London boroughs, and it therefore reflected the East End in the 1960s, not the East End of the 2000s. Furthermore, it was suggested that an element of "tokenism" and stereotyping surrounded many of these minority characters. The programme has since attempted to address these issues. A sari shop was opened and various characters of differing ethnicities were introduced throughout 2006 and 2007, including the Fox family, the Masoods, and various background artists. This was part of producer Diederick Santer's plan to "diversify", to make EastEnders "feel more 21st century". On 24 February 2009, for the first time in the soap's history, an entire episode was screened consisting entirely of Black actors. EastEnders have had varying success with ethnic minority characters. Possibly the least successful were the Indian Ferreira family, who were not well received by critics or viewers and were dismissed as unrealistic by the Asian community in the UK.

EastEnders has a high cast turnover and characters are regularly changed in order to facilitate storylines or refresh the format. The show has also become known for the return of characters after they have left the show. Sharon Rickman has so far completed six separate stints on the programme, as did Frank Butcher, and writers stunned viewers by bringing back Den Watts 14 years after he was believed to have died. Speaking extras, including Tracy the barmaid (who has been in the show since 1986), have made appearances throughout the show's duration, without being the focus of any major storylines. The character of Nick Cotton gained a reputation for making constant exits and returns since the programme's first episode.

Pauline Fowler's death in December 2006 means that, as of 2009, Ian Beale is the only character to have been in EastEnders from the first episode without officially leaving. Other long-running characters include Dot Branning who joined in July 1985 but had a four-year break in the mid 1990s, Pat Evans who first appeared in 1986 and has never officially left and Ricky Butcher, who first appeared in 1988 but with substantial breaks since 2000.

Filming

EastEnders is filmed at the BBC Elstree Centre in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire. An aerial photo of the set can be seen here. Four episodes are filmed per week. When EastEnders went to four episodes a week, more studio space was needed. As a result, Top of the Pops was moved from its studio at Elstree to BBC Television Centre in April 2001.

The episodes are usually filmed about eight weeks in advance of broadcast; however, during the winter period, filming often takes place up to 12 weeks in advance, due to less daylight for outdoor filming sessions.

Several times a year, EastEnders is filmed on location, away from the studios at Elstree. These episodes have a practical function and are the result of EastEnders making a "double bank", when an extra week's worth of episodes are recorded at the same time as the regular schedule, enabling the production of the programme to stop for a two-week break at Christmas. The famous two-handers (when only two actors appear in an episode) were originally done for speed; while a two-hander is being filmed, the rest of the cast can be making another episode.

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Places of Interest

In his final week in charge of the show, read what Diederick Santer though of his time in the show and find some EXCLUSIVE tidbits of things to come!

Visit our sister site, 'fictionbox' where you can create stories, publish them and get feedback in our Forums.

Walford Web and the Forums are on Twitter! Follow us today but BEWARE OF SPOILERS!

Read our EXCLUSIVE interview with Adam Woodyatt, and find out more about the man behind Ian Beale.

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