Eastenders - just the facts ( A article written in 2007 )

Eastenders - just the facts ( A article written in 2007 )

EastEnders is a popular BBC television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC1 on 19 February 1985 & continuing to date.

EastEnders storylines examine the domestic & professional lives of the people who live & work in Albert Square, a Victorian square of terraced houses, a pub, a street market & 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 & 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, & has almost consistently remained amongst the top-rated programmes in Britain ever since. The average audience share for an episode is currently between 45 & 50%.

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

EastEnders has won five BAFTA Awards, & consistently won the Inside Soap Award for 'Best Soap' for ten years running, as well as eight National Television Awards for 'Most Popular Serial Drama' & five awards for 'Best Soap' at the British Soap Awards. It has also been inducted into the Rose d'Or Hall of Fame.

Setting
EastEnders is set in the fictional London Borough of Walford. However, the central focus of the show is that of the equally 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.

In the past, fans have tried to establish the actual location of Walford within London. Walford East is a fictional tube station for Walford, & 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 & West Ham, which realistically would replace Bromley-by-Bow.

Walford has the postal district of E20, & 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.

The strongest claim to being the 'real' Albert Square is held by Broadway Market in Hackney, a short pedestrianised road that features a weekly market & 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 East End of London, one in Stratford & the other in Ratcliff, E1. However, the show's producers actually based the Square's design on the real life Fassett Square in the East End. The name Walford is a portmanteau of Walthamstow & Stratford — the areas of London where the creators were born.

EastEnders was built around the ideas of 'clans' of strong families & each character having a place in the community. Co-creator Tony Holland was himself from a large East End family, & such families have typified EastEnders. The first central family was the Beale & Fowler clan consisting of Pauline Fowler, her husband Arthur, & teenage children Mark & Michelle. Living nearby was Pauline's twin brother Pete Beale, his wife Kathy & their son Ian. Pauline & Pete's mother was the domineering Lou, who resided with Pauline & her family. Holland drew on the names of his own family for the characters.

The Watts & Mitchell families have been central to many of the notable EastEnders storylines & Peggy Mitchell, in particular, is notorious for her ceaseless repetition of such statements as "You're a Mitchell!" & "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 & Mitchell families. Key people involved in the production of EastEnders have stressed how important this idea of strong families is to the programme.

Some families feature a stereotypical East End matriarch such as Lou Beale, Pauline Fowler, Mo Harris, Pat Evans & Peggy Mitchell. These characters are seen as being loud & interfering but most importantly, responsible for the well-being of the family & usually stressing the importance of family, reflecting on the past.

Dot Cotton, Ethel Skinner & Lou Beale.EastEnders also features a number of elderly residents, who are used to show vulnerability & stalwart-like characters & sometimes for comedic purposes. The original elderly residents included Lou Beale, Ethel Skinner & Dot Cotton. Over the years they have been joined by the likes of Jules Tavernier, Mo Butcher, Nellie Ellis, Jim Branning, Patrick Trueman & Mo Harris.

EastEnders has been known to have a "comedy double-act" in the show, previously demonstrated with the characters of Huw Edwards & Lenny Wallace, & currently seen with Garry Hobbs & Minty Peterson.

Another recurring character type is the smartly dressed businessman, often involved in gang culture & crime, who is seen as a local authority figure. Examples include Den Watts, James Wilmott-Brown, Steve Owen, Jack Dalton, Andy Hunter & Johnny Allen.

After the loss of many much-loved characters in 2005 & early 2006, such as Sam & Little Mo Mitchell, Chrissie Watts, Zoe Slater, Nana, Kat & Alfie Moon, Johnny Allen, Sharon & Dennis Rickman the first half of 2006 saw many new long-term arrivals. These included the Wicks family, Deano, Carly & Kevin, further members of the Branning family, Bradley, Max, Tanya, Lauren & Abi & the Fox family, Denise, Chelsea & Libby Fox. Other characters introduced were Bert Atkinson & his grandson Jay Brown, Rob Minter & May Wright, Sean Slater, Stella Crawford, Preeti Choraria, Li Chong & Shirley Carter. Grant & Courtney Mitchell also returned for three months, & Ben Mitchell returned as a permanent character.

The show has also become known for the return of characters after they have left the show. Sharon Rickman has departed seven times, & returned six times, Frank Butcher has completed six separate stints on the programme, & writers stunned viewers by bringing back Den Watts, fourteen years after he had seemingly died.
List of EastEnders crew members

EastEnders is filmed at the BBC Elstree Centre in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire. There are four episodes filmed per week, & 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 they film that, the rest of the cast can be making another episode.

Online fans have the chance to watch filming on the EastEnders webcam, which is on the official BBC EastEnders website, here. It shows updated stills of Albert Square, Turpin Road & George Street. The page also displays which episode is currently being filmed, the date it will be broadcast, & an extract of the script from that episode.

During the 2006 FIFA World Cup, actors filmed short scenes following the tournament's events, that were edited into the programme in the following episode. On 8 February 2007, heavy snow fell on the set of EastEnders, & filming had to be cancelled as the scenes due to be filmed on the day were to be transmitted in April.

Social realism
In the 1980s, EastEnders featured gritty storylines involving drugs & crime, representing the issues faced by working-class Britain much as Coronation Street did in the 1960s.

However EastEnders has, for the most part, remained a populist series & 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 & EastEnders tried to maintain realism.

The programme makers emphasised that it was to be about 'everyday life' in the inner city 'today' & 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".

Such storylines include Sue & Ali Osman's baby's cot death, Nick Cotton's homophobia, drug addiction, drug dealing & murders of Reg Cox & Eddie Royle the rape of Kathy Beale in 1988 & Michelle Fowler's teenage pregnancy. The show also dealt with prostitution, mixed-race relationships, shoplifting, sexism, divorce & muggings.

As the show progressed into the 1990s, EastEnders still featured hard-hitting issues such as Mark Fowler discovering he was HIV positive in 1991 & the death of his wife Gill from AIDS-related illness, murder, adoption, Peggy Mitchell's breast cancer & mastectomy, & Phil Mitchell's alcoholism & domestic violence towards wife Kathy.

In the early 2000s, EastEnders covered the issue of euthanasia with long-established characters Ethel Skinner & Dot Cotton, Kat Slater's abuse by her uncle Harry as a child, the domestic abuse of Little Mo Morgan by husband Trevor, Sonia Jackson giving birth at the age of fifteen & then putting the baby up for adoption, & Janine Butcher's prostitution, agoraphobia & drug addiction. The soap has also recently tackled the issues of illiteracy, mental health, & carers of people who have mental conditions. This has been illustrated with mother & daughter Jean & Stacey Slater; Jean suffers from bipolar disorder, & Stacey was her carer (this storyline won a Mental Health Media Award in September 2006 ). Mental health issues were also confronted in 1996 when Joe Wicks developed schizophrenia. The issue of illiteracy was highlighted by the characters of Keith & Darren Miller. EastEnders has also covered the issue of Down syndrome, as Billy & Honey's baby, Janet, has been born with the condition. EastEnders is currently covering child abuse with its storyline involving Phil Mitchell's 10-year-old son Ben & lawyer girlfriend Stella Crawford.

Aside from this, soap opera staples of youthful romance, jealousy, domestic rivalry, kitchen disasters, gossip, community fund-raising events & extra-marital affairs are regularly featured.

Spoiler warning: Plot & /or ending details follow.

History of EastEnders

Julia Smith & Tony Holland, the creators of EastEnders.EastEnders was created by script writer Tony Holland & producer Julia Smith. They created twenty-four original characters for the show; Arthur, Pauline, Mark & Michelle Fowler, Lou, Pete, Kathy & Ian Beale, Den, Angie & Sharon Watts, Ali & Sue Osman, Kelvin & Tony Carpenter, Saeed & Naima Jeffery, Lofty Holloway, Mary Smith, Ethel Skinner, Nick Cotton, Dr. Harold Legg, Andy O'Brien & Debbie Wilkins.

They cast actors for their characters, & began to film the show at the BBC Elstree Centre in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire. Simon May & Alan Jeapes created the title sequence, & the show with a working title of East 8 was renamed Eastenders. Julia Smith thought "Eastenders" "looked ugly written down", & capitalised the second 'e', the name EastEnders was born.

The show was first broadcast on 19 February 1985.

Popularity
EastEnders proved highly popular & 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 British soap opera. Research suggested that people found the characters true to life, the plots believable & , importantly in the face of criticism of the content, people watched as a family & regarded it as viewing for all the family.

On Christmas Day 1986, EastEnders attracted a massive 30.15 million viewers who tuned in to see Den Watts hand over divorce papers to wife Angie. This remains the highest rated episode of a soap in British television history.

EastEnders is one of the more popular programmes on British television & regularly attracts between 7 & 13 million viewers & while the show's ratings have fallen since its initial surge in popularity & it generally rates lower than its ITV rival Coronation Street, the programme continues to be largely successful for the BBC.

Its main rival for ratings is usually Coronation Street. In order to maximise ratings, the BBC & ITV are usually careful to avoid scheduling clashes between their flagship soaps. In 2001 however, the soaps clashed for the first time. EastEnders won the battle with 8.4 million viewers (41% share) whilst Coronation Street lagged behind with 7.3 million viewers (36% share).

On 21 September 2004, Louise Berridge, the then executive producer, quit following criticism of the show. The following day the show received its lowest ever ratings at that time (6.2 million) when ITV scheduled an hour long episode of Emmerdale against it. Emmerdale was watched by 8.1 million people. The poor ratings motivated the press into reporting viewers were bored with implausible & ill thought out storylines. Kathleen Hutchison, who had been the executive producer of hospital drama Holby City, was announced as the new executive producer. Within a few weeks, she 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. Kathleen Hutchison went on to axe Sasha Perkins, Andy Hunter, Kate Mitchell, Juley Smith & Derek Harkinson. Whilst she was there, she set about reversing the previous executive producer's work. It indicated a fresh start for EastEnders after declining ratings in 2004.

But in January 2005, after just four months, it was the end for Kathleen Hutchison. John Yorke who led EastEnders through what Mal Young (the then head of BBC drama) said was one of its most successful periods in 2001, returned to the BBC as the head of drama, meaning his responsibilities included the running of EastEnders. He also brought back long serving script writer Tony Jordan. It is reported that the cast & crew did not get on well with Kathleen Hutchison as she had them working up to midnight & beyond. She is also said to have rejected several planned storylines & 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 Kate Harwood was announced as the new executive producer.

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 Sam Mitchell for the murder of Den Watts, the marriage of Sharon & Dennis Rickman, the return of the Mitchell Brothers, Chrissie Watts being arrested after she was discovered to have been Den's real killer, & the death of Dennis Rickman at the hands of a mysterious attacker. Weeks after this, ITV again scheduled episodes of Emmerdale against EastEnders. The episode of Emmerdale, which saw the departure of one of its more popular characters, attracted 8.3 million viewers leaving EastEnders with 6.6 million for the funeral of Den Watts. However, this indirectly helped increase the audience of digital channel BBC Three as 1 million (10% share) tuned in to see the second showing.

However, the battle between EastEnders & Emmerdale saw EastEnders come out on top with 200,000 more viewers on 1 December 2005.

More recently, EastEnders was the top rated soap on Christmas Day 2005, attracting 10.6 million viewers while Coronation Street got 9.8 million. 12.6 million viewers watched as Dennis Rickman was stabbed by a mystery attacker on 30 December 2005, & the aftermath attracted 12.34 million viewers on 2 January 2006. This made it the most watched soap episode of 2006 so far, although this record has been broken since.

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, although this was mainly due to action packed hour long episodes of Emmerdale on ITV1 being scheduled against EastEnders.

Christmas Day 2006 saw EastEnders as the top rated soap; 10.7 million viewers watched to see the death of Pauline Fowler.[63] In previous two weeks to that, it reached 9.90 & 9.85 million viewers.

In February 2007, the show was criticised by critics for boring storylines & acting. EastEnders was consequently snubbed from the Royal Television Society awards.

Between 2001 & 2002, EastEnders was the 10th most searched-for TV show on the Internet. It was the 2nd most popular UK search term in 2003, & the 7th in 2004. EastEnders holds the record for the most watched soap episode in Britain. In 2001, EastEnders went head to head with rival soap Coronation Street for the first time. EastEnders won the battle with 8.4 million viewers (41%) while Coronation Street attracted 7.3 million (36%). 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 & so far the 2000s.

Online
The official website for EastEnders is bbc.co.uk/eastenders. The official site contains episode guides from December 2000 onwards, character profiles, polls & viewer comments, games & news. There are many fan websites for EastEnders, including walfordweb.co.uk, which celebrated its tenth anniversary on 28 February 2007, & walford.net, an archive of episode guides & character profiles. On 2 March 2007, watchagrownmanrot.co.uk was launched to tie in with a storyline in which Darren Miller & Libby Fox set up a website spying on Darren's father Keith. The site contains video clips starring David Spinx, Elaine Tan & Joe Swash, as well as profiles written by Darren & a comment board. Darren & Libby's other website, desperaterussianhousewives.co.uk, was also created by the BBC, but it only contains a picture of Darren & a speech bubble containing the words "Did you really just type that in???!! Ha ha!", & a link to the official site. Also on 2 March, BBC signed a deal with Google to put videos on YouTube. A behind the scenes video of EastEnders, hosted by Matt Di Angelo, was put on the site the same day.

The well known torrent site UKNova was originally solely founded to provide viewers outside the United Kingdom with episodes of EastEnders, but has since expanded.

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 15%-25%

Aside from that, the 10 p.m. repeat showing on BBC Three attracts an average of 500,000 viewers, whilst the Sunday omnibus attracts 3 million.

Ever since EastEnders began on the mainstream BBC One, it has achieved some of the highest audiences in British television history. The launch show attracted 17 million viewers in the 1980s; this was perhaps helped by the amount of press attention it received, something which continues today.

In 1986, just under two years since it had been on air, EastEnders attracted 30.15 million viewers, for the Christmas episode in which Den handed a divorce letter to wife Angie. This was its largest audience ever, the largest amount of viewers for a soap episode, the fourth largest audience for a British television channel ever & the highest television audience for a single channel of the 1980s.

Despite a decade & a half of high ratings, it was most popular in the early 2000s, attracting an average of 15 million for most episodes & peaks of up to 25 million for the climaxes of popular storylines. Sonia's shock birth in 2000 was watched by 19.3 million viewers & in 2001, Mel's marriage to Steve Owen was watched by 22.5 million viewers.

EastEnders was perhaps at its least popular in 2004 & 2005, & though its lowest ever audience share was 23% in July 2006, it is showing consistent signs of recovery, despite still rating lower than Coronation Street. It has been noted by some (such as Diane Parish), that viewing figures can no longer be solely based on the first showing of a show, since the increase in digital television & technology as a whole has meant television viewing is more about convenience for the viewer, & repeat showings of EastEnders consistently attract relatively successful figures.

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 & Thursday, & 8 p.m. on Monday & Friday. The omnibus is aired on Sunday, though the exact time differs.

Originally, EastEnders was shown twice weekly at 7 p.m., however it soon 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 & 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.

The Radio Times had a cover marking the third episode in a week being added, & the Vic siege storyline. As EastEnders output then increased to three times a week, on 11 April 1994, after Coronation Street added an extra episode — in response to competition from EastEnders. EastEnders then added its fourth episode (shown on Fridays) on 6 August 2001. This caused some controversy as it clashed with Coronation Street, which at the time was moved to 8 p.m. to make way for an hour long episode of rural soap Emmerdale at 7 p.m. The move immediately provoked an angry response from ITV insiders, who argued that the BBC's last-minute move — only revealed at 3:30 p.m. on the day — broke an unwritten scheduling rule that the two flagship soaps would not be put directly against each other. In this first head-to-head battle, EastEnders claimed victory over its rival.

In 1998, EastEnders Revealed was launched on BBC Choice (now BBC Three). The show takes a look behind the scenes of the EastEnders & investigates particular places, characters or families within EastEnders. EastEnders Revealed is the only BBC Choice programme to last the entire life of the channel & is still running on BBC Three. An episode of EastEnders Revealed that was commissioned for BBC Three attracted 611,000 viewers.

In early 2003, viewers could watch episodes of EastEnders on digital channel BBC Three before they were broadcast on BBC One. This was to coincide with the relaunch of the channel & helped BBC Three break the one million viewers mark for the first time with 1.03 million who watched to see Mark Fowler's departure.

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. & old reruns can often be seen on UKTV Gold (as of September 2006, UKTV Gold are showing episodes originally aired in August 2003. They are showing 5 episodes which means that 5 week's worth of episodes are shown every 4 weeks, which results in a catch-up rate of around 3 months per year.)

As part of the BBC's digital push, EastEnders Xtra was introduced in 2005. The show was presented by Angelica Bell & 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 & spoke to some of the cast members. The current series has now finished, & no announcement has been made regarding a second series.

Another behind-the-scenes programme was broadcast on 1 December 2006. EastEnders Unveiled: A Weddings Special gave viewers an insight into how the show's weddings are produced, & take a look at the past weddings of Walford. It was narrated by Kara Tointon, who plays Dawn Swann, & included interviews with Barbara Windsor (Peggy Mitchell), James Alexandrou (Martin Fowler) & Ricky Groves (Garry Hobbs). It aired on BBC Three at 8.30 p.m. on 1 December, straight after the wedding of Ian Beale & Jane Collins aired on BBC One. EastEnders Sweethearts: The Story of Martin & Sonia aired on 2 February 2007, following the departure of Martin & Sonia Fowler.

International screenings
EastEnders is aired around the world in many English-speaking countries, including New Zealand & Canada. The series aired in the United States until BBC America ceased broadcasts of the serial in 2003, amidst fan protests. It was shown on BBC Prime in Europe, Africa & Asia, but when BBC Prime was renamed to BBC Entertainment, they cease showing it. & on BBC Canada in Canada. It airs in Australia on UKTV & 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, & 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 PBS channel, KOCE-TV ran the show one episode per week from 1990 to 1993, & currently shows two episodes weekly on Friday nights. Houston's KUHT runs two episodes every Sunday night at 10 & 10:30. Similarly, WLIW in New York City schedules two episodes on Saturday nights. North Carolina's public television outlet, UNC-TV, runs two episodes per week, & 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, & 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, but is now on Prime. 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 somewhat amusing 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 SBC in Salverland & on BCBC in Bel-Con. It is also shown on the British Forces Broadcasting Service's main TV channel, BFBS1, to members of HM Forces stationed around the world.

Critique
EastEnders has received both praise & criticism for most of its storylines, which have dealt with difficult themes, such as violence, rape & murder.

Mary Whitehouse argued at the time that EastEnders represented a violation of "family viewing time" & that it undermined the watershed policy. She regarded EastEnders as a fundamental assault on the family & morality itself. She made reference to representation of family life & emphasis on psychological & emotional violence within the show. She was also critical of language such as "bleeding", "bloody hell", "bastard" & "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" & "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 & 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, & news of his death came the following year.

The child abuse storyline with Kat Slater & 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 & 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 & 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 Dan, but after actor Dalip Tahil could not get a visa for working in the UK the storyline was scrapped & instead Ronny Ferreira got stabbed. This storyline was criticised by many as it seemed rushed & no reason was given for Dan's disappearance.

In 2003, Shaun Williamson, who played Barry Evans, said that the programme had become much grittier over the past ten to fifteen years, & found it "frightening" that parents let their young children watch.

The BBC was accused of anti-religious bias by a House of Lords committee, who cited EastEnders as an example. Dr. Indarjit Singh, editor of the Sikh Messenger & patron of the World Congress of Faiths, said: "EastEnders' Dot Cotton is an example. She quotes endlessly from the Bible & it ridicules religion to some extent."

The scene involving Owen & Denise that prompted 128 complaints.Susan Tully, who played Michelle Fowler from the show's inception until 1995, has caused controversy with fans after refusing offers to return to the show for important events regarding the Fowler family such as Mark & Pauline's weddings to Lisa Shaw & Joe Macer, respectively, & Michelle's father Arthur & Mark's funerals. The actress rejected offers to return again for Pauline's funeral, & Scarlett Johnson, who played Vicki Fowler, wasn't asked to return.

In July 2006, former cast member Tracy-Ann Oberman suggested that the scriptwriters had been "on crack" when they penned the storyline about Den's murder & described her 18 months on the show as being "four years of acting experience".

Wendy Richard, who played Pauline Fowler for 21 years, has also claimed that she quit the show because of the producers' decision to remarry her character to Joe Macer (played by Ray Brooks), as she felt this was out of character for Pauline.

In August 2006, a scene involving Carly Wicks & Jake Moon initiating sexual intercourse on the floor of Scarlet nightclub, & another scene involving Owen Turner violently attacking Denise Fox, prompted 129 & 128 complaints, respectively. Carly & Jake's sex scenes were later removed from the Sunday omnibus edition.

Billy & Honey Mitchell, with their baby daughter Janet.The birth of Billy & Honey Mitchell's baby, Janet, diagnosed with Down's syndrome, has attracted a lot of criticism.

The storyline has been criticised by the Royal College of Midwives, who claim the storyline was inaccurate & unrealistic. They claim that Honey should not have been refused an epidural & should not have been told about her daughter's condition without her husband being present. They also claim that the baby appeared rigid when in fact she should have been floppy, & that nobody opened the baby's blanket to check.

The BBC say a great deal of research was undertaken such as talking to families with children who have Down's syndrome, & liaising with a senior midwife as well as the Down's Syndrome Association. The BBC say Honey was not refused an epidural but had actually locked herself away in the bathroom. They were also unable to cast a baby with Down's syndrome for the first few episodes, which is why the baby appeared rigid. The Down's Syndrome Association say that the way in which Billy & Honey found out about their baby's condition & their subsequent support is not a best practice model, but is still a realistic situation.

Conversely, learning disability charity Mencap have praised the soap, saying it will help to raise awareness.

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".

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Some great jokes, on many subjects Another page of more & more & The Joke encyclopedia & some more jokes

A site postulating that Neanderthals & animals like them survived to the modern era. I am not saying I believe this, though it is interesting.

Some poems about Zanadu, or Xanadu, including mine