Turner was told only 30minutes before the live episode and to maintain suspense, she whispers this revelation to former lover and current father-in-law, Max Branning, in the very final moments of the live show. [86] Treadwell-Collins left on 6 May[87] and O'Connor's first credited episode was broadcast on 11 July[88] Although O'Connor's first credited episode aired in July, his own creative work was not seen onscreen until late September. The UK communications regulator Ofcom later found that the episodes depicting the storyline were in breach of the 2005 Broadcasting Code. Hollingworth's contributions to the soap were awarded in 1997 when EastEnders won the BAFTA for Best Drama Series. [9] They came to the conclusion that Coronation Street had grown old with its audience, and that EastEnders would have to attract a younger, more socially extensive audience, ensuring that it had the longevity to retain it for many years thereafter. [127] The show's producers based the square's design on Fassett Square in Dalston. [222] In December 2018, it was revealed that the new set was now planned to cost 59million but a National Audit Office (NAO) report stated that it would actually cost 86.7million and be completed two-and-a-half years later than planned, in 2023; the NAO concluded that the BBC "could not provide value for money on the project". Berridge was responsible for some ratings success stories, such as Alfie and Kat Slater's relationship, Janine Butcher getting her comeuppance, Trevor Morgan and Jamie Mitchell's death storylines and the return of one of the greatest soap icons, Den Watts, who had been presumed dead for 14 years. Sometimes an entire quartet is filmed on location, which has 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. story arc in 2001 that attracted over 19 million viewers and was one of the biggest successes in British soap television; the "Who Killed Archie?" Other recurring character types that have appeared throughout the serial are "cheeky-chappies" Pete Beale (Peter Dean), Alfie Moon (Shane Richie), Garry Hobbs (Ricky Groves) and Kush Kazemi (Davood Ghadami), "lost girls" such as Mary Smith (Linda Davidson), Donna Ludlow (Matilda Ziegler), Mandy Salter (Nicola Stapleton), Janine Butcher (Charlie Brooks), Zoe Slater (Michelle Ryan), Whitney Dean (Shona McGarty), and Hayley Slater (Katie Jarvis), delinquents such as Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner), Jay Brown (Jamie Borthwick), Lola Pearce (Danielle Harold), Bobby Beale (Eliot Carrington/Clay Milner Russell) and Keegan Baker (Zack Morris), "villains" such as Nick Cotton (John Altman), Trevor Morgan (Alex Ferns), May Wright (Amanda Drew), Yusef Khan (Ace Bhatti), Archie Mitchell (Larry Lamb), Dean Wicks (Matt Di Angelo), Stuart Highway (Ricky Champ) and Gray Atkins (Toby-Alexander Smith), "bitches" such as Cindy Beale (Michelle Collins), Janine Butcher (Charlie Brooks), Sam Mitchell (Danniella Westbrook/Kim Medcalf),[172] Chrissie Watts (Tracy-Ann Oberman), Lucy Beale (Melissa Suffield/Hetti Bywater), Abi Branning (Lorna Fitzgerald), Babe Smith (Annette Badland) and Suki Panesar (Balvinder Sopal), "brawlers" or "fighters" such as Bianca Jackson (Patsy Palmer), Kat Slater (Jessie Wallace), Shirley Carter (Linda Henry), Roxy Mitchell (Rita Simons), Chelsea Fox (Tiana Benjamin/Zaraah Abrahams), Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner), Dawn Swann (Kara Tointon) and Karen Taylor (Lorraine Stanley), and cockney "wide boys" or "wheeler dealers"[10] such as Frank Butcher (Mike Reid), Alfie Moon (Shane Richie), Kevin Wicks (Phil Daniels), Darren Miller (Charlie G. Hawkins), Fatboy (Ricky Norwood), Jay Brown (Jamie Borthwick) and Kheerat Panesar (Jaz Deol). The show lost many of its significant characters during this period. Trust, who called the storyline an "unhelpful portrayal" and said it had already received calls from members of the public who were "distressed about the EastEnders scene where a social worker snatches a baby from its mother's arms". EastEnders had its best ever year of viewing on Player in 2022, the BBC has confirmed. Viewing Figures Christmas viewing . "[325] The Dutch version began broadcasting on VARA 13 March 1993 but was cancelled after 20 episodes. 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. Up to the end of 2001, but excluding 1996 and 1997, the rating was also combined with that of the omnibus (though for 1993, 1994, 1995 and 1998, some ratings are not combined, as noted). It has been criticised for various storylines, including the 2010 baby swap storyline which attracted over 6,000 complaints, as well as complaints of showing too much violence and allegations of national and racial stereotypes. The 23rd October saw Jodie Whittaker's Thirteenth Doctor bow out in the BBC Centenary Special, The Power of the Doctor. 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. [250] In 2003, filming took place at Loch Fyne Hotel and Leisure Club in Inveraray, The Arkinglass Estate in Cairndow and Grims Dyke Hotel, Harrow Weald, north London, for a week of episodes set in Scotland. . The set was constructed by the BBC in-house construction department under construction manager Mike Hagan. It was confirmed that after the transmission break, the show would temporarily broadcast four 20-minute episodes per week, until it can return to its normal output. A sari shop was opened and various characters of different ethnicities were introduced throughout 2006 and 2007, including the Fox family, the Ahmeds, and various background artists. Alison Spittle fans slightly confused by pregnancy/EastEnders announcement The Dry review: Hailed as the 'Irish Fleabag', sadly this new dramedy is like its heroine - a bit of a mess Brake suggested that Ferguson was responsible for bringing in a new sense of vitality and creating a programme that was more in touch with the real world than it had been over the previous year.[34]. [349] The highest rated episode of EastEnders is the Christmas Day 1986 episode, which attracted a combined 30.15million viewers who tuned into either the original transmission or the omnibus to see Den Watts hand over divorce papers to his wife Angie. ", "EastEnders boss on Bobby reveal: 'It's the start of a bigger story', "EastEnders star Laurie Brett on Bobby: 'I've known since November', "EastEnders star Hetti Bywater on Bobby reveal: 'I was so shocked', "Sun, Sea, Sex, Sand and Conservatism in the Australian Television Soap Opera", "Revealed: The full list of the BBC's 96 highest-paid stars", "BBC spent 700,000 on EastEnders episode", "Total annual cost of the continuing dramas", "Eco-Enders EastEnders earns top sustainability award", "Why is EastEnders changing its time slot on BBC? [30] By Christmas 1985, the tabloids could not get enough of the soap. [238] Last-minute scenes have also been recorded to reference the fiftieth anniversary of the end of the Second World War in 1995, the two-minute silence on Remembrance Day 2005 (2005 also being the year for the sixtieth anniversary of the end of the Second World War and the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar), Barack Obama's election victory in 2008,[239] the death of Michael Jackson in 2009,[240] the 2010 Comprehensive Spending Review,[241] Andy Murray winning the Men's Singles at the 2013 Wimbledon Championships,[242] the Wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton, the birth of Prince George of Wales,[243] Scotland voting no against independence in 2014, and the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the Great War. The first episode was watched by 17 million viewers. [61] On 21 April 2007, the BBC launched a new advertising campaign using the slogan "There's more to EastEnders". Kent said, "John Yorke is a Walford legend and I am thrilled that he will be joining us for a short period to oversee the show and to help us build on Sean's legacy while we recruit a long-term successor. In a flashback episode which revisited the night of the murder, Bobby was revealed to have killed his sister. [63] The second and third featured Stacey Slater and Dawn Swann, respectively. [7], The show's creators were both Londoners, but when they researched Victorian squares, they found massive changes in areas they thought they knew well; however, delving further into the East End of London, they found exactly what they had been searching for: a real East End spiritan inward-looking quality, a distrust of strangers and authority figures, a sense of territory and community that the creators summed up as "Hurt one of us and you hurt us all". EastEnders Christmas Day special is reported to have only pulled in pulled in 2.9 million viewers, which was less than Emmerdale and Coronation Street. Co-creator Tony Holland was from a large East End family, and such families have typified EastEnders. [14] It was the latter that stuck (E8 is the postcode for Hackney) in the early months of creative process; however, the show was renamed after many casting agents mistakenly thought the show was to be called Estate, and the fictional postcode E20 was created, instead of using E8. [77] In 2012, Kirkwood chose to leave his role as executive producer and was replaced by Lorraine Newman. [99] Although, since Yorke and Oates' reigns, opinions towards the storylines have become more favourable, with storylines such as Ruby Allen's (Louisa Lytton) sexual consent, which featured a special episode which "broke new ground"[100] and knife crime, both of which have created "vital" discussions. What more, WHAT A LOAD OF PORK PIES; Ireland's full of drunkards, dimwits and donkeys according to EastEnders, "Louise Berridge steps down as Executive Producer of EastEnders", "Ellie caught up with the former Executive Producer to talk EastEnders and find out what Louise has got up to since leaving the show", "Dirty" Dirty Tactics; EastEnders defied belief by raising Den Watts, "Stop the Week Shock exchange Last orders at the Vic", "BBC appoints new Executive Producer for EastEnders". In early January 1994, one episode of Home And Away reached over 14 million viewers as did 2 later episodes that month. Ted Barrington, the Irish Ambassador to the UK 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. The mess of scheduling around the World Cup certainly didn't help, however, I would expect by this time of year the figures to be between 5.5-6.5million. [329][330] In 1993, the two-part story "Dimensions in Time", a charity cross-over with Doctor Who, was shown. EastEnders is a British television soap opera created by Julia Smith and Tony Holland which has been broadcast on BBC One since February 1985. In March 1983, under two years before EastEnders' first episode was broadcast, the show was a vague idea in the mind of a handful of BBC executives, who decided that what BBC One needed was a popular bi-weekly drama series that would attract the kind of mass audiences that ITV was getting with Coronation Street. [110] Kate Phillips, the controller of BBC Entertainment, explained that EastEnders: Secrets From The Square would be the "perfect opportunity to celebrate the show" in the absence of the show. The live-episode averaged 15.6 million viewers, peaking at 16.6 million in the final five minutes of the broadcast. [46][47] In 1998 Matthew Robinson was appointed as the Executive Producer of EastEnders. [190] The show has also become known for the return of characters after they have left the show. She quotes endlessly from the Bible and it ridicules religion to some extent. Press coverage of EastEnders, which was already intense, went into overdrive once the show was broadcast. It was written by a team of young writers and was shown three times a week on the EastEnders website from 8 January 2010. Viewers criticised the decision, feeling that some of the characters had potential to add to the soap. [7] This was the beginning of a close and continuing association between EastEnders and audience research, which, though commonplace today, was something of a revolution in practice. BBC EastEnders has endured dwindling ratings in recent months. [308], EastEnders is broadcast around the world in many English-speaking countries. EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985. Conversely there are female characters who handle tragedy less well, depicted as eternal victims and endless sufferers, who include Ronnie Mitchell (Samantha Womack), Little Mo Mitchell (Kacey Ainsworth), Laura Beale (Hannah Waterman), Sue Osman (Sandy Ratcliff), Lisa Fowler (Lucy Benjamin), Mel Owen (Tamzin Outhwaite) and Rainie Cross (Tanya Franks). [270], Each episode should run for 27 minutes and 15 seconds; however, if any episode runs over or under then it is the job of post-production to cut or add scenes where appropriate. 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". [380], In 1992, writer David Yallop successfully sued the BBC for 68,000 after it was revealed he had been hired by producer Mike Gibbon in 1989 to pen several controversial storylines in an effort to "slim down" the cast; however, after Gibbon left the programme, executive producers chose not to use Yallop's storylines, which put the BBC in breach of the contract Yallop had signed with them. Finding out about her. [130], Walford East is a fictional London Underground station for Walford, and a tube map that was first seen on air in 1996 showed Walford East between Bow Road and West Ham, in the actual location of Bromley-by-Bow on the District and Hammersmith & City lines. The Circle was the new kid on the reality TV block when it 'entered the chat' in 2018, with the show . The most recent BARB figures reported that. The storyline attracted over 200 complaints. [269] Bywater only discovered Bobby was responsible for Lucy's death on the morning of Thursday, 19 February, several hours before they filmed the scenes revealing Bobby as Lucy's killer. Viewing figures for related broadcasts Besides the regular episodes of Coronation Street, the following programmes also made the weekly charts. The main engine of that week is great stories that'll get people talking. [28] The next day, viewing figures were confirmed at 17million. However, there have been times when EastEnders had higher ratings than Emmerdale despite the two going head-to-head. In the show's narrative, Albert Square is a 19th-century street, named after Prince Albert (18191861), the husband of Queen Victoria (18191901, reigned 18371901). [34] In 1989, there was a deliberate attempt to increase the lighter, more comic aspects of life in Albert Square. 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. [133] E20 was entirely fictional when it was created, as London East postal districts stopped at E18 at the time. [218], In 2014, then executive producer Dominic Treadwell-Collins said that he wanted Albert Square to look like a real-life east London neighbourhood so that the soap would "better reflect the more fashionable areas of east London beloved of young professionals" giving a flavour of the "creeping gentrification" of east London. The police claimed that such scenes were "damaging" to their reputation and added that the character DC Deanne Cunningham (Zo Henry) was "irritatingly inaccurate". New Zealand became the first to broadcast EastEnders overseas, the first episode being shown on 27 September 1985. This rating is not combined with the omnibus; the lowest rating for an episode with a combined rating was 12.87million. When Danny joined the BBC One show in 2013, EastEnders was regularly getting up to eight million viewers a night, but in the past year those figures have dwindled to 2.5 million an episode.. His . These are all documentaries related to current storylines in EastEnders, in a similar format to EastEnders Revealed, though not using the EastEnders Revealed name. [232][228] The episodes are usually filmed about six[228] to eight weeks in advance of broadcast. [356][357][358], The ratings increased in 2010, thanks to the "Who Killed Archie?" The Beales, Brannings, Mitchells, Slaters and the Watts are some of the families that have been central to the soap's notable and dramatic storylines. The show's first episode attracted some 17million viewers, and it continued to attract high viewing figures from then on. Over five minutes, power demand rises by three GW, the equivalent of 1.5 to 1.75million kettles. On 2 March 2007, BBC signed a deal with Google to put videos on YouTube. Peggy Mitchell death: Eastenders suicide was watched by 41% of UK TV viewing audience. His return in late 2003 was watched by over 16 million viewers, putting EastEnders back at number one in the rating war with the Coronation Street; however, other storylines, such as one about a kidney transplant involving the Ferreiras, were not well received,[50] and although Den Watts's return proved to be a ratings success, the British press branded the plot unrealistic and felt that it questioned the show's credibility. Episodes 1 - 38 are single showings only. The BBC had originally planned to take advantage of the "summer break" that Emmerdale Farm usually took to capitalise on ratings, but ITV added extra episodes and repeats so that Emmerdale Farm was not taken off the air over the summer. However, the 16-20 million viewers was actually a combination of the afternoon showing and . On the 9th January, it faced FA Cup football and was watched by 3.37m , only 200k behind Emmerdale. Despite once being the highest-rated soap, it dropped to third in the rankings in 2021, behind Coronation Street and Emmerdale, with 4.09 million viewers. legislation came into effect in the UK prohibiting the "promotion of homosexuality" by local authorities, first on-the-mouth gay kiss in a British soap, 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, Wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton, ten-month mystery regarding who killed her, several episodes were shot and set in Ireland, Foundation for the Study of Infant Deaths, List of awards and nominations received by EastEnders, List of most-watched television broadcasts, List of television programmes broadcast by the BBC, List of programmes broadcast by Telefs ireann, List of programmes broadcast by Virgin Media Television (Ireland), List of television programs by episode count, "EastEnders starts filming on troubled new 87 million set", "EastEnders' new-look Albert Square to hit screens next week", "EastEnders set demolished as fans slam 'wasted opportunity', "Market on Honey Lane / Honey Lane (196769)", "EastEnders' Adam Woodyatt: 'As long as I'm still enjoying it I'll stay for another 30 years', "How did you get the view of London used on the opening credits? But data has shown that Walford's woes outdo those on the Corrie cobbles. Kate Lock also wrote four novels centred on more recent characters; Steve Owen (Martin Kemp), Grant Mitchell (Ross Kemp), Bianca Jackson (Patsy Palmer) and Tiffany Mitchell (Martine McCutcheon). [36] As the new production team cleared the way for new characters and a new direction, all of the characters introduced under Gibbon were axed from the show at the start of the year. [32], Writer Colin Brake suggested that 1989 was a year of big change for EastEnders, both behind the cameras and in front of them. Official ratings are over a seven-day period up to 2014 and from 2022 onwards, and over a 28-day period from 2015 to 2021. Only five years ago it was pulling in up to 12million viewers almost five times as many. Some actors' salaries were leaked in 2006, revealing that Natalie Cassidy (Sonia Fowler) was paid 150,000, Cliff Parisi (Minty Peterson) received 220,000, Barbara Windsor (Peggy Mitchell) and Steve McFadden (Phil Mitchell) each received 360,000 and Wendy Richard (Pauline Fowler) had a salary of 370,000. The viewing figures for 10 episodes are unknown. Emmerdale was watched by 8.1 million people. ", "EastEnders fans notice something different about Kathy Beale", "EastEnders spoilers: 'Not the answer!' John Yorke, the former BBC's head of drama production, put this down to Tony Holland's "gay sensibility, which showed a love for strong women". UK Viewing Figures In March 1992, H&A was getting 14.43 million viewers. [394] On 17 November 2014 it was announced that Ofcom will investigate over the storyline. [335] A second 10-part series started in September 2010, with twice-weekly episodes available online and an omnibus on BBC Three. [21], Other characters created included Jewish doctor Harold Legg, the Anglo-Cypriot Osman family (Ali, Sue and baby Hassan), black father and son Tony and Kelvin Carpenter, single mother Mary Smith and Bangladeshi couple Saeed and Naima Jeffery. Its highest ever was 18.6 million in January 1994 because of the plane crash. Neighbours first aired in Australia in March 1985 and in the UK in October 1986. In 1989, the programme came under criticism in the British media for being too depressing, and according to writer Colin Brake, the programme makers were determined to change this. Robinson also earned tabloid soubriquet "Axeman of Albert Square" after sacking a large number of characters in one hit, and several more thereafter. As EastEnders is shown pre-watershed, there were worries that some scenes in this storyline were too graphic for its audience. This was attributed to a different one-hour special episode of Emmerdale on ITV1. Viewing Figures are the number of viewers or households watching a television programme at any given time. 23h. Here's the full breakdown of what helped the Beeb achieve its best-ever year. Christmas Day Overnight Ratings 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. The original elderly residents included Lou Beale (Anna Wing), Ethel Skinner (Gretchen Franklin) and Dot Cotton (June Brown). Viewing figures peaked at 16.6million, which was the highest viewed episode in seven years. [285], In early 2003, viewers could watch episodes of EastEnders on digital channel BBC Three before they were broadcast on BBC One. [276] According to the NAO, BBC executives approved 500,000 of additional funding for the 25th anniversary live episode (19 February 2010). [28] The reviews were largely favourable,[28] although, after three weeks on air, BBC1's early evening share had returned to the pre-EastEnders figure of seven million, though EastEnders then climbed to highs of up to 23million later on in the year. [34], As the show progressed into the 1990s, EastEnders still featured hard-hitting issues such as Mark Fowler (Todd Carty) revealing he was HIV positive[199] in 1991, the death of his wife Gill (Susanna Dawson) from an AIDS-related illness in 1992, murder, adoption, abortion, Peggy Mitchell's (Barbara Windsor) battle with breast cancer,[199] and Phil Mitchell's (Steve McFadden) alcoholism and violence towards wife Kathy. The ratings are not combined with the omnibus before 29 June 1998, but are combined thereafter. The show also features a large number of gay, lesbian and bisexual characters (see list of soap operas with LGBT characters), including Colin Russell (Michael Cashman), Barry Clark (Gary Hailes),[184] Simon Raymond (Andrew Lynford), Tony Hills (Mark Homer),[185] Sonia Fowler (Natalie Cassidy), Naomi Julien (Petra Letang),[186] Tina Carter (Luisa Bradshaw-White), Tosh Mackintosh (Rebecca Scroggs),[187] Christian Clarke (John Partridge), Syed Masood (Marc Elliott), Ben Mitchell (Harry Reid/Max Bowden), Paul Coker (Jonny Labey),[188] Iqra Ahmed (Priya Davdra), Ash Panesar (Gurlaine Kaur Garcha), Bernadette Taylor (Clair Norris), Callum Highway (Tony Clay) and Eve Unwin (Heather Peace). Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right. [198] Storylines included the cot death of 14-month-old Hassan Osman, Nick Cotton's (John Altman) homophobia, racism and murder of Reg Cox (Johnnie Clayton),[199] Arthur Fowler's (Bill Treacher) unemployment reflecting the recession of the 1980s, the rape of Kathy Beale (Gillian Taylforth) in 1988 by James Willmott-Brown (William Boyde)[199] and Michelle Fowler's (Susan Tully) teenage pregnancy. Simon May wrote the theme music[24] and Alan Jeapes created the visuals. Jonathan Hordle/Shutterstock. [15][129] Other parts of the Square and set interiors are based on other locations. An average EastEnders episode attracts a total audience share between 35 and 40 per cent. [96] It was also announced that Oates was looking for an Executive Producer to work under her. 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