[34] Such characters included Julie Cooper (Louise Plowright)a brassy maneater; Marge Greena batty older lady played by veteran comedy actress Pat Coombs; Trevor Short (Phil McDermott)the "village idiot"; his friend, northern heartbreaker Paul Priestly (Mark Thrippleton); wheeler-dealer Vince Johnson (Hepburn Graham) and Laurie Bates (Gary Powell), who became Pete Beale's (Peter Dean) sparring partner. For its 25th anniversary in February 2010, a live episode was broadcast in which Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner) was revealed as Archie Mitchell's (Larry Lamb) killer. EastEnders was pulling in up to eight million viewers an episode, but in the past year those figures . "[325] The Dutch version began broadcasting on VARA 13 March 1993 but was cancelled after 20 episodes. After more than 30 years a new Albert Square is being constructed on a former car park elsewhere on the Elstree site. 1990 was EastEnders' sixth year. 26 Dec 1986 24/12/1998 EastEnders Grant and. In January 1993, it topped 15 million with 15.1 million for Monday 11th January 1993. [321], In Ireland, EastEnders was shown on TV3 from September 1998 until March 2001, when it moved over to RT One, after RT lost to TV3 the rights to air rival soap Coronation Street. [25] The visual images were taken from an aircraft flying over the East End of London at 1000 feet. Its highest ever was 18.6 million in January 1994 because of the plane crash. [207] It was initially built in 1984 with a specification that it should last for at least 15 years at a cost of 750,000. The show's first episode attracted some 17million viewers, and it continued to attract high viewing figures from then on. At its height in the 80s it broke records, topping 30million . She confirmed that EastEnders would return to filming during June 2020 and that there would be a transmission break between episodes filmed before and after production paused. 1990 was EastEnders' sixth year. Walford Wiki. EastEnders ' inconsistent airing schedule and shorter episodes are partly to blame for its lower ratings, according to BBC drama boss Piers Wenger. EastEnders has always featured a culturally diverse cast which has included black, Asian, Turkish, Polish and Latvian characters. EastEnders boss Dominic Treadwell-Collins shares emotional pictures from his last day", "EastEnders date revealed for new boss's first episode", "Casualty boss Oliver Kent is now in charge of EastEnders", "Spoilers EastEnders boss first interview on show changes and future", "EastEnders confirms producer Sean O'Connor is leaving the soap effective immediately", "EastEnders executive producer leaves programme after one year BBC News", "EastEnders boss John Yorke extends contract with the soap again", "Eastenders viewers moved as soap breaks format to raise awareness of knife crime", "EastEnders confirms new boss as Kate Oates takes over from John Yorke in top job", "EastEnders is searching for a new executive producer to work with Kate Oates", "Why EastEnders has broken new ground with Ruby Allen's consent episode", "EastEnders, Coronation Street and The X Factor decline is driving down TV viewing figures", "EastEnders is ratings success on BBC iPlayer", "EastEnders has best year ever on BBC iPlayer", "EastEnders bosses reveal how actor reacted to shock death storyline", "Why is Bleu Landau leaving EastEnders as Dennis dies? As EastEnders is shown pre-watershed, there were worries that some scenes in this storyline were too graphic for its audience. In April 2018, it was announced that Drama would be showing repeats starting 6 August 2018 during weekdays[306] and they are also available on-demand on the UKTV Play catch-up service for 30 days after the broadcast. [134] In September 2011, the postcode for Albert Square was revealed in an episode as E20 6PQ. In what was a record-breaking year for the streaming service, the FIFA World Cup - which aired at the. Later on in the same evening, a special flashback episode averaged 10.3million viewers, and peaked with 11.2million. ", Ethel Skinner's death, Jim Branning and Dot Cotton's marriage, Trevor Morgan's domestic abuse of his wife Little Mo Morgan, and Kat Slater's revelation to her daughter Zoe Slater that she was her mother. The producer might have asked for further changes to be made. Den Watts (Leslie Grantham) returned 14 years after he was believed to have died, a feat repeated by Kathy Beale (Gillian Taylforth) in 2015. [273], According to the book How to Study Television, in 1995 EastEnders cost the BBC 40,000 per episode on average. [76] Old sets had to be rebuilt, so The Queen Victoria set was burnt down in a storyline (and in reality) to facilitate this. [335] A second 10-part series started in September 2010, with twice-weekly episodes available online and an omnibus on BBC Three. He said: Life is tough in the East End. [94], In July 2018, a special episode was aired as part of a knife crime storyline. [6] Granada Television gave Smith unrestricted access to the Coronation Street production for a month so that she could get a sense how a continuing drama was produced. During the winter period, filming can take place up to twelve weeks in advance, due to less daylight for outdoor filming sessions. EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985. The aftermath episode, which aired on Friday 20, was completely live and explained in detail Lucy's death. [317], EastEnders is shown on BBC Entertainment (formerly BBC Prime) in Europe and in Africa, where it is approximately six episodes behind the UK. 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. According to The Sun, the figures are more worrying for producers as rivals such as Coronation Street and Emmerdale are regularly attracting over four million viewers. ", "Grant Mitchell's 9 greatest EastEnders moments, from Sharongate to kung-fu fighting", "Dirty Den: how the EastEnders bad boy became the biggest soap star of them all", "EastEnders' Steve John Shepherd: Michael Moon is a psychopath", "EastEnders new bad boy Derek - the long-lost villainous brother", "EastEnders bad boy Richard Blackwood reveals surprising secret of Dot Cotton actress June Brown", "EastEnders legend looks unrecognisable after quitting BBC soap 31 years ago", "Ex EastEnders heartthrob Paul Nicholls joins exciting new BBC drama", "EastEnders' Jamie Mitchell actor Jack Ryder says fame at 17 was "tough to cope with", "EastEnders heartthrob Nigel Harman reveals the behind the scenes drama over whether Dennis could punch Phil Mitchell! They then published their data as millions of viewers. Get Xtra", "BBC Three 1 December 2006 BBC Genome", "Web drama comes of age with EastEnders spin-off", "Walford returns to web with second series of EastEnders: E20", "EastEnders joins forces with Michael Wood and Wallace & Gromit to inspire a life full of learning for BBC audiences", "Soaps 'Enders, Corrie "CIN" crossover confirmed Digital Spy", "First look at Eastenders Irish spin-off Redwater but have producers learned from previous "Oirish" mistakes? [136] The late 2010s saw the newly introduced Taylor family become central to the show's main storylines,[137] and in 2019, the first Sikh family, the Panesar', were introduced. The set had to be made to look as if it had been standing for years. EastEnders bosses want to go back to five 30 minute episodes a week after a ratings slump, according to reports. [107] Two months later, Charlotte Moore, the director of content at the BBC, announced plans for a return to production. [324], In 1991 the BBC sold the programme's format rights to a Dutch production company IDTV, the programme was renamed Het Oude Noorden (Translation: Old North). Other events to mark the anniversary were a spin-off DVD, EastEnders: Last Tango in Walford , and an Internet spin-off, EastEnders: E20 . The Daily Mirror's Jamie Roberts felt that viewers had "turned their back" on the soap due to its lack of interesting stories and iconic characters. Today all UK audience figures are based on readings from meters fixed to a sample set of televisions across the country and the information they collate being published to show a television chart ranking. Figures show that on July 31 the London-based soap opera recorded its lowest. [122] Sen's final credited episode as executive producer was broadcast on 10 March 2022 and coincided in a week of episodes that saw the arrest of serial killer Gray Atkins (Toby-Alexander Smith). [20] Ethel Skinner was based on an old woman she met in a pub, with ill-fitting false teeth, and a "face to rival a neon sign", holding a Yorkshire Terrier in one hand and a pint of Guinness in the other. [179][180] 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". This means that we may include adverts from us and third parties based on our knowledge of you. The first episode of the week features exclusive interviews with the show's cast, while the second episode will be a repeat of "iconic" episodes of the show. [96] It was also announced that Oates was looking for an Executive Producer to work under her. The main engine of that week is great stories that'll get people talking. This referred to Leslie Grantham, and his prison sentence for the murder of a taxi driver in an attempted robbery nearly 20 years earlier. Santer came up with several plans to mark the occasion, including the show's first episode to be broadcast live, the second wedding between Ricky Butcher and Bianca Jackson and the return of Bianca's relatives, mother Carol Jackson, and siblings Robbie Jackson, Sonia Fowler and Billie Jackson. [231] During the filming week, actors can film for as many as eight to twelve episodes. She was succeeded by Corinne Hollingworth. [104] The Christmas Day episode in 2019 became EastEnders biggest ever episode on BBC iPlayer, with 2.14million viewer requests. [340] In the spin-off, the Moons visit Ireland where they "search for answers to some very big questions". The Opposition party compiled a dossier of the "extensive waste" under Mr Sunak during his time as Chancellor and as Chief Secretary to the Treasury in 2021-22 and . On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. The Circle was the new kid on the reality TV block when it 'entered the chat' in 2018, with the show . Kirkwood's first signing was the reintroduction of characters Alfie Moon (Shane Richie) and Kat Moon (Jessie Wallace),[70] and his first new character was Vanessa Gold, played by Ze Lucker. [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. In response to the criticism, EastEnders apologised for offending real life detectives and confirmed that they use a police consultant for such storylines. It is the 30th anniversary of Eastenders and all the hype is around the live show on Thursday. This included a warning before the episode and implying the assault, rather than depicting it. [135] In 2016, the Fowlers were revived and merged with the Slaters, with Martin Fowler (James Bye) marrying Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner). On one occasion following a scene in an episode broadcast in October 2002, where Phil brutally beat his godson, Jamie Mitchell (Jack Ryder), 31 complaints came from viewers. "[68] The live episode featured the death of Bradley Branning (Charlie Clements) at the conclusion of the "Who Killed Archie?" Danny Dyer has been a mainstay on EastEnder in recent years, Emmerdale spoilers for next week: April's terror over bully and child kidnap horror, A lack of iconic characters is said to be harming EastEnders' viewing figures, Corrie spoilers: Daisy's tragic past unveiled after medical crisis for Daniel's baby Bertie. In the United Kingdom, viewing figures - the number of viewers or households watching a television programme - have been recorded by the Broadcasters' Audience Research Board (BARB) since 1981. 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