New figures show that EastEnders viewers have dropped dramatically with issues said to be its trendy-but-dull storylines and lack of iconic characters. 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?" [319] In Canada, EastEnders was shown on BBC Canada until 2010,[320] at which point it was picked up by VisionTV. Around 3,400 complaints were received, with viewers branding the storyline "insensitive", "irresponsible" and "desperate". [276], In 2014, two new studios were built and they were equipped with low-energy lighting which has saved approximately 90,000 kwh per year. Disney sequel Mary Poppins Returns, which starred Emily Blunt in the title role, took the sixth slot as viewers joined in on the family fun on BBC One. We also may change the frequency you receive our emails from us in order to keep you up to date and give you the best relevant information possible. [6] The outline that Reid presented was vague: two episodes a week, 52 weeks a year. [189], EastEnders has a high cast turnover and characters are regularly changed to facilitate storylines or refresh the format. 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". [182], EastEnders has been praised for its portrayal of characters with disabilities, including Adam Best (David Proud) (spina bifida), Noah Chambers (Micah Thomas) and Frankie Lewis (Rose Ayling-Ellis) (deaf), Jean Slater (Gillian Wright) and her daughter Stacey (Lacey Turner) (bipolar disorder), Janet Mitchell (Grace) (Down syndrome), Jim Branning (John Bardon) (stroke)[183] and Dinah Wilson (Anjela Lauren Smith) (multiple sclerosis). [140] The original matriarch was Lou Beale (Anna Wing), though later examples include Mo Harris (Laila Morse),[141] Pat Butcher (Pam St Clement),[142] Zainab Masood (Nina Wadia),[143] Cora Cross (Ann Mitchell),[144] Kathy Beale (Gillian Taylforth),[145] Jean Slater (Gillian Wright),[146] and Suki Panesar (Balvinder Sopal). [191] Speaking extras, including Tracey the barmaid (Jane Slaughter) (who has been in the show since the first episode in 1985), have made appearances throughout the show's duration, without being the focus of any major storylines. The overnight TV ratings refer only to live television viewing and do not include online or catch-up audiences. Millions of EastEnders viewers have turned their back on the long-running soap, according to the latest reports. [344] EastEnders two biggest ratings rivals are the ITV soaps Coronation Street and Emmerdale. [281] Caterers no longer use polystyrene cups and recycling on location must be provided. The characters of Andy O'Brien and Debbie Wilkins were created to show a modern couple with outwardly mobile pretensions, and Lofty Holloway to show an outsider; someone who did not fit in with other residents. [26] The credits were later updated when the Millennium Dome was built.[26]. [228] Each day, between 25 and 30 scenes are recorded. Something went wrong, please try again later. [281] A carbon literacy course was run with Heads of Departments of EastEnders attending and as a result, representatives from each department agreed to meet quarterly to share new sustainability ideas. [34], According to Brake, the departure of two of the soap's most popular characters, Den and Angie Watts (Anita Dobson), left a void in the programme, which needed to be filled. [277], A 2011 report from the National Audit Office (NAO) showed that EastEnders had an annual budget of 29.9million. storyline and the second wedding of Ricky Butcher and Bianca Jackson, and the show's first live episode on 19th February 2010. Many people watched this together with friends and family, so the viewing figures were probably even higher than the 24.5 million suggests! The writers would be paid 75 per cent of that fee for any repeats of the episode. 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. Main Page; Discuss; All Pages; Community; Interactive Maps; Recent Blog Posts; Navigation. Based on market research by BBC commissioning in 2003, EastEnders is most watched by 60- to 74-year-olds, closely followed by 45- to 59-year-olds. Allegations of national and racial stereotypes. Digital Spy opined that the ratings drop was accredited to "lacklustre storylines" and thought that storylines on rival soaps were better. [114] In May 2021, it was announced that from 14 June 2021, boxsets of episodes would be uploaded to BBC iPlayer each Monday for three weeks. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. [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. ", "Is EastEnders the lifeblood of the BBC? On the 9th January, it faced FA Cup football and was watched by 3.37m , only 200k behind Emmerdale. This referred to Leslie Grantham, and his prison sentence for the murder of a taxi driver in an attempted robbery nearly 20 years earlier. On 9 July 1987, it was announced that the show would be aired in the United States on PBS. http://bit.ly/1Kyx8Ja Moira is shocked to see Cain has arrived home from prison. [64][65] There have also been adverts in magazines and on radio. These are all documentaries related to current storylines in EastEnders, in a similar format to EastEnders Revealed, though not using the EastEnders Revealed name. Recently on EastEnders viewers have seen Tiffany Butcher (Maisie Smith) become addicted to face fillers, spending all her and husband Keegan Baker's (Zack Morris) money. This marked the first time that it had been used for anything other than EastEnders. A new era began in 1990 with the introduction of Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) and Grant Mitchell (Ross Kemp)the Mitchell brotherssuccessful characters who would go on to dominate the soap thereafter. Get a daily email direct to your inbox with our newsletter. 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). [228] In January 1987, EastEnders had three production teams each comprising a director, production manager, production assistant and assistant floor manager. A week later, sound is added to the episodes and they are technically reviewed, and are ready for transmission if they are deemed of acceptable quality.[228]. Viewing figures. The programme has more recently included a higher number of teenagers and successful young adults in a bid to capture the younger television audience. [58] In October 2006, Diederick Santer took over as Executive Producer of EastEnders. Smith was uneasy about the late start as EastEnders no longer had the winter months to build up a loyal following before the summer ratings lull. 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". [28] Anticipation and rumour grew in equal measure until the first transmission at 7p.m. on 19 February 1985. [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. Hit British soaps including EastEnders and Coronation Street have seen a significant drop in their viewing figures, it has been claimed. EastEnders adapts. 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. Three episodes of EastEnders have crossed 3m in the overnights this year, two of these didn't face Emmerdale (1/1, 9/1) and the other benefitted from the Dragon's Den and Apprentice's return (5/1). [7] After the concept was put to them on 14 March 1983, Smith and Holland then went about putting their ideas down on paper; they decided it would be set in the East End of London. [40] He left EastEnders in 1994 after the BBC controllers demanded an extra episode a week, taking its weekly airtime from 60 to 90 minutes. In August 2006, a scene involving Carly Wicks (Kellie Shirley) and Jake Moon (Joel Beckett) having sex on the floor of Scarlet nightclub, and another scene involving Owen Turner (Lee Ross) violently attacking Denise Fox (Diane Parish), prompted 129 and 128 complaints, respectively. [335] A second 10-part series started in September 2010, with twice-weekly episodes available online and an omnibus on BBC Three. Corrie meanwhile had an average of 7.6 million viewers that year but by last year. [227], The majority of EastEnders episodes are filmed at the BBC Elstree Centre in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire. 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. She made reference to representation of family life and emphasis on psychological and emotional violence within the show. It was 4.99 million - way down on last winter's figures. [148], The show often includes strong, brassy, long-suffering women who exhibit diva-like behaviour and stoically battle through an array of tragedy and misfortune. In reality, Fenwick carried the torch through the setting of Albert Square, with live footage shown in the episode on 23 July 2012. [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. Corrie's first episode was not a critical success, with one columnist predicting it wouldn't last longer than 3 weeks. [77] In 2012, Kirkwood chose to leave his role as executive producer and was replaced by Lorraine Newman. The UK communications regulator Ofcom later found that the episodes depicting the storyline were in breach of the 2005 Broadcasting Code. [139] During the 30th anniversary week in which there were live elements and the climax of the Who Killed Lucy Beale? Over the years Emmerdale Farm/Emmerdale has attracted high audience figures. The 23rd October saw Jodie Whittaker's Thirteenth Doctor bow out in the BBC Centenary Special, The Power of the Doctor. This was the second live broadcast of EastEnders. However, a spokesperson told MailOnline that the show's figures had been impacted by its decision to drop a week's worth of episodes directly onto the iPlayer while the Euros and Olympics were in full swing. The early 2000s saw a shift in attention towards the newly introduced female Slater clan, before a renewal of emphasis upon the restored Watts family beginning in 2003. The new scenes from the new set will first appear from new episodes airing in spring. On Monday night that dropped even. [234][235] EastEnders is normally recorded using four cameras. The most-watched TV show was the penultimate episode of The Apprentice on BBC One, which had 6.7 million viewers, 2.1 million of whom watched not live, but on . [111] Filming recommenced on 29 June,[112] with episodes airing from 7 September 2020. All you need to know about Leo's dad and Whitney's abuser", "Sets too shabby for latest TVs force EastEnders out of town", "High-definition television forces BBC to fix sets", "EastEnders announces plans to build new exterior set at Elstree", "BBC's new EastEnders set delayed until 2020", "EastEnders' new and improved set won't be ready until 2020", "BBC's new EastEnders set over budget by 27m, watchdog finds", "EastEnders filming will begin again next month but with major changes for cast", "EastEnders starts filming on troubled new 87m Albert Square sets", "Revamped "Top of the Pops" returns to old home after a decade in exile", "Let it snow airports and schools closed", "EXCLUSIVE: "EastEnders" to reference election result", "EastEnders film last-minute scene to mark Michael Jackson's death for Friday's episode", "Exclusive: "EastEnders" to reference spending review", "EastEnders to reference Andy Murray Wimbledon victory", "The BBC's management of the costs of producing continuing drama", EastEnders Vixens: The Rise and Fall of Stella, "Streaker storms EastEnders film set in St Albans", "Pics: Ronnie shops for a wedding dress in 'Enders?