I think that I may be hooked! (Eastenders)

Member Name: markysparky

Product:	Eastenders
Date:	16/02/09 (34 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Quality real-life (to a point) drama, without the ad breaks

Disadvantages: Addictive and mostly depressing

I have probably spent too much time, over 20 plus years, watching this show. In recent years, I have deliberately restricted the number of episodes that I watch (especially since the BBC increased the screenings to 4 nights a week).

I could spend the rest of the week writing about this subject but need to restrict my ramblings to something more consise. I have therefore selected some specific topics, as follows, focus on.

Favourite character - I placed Dirty Den in second place (on the basis that I don't think much of Leslie Grantham's acting abilities) behind Grant Mitchell (wonderfully played by Ross Kemp). He joined the series as a mentally troubled ex-para, damaged by his military experiences. He was a hard nut, someone not to be messed with and, in conjunction with his cleverer brother Phil, broke a few bones, dealt with some very dodgy characters and kicked ass all around the Square and beyond. He was also a bit of a ladies man, winning the hearts of Sharon Watts, Tiffany and even Jane Beale. Grant left Eastenders as regular some years ago and his rare returns to the show are worth waiting for (a nerve tingling scene in the woods with jake and adnny Moon and a shotgun springs to mind). Top man.

Least favourite character - Pauline Fowler The matriarch of the Fowler/Beale family, following the death of her mother Lou Beale. Brilliantly acted by the lovely Wendy Richard, Pauline was a bitter, twisted, sour-faced out battleaxe who had few redeeming features. Her self-righteous, judgemental manner made her abhorrent. The scriptwriters nevertheless gave her a loyal, well to a point (before his affair, the theft and prison sentence), husband and 3 kids plus a network of loving family and friends. Anyway, she died in the snow, in the square, on her own - natural justice.

Biggest gripe - the characters never talk about the TV programmes they watched the night before (perhaps with the honourable exception of the now departed Keith Millar), about sporting events (other than the odd passing mention of West Ham) about the price of cornflakes, the best building society savings accounts etc etc - in other words the sort of things that normal, real-life, people talk about. I know that this would make the drama somewhat duller but I miss that touch of realism. And another thing is there any other district in England where the ratio of washing machines per person is lower than in Albert Square?

And finally, what I like the most. The Christmas lunches at The Queen Vic and their inevitable calamity, the Ian Beale V Phil Mitchell confrontations, Dot's Malapropisms, the wedding disasters, the occasional humour (a la Minty, Gary, Dot, Heather) and the ability to shock, surprise and amaze after 24 years.

I think I may be hooked.

Summary: This show is a soap witha heart, body and soul (mine!)