Evercomplaining Eastenders (Eastenders)

Member Name: kellylouj

Product:	Eastenders
Date:	03/03/09 (274 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Long running soap, covers realistic storylines, better actors than other soaps

Disadvantages: Mundane storylines, sometimes runs short of a dose of reality.

When I first met my husband he never really watched Eastenders, he caught Corrie every now and then but once we moved in together it was me who ended up getting control of the remote and soon became a regular fixture in our own home.

*~*Where it all began*~*

On the 19th February 1985 Eastenders launched on the BBC and is now a firm favourite with many households across the UK and Ireland.
Originally offering 2 half hour episodes a week we now get Eastenders 4 times a week, Mondays at 8pm, Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7.30pm and Fridays at 8pm.

The soap is set in the fictional town of Walford and focuses around the small market town and its characters.

Eastenders has many characters some that keep returning like a bad penny and some that we just can't wait to be killed off!

The Fowlers were the first family to really focus on were the Fowlers/Beales. Pauline and Arthur lived in a tiny terraced house with their children, Mark who had a major storyline when his character contracted the AIDS Virus and was possibly the first time this was ever covered in a soap. Michelle was their daughter who also had a major storyline when she had an affair with Dirty Den her best friends father and became pregnant with her daughter Michelle at a young age. Martin was their youngest son and has also had his fair share of storylines over the years and probably his more memorable storyline was when he was involved in a hit and run accident killing his close friend, Sonia's fiancee Jamie which in time brought them together.

Pauline and Arthur were typical parents bringing up their children in the 80's they lived with Pauline's mother, Lou Beale who was a real battleaxe! Lou's Son, Pete was a long running character and was married to Kathy and they had a son Ian who, to this day is still in the soap and is still just as annoying.
Between the two families there has been rape, illicit affairs, teenage pregnancy and bankrupcy and with Ian Beale still being in the soap the storylines have just got better only this week we were treated to him celebrating his 40th Birthday and him being embarrased on turning the big 4-0.

The Mitchells are another family that have dominated the street, early in the 90's there was Peggy, Phil, Grant and Sam Mitchell who made their way to the Queen Vic pub when Grant married current landlady at the time of Sharon Wickes, a fiery relationship between the two followed and an even more explosive storyline when Grant discovered that she had been having an affair with his brother Phil.
Phil is still in the show and he has had a string of failed relationships, when his relationship did not work out with Sharon he fell into the arms of Ian Beale's mother Kathy and they had a child together who is now also in the show, Ben and they were both involved in a really big storyline when Phil fell for Stella a lawyer who seemed completely harmless who slowly began bullying Ben and inflicting violence on him and it all came to a sad end when she committed suicide in front of Phil's eyes in a wedding dress.

Domestic Violence was heavily portrayed when Mo Slater was violently abused by her husband Trevor with many distressing episodes being shown it certainly caused a lot of controversy at the time but all the women in the UK were cheering the day that she got her own back on Trevor and swung out with the iron to his head which knocked him unconscious and the distress of watching Mo being sent to prison was such a furstrating time when we were all hoping that justice would eventually be served.

Eastenders always seems to be at the forefront of offering real life storylines and has covered homosexual relationships, divorce, illnesses, theft, drug abuse and much more, I feel that Eastenders does do more justice to everyday issues that we all face but feel at this current time as we are going through a recession it is barely focussed upon on the soap, fair enough it may be a mundane subject but the fact is it is reality, it affects us and how we live and Eastenders seems to be barely scratching the surface on current events and focusing more on affairs and the cast having storylines that involve them getting drunk, not really a great scene to be setting.

Many of the characters are portrayed as working class yet how many of us if we worked and lived on the same street would go to the cafe for our dinner and for a coffee!?!?

Stacey Slater currently works on a market stall yet most of the time she is never on there selling items and could afford to reduce all her stock to half price yesterday!

Danielle has moved from Telford and Stacey who barely knew her offered her a place to sleep in her Uncle Charlie's house which to me is completely ridiculous!

I still watch Eastenders as it keeps me entertained for that half and hour and yes some of the storylines really have me perched on the edge of my sofa but in the last couple of weeks I really could get away without watching it for a week and be right up to date at the end of watching one more episode!

Summary: My favourite soap but certainly needs some excitement!