What's going down on Albert Square? (Eastenders)

Member Name: pmcds

Product:	Eastenders
Date:	04/05/09 (108 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great storylines and cast

Disadvantages: Sometimes a bit too depressing

Eastenders is one of the top TV programmes around. For many years, it has ranked as one of the top 2 soaps in the country, along with Coronation Street, and it airs four nights during the week on BBC1, excluding Wednesday, with repeats on BBC3 at 10pm, and an omnibus on Sunday afternoons on BBC1.

Each episode lasts for half an hour, and documents the personal and professional lives of the inhabitants of the fictional London borough of Walford, and regularly features some of the harshest storylines that soaps feature, with violence, adultery, pregnancy, crime lords, murder, corruption and family feuds just a small part of everything it contains.

More recently, the show took the brave step to examine the world of paedophilia, which was tastefully done and showed how terrible it can be, and also how secretive it often is. Similar issues are dealt with in a very controlled manner by the producers, directors and writers, and the show regularly receives accolades for its handling of issues, and also for the actors and actresses who fill the shoes of the characters.

The characters themselves are usually on the show for quite a while, just as you would expect for people who live in one place for a long time. There are a number of regular changes to the inhabitants, and Albert Square, right in the centre of Walford, has had a number of very familiar faces in the past, such as Dirty Den, who was finally killed off a couple of years ago, and Arthur and Pauline Fowler, with both these characters no longer with us.

The exits of the characters from the show are often very well written, with a major event causing a character's death or someone off to live on the other side of the world. Similarly, the cast members have to deal with numerous changes, and those who are still there after a number of years are household faces and names, such as Stev McFadden who plays Phil Mitchell, and British legend Barbara Windsor, who plays his mum Peggy. The Mitchells have been around for a long time now, and seem to have spread, with various cousins entering the scene to continue the family name on the show.

The show was first aired in 1985. 24 years on, I find it still deals very well with many current issues, but occasionally, I find it goes through a phase of just being too melodramatic and going over the top. I understand and appreciate the need to constantly find a new storyline to keep the viewers interested, but it would be nice to have something that doesn't involve someone's world collapsing or a big scandal breaking out in the square. Other soaps seem to manage to have a few episodes of normality every now and then, and I just feel that Eastenders occasionally has too much depression in its storylines on too regular a basis.

That having been said, it is still the most entertaining soap for me. I enjoy watching it when I get the chance, and I find that missing a few episodes here or there doesn't stop you from understanding the soap too much. You can easily miss a week and still understand most of what goes on. Overall, I give this one a thumbs up. I find the characters more entertaining than other soaps, and enjoy it more than the other soaps, mainline or otherwise.

Summary: My favourite soap