Courtesy of BBC

Since its launch in February 1985, EastEnders has become such a television institution that it's startling to recall that it's considerably younger than Coronation Street (ITV, 1960-), Emmerdale (ITV, 1972) and even the BBC's own Pobol y Cwm (BBC/S4C, 1974-). Set in the fictional borough of Walford, London E20, it follows the lives of the families who live in Albert Square and drink at its local pub, the Queen Vic.

It was initially created by producer Julia Smith and writer-director Tony Holland (both veterans of the BBC's long-running Z Cars, 1962-78), and intended as a response to the success of Channel 4's Brookside (1982-2003), to which it bore a strong resemblance. Memorably direct in its approach to difficult social issues such as crime, abortion, gay love, racial tension, underage sex, schizophrenia and AIDS, EastEnders' thoroughly-researched coverage of these issues often earned considerable praise from experts and charities.

A notable feature of EastEnders, particularly in the early years, was its multicultural casting, an attempt to offer a more authentic portrait of life in a working-class district than the audience was used to seeing in television soaps.

Not everyone was a fan. Veteran 'clean up TV' campaigner Mary Whitehouse commented:

It is at our peril and our children's peril that we allow EastEnders, with its verbal aggression and its atmosphere of physical violence, its blackmailing pimp and its prostitute, its lies and its deceit and its bad language, to go unchallenged.

However, it was far more enthusiastically received by the tabloid press, particularly the red-tops, which would regularly feature stories about the programme, and not only coined the nickname 'Dirty Den' for the Queen Vic landlord Den Watts, but also revealed that actor Leslie Grantham had served a lengthy prison sentence for murder. Coverage like this pushed the programme to record-breaking ratings, most notably the 1986 Christmas Day episode, in which Den served Angie (Anita Dobson) with divorce papers in front of 31 million viewers.

EastEnders initially revolved around two main families, the Beales and the Fowlers. Increasingly, additional members of the Watts clan were introduced, while the 1990s saw the arrival of the Mitchells and the Jacksons, and the 2000s the Slaters. Ian Beale (Adam Woodyatt) is the only character to have appeared consistently from the first episode, though Dot Cotton (June Brown) and Pat Butcher (Pam St. Clement) also date back to the 1980s.

Michael Brooke

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