Buy this book from Amazon.co.uk
EastEnders
Who's Who
Kate Lock
BBC
Worldwide ISBN 056355178X
INTRODUCTION
Fifteen
years ago, when EastEnders started on 17 February 1985, I was just 24,
fresh out of university, and about to embark on a career in journalism.
A lot's happened since then. To me and to the show. My life's had its
ups and downs but, thankfully, nothing to rival the storylines in EastEnders.
Well, only once or twice.
I find it hard to believe I was that young (relatively speaking; it's young when your next birthday's 40) when Dirty Den got schoolgirl Michelle Fowler pregnant. I remember them meeting on the towpath so clearly. But that's one of the things I've noted about staying faithful to EastEnders: it telescopes time. Researching this book, and my EastEnders' novelisations (Blood Ties: The Life and Loves of Grant Mitchell; Tiffany's Secret Diary and Bianca's Secret Diary), I was forever muttering, 'It can't be that long since Sharon left/Debs died/Kathy was raped/Bianca got married.' It always seems like just a couple of years ago. Sometimes it seems like yesterday.
I don't know why this should be. Perhaps it's because for half an hour three times a week I slip into this parallel life with people who are as familiar - sometimes, regrettably, more familiar - than the far-away family, friends and relatives I only get to see three times a year. And I've known my Albert Square mates a long time now. I know their foibles, their secrets, their dreams. I gossip about them. I know how they'll react. They make me laugh. And cry. And shout rude things… hell, if that's not a relationship, what is?
Writing the entries for this Who's Who, which is a celebration of the main EastEnders' characters over the past fifteen years, what worries me more is realising that there are some characters and events I have no recollection of at all. I won't point them out - any gaps like have been ably plugged by EastEnders' saintly archivist Sharon Batten, who provided all the research - but I keep wondering: what was happening to me then? Was I taken up by aliens? Permanently drunk? Or did I just have a brilliant social life? (Nah, would've put the video on.) I think I was in Canada. It's the only explanation. You see, I don't measure out my life in coffee spoons, but by what's happened in Walford.
Well, OK, so I am a bit sad. But I don't care. I love EastEnders. I love the fact that the characters are so engaging. I love the fact that it still manages to shock, excite and entertain - even if what shocked back at the start (Colin and Barry's first gay kiss) hardly raises an eyebrow now (Simon and Tony snogged all the time). There are new shocks all the time. Matt's twisted revenge on Steve Owen is a good example, made all the more effective by the creepy build-up. When it comes to cranking up tension, EastEnders excels like no other soap.
The show's more than earned its Baftas for Best Drama Serial and Best Soap (not to mention the host of awards from various TV magazines) and its position at the top of the ratings: eighteen million and more people can't be wrong. EastEnders, which was seen as ambitious when it was launched as a bi-weekly drama serial back in 1985, has run thrice-weekly since April 1994 and continues to go from strength to strength. And to move with the times. They may have changed the theme tune (twice); they may have redrawn the map (three times), but even the Dome, symbol of the new Millennium, has been put firmly in its place: as a backdrop for the Mitchell brother's plunge into the Thames - and the Millennium double wedding, of course!
I find it hard to believe I was that young (relatively speaking; it's young when your next birthday's 40) when Dirty Den got schoolgirl Michelle Fowler pregnant. I remember them meeting on the towpath so clearly. But that's one of the things I've noted about staying faithful to EastEnders: it telescopes time. Researching this book, and my EastEnders' novelisations (Blood Ties: The Life and Loves of Grant Mitchell; Tiffany's Secret Diary and Bianca's Secret Diary), I was forever muttering, 'It can't be that long since Sharon left/Debs died/Kathy was raped/Bianca got married.' It always seems like just a couple of years ago. Sometimes it seems like yesterday.
I don't know why this should be. Perhaps it's because for half an hour three times a week I slip into this parallel life with people who are as familiar - sometimes, regrettably, more familiar - than the far-away family, friends and relatives I only get to see three times a year. And I've known my Albert Square mates a long time now. I know their foibles, their secrets, their dreams. I gossip about them. I know how they'll react. They make me laugh. And cry. And shout rude things… hell, if that's not a relationship, what is?
Writing the entries for this Who's Who, which is a celebration of the main EastEnders' characters over the past fifteen years, what worries me more is realising that there are some characters and events I have no recollection of at all. I won't point them out - any gaps like have been ably plugged by EastEnders' saintly archivist Sharon Batten, who provided all the research - but I keep wondering: what was happening to me then? Was I taken up by aliens? Permanently drunk? Or did I just have a brilliant social life? (Nah, would've put the video on.) I think I was in Canada. It's the only explanation. You see, I don't measure out my life in coffee spoons, but by what's happened in Walford.
Well, OK, so I am a bit sad. But I don't care. I love EastEnders. I love the fact that the characters are so engaging. I love the fact that it still manages to shock, excite and entertain - even if what shocked back at the start (Colin and Barry's first gay kiss) hardly raises an eyebrow now (Simon and Tony snogged all the time). There are new shocks all the time. Matt's twisted revenge on Steve Owen is a good example, made all the more effective by the creepy build-up. When it comes to cranking up tension, EastEnders excels like no other soap.
The show's more than earned its Baftas for Best Drama Serial and Best Soap (not to mention the host of awards from various TV magazines) and its position at the top of the ratings: eighteen million and more people can't be wrong. EastEnders, which was seen as ambitious when it was launched as a bi-weekly drama serial back in 1985, has run thrice-weekly since April 1994 and continues to go from strength to strength. And to move with the times. They may have changed the theme tune (twice); they may have redrawn the map (three times), but even the Dome, symbol of the new Millennium, has been put firmly in its place: as a backdrop for the Mitchell brother's plunge into the Thames - and the Millennium double wedding, of course!
Copyright
BBC Worldwide 2000