Image via WikipediaI remember the very first episode of Eastenders twenty five years ago as if it was shown yesterday.It was the BBC`s first real effort to rival ITV`s Coronation Street and it was a revelation.It was as different to Coronation Street as you could possibly get and like nothing people had seen in a soap before.It was realistic with characters you could recognise in your own streets and neighbourhoods and with stories about situations you yourself, your friends or relatives had gone through in their everyday lives.This was a drama about real life with acting and writing as good as any you would see in a Shakespear play or an Oscar winning film.Sadly times have changed. In the days of Julia Smith and Tony Holland who created the series and produced it in its early years ratings were not what the show was primarly about it was about telling stories about characters the audience could believe in.When the BBC decided to increase production to four episodes a week from the original two the programmes increased costs meant it had to follow the ratings and also the standard of acting and writing declined because of the constraints of time and money.Now we see stories written not to tell a story but to create drama that attracts audiences.It is now ratings lead where it was character and story lead.Stories are now about as realistic as Bambi and characters stereotypes dreamed up to have the maximum impact on ratings.
The show now is not what it was and that is sad.The BBC should be producing quality realistic drama not trying to chase ratings with second class acting and writing.I think the series should be scaled back to its original two episodes a week and the BBC should employ producers and writers with the same ideals and aims that the original producers Julia Smith and Tony Holland shown in the photograph had when the programme was first created.
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