There's a very interesting channel that I follow on YouTube by Adam Martyn who does a lot of videos on television-related topics. His latest video is the very controversially-named 'The End of Eastenders: Why the BBC's Soap Needs to Stop.' And I immediately thought of all the Eastenders fans on here and wondered what your thoughts on the subject are.
Although I was born in London, I moved to France from the time I was tiny and grew up there, returning to England to go to university. So I never grew up with Eastenders the way most of you here did. I wasn't even born when it started! But of course I knew all about it and how popular it was, even catching the odd episode here and there when I returned home to visit relatives. So for me I can pretty much take it or leave it. I'm not much of a soap fan anyway, a lot like Adam who made the video.
Adam makes some great points in his video which I agree with because I also believe that soaps have pretty much had their day - at least where the younger generation are concerned. But what does everyone else think?
Even though I don't watch Eastenders religiously, it would be a shame if it were ever to end. It's become a massive part of British popular culture so it would be sad if it were gone. It would be like losing Corrie! I know it'll end one day - everything comes to an end. But I can't see that happening for a very long time.
Should Eastenders end? I don't see why it has to. If you like it, watch it. If you don't then don't. Simples!
Well even if they did get rid of Eastenders, I'm willing to bet they'll only announce it's coming back four months later like they did with Neighbours! 😮
It's definitely very different. When the show first started it was all about the characters and storylines. Now it's all about representation. I'm sorry if that upsets people but it's true. There's nothing wrong with diversity or being inclusive. But we watch TV primarily for entertainment. So if they want to win back viewers they can start by creating endearing characters and getting better actors!
I grew up watching all the big soaps like Eastenders, Corrie (I am from Manchester!) Neightbours, H&A etc. I'm not at all a regular viewer now and I feel that the standard for such shows have slipped a lot. Eastenders stopped being unmissable around 2012 I'd say. I wouldn't say that it should be put out of it's misery, and I know that Eastenders still has loads of fans, but I think they need to make some major changes. Get rid of all the people who can't act for toffee for a start, and go back to being a twice weekly show. I think them churning episodes out like butter is the reason why it's become so shoddy. .
Eastenders was great in the beginning when we had Den and Angie in it. I think it was in the early nineties that I got fed up with it even though my family still watched it. It was always so depressing. I hardly ever see it now and when I do it's like nothing has changed. Now I hear that there's going to be a murder on Christmas Day. Wow - how very festive!
I know that viewing figures have plummeted drastically so why not put the show out of it's misery and come up with something fresh and original.
As someone who works in television, I enjoy any TV-related content so thank you Framboise for drawing this channel to my attention.
Firstly I am shocked that Eastenders drew an audience of less than five million two years ago. Despite Adam saying it's not so bad in this day and age, for someone who watched the soap when they were pulling in audiences of over twenty million, I feel it says a lot.
I am no longer a regular viewer. Not like I was years ago and I've watched Eastenders since the early years. I think Adam hit on a key point when he used the word 'tired' and I agree that the soap format is very outdated. I feel that people only watch soaps because they have nothing else to do, whereas years ago people would drop everything as soon as their favourite soap was about to start.
The fans will say different but as far as I'm concerned it won't be the end of the world if Eastenders ended tomorrow. The question is what would they have in its place?
For me personally, I'm not all that bothered if they do or don't get rid of Eastenders. I really only watch it if there's not much else on or someone raves about something that's happened (like this big upcoming Christmas storyline!) But while I'm indifferent, I know there's plenty others out there who still watch it so if it was to disappear I'm sure there'll be lots of people who will be terribly upset. Just look what happened when it was announced that Neighbours was getting the chop!
I've just watched it. It was a very interesting video and Adam made it clear that it was just his opinion that he felt Eastenders should be axed (the show isn't actually going to be axed. Not any time soon anyway!) But I don't think he's saying anything that a lot of other people aren't already saying. I grew up with Eastenders. My family loved the show. And now that I live outside of the UK, it reminds me of home. But those are really my only reasons for watching it. It's not bad, but for those of us who watched Eastenders from the time it began, we know that there's a difference. A very big difference.