As a part of my task I am to research into a Soap Opera of my choosing and post blog entries on my findings.
As my first post I will be establishing my choice of Soap as well as giving a general background to the program, its institution and its success over the years.
Firstly, my choice of Soap is the long running BBC program, EastEnders.
The program first aired on the 19th of Febuary 1985 and since posting this blog entry the show has aired a total of 4291 episodes, not including its spin-off E20 series.
An average episode of EastEnders tends to draw in 40% of the market to view the show. With nearly 3million viewers tuning in for the shows sunday omnibus.
To mark the shows 25th anniversary the BBC put on a live episode to mark a pivitol moment in a long running storyline, this showed a beloved character dying. That episode drew in an audience of 16.41million viewers and saw one of the highest ratings for the show.
On Christmas day 1986 Eastenders attracked 30.15million viewers which marks the highest viewing number in any British soap in history.
The show reached its lowest point on the 21st September 2004, when it had its lowest viewings at 6.2million, less than an hour long Emmerdale special ran to oppose it which reach 8.1million viewings. The cause of this was heavy criticism over the shows unbelieveable storylines.
EastEnders has been successful in raising awareness for a number of domestic situations, for example after the child abuse storyline of Kat Slater and her uncle, calls to the NSPCC went up by 60%.
However the show has also come under massive critisism over stereotyping foreign characters and portraying the police and nurses in a false manor while falsely doing their practise.
EastEnders has won 260 awards for the show including a number of BAFTA's,British Soap Awards and National Television Awards.
In conclusion, EastEnders is a long running British sitcom and one of the best in the country, making history for viewing figures and sparking a great response to raising awareness for domestic causes, the program has a long running history and in 2010 the show embraced modern technologies by using HD cameras and broadcasting in full HD.
Thank You for Reading, Chip James
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