User:Kelvin 101/EastEnders book references

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Page numbers required[edit]

Albert Square & Me: The Actors of Eastenders (1)[edit]

  • The first character to leave the series in 1986 was recurring police officer, DS Roy Quick (Douglas Fielding), in July. Andy O'Brien became the first regular character in the series' history to be killed off in August 1986; actor Ross Davidson was axed following an altercation with show producer, Julia Smith, in which she threatened to write out his character and Davidson told her to kill him off.


EE Handbook (3)[edit]

  • Frank's son and daughter, Ricky Butcher and Diane Butcher were introduced to the series in May, with sixteen-year-old Sid Owen[2] and fifteen-year-old Sophie Lawrence[3] taking on the roles. Frank's elderly battle-axe[4] mother, Mo Butcher, was also introduced

Inside Story (12)[edit]


  • Sandy Ratcliff was recommended for the role and after much concern over her "free spirit", she was cast in the role. (Page ?)


  • The couple were scripted to be parents to a young baby named Hassan, who was played by Michael Evangelou. (Page ?)




  • Nick Berry was quickly cast as Simon, with Smith calling it one of the fastest on record. (Page ?)
  • Johnson chose to leave the show after less than a year, following his disapproval of the storylines he was receiving. (Page ?) Saeed left the show on 26 December 1985, making him the first character to permanently leave the show. (Page ?)

Public Secrets: EastEnders and Its Audience (0)[edit]

  • Done

First Ten Years (9)[edit]

  • According to Brake, the departure of two of the soap's most popular characters, Den and Angie Watts (Anita Dobson), left a void in the programme, which needed to be filled.[1] (Page ?)
  • Brake indicated that the production team decided that 1989 was to be a year of change in Walford, commenting, "it was almost as if Walford itself was making a fresh start".[1] (Page ?)
  • EastEnders is often filmed on location, away from the studios in Borehamwood. (Page ?) Sometimes an entire quartet is filmed on location, which has a practical function and are the result of EastEnders making a "double bank", when an extra week's worth of episodes are recorded at the same time as the regular schedule, enabling the production of the programme to stop for a two-week break at Christmas. (Page ?) These episodes often air in late June or early July and again in late October or early November.[1] (Page ?)
  • If scenes during a normal week are to be filmed on location, this is done during the normal recording week.[2] Off-set locations that have been used for filming include Clacton (1989), Devon (September 1990), Hertfordshire (used for scenes set in Gretna Green in July 1991), Portsmouth (November 1991),[1] (Page ?)

20 Years in Albert Square (7)[edit]

  • They came to the conclusion that Coronation Street had grown old with its audience, and that EastEnders would have to attract a younger, more socially extensive audience, ensuring that it had the longevity to retain it for many years thereafter.[3] (Page ?)
  • Other characters created included Jewish doctor Harold Legg, the Anglo-Cypriot Osman family, Ali Osman, Sue Osman and baby Hassan Osman, black father and son, Tony Carpenter and Kelvin Carpenter, single mother Mary Smith and Bangladeshi couple Saeed Jeffery and Naima Jeffery. (Page ?) Jack, Pearl and Tracey Watts were created to bring "flash, trash, and melodrama" to the Square (they were later renamed Den Watts, Angie Watts and Sharon Watts). (Page ?) The characters of Andy O'Brien and Debbie Wilkins were created to show a modern couple with outwardly mobile pretensions, and Lofty Holloway to show an outsider; someone who did not fit in with other residents. (Page ?) It was decided that he would be a former soldier, as Holland's personal experiences of ex-soldiers were that they had trouble fitting into society after being in the army. (Page ?) When they compared the characters they had created, Smith and Holland realised they had created a cross-section of East End residents (Page ?).

Page numbers found, references to be written[edit]

First Ten Years[edit]

  • The Beale and Fowler family represented the old families of the East End, who had always been there. (Page ?19) The Osmans, Jefferys and Carpenters represented the more modern diverse ethnic community of the East End. (Page ?20) Debbie, Andy and Mary represented more modern day individuals.[3] (Page ?19,)

20 Years in Albert Square[edit]

  • The outline that Reid presented was vague: two episodes a week, 52 weeks a year. After the concept was put to them on 14 March 1983, Smith and Holland then went about putting their ideas down on paper; they decided it would be set in the East End of London.[3] (Page 11) (Rewrite needed)
  • There was anxiety at first that the viewing public would not accept a new soap set in the south of England, though research commissioned by lead figures in the BBC revealed that southerners would accept a northern soap, northerners would accept a southern soap and those from the Midlands, as Julia Smith herself pointed out, did not mind where it was set as long as it was somewhere else. (Page 11) This was the beginning of a close and continuing association between EastEnders and audience research, which, though commonplace today, was something of a revolution in practice.[3] (Page 11)
  • In March 1983, under two years before EastEnders' first episode was broadcast, the show was a vague idea in the mind of a handful of BBC executives, who decided that what BBC1 needed was a popular bi-weekly drama series that would attract the kind of mass audiences that ITV was getting with Coronation Street. (Page 10) The first people to whom David Reid, then head of series and serials, turned were Julia Smith and Tony Holland, a well established producer/script editor team who had first worked together on Z-Cars. (Page 10) The outline that Reid presented was vague: two episodes a week, 52 weeks a year. After the concept was put to them on 14 March 1983, Smith and Holland then went about putting their ideas down on paper; they decided it would be set in the East End of London.[3] (Page 10)
  • The show's creators were both Londoners, but when they researched Victorian squares, they found massive changes in areas they thought they knew well. However, delving further into the East End of London, they found exactly what they had been searching for: a real East End spirit—an inward looking quality, a distrust of strangers and authority figures, a sense of territory and community that the creators summed up as "Hurt one of us and you hurt us all".[3] (Page 11) These themes that were found for the setting can still be found in a present-day episode of EastEnders. (Page 11)
  • It was the latter that stuck (E8 is the postcode for Hackney) in the early months of creative process. (Page 15) However, the show was renamed after many casting agents mistakenly thought the show was to be called Estate, and the fictional postcode E20 was created, instead of using E8. (Page 15) Julia Smith came up with the name Eastenders after she and Holland had spent months telephoning theatrical agents and asking "Do you have any real East Enders on your books?". (Page 15) However, Smith thought "Eastenders" "looked ugly written down" and was "hard to say", so decided to capitalise the second 'e'.[3] (Page 15)
  • There is also a market close to Fassett Square at Ridley Road. (Page ?) The postcode for the area, E8, was one of the working titles for the series. (Page 15) The name Walford is both a street in Dalston where Tony Holland lived and a blend of Walthamstow and Stratford—the areas of Greater London where the creators were born.[3] (Page 15)
  • The matriarchal role is one that has been seen in various reincarnations since the programme's inception, often depicted as the centre of the family unit.[3] (Page 55)
  • The episodes are usually filmed about six[2] to eight weeks in advance of broadcast. (Page 147 only mentions six weeks ) During the winter period, filming can take place up to twelve weeks in advance, due to less daylight for outdoor filming sessions.[3] (Page 147)
  • The postal district in EastEnders was entirely fictional up to that point, as London East postal districts stopped at E18 at that time. (Alternative source reference found) The show's creators opted for E20 instead of E19 as it was thought to sound better. (Alternative source reference found) In September 2011 the postal code for Albert Square was revealed in an episode as E20 6PQ. (Page: Book published in 2005 so cannot be a reference.)
  • The exterior set for the fictional Albert Square is located in the permanent backlot of the BBC Elstree Centre, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, at 51°39′32″N 0°16′40″W / 51.65889°N 0.27778°W / 51.65889; -0.27778, and is outdoors and open to the weather. (source) The EastEnders lot was designed by Keith Harris, who was a senior designer within the production team together with supervising art directors Peter Findley and Gina Parr.[5] (Alternative reference found)

References written with page numbers[edit]

A paragraph strike means the references has been added to the designated article.

The Inside Story[edit]

  • EastEnders is built around the idea of relationships and strong families, with each character having a place in the community. This theme encompasses the whole Square, making the entire community a family of sorts, prey to upsets and conflict, but pulling together in times of trouble. Co-creator Tony Holland was from a large East End family, and such families have typified EastEnders.[6] (Page 49)
  • The first central family was the combination of the Fowler family, consisting of Pauline Fowler, her husband Arthur Fowler, and teenage children Mark Fowler and Michelle Fowler and the Beale family, consisting of Pete Beale (Pauline's twin brother), his wife Kathy Beale and their teenage son Ian Beale. Pauline and Pete's mother was the domineering Lou Beale, who lived with Pauline and her family. Holland drew on the names of his own family for the characters.[7](Page 51-56)
  • The target launch date was originally January 1985.[8] (Page 24) Smith and Holland had eleven months in which to write, cast and shoot the whole thing. However, in February 1984, they did not even have a title or a place to film. Both Smith and Holland were unhappy about the January 1985 launch date, favouring November or even September 1984 when seasonal audiences would be higher, but the BBC stayed firm, and Smith and Holland had to concede that, with the massive task of getting the Elstree Studios operational, January was the most realistic date. However, this was later to be changed to February.[8](Page 24)
  • The launch was delayed until February 1985[9](Page 154)
  • After they decided on the filming location of BBC Elstree Studios in Hertfordshire).[10] (Page 40) Smith and Holland set about creating the twenty-three characters needed, in just fourteen days.[11] (Page 164) They took a holiday in Playa de los Pocillos, Lanzarote, and started to create the characters.[12] (Page 48) Holland created the Beale and Fowler family, drawing on his own background. His mother, Ethel Holland, was one of four sisters raised in Walthamstow. Her eldest sister, Lou, had married a man named Albert Beale and had two children, named Peter and Pauline.[6] (Page 49) These family members were the basis for Lou Beale, Pete Beale and Pauline Fowler. Holland also created Pauline's unemployed husband Arthur Fowler, their children Mark Fowler and Michelle Fowler, Pete's wife Kathy Beale and their son Ian Beale.[7] (Page 51-56) Smith used her personal memories of East End residents she met when researching Victorian squares.[13] (Page 15) Ethel Skinner was based on an old woman she met in a pub, with ill-fitting false teeth, and a "face to rival a neon sign", holding a Yorkshire Terrier in one hand and a pint of Guinness in the other.[14](Page 52)
  • The Beales are the show's longest running family, having been in EastEnders since it began in 1985.[citation needed] (Needs an alternative reference as book was written in 1987) Key people involved in the production of EastEnders have stressed how important the idea of strong families is to the programme.[6] (Page 49)
  • The drains around the set are real so rainwater can naturally flow from the streets.[15](Page 43) The square was built in two phases with only three sides being built, plus Bridge Street, to begin with in 1984, in time to be used for the show's first episode.[16](Page 95)
  • Show creators planned for Den and Angie to have an adoptive daughter, Sharon Watts and cast Letitia Dean in the role because of her laugh, which they described as "the dirtiest in the world!".[17] (Page 123)
  • The Watts family were also given a pet, originally planned to be a German shepard named Prince, but this was later changed when the show found a poodle named Roly. (Page 162) The second character to appear was Ali Osman, a Turkish Cypriot café and taxi firm owner. (Page 122) The casting of Ali caused arguments between co-creators Smith and Tony Holland as they disagreed between which of two actors to cast as Ali. Nejdet Salih was eventually cast as Ali. (Page 122)
  • Show creators had scripted their first family, the Beales and Fowlers, based on Holland's family. (Page 49-50) Lou Beale was created as the seventy-year-old "stubborn, family orientated" matriarch of the family. Anna Wing was cast in the role, to her delight of being a "household name". (Page 120)
  • Lou was billed as the widowed mother of middle-aged twins, "rough and ready" Pete Beale and "battle-axe" Pauline Fowler. (Page 195) The role of Pete was cast to Law and Order actor Peter Dean because of his "tremendous enthusiasm" for the part, (Page 123)
  • In an attempt to portray a multi-cultural relationship, Ali's British wife, Sue Osman was created. (Page 122)
  • Aside from the three central families, the show featured several other characters. An Asian couple, Saeed and Naima Jeffery, were cast in the show as the owners of the local grocery store. Andrew Johnson was cast as Saeed, whilst Shreela Ghosh was cast as Naima after a small struggle in locating any Muslim women. (Page 134)
  • The second character of the show to be created was an elderly lady who was billed as the "the life and soul of the party", Ethel Skinner. Having been considered the ideal casting, Gretchen Franklin was cast. Ethel was scripted to have a pug, Willy, named after her late husband. (Page 52) The show also featured a resident Jewish doctor, Dr Harold Legg, (Page 53) but finding a capable actor proved difficult. Leonard Fenton was suggested by writer Bill Lyons, before being subsequently cast in the role. (Page 121)
  • The final character to be created was Nick Cotton, the show's local villain. (Page 90-91) The character was not created by Smith and Holland and was not part of their original vision for the show, being credited as an "afterthought". Because of this, the actor John Altman was not cast by Smith and instead was cast by the directors. (Page 162)
  • Pauline was originally scripted to be five-months pregnant in her early forties and she eventually gave birth to a son, Martin (Jon Peyton Price) in July 1985. (Page 78) When Scarboro departed the show in April 1985, show bosses were required to create a new character that could replace Mark's storylines and thus, Simon Wicks (or "Wicksy" as he was also known) was created. (Page 202)
  • Despite this, the first departure from the show came in April 1985 when Scarboro also disapproved of his storylines and left his role of Mark. (Page 201) However, Scarboro made returns across three guest stints in December 1985, 1986 and 1987, making his original departure only temporary. (Page 202)
  • Show bosses decided in 1986 to tackle "an important and complicated story about the ups and downs of a pop group" (Page 205))

Public Secrets: EastEnders and Its Audience[edit]

They also looked at Brookside but found there was a lack of central meeting points for the characters, making it difficult for the writers to intertwine different storylines,[citation needed] so EastEnders was set in Albert Square. (Page 15)[18]

The First 10 Years[edit]

  • A new era began in 1990 with the introduction of Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) and Grant Mitchell (Ross Kemp)—the Mitchell brothers—successful characters who would go on to dominate the soap thereafter.[19] (Page 91) As the new production team cleared the way for new characters and a new direction, all of the characters introduced under Gibbon were axed from the show at the start of the year.[20] (Page 90) Ferguson introduced other characters and was responsible for storylines including HIV, Alzheimer's disease and murder. After a successful revamp of the soap, Ferguson decided to leave EastEnders in July 1991.[21] (Page 100)
  • Other examples include Paul Priestly and Trevor Short,[22] (Page 76 only mentions Paul Priestly and Trevor Short) Huw Edwards and Lenny Wallace, Shirley Carter and Heather Trott, Garry Hobbs and Minty Peterson, Denise Fox and Zainab Masood, Poppy Meadow and Jodie Gold and Peggy Mitchell and Pat Evans.[citation needed] In 1989 especially, characters were brought in who were deliberately conceived as comic or light-hearted.[23] (Page 70) Such characters included Julie Cooper—a brassy maneater; Marge Green—a batty older lady played by veteran comedy actress, Pat Coombs; Trevor Short (Phil McDermott)—the "village idiot"; his friend, northern heartbreaker Paul Priestly (Mark Thrippleton); wheeler-dealer Vince Johnson (Hepburn Graham) and Laurie Bates (Gary Powell), who became Pete Beale's (Peter Dean) sparring partner.[20] (Page 90)
  • In 1989, the programme came under criticism in the British media for being too depressing, and according to writer Colin Brake, the programme makers were determined to change this.[23] (Page 70)
  • In 1989 there was a deliberate attempt to increase the lighter, more comic aspects of life in Albert Square.[23] (Page 70) This led to the introduction of some characters who were deliberately conceived as comic or light-hearted.[23] (Page 70 repeated above)
  • Producer Mike Gibbon was given the task of running the show and he enlisted the most experienced writers to take over the storylining of the programme, including Charlie Humphreys, Jane Hollowood and Tony McHale.[23] (Page 70)
  • By the end of 1989 EastEnders had acquired a new executive producer, Michael Ferguson, who had previously been a successful producer on ITV's The Bill.[23] (Page 70) Brake suggested that Ferguson was responsible for bringing in a new sense of vitality and creating a programme that was more in touch with the real world than it had been over the previous year.[23] (Page 70)
  • Brake suggested that humour was an important element in EastEnders' storylines during 1989, with a greater amount of slapstick and light comedy than before. (Page 70) He classed 1989's changes as a brave experiment, and suggested that while some found this period of EastEnders entertaining, many other viewers felt that the comedy stretched the programme's credibility.[23] (Page 70)
  • Although the programme still covered many issues in 1989, such as domestic violence, drugs, rape and racism, Brake reflected that the new emphasis on a more balanced mix between "light and heavy storylines" gave the illusion that the show had lost a "certain edge".[1] (Page 70)
  • Lewis and Greaves formulated a new regime for EastEnders, giving the writers of the serial more authority in storyline progression, with the script department providing "guidance rather than prescriptive episode storylines".[1] (Page 104)
  • Having set up the transition to the new schedule, the first trio of episodes—dubbed The Vic siege—marked Lewis's departure from the programme.[1] (Page 129)
  • Although episodes are predominantly recorded weeks before they are broadcast, occasionally, EastEnders includes current events in their episodes. In 1987, EastEnders covered the general election. (Page 54) Using a plan devised by co-creators Smith and Holland, five minutes of material was cut from four of the pre-recorded episodes preceding the election. (Page 54) These were replaced by specially recorded election material, including representatives from each major party, and a scene recorded on the day after the election reflecting the result, which was broadcast the following Tuesday.[1] (Page 54)
  • Using a plan devised by co-creators Smith and Holland, five minutes of material was cut from four of the pre-recorded episodes preceding the election. (Page 54) These were replaced by specially recorded election material, including representatives from each major party, and a scene recorded on the day after the election reflecting the result, which was broadcast the following Tuesday.[1] (Page 54)
  • In 1986, EastEnders filmed overseas for the first time, in Venice, and this was also the first time it was not filmed on videotape, as a union rule at the time prevented producers taking a video crew abroad and a film crew had to be used instead.[1] (Page 46)
  • Each episode should run for 27 minutes and 15 seconds, however, if any episode runs over or under then it is the job of post-production to cut or add scenes where appropriate. (Page 142) As noted in the 1994 behind-the-scenes book, EastEnders: The First 10 Years, After filming, tapes were sent to the videotape editor, who then edited the scenes together into an episode. (Page 142) The videotape editor used the director's notes so they knew which scenes the director wanted to appear in a particular episode. The producer might have asked for further changes to be made. (Page 142) The episode was then copied onto D3 video. (Page 143) The final process was to add the audio which included background noise such as a train or a jukebox music and to check it met the BBC's technical standard for broadcasting.[1] (Page 143)
  • Then in 1986, Harris added an extension to the set, building the fourth side of Albert Square, and in 1987, Turpin Road was added, which included buildings such as The Dagmar.[1] (Page 19-20)

20 Years in Albert Square[edit]

  • The main buildings on the square consisted originally of hollow shells, constructed from marine plywood facades mounted onto steel frames. (Page 146) The lower walls, pavements, etc., (Page ?) were constructed of real brick and tarmac. (Page 146) The set had to be made to look as if it had been standing for years. (Page 146) This was done by a number of means, including chipping at the buildings. (Alternative source: 1987 Annual Page 43)

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Brake 1995
  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Educational Resource Part Two was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Cite error: The named reference 20years was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference redpepper was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Venables, Ben. "The Story Behind The Set Of EastEnders". londonist. Retrieved 7 May 2017.
  6. ^ a b c Smith & Holland 1987, p. 49
  7. ^ a b Smith & Holland 1987, p. 51–56
  8. ^ a b Smith & Holland 1987, p. 24
  9. ^ Smith & Holland 1987, p. 154
  10. ^ Smith & Holland 1987, p. 40
  11. ^ Smith & Holland 1987, p. 165
  12. ^ Smith & Holland 1987, p. 48
  13. ^ Smith & Holland 1987, p. 15
  14. ^ Smith & Holland 1987, p. 52
  15. ^ Smith & Holland 1987, p. 43
  16. ^ Smith & Holland 1987, p. 95
  17. ^ Smith, Julia; Holland, Tony (1987). EastEnders - The Inside Story. Book Club Associates. ISBN 0-563-20601-2.
  18. ^ Buckingham 1987, p. 15
  19. ^ Brake 1995, p. 91
  20. ^ a b Brake 1995, p. 90
  21. ^ Brake 1995, p. 100
  22. ^ Brake 1995, p. 76
  23. ^ a b c d e f g h Brake 1995, p. 70

Bibliography[edit]

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