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EastEnders 40th anniversary: Do Londoners still watch the soap?
National World - LocalTV
Follow
17/02/2025
We ask the people of London if they still watch EastEnders
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News
Transcript
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00:00
Since its debut on February the 19th in 1985, EastEnders has captivated audiences
00:07
with its gripping storylines, unforgettable characters and its
00:10
portrayal of life in the fictional London borough of Walford. Over the years
00:15
the show has brought us some of the most powerful and controversial moments in UK
00:20
soap history. From the tragic death of Arthur Fowler to the explosive Who Shot
00:26
Phil storyline, EastEnders has never shied away from tackling hard-hitting
00:30
and sometimes ridiculous subjects. There is no doubt that EastEnders holds
00:37
cultural significance in London and the rest of the UK as well but do Londoners
00:42
actually still watch the long-running soap and what are the memories they have
00:47
of the show? You know it hasn't played a huge role in my life but yeah you know
00:53
it's been around for my whole life basically and I grew up in Scotland so
00:58
you know I've come to London. EastEnders is one of the few things I knew
01:03
about London, if you can say that it's telling you anything about London. How did it
01:07
match up? If you'd seen EastEnders before you came then you came to London.
01:11
Is London anything like EastEnders? Not the reality of London that I
01:17
kind of found but I think you know maybe that exists somewhere but that's not you
01:21
know where I live that's not necessarily how it is but maybe I was a bit scared
01:25
of coming to London because of the way it looked in EastEnders. I don't watch it
01:30
anymore, I used to watch it when I was a kid. I have memories you know 90s classic
01:36
storylines, Phil Mitchell, You're Not My Mother, Yes I Am, all that stuff yeah but
01:42
I haven't watched it in years. I don't know actually now that I don't watch it anymore I'm not
01:46
sure like where it's got to storylines wise. There's definitely an element of it that
01:51
was sort of felt realistic and truthful so I'm sure that's carried through.
01:56
Yeah I think so I think definitely gives people a general impression about what
02:00
East London is like and I think it you know contributes to like stereotypes
02:04
about East London and that certainly like maybe people who don't come to
02:08
London have this idea that it's that part of London is is like what they say
02:11
in EastEnders or yeah I definitely think it yeah it's contributed to a
02:16
national idea of what London is a little bit. I couldn't really comment on like
02:21
how the culture you know has changed as a result of EastEnders but I think
02:25
EastEnders itself depicts the culture of London almost like the other way around
02:29
flipping that around but yeah it would be sad I guess to see it go you know it
02:34
is one of those British soaps that represents London obviously from times
02:38
past but yeah. And like I say it's one of the kind of reference points for people
02:43
who want to kind of know what London's like that surely is like one of the
02:46
places that people are going to look to is like that is that is the picture that
02:50
gets painted of what London is like especially the East End looks like yeah
02:54
is it true I don't know and I'm certainly not I'm not qualified to tell
02:57
you as an EastEnder.
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