User reviews

It's a shame to see Phil Mitchell as the one last true great. Ian Beale is past it and we are missing true greats such as Pat and Grant

Where to begin? Where to end? I never miss an episode of Eastenders. But is that saying it's so good that I can't bear to miss it? Not at all. It's not as good as it used to be, obviously. Gone are the days of truly shocking and scandalous story lines. We were hooked on "Who Shot Phil?" We were hooked on Max and Stacey's affair behind Bradley's back. Countless more mentions can be made, but I can't be bothered to write anymore haha. Hooked and shocked. That was once the magic Eastenders had on us. Now, where has it all gone? But, I will say, there is still hope for this once beloved soap. Lucy's murder wasn't all that, and the wait they are keeping us on is a bit much. However, it's the performances of it's actors that will keep me coming back for more. Adam Woodyatt has been particularly brilliant in the unfolding storyline. The writers would be wise to keep focus on him rather than anybody else at the moment, and to surround him by the best actors around.

And that's the point. Eastenders has been a hit and miss over the recent years. But I feel, if they can play their cards right, they can bring it back to top form. Never to the heights of several years ago, that's impossible. But it can be repaired.

6 out of 10, for that little bit of brighter future.

This show from the very first episode just radiates the misery of working class people who are also supicious and abusive... add some who are racist, sexist, and likely drunk all day. You don't have to be from inner city squalor to find the attitudes of the main characters (even in the original 80s cast) obnoxious and unsympathetic, or similar to your white trash neighbors in a rural American trailer park. Yes, part of the nastiness of the show is the ugliness of the East End, literally inner city ugly but the people are just yelling at each other all day. I worked half my life to get myself away from people like this. Who enjoys this? Who drooled over the original 80s series, even? This isn't murder mystery or horror movie fun this is grueling, like being trapped at a family reunion with your childhood abusers or violent ex-husband. If this is your "real life" and you want more of it on the television, I feel for you. If you're so rich and bored and comfortable that this is your idea of entertainment...*censored*

When this first appeared it had some merit concentrating on the seamier side of life in a fictitious London borough with some amusing characters and sharp dialogue . Now it is unrecognisable - Box ticking scriptwriters create despicable PC characters that shout at one another constantly - spitting out their vicious lines - which mostly consist of questions : Where you been? Who told you that ? What's it got to do with you etc etc... Horrible people doing terrible things to one another and no vile human trait is out of bounds as the desperate producers pile on the agony - Murder, Rape, beatings, extortion : you name it they'll drag it out in the name of entertainment, parading it as a version of normal life, giving it's feeble minded brainwashed audience appalling behaviour to emulate. It should come with a warning, like on a cigarette packet : This programme can seriously damage your mental health

This has been one of the BBC's most popular programmes continuously since it began in 1985 - but I can't understand why millions of people still watch it.

In the '80s it was entertaining - with characters like Den and Angie Watts and their adopted daughter Sharon. The vast majority of the characters now and in recent years are nasty, selfish people. There are very frequent rows, threats and violence. It's not entertaining in the slightest. How is the audience supposed to care about, root for or sympathise with any of these dreadful people?

It's unrealistic in portraying most of the residents of the East End of London as working-class whites who all know each other well. In real life, most of the people who live there are non-white and/or are rich - and many people don't know their neighbours. The large majority of working-class white Londoners moved out of London years ago.

I've never been sure if soaps are supposed to simulate real-life. If they are meant for this purpose, that's got to be the biggest waste of time in history. Why simulate real-life? We can all admit that most of our lives are repetitive and dull, so why would anyone want to watch a simulation of that, played out by people who don't even exist?

Eastenders is unconvincing to the extreme. Nobody seems to own a computer, washing machine or car. People seem to buy shares in local businesses within a matter seconds, with someone owning "half the Arches" or "half the Vic". Sam walks around with "the books", which really are books! Most business managers have computers and accountants to do that for them. Those who run stalls on the market like to leave their livelihoods with friends, simply handing over their money pouches. They're the lucky ones - a lot of the cast don't have jobs at all so how they manage to survive in east London is beyond me.

The "gangsters" are so unrealistic it's hard to watch. The scripts are terrible, mainly down to watershed restrictions, so the writers cannot include most swear-words and are forced to use words like "moron", "idiot" and "wally" which don't really work on the same scale.

Strangely enough, soaps are the shows that are watched the most in the UK, and I don't understand this. Numerous soap magazines are on the shelves, and these tell us what's going to happen in the coming weeks, so nobody really needs to watch at all.

I don't understand the concept of soaps, why anyone feels the need to watch and why there are so many.

EastEnders was superb from 1985-1989 when Den was in it. They should have done more with him on his return in 2003. He was by far the best character the show has ever had.

The characters were much more interesting in 85-89 and the story lines were far superior. These days the characters change personalities overnight and the story lines are so bland that nobody cares.

It's a sad as the show has gone downhill so much. Den should never have been killed off the second time around. He had just got back into the Vic. What a waste.

If you are interested in following Leslie's career post EastEnders go to: www.gorgeousgrantham.com

I'm an American who has watched "EastEnders" on and off on my local PBS station over the last 15 years. I find the show fascinating and it's not because the plots are particularly original or the acting is so amazing. It's not the "exotic" location either, I've been to London a couple of times. No, the reason I can't stop watching "EastEnders" is because it's the complete polar opposite of an American soap opera!

On an American soap opera, everyone is attractive or at least above-average looking. On EastEnders, (although they will occasionally throw in an attractive person to confuse you, I mean is Rosie's older daughter a super-model for that neighborhood or what?) everyone is pretty much average to below-average looking. There's one character who always looks like he's in desperate need of a blood transfusion and another who is quite simply the ugliest human being I've ever seen on scripted television.

On an AS, everyone is always fashionably dressed and impeccably groomed. I don't think you ever even see anyone in the same outfit twice. While watching EE, I sometimes wonder if the actors didn't do their own hair and makeup and bring clothes from home. On second thought, most of the actors would probably dress better than their characters.

On an AS, everyone has a glamorous and/or high-profile and/or high-paying and/or highly- respected career, e.g. doctor, model, cosmetics tycoon, writer, chief of police (even if they only appear to be about 20 years-old!), etc. On EE, the characters work in stalls at the street market, in pubs, cafés, garages, and laundromats. The most successful guy in the neighborhood is the guy who owns the café.

You really can't help but feel pretty good about yourself and your life after watching EE.

There are some other characters on EE that you typically wouldn't see on an AS, like a 14 year- old (who looks like a 12 year-old) girl with a baby and a man who seems to be in at least his mid-forties who can't read or write. One nice thing is that the writers don't seem to consider people over the age of 40 too old for romance. People in their 40s, 50s, 60s and older are depicted dating and even getting married. I've laughed out loud at a few hilarious moments involving horny seniors Pat, Patrick and Big Mo.

My favorite character is Dot Cotton/Brown, the church-lady type who gets some good lines. The actress who plays her is 88 years-old and it's pretty impressive that she's still working a grueling soap schedule and memorizing tons of dialogue.

Is EE a great show? No. Is it even a very good show? No. Will I keep watching? Well, yeah. We only get 2 episodes a week in the States (we're 10 years behind the UK, episode-wise), that's not enough to kill the novelty factor. I wouldn't watch "Days of Our Lives" but I'll watch "EastEnders" and feel like a successful super-model when the end-credits roll!

Was good when it started but since the 2000s it slowly went down hill since 2018 onwards it got boring and have not watched it since its a show that needs to be ended its junk.

To counteract all the dreadful reviews on here - Eastenders is my favourite soap, I've been watching it since it first started in 1985 and I never miss it. You have to accept it for what it is, and for me it's an easy watch to help me wind down in the evening with characters I've come to know and love (or hate!) It's a pantomime, yes, but it also covers a lot of social issues and provides information and support for a lot of people. And what would Christmas Day be without the traditional Eastenders episode to look forward to? I can understand it would be easy for a casual viewer to criticise it, and it must be difficult to get into a soap when you need so much archival knowledge to really enjoy the storylines but for the diehard fans it's still a treat.

Long live Eastenders!

I Have always watched Eastender even when people say is really bad, I stick with, I Really like some of the story lines I Really like back 2000, it has great storyline such, Zoe and Kat, Lmo and Trevor, after that show did go down really fast, it last few year it as picked up again, it two year on Xmas day this show 15m people watched it and that has the last Eastender or any other never got that many viewers ago and was one of the biggest successes in British soap television. In 2008/9, Danielle came into show looking for her mum but what didn't know that her mum who is Ronnie Mitchell was told by her dad that she died when she baby. April 1st 2009 it came out in one of most saddest scenes ever made. Ronnie was outstanding in that scenes, it didn't feel like soap, it felt like watching a movie was about 11.5 million viewers saw this happen at the moment highest rated soap of the year EastEnders have tackled a story of child grooming involving the characters Tony King and Whitney Dean as well involving character Lauren Branning at moment show is show talking about Bipolar disorder girl who seem to have from her mum, it great storyline and great acting to.

Also In June 2009, Syed begins an affair with gay character Christian Clarke, played by John Partridge, a storyline that will see Syed "torn between his feelings and his faith, The storyline is said to be controversial, as homosexuality is strictly forbidden in Islam.

What clad Easterner take risk of telling story then any other soaps in the UK.

Sometimes they do have some very dull boring and silly story lines which i don't like sometimes.

My family love Eastender,Not just my family my whole family loves Eastenders Every Xmas we always look forward to Eastenders.

Endless arguments, vendettas and diatribe. Complete and utter rubbish!

Half an hour of this show is enough to send anyone into a state of misery!

I have no idea how anyone can be interested or hooked on this long running dross!

To freshen things up and remain attractive they replace miserable characters with miserable characters from 20 years ago! Compelling stuff!!!

I was forced to watch EastEnders on Christmas day as the Agatha Christie drama was pulled, it was an hour of absolute misery, one of the most watched programmes on British television, if someone can explain why to me I'd be grateful. It was depressing, unrealistic, the story line was ludicrous, and the acting was shambolic. I watched it as a teenager, and it was essential viewing, I guess now it's on so much they don't care about the rubbish they churn out. Dear BBC please please never make this vomit prime time Christmas day viewing, that was low!!

Look at the viewing figures for it, they're now at an all time low, you can see why.

1/10.

Poor scripting, terrible and unbelievable storylines for a group of C-rated actors. Years ago you were on the edge of your seat, and couldn't wait for the episode. Now you can miss twenty episodes and still pick up what is happening. No wonder they have lost the majority of the original cast. Not even Ross Kemp will return. And Danny Dyer? Really? So unbelievable.

Eastenders has gone full circle from unmissable in 1985 to totally abysmal now. It's such a bad reflection of the nation this crap tops the ratings.

The ideas for plots can consist of nothing more trivial than putting ever characters name in a hat. The first two out (regardless of their sex) will sleep with each other, the 3rd & 4th out will have a fight in the Vic, the 5th one will be arrested, the 6th develop an addiction, 7th get pregnant etc etc.

The producers are clever though. The 30 minute show is only actually ever comprised of 3 lines.

1) Someone will walk in the Vic & say "What's goin on?" 2) Someone else will stand up say "leave it aht" (out) 3) Then a woman will say "Doan choo come in ere 'n' insult mah fam'ly"

That's it. That's every show. Apart from the occasional "Get it sort-id / Is it sort-id?"

The show was once a realistic portrayal of East End folk & their way of life. The buffers came off when 1) They extended it from two nights a week & 2) The Slater family turned up. How they attract viewers is beyond me. The Kat character symbolizes everything that's gone wrong with society, treating anyone else like something she's pulled off the bottom of her shoe.

The people who vote her the best character, in these polls, must the same as the ones that vote Jamie Redknapp 'Best Sportsman' despite the fact he hasn't played a game for 3 years.

What I can never understand is if the show is the pinnacle of British TV why do all the biggest names leave? Ross Kemp, Martin Kemp, the list is endless.

How long has the longest couple's marriage lasted, with them being faithful to each other? Yes, people leave, but until the script writers realise that characters, couple can be interesting & likeable without sleeping around the show will continue to deteriorate. An episode last week had 3 separate plots of exactly that. And Zoe & the doctor top even Lofty & 'Shell' as 'Most Unconvincing Couple Ever to appear on TV.'

Yes, Eastenders is the most watched show, thats undisputed. But many external factors contribute to that. 19.30 / 20.00 is the perfect time of day to gain the most audience figures, it has an omnibus edition for 2 hours, and more than that, millions of the viewers watch it, out of nothing more than habit, but if they were completely honest to themselves, they would admit that (in 2002, more than ever), it can be absolutely pitiful.

The show East Enders is running out of Fowlers. After reading Wendy Richard's interview in the Sun yesterday, I was shocked that the heart and soul of this show is being let go by the end of the year. If the writers at the show are smart, they won't kill her off but send her to America or New Zealand. Believe it or not, Wendy Richard was the reason that I watched this show back home. I know she left to do the series, Grace & Favour, and came back. She has battled breast cancer twice and is in remission. They complain about the lines on her face. Come on that's not why the audience watches in the first place, the show without Pauline Fowler will be like Coronation Street without Violet Carson or Doris Speed. Richard's contribution to EastEnders has been tremendous. After only 21 years, she and co-star Adam Woodyatt who plays her nephew Ian Beale are left minding the store. But the show has changed even the last time I saw it around New Years, half the cast has either left or been replaced. I see Pat played by Pam St. Clement, Dot played by June BRown, but I haven't seen the wonderful Barbara Windsor who plays Peggy Mitchell. The show without its matriarchs like Richard, Windsor, Brown, and St. Clement, will never be the same without Richard. Bring Wendy back, we miss her already.

This soap is worse than bad: it's poisonous. Of the many television shows that have had a corrosive influence on British society over the past twenty years, Eastenders is the prime example. For two decades this show has celebrated the oaf, the thug, the wide-boy, the tart, the gobby, the violent, the sexually-incontinent, the criminal, the ignorant, the unambitious ...

How many times has someone or other remarked that Eastenders "mirrors life"? Life on which planet, exactly?

It's written about "working-class" characters, as imagined by middle-class people who have taken a course in creative writing. Eager to show to their middle-class peers how familiar they are with the "working-class" they dream up the lumpen rabble that is the citizenry of Eastenders.

This has a toxic effect on some minds less well-equipped than others to handle fiction, and so we find members of the real population assuming the attitudes and demeanour of the inhabitants of Walford.

Thus, it came to pass that Eastenders mirrors life; but only after life had been hoodwinked into mirroring Eastenders.

Other soaps have followed in EE's footsteps, filled to their stinking gunwhales with ugly, potato-faced, shaven-headed, pot-bellied characters, scowling at each other and issuing threats constantly. This is the proletariat as perceived by the writers who produce this trash. The writers will grow rich on the proceeds of such output, and will go on to enjoy the finer things of life in their rarified enclaves. Meanwhile, the burgeoning number of new, TV-induced drones will proceed inexorably toward cultural bankruptcy.

And there you have the new priests and the new creatures of the early 21st century. Much of this is due to the immeasurable power of that illuminated boxful of dancing pixels in the corner of your living-room. It's your fault, gentle reader: that's what you chose as the only window through which to look out from your prison.

I love this show!! I love how it isn't like a normal (American) Soap Opera where every one is good looking and they are all rich and they all dress nice and they are all always perfect. To me it is like someone took a camera into the street and started filming. They have real problems and are "real" people.

And for people that complain about it --- DON'T WATCH IT!!! No one said that you had to turn on your TV. And guess what??? Here in America the show in on a public station. That means that WE pay for watching it too. And we are only up to the 2003 shows!!!

So the next time it is on change the channel or turn off the TV and open a book. You can most likely use it!!! (to open a book I mean!!)

Eastenders..Nothing like the eastend, depressing and boring..so pc its laughable..the characters are dire..viewing figures of 5m over Christmas 19 says it all..Give it 2 years as this terrible show dies screaming.

What a load of nonsense. How on earth am I still paying for this rubbish through the licence fee. Please BBC, do us all a favour and cancel this melodramatic tripe. Mitchells this, Slaters that. Family family family. Do us all a favour and go away! Acting awful, storylines repetitive and unimaginative. Clichéd garbage. I don't watch it myself, unfortunately my other half does. She's an intelligent person, infiltrated by this 'soap opera' drivel fodder. Please please please just get rid of this. Not just for me, but for the good of humanity. This programme does absolutely nothing for the the imagination or the soul. GET RID OF THE UNIMAGINATIVE DRIBEL, THANK YOU.

This what british depression looks like. That is literally all I could say in this review. Now if you excuse me I'm gonna to my room and wollow in self pity and wish my life away.