Task Two : Reviewing Eastenders

The soap Eastenders has become a staple in British Television since its start in 1985, the show set in the East of London has grown a million strong fan base within its 30 year span. It follows 6 main families and their daily occurrences. Most known for its over-the-top acting and storylines it has captured the audiences hearts. The series is aired four days a week with a recap omnibus on the weekend. It has become a culture phenomenon of its own as it deals with the most realistic, controversial and taboo issues that are in everyday life. This breaking ground approach for its time has kept it audience on the edge of their seats to today. The devoted audience has become addicted with the inter webbed storylines and thrilling murders and deaths that have become a monthly occurrence on the show.

To create these gripping tales the soap follow a script set of codes and conventions left by its main competitors who at the time of the shows start where Coronation Street and Emmerdale Farm. The first of these codes includes the most recognizable feature of Eastenders, its urban identity this the location in which it is set. As we know this is the small square on the East side of London with its local pub the Queen Vic being the main attraction. The setting in our minds forms an identity  of  its own forming a character that we can all relate to as the setting is not just a place but a separate community that we all long to be part of. This reflects as realistically as possible the communities in the East of London bringing us knowledge of the society around us allowing the watcher the ability to fully immerse themselves in this semi realistic fantasy community. This community is further elaborated by the adding of characters that are also true to the location. This has been done by creating people that are the representation of stereotypes of the people we see everyday on the streets  ,they are based mainly on their characteristic's for example they may The gossip, the bastard, the tart, the loving grandmother or the rogues. You will see in the soap this characters such as the grandmother is most obviously Dot Cotten and her family also follows these stereotypes as her son is the rogue Nick Cotten. These lead characters are the very key factors to any soap as they create a sense of family and community that people are needing from as TV show.

This sense of community may serve as a gratification for the audience as they can use the show as a method of escapism. This can be seen mostly the the uses and gratifications theory in which the show will provide gratifications for its audience as they use the media for their own reasons. This show has a strong sense a strong sense of family which the watchers may be lacking for various reasons most popular being that they are older or housebound people as they do not get the opportunity to about around people all the time. The show is there to provide the audience with a sense of companionship and escapism as these are things the audience may be lacking the most. In the uses and gratifications theory there are four main gratifications that relate to television according to Mquail, Blumer and Brown(1972) these are :

• Diversion - This a method of escaping reality this may be used as an emotional release from the world around them.
• Personal relationships- This is more specifically the relationship formed between the characters and the audience as they can provide companionship or discussion point between people. This connection allows people to feel as they are part of a larger community of fans.
• Personal identity-  This may be the exploration of one self through the characters problems or possibly a reflection of personal values and ethics in the characters.
• Surveillance- This is the cultural benefit of the show and what it is teaching us about the world.

Overall, the soaps realistic characters and urban identity create a backdrop for the narrative which also has to be creative yet still have the capability to happen in real life although they do exadurate the stories for entertainment values. Within the show their are often multiple narratives as it often dissects itself  in to multiple story lines often these will have no closure, this means that each episode may end on a cliffhanger that could last for months. This has been shown strongly in the current most talked about story line of the Lucy Beale murder which ran for little under a year without a conclusion until the recent live week event. These are the story lines that demand the public's attention the most as it forfills the audiences need for surveillance. The need for information takes over and helped along the way with input from the media this also creates a group of followers that allow people to develop personal relationships. In recent years soaps have become melodramatic with a mixture of social realism and classic realist style. This has created various narrative themes that had become stereotypical of all soap operas these include :

Love : This most commonly is seen in romantic couples but can also mean the bonds held between family. The most popular example of love within eastenders is the couple formed of Kat Slater and Alfie Moon as their troubled relationship has become a main story in the soap.

Conflicts, secrets and confidences: Mostly shown through adultery within the show. It may cause a divide within its audience which gets the public to speak out and this causes interaction between the creators and the audience.

Sickness and Injury : This is used multiple times within the series as it has allowed actors to take breaks from the full schedule. It has been used to cover things like actors pregnancy's and can be used for a couple of years.

Skeletons in the cupboard: This often comes in the form of a character hiding their past and finishing with a big reveal. This helps prove that the characters are real like all of us showing that anyone can have a hidden past.

Plans go wrong : Over the years in eastenders many events have happened by accident for example house fires and murders. These are often hinted over a long period of time till it comes to the big event.

Murder: This has become one of the most popular plot devices on the show almost making it a tradition for Christmas. It is known widely that most murders are the result of arguments.

These feature have all come together to create Eastenders and have made every soap into the dramatic series of events it is today.The codes and conventions have formed the ingredients to form the perfect soap opera. Easteneders being a prime example of this by becoming a fan favorite and has reached its 30th Anniversary. For this event they used as many of these narrative features to create a plot that gripped the whole nation.

The story of Lucy Beale's murder ran for almost a year and became one of the soaps biggest story lines and mystery until it was gradually revealed throughout a week of the soap being broadcast live for a week on the shows 30th anniversary week. This was not the first time eastenders had used a plot point like this but it was the longest lasting secret with only the littlest  of hints given each month for almost a year. The story was first introduced to us through one highly awaited episode centered on the oldest Eastenders family the Beale's, the episode highlighted the families issues all dealing with the oldest daughter of Ian Beale. The episode showed each of Lucy's family and friends disucussing their problems with her this included an argument with her own father that ended the episode before seeing her dead. Once the body had been found a series of event were put in action as hints from the the characters closest to her faced the largest of issue including the introduction of new and past characters coming in to mold the story. This included a private investigator who came so close to revealing the truth before being killed by an accident herself, event like these kept the audience attached to the screen. These trickles of information ended in the much needed reveal during live week in which each episode showed the day of the murder in a different perspective through flashbacks as major events happen in the square. These flashback slowly unveiled the mystery ending in the final reveal on the last two episodes done in the most dramatic way possible. This was through the esposure of not only that Jane, Ians new wife revealed as a helping hand but also through it being Lucy's youngest brother Bobbie Beale being the murderer himself. It was later explained that he killed his sister without realizing it in the midst of an argument with a large object and Jane then sheltered Bobbie and hid the body.

This emotional plot line featured many poignant scenes that showed the strength of the actors on the show. One of these was the first introduction to Lucy's murder . This was a creative shot used to pull us into the murder. The scene starts with the beauty of the forest and night sky then slowly pans down to find the dead body amongst it all . The shot has been kept silent as the emotional importance and suspense brought the audience in. This came as a surprise to it's audience as at the time it was at the end of an emotional episode full of drama , that finally had this drop dead finish. This may have been to execute the end and that death finish's all emotion's in a person. I think that Eastenders creatively used this shot to show the emotional attachment to the characters in the show because Lucy was hated and loved both at once. So the death had to tie their emotions together just as the character did.

Life and sound was restored to the soap by the reactions of Lucy's nearest and dearest, first of all by her father Ian Beale. The actor Adam Woodyatt gave an accurate response to the news as his first reaction was to find Lucy's twin brother Peter and to gather the family together. This is where I think the most emotional and striking scene took part, as his father drew him out of the bar. He already knew something was wrong as most family are said to sense when death happens especially with suspected 'twin instinct'. Once out on the square Lucy's death was revealed and all that could be heard were the sobs of the heartbroken father and son as they kneeled in the street. I think this ties the audience to the character. These characters to us as the audience can be seen as our own family and torn emotions, often leading to crying on the audiences part. This attachment can be seen through the uses and gratifications theory as we bond with the people in front of us. I think that this scene is the most emotional, unlike when we are shown the dead body. This scene demanded it's audiences attention.

After seeing this we all, as the audience, awaited the much needed reveal of Lucy's killer. This was revealed with a flashback of shortly after the murder when Jane walks in to find Lucy's body and turns to find her own child, Bobbie Beale, standing with the murder weapon in hand before stating how Lucy was bad for the family. This set a reaction of mixed emotion because you want to feel angry about the murder but also sorry for a young child that life would never be the same for again. The audience also showed this emotional response on social media as thousands took to Twitter to show what they thought of the big reveal. Some of these were reflected upon in a live after show. The show gathered an audience of 11.9 million as the killer was revealed. This is a massive deflation from the record of 30 million that tuned into the Christmas Day episode in 1986. This show's how the audiences of live tv have dropped considerably due to new media and fragmented audiences. Over the 30 years of the soap technology has taken over and episodes can now be seen online at anytime. Making it accessible to all of us anytime, anywhere. This plot may have been used to pull in an audience but it is unsure if it gathered the viewing figures it wanted.