Examentrainers

1	1		Albert Square, in the London Borough of Walford, has taken over from Coronation
	2		Street as television's most sought-after address. EastEnders, a twice-weekly drama series
	3		set in the fictional East London square, last month toppled Coronation Street from the
	4		place it has held at the top of the ratings table for much of the last quarter of a century.
	5		The rapid rise of the BBC's late entry in 'The War of the Soaps'1) has also sparked off a
	6		bitter dispute over the way viewing figures are counted and has cast a shadow over
	7		Coronation Street's twenty-fifth anniversary celebrations next month.
2	8		The BBC's recipe for ratings success is a racy mixture of drama and, say its critics,
	9		sensationalism that has attracted 21 million viewers and the wrath of Mrs Mary
	10		Whitehouse2). In their brief, nine-month life the residents of Albert Square have faced
	11		violent death, teenage pregnancy, abortion and blackmail. Life in Coronation Street
	12		seems staggeringly dull by comparison.
3	13		According to Granada, the ITV company which produces Coronation Street,
	14		EastEnders' apparent success has been bought at the expense of honesty. Under a
	15		long-standing agreement with the British Audience Research Bureau (BARB), the
	16		weekday viewing figures for EastEnders are added to those of the Sunday repeats.
	17		Understandably, the BBC, when blowing its own trumpet, does not emphasize the fact
	18		that around one third of its audience is attracted by a second showing, whereas
	19		Coronation Street is broadcast once.
4	20		At the BBC's Elstree Studios in Borehamwood, where EastEnders is made,
	21		producer Julia Smith professed almost complete lack of interest in the viewing figures.
	22		Her intention was never to devise a formula that would snatch back the mass audiences
	23		the BBC so desperately needed 18 months ago, she said. 'We never thought about the
	24		ratings. We just made the programme we wanted and hoped the rest of the world would
	25		want to see it.' But she added: 'I happen to like grabbing audiences, but we don't do
	26		things to grab X number of viewers - we do things because they are what the characters
	27		would do.'
5	28		Life in Albert Square is packed with incident, perhaps too much to sustain the
	29		momentum for 25 years as Coronation Street has done. One recent Sunday afternoon
	30		omnibus edition of EastEnders included under-age sex, extortion, male and female
	31		strippers and buckets of tears. It was all too much for Mrs Whitehouse, who claims the
	32		programme is not suitable for family viewing. She described it as 'dirty' and full of
	33		'stripping and whipping’.
6	34		Her attack provoked an angry reaction from Julia Smith. 'I actually think I am just
	35		as moral as Mrs Whitehouse,' she said, 'and I care possibly more deeply. The difference is
	36		she generally believes in sweeping things under the carpet and pretending they don't
	37		exist. I believe in showing what does exist and preparing people for the world they live in.
	38		My prime aim is to entertain, my second is to inform.'
7	39		Miss Smith, who came to EastEnders via Z Cars and Angels, spent months with her
	40		'co-deviser' Tony Holland researching the background and drawing up detailed
	41		biographies for its characters. She commissions new writers, many from fringe theatre,
	42		and refuses to watch her rivals in case they influence her ideas.
8	43		One consequence of EastEnders' success is that Coronation Street is coming under
	44		closer scrutiny than ever before, both from audiences and critics. Many believe the Street
	45		will have to shake off its rather cosy attitude to life if it is to survive the reality of the next
	46		25 years. Not so John Temple, who recently took over as the Street's producer. 'It is true
	47		we cling to all the old traditional values a bit more than anybody else,' he said. 'Our
	48		viewers like us for it. Coronation Street deals with the minutiae of life and everyday
	49		events, We don't rush to cram it with incident.'
			The Observer, November 17, 1985

noot 1: Soaps = soap operas: serialized drama broadcast on TV
noot 2: Mrs Mary Whitehouse: a well-known campaigner for decency in the media