In an increasingly competitive struggle with independent television to present quality programs and appeal to mass audiences, the BBC claimed to have found in EastEnders the answer to both a shrinking audience and criticism of declining standards. The program is set in Walford, a fictitious borough of London’s East End, and it focuses on a number of predominantly working-class, often interrelated, families living in Albert Square. The East End of London was regarded as the ideal location for an alluring and long-running series since its historical significance in Britain renders it instantly recognizable; the location was also thought to be illustrative of modern urban Britain because it possesses a mix of individuals who are, according to Smith and Holland, “multiracial,” larger-than-life characters.” Much of the action takes place in and around the local pub, the Queen Vic, traditionally run by the Watts–originally villainous Den and his neurotic wife Angue and later by their estranged adoptive daughter, Sharon, who after a few years’ absence took it over again from strong-minded Peggy Mitchell.

The main characters were connected originally with the closely knit Fowler/Beale clam, specifically, Pauline and Arthur Fowler and their eldest children, Mark, an HIV-positive market trader, and Michelle, a strong-willed, single mother, together with cafe owner Kathy Beale, her son Ian, and the long-suffering Pat Butcher. The Butcher/Mitchell clan has been expanding through the years, providing the show with some of its strongest characters and storylines: for example, overprotective mum Peggy divorced naughty husband Frank Butcher, who renewed his love for ex-wife Pat and almost ruined her marriage with his business partner Roy Evans, and bully son Phil Mitchell cheated on his brother Grant with Grant’s wife Sharon, became an alcoholic, sold stolen cars for a living, and eventually got shot by pregnant ex-girlfriend Lisa. Additional figures and families come and go, illustrating the view that character turnover is essential if a contemporary quality is to be retained. At any one time, around eight families, all living or working in Albert Square, will feature centrally in one or another narrative.

EastEnders exhibits certain formal characteristics common to other successful British soap operas (most notably, its major competitor, Granada’s Coronation Street), such as the working-class community setting and the prevalence of strong female characters (Pauline, Peggy, Rosa, Bianca, Mo, Melanie, Kat, Janine, and Sonia). In addition, a culturally diverse cast strives to preserve the flavor of the East End, while a gender balance is allegedly maintained through the introduction of various “macho” male personalities (Grant, Phil, Beppe, Dan, and Nick). The expansion of minority representation signals a move away from the traditional soap opera format, providing more opportunities for audience identification with the characters and hence a wider appeal. Similarly, the program has come to include more teenagers and successful young adults in a bid to capture the younger television audience. The program’s attraction, however, is also a product of a narrative structure unique to the genre. The soap opera has been described as an “open text,” a term relating primarily to the simultaneous development and indeterminate nature of the storyline and the variety of issue positions presented through the different characters. Such a structure invites viewer involvement in the personal relationships and family lives of the characters without fear of repercussions through recognition of “realistic” situations or personal dilemmas rather than through identification with a central character. EastEnders is typical of the soap opera in this respect, maintaining at any one time two or more major and several minor intertwining narratives, with cliff-hangers at the end of the episodes and (temporary) resolutions within the body of some episodes.

To fulfill its public service remit, the program aims to both entertain and educate. The mystery surrounding the father of Michelle’s baby and the emotional weight of the AIDS-related death of Mark’s girlfriend Jill, the controversy around Dot Cotton’s mercy killing of sick friend Ethel, and the moral dilemma of schoolgirl Sonia saying goodbye to baby Chloe all illustrate how a dramatic representation of social issues in contemporary Britain successfully combines these elements. Throughout EastEnders’ long history, issues such as drug addiction, abortion, AIDS, breast cancer, homosexuality, death, euthanasia, racial and domestic violence, murder, theft, stabbing, adoption, divorce, infidelity, betrayal, and teenage pregnancy have graced the program’s social and moral agenda. EastEnders strives to be realistic and relevant rather than issue led, with the educational element professed as an incidental outcome of the program’s commitment to realism. Such endeavors have been attacked, with criticisms of minority-group tokenism, depressing issue mongering, and, paradoxically, lapses into Cockney stereotyping. However, over the past few years, the number of “overly diagrammatic characters” such as “Colin the gay” (so described by Andy Medhurst in The Observer) appears to have decreased, with new characters being introduced for their dramatic contribution rather than their sociological significance.

  As with other British soaps, EastEnders differs from American soaps by its relentless emphasis on the mundane and nitty-gritty details of working-class life (no middle-class soap has yet succeeded for long in Britain) among ordinary-looking (rather than attractive) and relatively unsuccessful people. This potentially depressing mix is lightened by a dose of British humor and wit, by the dramatic intensity of the emotions and issues portrayed, and the nostalgic gloss given to the portrayal of solidarity and warmth and a supposedly authentic community. In terms of the image of “ordinary life” conveyed by the program, EastEnders  is again typical of the soap opera for its ambivalences: showing strong women who are nonetheless tied to the home, a community that tries to pull together but a relatively disaffected youth, and a romantic faith in love and marriage and yet a series of adulterous affairs and divorces. For its audience, EastEnders  is highly pleasurable for its apparent realism, its honesty in addressing contentious issues, and its cozy familiarity.

A regular feature of the weekly schedules, EastEnders  has become a fundamental and prominent part of British television culture. Public and media interest extends beyond plot and character developments to make extra curricular activities of cast members. While maintaining the essential soap opera characteristics, EastEnders  distinguishes itself from the other major British soaps, appearing coarser, faster paced, and more dramatic than Coronation Street yet less controversial and more humorous than Brookside. In the words of Medhurst of The Observer, “EastEnders remains the BBC's most important piece of fiction, a Vital sign of its commitment to deliver quality and popularity in the same unmissable package.” Although EastEnders is in many ways typical of the genre, the obvious quality, cultural prominence, and audience success of the program has established the soap opera as a valuable centerpiece of early primetime broadcasting in Britain.