EastEnders in 1988

1988 was *EastEnders'* fourth year.

## Production

Throughout 1988, big changes were made behind the screen at *EastEnders*. Julia Smith took a more backseat role in her stint as the series producer and Mike Gibbon was appointed to the task of overseeing the day-to-day production of the show. And co-creator Tony Holland had left the series by the beginning of the year due to the pressure of sustaining storylines taking a toll on him.

### Double whammy

The most noticeable change at *EastEnders* throughout the year was the exit of icon characters Den Watts and Angie Watts when actors Leslie Grantham and Anita Dobson decided to leave the show. From this decision, Julia Smith was sent into turmoil. She didn't want the show to suffer a double blow of losing the shows two biggest characters. As a result of this, a complex and technical practice was operated in the show when Tony Holland was brought back with Bill Lyons and penned stories that would see Den in prison, and this would mean Den would be seen onscreen for several more months after Leslie had left.

The prison material was recorded in an intensive filming schedule at Dartmoor Prison, and the finished product was completed in less than a month. However, due to the production team back at Elstree having no real estimate of what was to be edited around the prison material in a typical episode, it proved to cause a lot of problems.

### Critisim from the public

*EastEnders* started to face high criticism from the public in 1988. The show was being slammed on for being depressing and causing anxiety to its viewers. An author on medical matters claimed that the show was making its audiences unwell.

Perhaps the most sensitive storyline of the year and the one that caused uproar from many parties of the public was the rape of Kathy Beale by James Willmott-Brown. The aftermath of the event saw Kathy poorly treated by the force on her alleged attack and this sent out fury from police leaders, viewers and outraged TV campaigner Mary Whitehouse. They claimed that the crude portrayal could undo the public's confidence and make victims of real attacks hesitate in going to the police. The BBC was demanded to cut the omnibus showing of the attack, but the BBC refused, and the repeat show went out as scheduled.

### Cast changes

Four more original characters departed the series in 1988. Tom Watt was the first to leave in his role as Lofty Holloway following the breakdown of his character's marriage to Michelle Fowler, and actor Tom fearing he would be trapped in the series for the rest of his career. Next came the icon of Anita Dobson as Angie Watts when her character jetted out for a new life in Spain with a man named Sonny in May. Linda Davidson left her role as the wayward Mary Smith, and Anna Wing decided that her character Lou Beale had come to a climax following Anna's opinion that she didn't like the way the show was directing despite several attempts of Julia persuading her to stay.

Other regular characters that set out for a new life away from Walford included Magda Czajkowski, Darren Roberts, Barry Clark and Chris Smith. The year also coincided with the death of elderly potman Tom Clements played by Donald Tandy who suffered a heart attack in The Queen Vic.

Walford also suffered from new arrivals throughout the year, one's that would go on to play an essential part in the history of *EastEnders*, and ones that weren't so successful. The Karim family were introduced as the new Muslim owners of the First Til Last, the family consisted of father and mother Ashraf and Sufia and their two children Shireen and Sohail. Frank Butcher and Guizin Osman were brought back into the serial as regular characters. A member of Dr Legg's family was brought in, David Samuels, who would go on to cause friction at the surgery. Carmel Roberts was gifted with a new love interest in the shape and form of white man Matthew Jackson. Frank was soon joined by his two teenage children Ricky and Diane and his battleaxe mother Mo. However, the most prominent arrival of the year was market trader Cindy Williams. Actress Michelle Collins was initially contracted to play Cindy for just eleven episodes, but the character went onto evolving as one of the most famous faces in Albert Square despite her low-key entrance.

Following the conclusion of bringing in the prison storyline for Den, a whole new set of characters was introduced to the serial to support the storyline. Prison inmates Johnny Harris, Barnsey Barnes, Queenie Price, Trevor Kellow and Victor Hampton were introduced along with Nick Cotton being brought back to the programme. The Firm members Joanne Francis and Gregory Mantel were brought in as fixtures on the Square and Brad Williams was introduced as a more permanent character than he had been before.

## Viewing Figures

*EastEnders* carried out to be successful in the ratings for the third year in a row. The episodes continued to top the charts and remain at number one. However, the average viewers of the year dropped by two million of the previous too **18.94 million viewers**.

The ratings gradually increased until March when the show had a steady decline but was still holding a dominant place in the charts. The highest-rated episode of the year was Episode 308 (19th January 1988) with an audience of 24.95 million viewers. The lowest rated episode was Episode 350 (14th June 1988) with an audience of 12.60 million viewers.