Eastenders Live - Review

For some time, the tagline for the BBC’s premiere soap was ‘Everyone’s Talking About It’, even when they weren't. This month, EastEnders marks 25 years with its first live episode. For those viewers willing to dismiss the adventures of Albert Square as a mere production line of half baked drama, this was a wake up call.

In one half hour of drama, everyone involved raises their game to a magnificent level. There are almost inevitably, some mistakes: in an early scene, it’s clear one actor has only just realised that he is - at this very moment - being watched by millions of actors. He fluffs his lines, panics, and essentially becomes somewhat incoherent. It is genuinely beautiful. It’s real acting, with people talking over each other, repeating themselves, stuttering - real dialogue - with true tension unlike anything normally seen on the soap, and highlights something that’s usually all too easy to dismiss: that EastEnders does in fact boast a cast of genuinely talented actors, all of whom are firing on all cylinders.

Amongst all the hysteria, there’s still a sweet moment for the ghosts of Albert Square to drop by for the anniversary, when the two oldest surviving characters watch old "home video footage" of some iconic residents (including the ‘original’ Mark Fowler). It’s a surprisingly moving moment, involving the always wonderful June Brown.

Where this works is that, aside from the obvious gimmick (the live element), there are no other gimmicks: just a simple story, well told, with energy and vigour. Even more surprising in this spoilerific internet age was that there were at least two major shocks that were genuinely shocking - something that the series hasn’t been able to do since the early years of the Square.

Too often, EastEnders can be dismissed as a sausage factory of weak drama. And all too often, that’s a fair criticism. But, for a shining moment, it’s been proven that when the show is on form, there’s simply nothing around to match it. Quite the best episode of ‘Enders since Dot Branning chatted into a Dictaphone, and very likely one that they simply won’t be able to match for the rest of this year.



Aired at 8pm on Friday 19th February 2010 on BBC One.

Written by Andrew Allen.