Life in the East End

Press, 30 August 1985, Page 15

Life in the East End

About 300 km south of Coronation Street, in a tough working-class area of London, a community of Cockneys and immigrants are about to live their lives on New Zealand television screens.

This new 8.8. C. serial, “Eastenders,” is the ongoing story of life in the East End of London. It focusses on the community who live and work in the area around Albert Square, in the imaginary London borough of Walford.

The fictitious East End location is instantly recognisable, and is populated by a healthy mix of multiracial, lively characters. It has an inbuilt culture, a

past. The cast features 23 regular characters who are fiercely territorial, and the stories reflect how life is today in a very disadvantaged part of the inner city. But the community is vibrant, tough, proud and sharply funny.

Albert Square is a fairly run-down Victorian square of one and two-storey houses, a mixture of coun-cil-owned and part priv-ately-owned properties. The Queen Victoria pub stands on the corner of Albert Square and Bridge Street — the social centre of life in the area. In Bridge Street there is a small food store, a launderette and a cafe,

while just under the railway bridge is the tail end of a lively street market. Trendies may soon creep into the area, but for now it is basically working class, with a strong Cockney culture and values. Two families dominate the “Eastenders” community in Albert Square — the Beales and the Fowlers. For them all, Louise Beale is the driving force. Lou, in her seventies, is head of a large Cockney family. She is plump, loud, funny and sentimental, with a stubborn streak and an obsessive loyalty to family. “Eastenders” screens on One at 7.30 p.m.