EastEnders was created by Julia Smith and Tony Holland, a producer and script editing team who had previously worked together on long-running police drama Z-Cars. In March 1983 they were asked by David Reid, the BBC’s Head of Series & Serials, to come up with a bi-weekly evening television drama that could run for 52 weeks a year.

Smith and Holland were both from London, and opted to set the soap in the city’s East End. They based the original twenty-four characters on their own families and people they had met in London’s ‘real’ East End, and contacted casting agencies in search of actors to fill the roles. Their repeated phone calls in which they asked for ‘real East Enders’ provided Smith with the idea for the show’s name.

The show required a huge set to be built at Elstree Studios in Hertfordshire. Meanwhile, composer Simon May created the now-iconic theme tune. This was to play over an aerial view of London that was pieced together from 800 separate photographs taken from an aeroplane flying 1000 feet over London.

EastEnders was first broadcast on 19 February 1985 as part of new BBC One controller Michael Grade’s ‘relaunch’ of the channel. The first episode secured an audience of 17 million, which increased to 23 million by the end of the year. Now airing four episodes a week, the series has been broadcast continuously ever since and remains one of the most popular television shows in the United Kingdom.

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