http://www.dailystar.co.uk/showbiz-t...-phil-mitchell


This is interesting. EE could actually do with a coffee shop. If they reopen the R&R then The Albert can possibly.

this whole charter remewal thing is proper getting dragged out.

These MP's should try and stick to what they know and look at making the UK better instead of trying to interfere with a fictional place. they do know its not real right?

edit forgot to add, given the bbc doco last night, surely they should be ensuring that every character is a different ethinticity and we should be needing google translate to work out which language they are speaking

maybe EE should stay stuck in the past afterall

Indeed surely there are more pressing matters for MP's to be dealing with than whats going to happen in EE

Then again I do agree it could do with a bit of modernization.

I get the need to have it reflect East London, but it's still a fictional soap. Rather they preserved some of its authentic character. It's bad enough that hipsters have polluted communities with their pretentious lifestyles, ugly clothes, vegan cafes, pop up bars, and general smugness. I don't need to be reminded of that watching a soap I enjoy.

Shoreditch can take a running jump.

The photo of Phil and the comment underneath it was hilarious

Phil dipping bread in oil.

I have said that before, I am all for moving forwards but I think that Eastenders should retain its authenticity in what Julia Smith and Tony Holland were trying to create. I think it should stick to its roots in that way. agree I don't need to see pretentious lifestyles on Ee, I watch real housewives for that

They should do graffiti artwork on Ian Beale's house he can be the new top man of the square.

Noooooo keep hipsters well away from EE!

Tony Holland and Julia Smith aimed for a show that portrayed contemporary (not 3 decades ago) East End life "we don't make life, we reflect it" and the show doesn't reflect the East End now. You can't have a contemporary show portraying culture from several decades ago, just doesn't make sense. Indeed, EastEnders should definitely stick to its roots with a strong family dynamic, present matriarchs, multi-layered characters, socially impacting / emotionally hard-hitting storylines...doesn't mean it should stay in 1985 and not reflect 2010s East End.

Now I'm not talking about box ticking ethnicities or paralleling exact start-up companies in a weird drama documentary method as its not about 100% depiction but rather reflection so if someone simply watched any episode of the show they would think "oh yeah, that does actually look like the East End"

And why would EastEnders take notice of an MP?

The Beales could open a Rice Crispie cafe and call it Cereal Killers.

And also, the East End isn't just restricted to Shoreditch nor is it full of hipsters. Comments like that highlight how out of touch people are with the East End and share little relevance in the discussion

BiB thats what I meant

it doesn't matter per say what the backdrop is. you don't need the cafe to be an internet cafe or posh deli to have scenes in it. the background is just that

we have no control over the box ticking, the bbc has new diversity guidelines and so it will happen

LMFAO you are utterly brilliant

If it means everyone growing a bushy beard NO

Move it to Essex, where most of the white Londoners moved and be done with it.

In a way I want it modernised slightly, maybe a coffee shop, deli etc. But I don't want it to lose its 'EastEndersness'. I think it's really sad what's happened to the East End. I'm not racist in any way. But I think it's sad cockney culture seems to have been pushed out for foreigners and hipsters. So I want a bit of modernisation but not too much.

Good one

Haven't been to the East End in nearly a year now & trying to find a square/street market even remotely close to that seen on Eastenders was work. We did it but it wasn't easy!

For me, the charm & attraction of the show was that it was oddly stuck in the past; just a few decades following WW2. HA!

You'd need a whole new set of characters if you did that. Sets are there so that they can get a fair few characters together in one place.They already struggle to find reasons to use the Albert, there just aren't the sort of people who prefer cocktails over a pint or G&T. Eastenders has never been current...it wasn't when it started in 1985.

Exactly!

This applies to all soaps, Coronation Street uses the famous decade long time-warp for example.

Visually I think DTC did try to update it, the Square itself hasn't changed much at all but the surrounding streets have seen recent updates that reflect areas of East London a lot more. The introduction of The Albert visually looks like something straight out of Hoxton and Shoreditch High Street, there's a huge piece of street art on a wall above the chippy and there's a Polish Deli opposite R&R and then there's the chicken shop next door.

The market has changed as well, there's an artisan bread stall, Shrimpy is our token hipster and we've seen the tube train rattle over that bridge a dozen or so times in recent weeks. Even the Beales restaurant is very trendy, it's pretty much a burger bar tucked under a railway arch which would be very popular with the trendy hipsters trying to stay away from mainstream McDonalds.

Visually with the set and how extras appear they can do what they like but story wise it's likely to stay in its current neutral territory in order to appeal to the masses.

Yup, I agree with all this. We also had Dean's salon too. I think subtle changes like this help to imagine it's on the fringe of Shoreditch, rather than in the heart of it. Which is about right.