No but the characters arguably become even more household names through the private lives/fame of the actors. So perhaps people are more interested in Peggy Mitchell, Dirty Den, Grant Mithcell and Kat Slater due to the well known lives of the actors.

I'm talking about how the public see the show - how much its discussed etc. The actors personal lives is a factor. It has nothing to do with the storylines but on the show altogether. Leslie Grantham's web cam incident, for example, was talked about a lot and had loads of column inches - that incident had an impact on the show.

Plus, the majority of threads on this forum is about EE - some are about the storylines, others may be about the actor's personal lives.

Dont for get his murder conviction

I wasn't even born when that all came out!! Did it have a bigger impact on the show than the webcam thing? Or was the webcam thing seen as the worst offense of the two?!

I read once (ages ago) that EE bosses blamed the webcam incident for the ratings dip and for de-motivating the writers and actors!!

It seemed the murder conviction had no bad effect on the show - ratings were good and Den went on to become a soap legend. However, the webcam thing did the opposite - ratings went down after it and he was eventually axed...

I think it tends to fluctuate as different storylines in different soaps catch the public imagination. Over recent weeks Eastenders has been dominant as the excitement over the culmination of the 'who killed Den' storyline escalated, further fueled by the return of the Mitchells. At other times Coronation Street, Brookside and (perhaps less frequently) Emmerdale have all had their moments in the spotlight. The 'Free the Weatherfield One' furore was particularly high-profile.

I suppose as well you're always more aware of the soaps that you and your social peers follow as well. I rarely find myself embroiled in a discussion about Eastenders, but frequently debate the goings-on in Coronation Street or - most often - Emmerdale (in fact, I've been known to spend my Saturday mornings happily ensconced on the sofa watching the ITV2 omnibus, keeping up a text-discussion with my similarly occupied mates as the story unfolds...... Deeply, deeply sad, I know.)

I do think the right storyline could be a reason for a soap having a big impact - but i've found that when EE was going through its rough period, it still had a big impact compared to the other soaps...