after turning over for QI after Mastermind; dreadful women shouting at each other; talk about inferior one dimensional bad acting.
Where do they find these people?

JK2006 wrote:
dreadful women shouting at each other;

That could be ANY members of the cast, JK - (and not just the women either)

They all sound asthmatic. And bad actors. Most peculiar.

JK2006 wrote:
talk about inferior one dimensional bad acting

I agree - but, in its 25 years on air, Eastenders has won well over 50 awards. These include 6 BAFTAs and 11 National TV Awards.

Viewing figures are currently about 9M per episode (BBC1's highest); but it has exceeded 16m on occasions.

Then, there are the exports (all over the world) and the internet market; there is massive overseas interest in Eastenders and the program is the BBC's most lucrative, by far.

Why? I simply do not know.

Maybe the decline in acting has something to do with the decline of the Rep system and the rise of soaps. Actors in Rep used to have to go from playing one character to another on a weekly basis; no wonder when they graduated into films and TV they were versatile, crafty and very professional. Now in soaps they play the same character week after week, year after year, so we get the likes of Ross Kemp moving on to ITV where he plays characters exactly like his EastEnders character, because that's all the poor sap can play. It's not a healthy existence for actors. The pace they have to learn scripts and shoot episodes for the likes of Corrie and EastEnders would ruin any performer.

It is painful to watch these days - women with pinched faces snapping and snarling and dopey looking blokes dishing one line insults.

But, 25 years ago, it was fresh, interesting and covered many good topics. The actors played their parts well and it was like looking into real peoples lives sometimes.
That said, most soaps have gone downhill too and I watch none of them any more. I much prefer Merlin - a bit like a soap - but more interesting.

Yes - and I absolutely agree about Merlin - delighted to see it's constant 6 million rating (up against X Factor) has gained it a confirmed new series in 2011 - my beloved sister-in-law (ex) is one of the longest serving EastEnder cast members. Like Coronation Street (wonderful in the Ena Sharples/Elsie Tanner era), it was terrific in the early days and has Gorn Orff.

I gave up soaps when Crossroads finished