EastEnders

She quotes endlessly from the Bible and it ridicules [religion] to some extent.".
. Dr Indarjit Singh, the editor of the Sikh Messenger and patron of the World Congress of Faiths, said: "EastEnders' Dot Cotton is an example. "Socialistic" in nature, IKEA attempts to elevate public taste by providing quality goods at affordable prices. The BBC was criticised of anti-religious bias by a committee in the House of Lords, examples of this suggestion included EastEnders. As pointed out by circuit lecturer Will Novosedlik, IKEA embodies the principles of design reform begun by William Morris and John Ruskin. In 2003, Shaun Williamson who played Barry Evans, said that the programme had become much grittier over the past 10 to 15 years, and found it "frightening" that parents let their young children watch. IKEA was named one of the 100 Best Companies for Working Mothers in 2004 by Working Mothers magazine.

Erin Pizzey, who became internationally famous for having started one of the first Women's Refuges, said that EastEnders had done more to raise the issue of violence against women in one story than she had done in twenty-five years. Some criticisms of IKEA:. However, a helpline after this episode attracted over 2000 calls. Another reason could be to make it difficult to acquire IKEA. Complaints against a scene in which Little Mo's face was shoved in gravy on Christmas day, were upheld by the Broadcasting Standards Council. This complicated structure is seen by some as an attempt to avoid Sweden's high taxation at the time. As EastEnders is shown pre-watershed, there were worries that scenes of this storyline were too graphic for its audience. INGKA Holding BV is wholly owned by Stichting INGKA Foundation, which is a foundation registered in the Netherlands.

EastEnders is often criticised for being too violent, most notably during a domestic violence storyline between Little Mo and husband Trevor. INGKA Holding BV is the ultimate parent company for all IKEA Group companies, including the industrial group Swedwood. In 2002 EastEnders also won an award from the Mental Health Media Awards held at BAFTA for this storyline. The remaining 22 are run by franchisees outside of the IKEA Group.[8]. The chief executive of the NSPCC praised the storyline, for covering the subject in a direct and sensitive way, coming to the conclusion that people were more likely to report any issues relating to child protection because of it. Of the 202 IKEA stores in 32 countries, 180 are run by the IKEA Group. The child abuse storyline with Kat and her uncle Harry, saw calls to the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) go up by 60%. The operator/franchisee of the majority of the stores worldwide is a separate entity, the IKEA Group, a private group of companies owned by a Dutch charitable foundation.

Though, one campaigner noted that in some ways the storyline was not reflective of what was happening at the time as the condition was more common among the gay community. Despite IKEA's Swedish roots, the owner/franchiser of the IKEA concept is a Dutch company, Inter IKEA Systems BV. The long-running storyline of Mark Fowler's HIV was so successful in raising awareness that in 1999 a survey by the National Aids Trust found teenagers got most of their information about HIV from the soap. Returned, damaged and formerly showcased products which are not in "as new" condition are displayed here, and sold with a discount. The stars of Coronation Street in particular aligned themselves with Mary Whitehouse, gaining headlines such as 'STREETS AHEAD! RIVALS LASH SEEDY EASTENDERS' and 'CLEAN UP SOAP! Street Star Bill Lashes 'Steamy' EastEnders'. Most IKEA stores also offer an "as-is" area at the end of the warehouse just prior to the cashiers. Her criticisms were widely reported in the tabloid press as ammunition in its existing rivalry with the BBC. the ingredients) at these stores and assemble it (that is, simple, straightforward food preparation) at home.

She also felt that EastEnders had been cleaned up as a result of her protests, though she later commented that EastEnders had returned to its old ways. As would be expected with IKEA, you can buy IKEA's specialities, such as Swedish meatballs, in parts (i.e. However Whitehouse also praised the programme, describing Michelle Fowler's decision not to have an abortion as a 'very positive storyline'. Outside of Sweden, these restaurants are sometimes complemented by mini-shops selling Swedish-made, Swedish-style groceries. She was also critical of language such as 'bleeding', 'bloody hell', 'bastard' and 'For Christ's sake'. The restaurant area is usually the one place in the store where there are large windows. She made reference to representation of family life and emphasis on psychological and emotional violence within the show. Many stores include restaurants serving typically Swedish food, and beverages such as lingonberry juice.

She regarded EastEnders as a fundamental assault on the family and morality itself. However, there are few complaints about being able to collect goods quicker from the customer warehouses. Mary Whitehouse argued at the time that EastEnders represented a violation of 'family viewing time' and that it undermined the watershed policy. Unfortunately, this occasionally results in customers being unable to find the goods they paid for at the cashier without direction from staff and the impression of queueing twice (once at the cashier, once at the external warehouse). EastEnders has received both praise and criticism for most of its storylines which have dealt with difficult themes, such as violence, rape and murder. Some stores operate separate additional warehouses for the larger or less popular flatpacks to keep the size of the customer warehouse down (and therefore less daunting) and allow more stock to be kept on-site at any given time. It is also shown on the British Forces Broadcasting Service's main TV channel, BFBS1, to members of HM Forces stationed around the world. stores place the showroom upstairs and the marketplace and warehouse both downstairs.

In Ireland, it is shown on RTÉ One at the same time as BBC One, which is also widely received in the country. Whilst the original design involved the warehouse on the lower level and the showroom and markethall on the upper, some stores are single-level bungalow-style stores while many U.S. In New Zealand, it was shown by TVNZ on TV One, but is now on Prime. In addition, the shortcuts are heavily criticized for not being long enough for convenience. Currently the series is seen in Australia only on pay-TV channel UK.TV. However, though they may be indicated on store maps, these shortcuts are often not obvious so an inexperienced IKEA shopper is likely to overlook them and travel through the whole layout of the store. The series was screened in Australia by the ABC from 1987 until the early 1990s. Recently, in some stores, shortcuts have been introduced between various sections, making travel time through the store much shorter if necessary.

The American PBS channel, KOCE-TV ran the show one episode per week from 1990 to 1993. This design is intended to make customers encounter products which they might not have thought to look for, but has the disadvantage of inconveniencing consumers who already know what they want to buy and just want to return to the warehouse area. Episodes from prior years are still shown on various PBS stations in the US. The sequence involves going through furniture showrooms (showroom) and housewares (market-hall) first, then the warehouse where one collects flatpacks for products seen in the showrooms, and then the cashier. At that point, Dish stopped its double-helping schedule, and now maintains the schedule of airing the new programmes consistently one month behind the UK schedule. They are often designed around a mandatory "one-way" layout which forces consumers to traverse nearly all parts of the store before reaching the cashier or check-out stands. In approximately February, 2005, the programming reached the point of being one month behind the new shows being aired in the UK. Newer IKEA stores are usually very large blue boxes with few windows.

Dish first broadcast two weeks' worth of shows each week to get caught up. [7]. In June, 2004, the Dish Satellite Network picked up EastEnders, airing episodes starting at the point where BBC America had ceased broadcasting them, offering the serial as a Pay-per-View item. The first of these will be in Coventry. It is still shown on BBC Prime in Europe, Africa, and Asia, and on BBC Canada in Canada. [5] [6] In January 2006 it announced plans to create 10 extra smaller outlets, to be based in city centres. The series aired in the United States until BBC America ceased broadcasts of the serial in 2003, amidst fan protests. It applied for judicial review but lost in 2005.

EastEnders is aired around the world in many English-speaking countries, including New Zealand and Canada. IKEA was vetoed planning permission for a further store in England in 2004 (to be based in Stockport in Greater Manchester) by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. The current series has now finished. Over 300,000 visitors were expected on the first weekend of operation. The series goes behind the scenes of the show and talks to some of the cast members. IKEA employees indicated that on the first Saturday of operation, the Stoughton store would have sales of $1-1.2M. The show is presented by Angelica Bell and available to digital viewers at 8.30 PM on Monday nights. Nearby highways were at a standstill; approaching the store from less than 1 mile took upwards of an hour.

As part of the BBC's digital push, EastEnders Xtra was introduced in 2005. The Stoughton, Massachusetts store opened on 9 November 2005. They are showing 5 episodes which means that 5 week's worth of episodes are shown every 4 weeks, which results in a catch-up rate of around 3 months a year). The first person in line had been there a week. EastEnders is usually repeated on BBC3 at 10:00 PM and old reruns can often be seen on UKTV Gold (As of February 2006, UKTV Gold are showing episodes originally aired in November 2002. That store is its first in the Southeast U.S., its third-largest in North America, and the only one to serve grits. On Wednesday 28th December 2005, Eastenders aired for the first time on a Wednesday night as part of the New Year's Eve storyline leading up to Dennis' death. Minding the above problems, the store at Atlantic Station in Atlanta opened on 29 June 2005 with 20 off-duty police officers directing traffic.

In March of the same year, as Peter Fincham became the BBC One controller, rumours were sparked that EastEnders could air in a new time slot. In Saudi Arabia three people were crushed to death in September 2004 when IKEA offered a limited number of $150 vouchers for free. Newspaper reports indicated that the show faced being taken off air for a fortnight after a storyline shortage, however this was denied by the BBC. The store was re-opened at 5pm on 11 February 2005 with no additional incident. In February 2005, there were reports that the EastEnders schedule was threatened due to production problems. The store was closed after only 30 minutes (due to the large number of customers, there were inadequate security staff and police). This was to coincide with the relaunch of the channel and helped BBC3 break the one million viewers for the first time with 1.03 million who watched to see Mark Fowler's departure. It attracted over 6,000 visitors due to huge opening discounts in the first three opening hours and resulted in a number of casualties as people were crushed in the rush to get into the store.

In early 2003, viewers could watch episodes of EastEnders on digital channel BBC3 before they were broadcast on BBC One. A new store opened in Edmonton, North London at midnight on 10 February 2005. An episode of EastEnders Revealed which was commissioned for BBC3 attracted 611,000 viewers. IKEA's most popular store in Brent Park, London frequently has traffic jams on the weekends. EastEnders Revealed is the only BBC Choice programme to last the entire life of the channel and is still running on BBC3. When an IKEA opened in Tempe, Arizona in November 2004, the traffic jams on Interstate 10 were so severe that the Arizona Department of Public Safety had to close the nearest off-ramp to the store just to spread out the traffic among other nearby off-ramps. In 1998, EastEnders Revealed was launched on BBC Choice (now BBC3), the show takes a look behind the scenes of the show and investigates particular places, characters or families within EastEnders. Emeryville police were forced to manually direct traffic daily for three months.

In this first head-to-head battle, EastEnders claimed victory over its rival. For example, when an IKEA opened in April 2000 in Emeryville, California, the traffic was so severe that most local traffic lights were rendered useless. The move immediately provoked an angry response from ITV insiders, who argued that the BBC's last-minute move - only revealed at 3.30 PM on the day - broke an unwritten scheduling rule that the two flagship soaps would not be put directly against each other. The handful of American cities which accepted IKEA stores were delighted by the subsequent surge in sales tax revenue, yet dismayed at the accompanying surge in traffic congestion. This caused some controversy as it clashed with Coronation Street, which at the time was moved to 8.00 PM to make way for an hour long episode of rural soap Emmerdale at 7.00 PM. Because they have few stores, they often drew consumers from out-of-state. EastEnders then added its fourth episode (shown on Fridays) on August 10th 2001. before the United Kingdom and other European countries, IKEA had very few stores until recently.

EastEnders output then increased to thrice after Coronation Street added an extra episode - in response to competition from EastEnders. Although they were in the U.S. Realising the futility of the situation, Grade decided to move the show to the later 7:30PM slot, but to avoid tabloid speculation that it was a 'panic move' on the BBC's behalf, they had to "dress up the presentation of that move in such a way as to protect the show" giving "all kinds of reasons" for the move . Like all big-box stores, IKEA stores draw consumers from a very large area. Originally EastEnders was shown twice weekly at 7.00PM, however it soon moved to 7.30PM as Michael Grade did not want the soap running in direct competition with Emmerdale Farm; the BBC had originally planned to take advantage of the 'summer break' that Emmerdale Farm usually took in order to capitalise on ratings, but ITV added extra episodes and repeats so that Emmerdale Farm was not taken off over the summer. IKEA's goals of sustainability and environmental design in their merchandise may be trumped by the impact a new IKEA store can have on a community:. EastEnders is currently aired at 7.30PM on Tuesday & Thursday and 8.00PM on Monday and Friday, the omnibus is aired on Sunday, though the exact time differs. Company founder Ingvar Kamprad, who is dyslexic, found that naming the furniture with a name, rather than a product code, made the names easier to remember.

For the past 20 years EastEnders has remained at the centre of BBC One's primetime schedule. The entire office furniture line is named EFFEKTIV. EastEnders was perhaps at its least popular in the year 2004, its lowest ever audience share was 28% in early 2005. For example, AKTION is a name for a pepper mill, DINERA for tableware, KASSETT for media storage. Sonia's shock birth in 2000 was watched by 19.3 million viewers and in 2001, Mel's marriage to Steve Owen was watched by 22.5 million viewers. Most names have an etymology regarding their function or appearance (de) [4]:. Despite a decade and a half of high ratings it was most popular in the early 2000s, attracting an average of 15 million for most episodes and peaks of upto 25 million for the climaxes of popular storylines. Every IKEA product is identified by a name, either Swedish in origin or Swedish-sounding.

In comparison, the smallest amount for an EastEnders episode was around 6.2 million in 2004, higher than the lowest of its rivals Coronation Street and Emmerdale. [3]. This was its largest audience ever, the largest amount of viewers for a soap episode, the 4th largest audience for a British television channel ever and the highest television audience for a single channel of the 1980s. Now working in the Nordic countries and in UK, sites confirmed in England include London, Manchester, Leeds and Liverpool. In 1986, just under two years since it had been on air, EastEnders attracted 30.15 million viewers, for the Christmas episode in which Den handed a divorce letter to wife Angie. The product, named BoKlok was launched in Sweden in 1996 in a joint venture with Skanska. The launch show attracted 17 million viewers in the 1980s, this was perhaps helped by the amount of press attention it received, something which continues today. IKEA has also expanded their product base to include flat-pack houses, in an effort to cut prices involved in a first-time buyer's home.

Ever since EastEnders began on the mainstream BBC One, it has achieved some of the highest audiences in British television history. The intended result is flexible, adaptable home furnishings, scaleable both to larger homes and smaller dwellings. Aside from that, the 10pm repeat showing on BBC Three attracts an average of 500,000 viewers, whilst the Sunday omnibus attracts a further 3 million. Responding to the explosion of human population—and material expectations—in the 20th century, the company has mastered economies of scale, capturing material streams and creating manufacturing processes that hold costs and resource use down, such as the extensive use of particle board. An average EastEnders episode attracts a total audience share between 45% and 50%. Its founder calls it "democratic design," meaning that the company applies an integrated approach to manufacturing and design (see also environmental design). Based on market research by BBC commissioning in 2003, EastEnders is most watched by 16 - 24 year olds, closely followed by 25 - 34 year olds. IKEA also claims to have pioneered the use of more sustainable approaches to mass consumer culture.

But the battle between EastEnders and Emmerdale saw EastEnders come out on top with 200,000 more viewers on the 1st December 2005. IKEA claims this permits them to reduce costs and use of packaging by not shipping air—the volume of a bookcase, for example, is considerably less if it is shipped unassembled rather than assembled. However, this indirectly helped increase the audience of digital channel BBC Three as 1 million (10% share) tuned in to see the second showing. Also, because much of it is self-assembly furniture (also known as "flat-pack"), it is designed to be assembled by the consumer rather than being sold pre-assembled. The episode of Emmerdale, which saw the departure of one of its more popular characters, attracted 8.3 million viewers leaving EastEnders with 6.6 million for the funeral of Den Watts. IKEA furniture is well known for its modern (often unusual) design. Weeks after this, ITV again scheduled episodes of Emmerdale against EastEnders. The store in Asker is currently undergoing a major expansion and remodeling.).

In autumn of 2005, EastEnders had seen its average audience share increase, with the unearthing of Den Watts' body and the marriage of Sharon and Dennis. (The store was located in the same building which houses the Bellevue hotel, about two km from the present site at Billingstad/Slependen, which opened in 1975. John Yorke immediately stepped into her position until a few weeks later when Kate Harwood was announced as the new executive producer. It was also the location for the first IKEA "warehouse" store which came to serve as a model for IKEA establishments elsewhere and on March 23, 1963, the first store outside Sweden was opened in Asker, a Norwegian municipality outside Oslo. But through her short reign she led EastEnders to some of its most healthy viewing figures in months. At first, Kamprad sold his goods out of his home and by mail order, but eventually a store was opened in the nearby town of Älmhult. This was one of the reasons storylines such as the 'Real Walford' football team were suddenly ignored. The company motto is: "Well designed affordable quality furniture to the many people".

She is also said to have torn up many of the scripts that were planned and demanded re-writes. Furniture was first added to the IKEA product range in 1947 and, in 1955, IKEA began to design its own furniture. It is reported that the cast and crew did not get on well with Kathleen Hutchison as she had them filming up to 12am. Originally, IKEA sold pens, wallets, picture frames, table runners, watches, jewelry and nylon stockings or practically anything Kamprad found a need for that he could fill with a product at a reduced price. He also brought back long serving script writer Tony Jordan. This acronym is incidentally similar to the Greek word οικία [oikia] (home) and to the Finnish word oikea (correct). John Yorke who led EastEnders through what Mal Young (the then head of BBC drama) said was one of its most successful periods in 2001, returned to the BBC as the head of drama, meaning his responsibilities included the running of EastEnders. The company name is a composite of the first letters in his name and the names of the property and the village in which he grew up: Ingvar Kamprad Elmtaryd Agunnaryd.

But in January 2005, after just four months it was the end for Kathleen Hutchison. IKEA was founded in 1943 by Ingvar Kamprad, then 17. It indicated a fresh start for EastEnders after declining ratings in 2004. . Whilst she was there she set about reversing the previous executive producer's work.
. Kathleen Hutchison went on to axe Den Watts, Andy Hunter, Juley Smith and Derek Harkinson. IKEA is famous for its affordable furniture which consumers are required to assemble for themselves.

And within a few weeks later the producers announced a major shake-up of the cast with the highly-criticised Ferreira family, first seen in June 2003, set to leave at the beginning of 2005. ^[2]. Kathleen Hutchison who had been the producer of hospital drama Holby City, was announced as the new executive producer. The IKEA catalogue, containing about 12,000 products, is printed in 160 million copies (2006) worldwide, and distributed free of charge. However, EastEnders was at a disadvantage as Emmerdale had began half an hour earlier, and the press were reporting viewers were bored with implausible and ill thought out storylines. IKEA is generally pronounced (IPA /i'ke.a/) but in many English-speaking regions, it is pronounced (IPA /aɪ'ki:ə/) rhyming with the word "idea". Emmerdale was watched by 8.1 million people. IKEA is one of the few store chains to have locations both in Israel and in other Middle Eastern nations.

The following day the show received its lowest ever ratings (6.2 million) when ITV scheduled an hour long episode of its usually less-popular soap, Emmerdale against it. More than 20 opened during 2005. On 21 September 2004 Louise Berridge, the then executive producer, quit following massive criticism of the show. It has 229 stores in 33 countries, most of them in Europe, the rest in the United States, Canada, Asia and Australia. EastEnders won the battle with 8.4 million viewers (41% share) whilst Coronation Street lagged behind with 7.3 million viewers (36% share). IKEA is a Swedish home furnishings retailer. In 2001 however, the soaps clashed for the first time. 2006 Ireland — Dublin.

In order to maximise ratings the BBC and ITV are usually careful to avoid scheduling clashes between their flagship soaps. 2006 Japan — Funabashi. Its main rival for ratings is usually Coronation Street. 2005 Turkey — Istanbul. EastEnders is one of the more popular programmes on British television and regularly attracts between 9 and 13 million viewers, while the show's ratings have fallen since its initial surge in pouplarity, the programme continues to be largely lucrative for the BBC. 2004 Portugal — Lisbon. This remains the highest rated episode of a soap in British television history. 2001 Greece — Thessaloniki.

In the Christmas of 1986, it attracted a massive 30.15 million viewers who tuned in to see Den Watts hand over divorce papers to wife Angie. 2001 Israel — Netanya. Research suggested that people found the characters true to life, the plots believable and, importantly in the face of criticism of the content, people watched as a family and regarded it as viewing for all the family. 2000 Russia — Moscow (Chimki). As mentioned, EastEnders proved highly popular and Appreciation Indexes reflected this, rising from 55–60 at the launch to 85–5 later on, a figure which was nearly ten points higher than the average for British soap opera. 1998 China — Shanghai. A precursor in UK soaps also set in a East End market was ATV's Market in Honey Lane between 1967 and 1969. 1996 Malaysia — Kuala Lumpur (Mutiara Damansara).

'Exclusives' about EastEnders storylines became a staple of tabloid buyers daily reading. 1996 Finland — Espoo. By Christmas of 1985, the tabloids couldn't get enough of the show. 1994 Taiwan — Taipei. This referred to Leslie Grantham, and set the tone for relations between Albert Square and the press for the next 20 years. 1992 Slovakia — Bratislava. Within weeks the headline they had all dreaded had appeared — EASTENDERS STAR IS A KILLER. 1991 United Arab Emirates — Dubai.

Press coverage, already intense, went into overdrive. 1991 Czech Republic — Prague (Zličín). Detailed reactions were taken after six months and since then regular monitoring has been conducted. 1991 Poland — Platan. Following the launch, both group discussions and telephone surveys were conducted to test audience reaction to early episodes. 1990 Hungary — Budapest. The reviews were largely favourable, although after three weeks on air, BBC One's early evening share had returned to the pre-EastEnders figure of 7 million, though EastEnders then climbed to highs of up to 23 million later on in the year. 1989 Italy — Milan (Cinisello Balsamo).

The next day viewing figures were confirmed at 17 million. 1987 United Kingdom — Manchester (Warrington). Both Holland and Smith could not watch, they both instead returned to the place where it all began. 1985 United States — Philadelphia (Conshohocken). Anticipation and rumour grew in equal measure until the first transmission at 7pm on 19 February 1985. 1984 Kuwait — Kuwait City. The press were invited to see Elstree and meet the cast and see the lot - and stories immediately started circulating about the show, about a rivalry with ITV (who were launching their own market-based soap, Albion Market) and about the private lives of the cast. 1984 Belgium — Brussels (Zaventem and Ternat).

Julia Smith was uneasy about the late start as EastEnders no longer had the winter months to build up a loyal following before the summer ratings lull. 1983 Saudi Arabia — Jeddah. The launch was delayed for a second time until February 1985 due to a delay in the chat show Wogan, that was to be a part of the major revamp in BBC One's schedules. 1981 France — Paris (Bobigny). Simon May (music) and Alan Jeapes (visuals) created it, and it remains one of the strongest title clips in television. 1981 Iceland — Reykjavík. Through the next few months, the set was growing rapidly at Elstree, and a composer and designer had been commissioned to create the title sequence. 1980 Spain — Gran Canaria (Las Palmas).

Everyone was in agreement, East 8 was to be tough, violent on occasion, funny and sharp - and it would start with a bang. 1978 Singapore — Queenstown. Once they decided on these they returned to London for a meeting with the BBC. 1978 Netherlands — Rotterdam (Sliedrecht). After they decided on the filming location (BBC Elstree Studios in Hertfordshire), Smith and Holland set about creating the 24 characters needed in just 14 days. 1977 Austria — Vienna (Vösendorf). The project had a number of working titles — Square Dance, Round the Square, Round the Houses, London Pride, East 8. It was the latter that stuck (E8 is the postcode for Hackney) in the early months of creative process. 1976 Canada — Vancouver (Richmond).

However, in February 1984 they didn't even have a title or a place to film. 1975 Hong Kong — Kowloon (Tsim Sha Tsui). Julia Smith and Tony Holland had just 11 months in which to write, cast and shoot the whole thing. 1975 Australia — Sydney (Artarmon). The target launch date was originally September 1984 but this was postponed due to Michael Grade - the new controller of BBC One - preferring a January start. 1974 Germany — Munich (Eching). They also looked at Brookside but found there was a lack of central meeting points for the characters, making it difficult for the writers to intertwine different storylines. 1973 Switzerland — Zürich (Spreitenbach).

They came to the conclusion that Coronation Street had grown old with its audience, and that EastEnders would have to attract a younger, more socially extensive audience ensuring that it had the longevity to retain it for many years thereafter. 1969 Denmark — Copenhagen (Ballerup). They also identified that it has had difficulty in replacing 'big' characters such as Len Fairclough and Elsie Tanner, something which is arguably still present to this day, with the exit of Karen McDonald. 1963 Norway — Asker (Nesbru). Only after EastEnders begun did Coronation Street start to feature black people for example. 1958 Sweden — Älmhult. When developing EastEnders, both Julia Smith and Tony Holland looked at influential models like Coronation Street, but they found that it offered a rather outdated and nostalgic view of working-class life. The smell your armpits advert, in which a boss tells members of his staff to smell each other's armpits.

This was the beginning of a close and continuing association between EastEnders and audience research, which though commonplace today was something of a revolution in practice. (complaints were dismissed) [12]. There was anxiety at first that the viewing public would not accept a new soap set in the south of England, though research commissioned by lead figures in the BBC had revealed southerners would accept a northern soap, northerners would accept a southern soap and those from the Midlands, as Julia Smith herself pointed out, didn’t mind where it was set as long as it was somewhere else. Make a fresh start," got complaints that it was trivializing marriage breakups and showing a homosexual relationship. Smith and Holland then went about putting ideas down on paper, they decided it would be set in the East End of London. And for all your new things, you know where to come. The outline that Reid presented was vague: two episodes a week, 52 weeks a year. A campaign under the slogan, "Just pack up, ship out, find a place of your own.

The first people to whom David Reid, then head of series and serials, turned were Julia Smith and Tony Holland, a well established producer/script editor team who had first worked together on Z-Cars. (complaints were dismisssed but IKEA voluntarily withdrew the advert) [11]. In February 1983, two years before EastEnders hit the screen, the show was nothing more than a vague idea in the mind of a handful of BBC executives, who decided that what BBC One needed was a popular bi-weekly drama series that would attract the kind of mass audiences ITV was getting with Coronation Street. An advertisement where a management consultant suggests how much more furniture a company could buy, if it fired an office worker. It was the brass at BBC who had the last laugh, however, as EastEnders became wildly popular and displaced Coronation Street from the top of the ratings for the rest of the 1980s and 1990s and partly the 2000s. [10]. One news source went as far as to accuse the channel of only having the guts to air the soap after Patricia Phoenix, arguably Britain's premier soap diva, left Coronation Street. (complaints were dismissed).

Critics first derided the new offering, as it was clear that BBC wished to bridge the gap between the network and its competitor, ITV. “Stop being so English”: In which a “Swedish psychologist” claims the British are uptight due to their taste in “English” furniture. It started airing on the night after a major ident change for the channel, with the show representing the "new face" of the BBC. In the 1990s, there were several complaints arising from IKEA's British television advertising campaigns: