Radio Times

This isn't so much "hate mail", more a sigh of exasperation at just how stale and repetitive EastEnders has become. That might seem a tad mean when many at the Beeb must be patting themselves on the back for the 14.38 million ratings success on Christmas Day. But how many of those viewers actually enjoyed what they saw?

Did they actually relish all that aggro on the happiest day of the year, as the long-drawn-out Stacey/Bradley/Max betrayal storyline reached its unpleasant dénouement? At new year, we were treated to the tragedy of Kevin's car crash death with only Shirl, his face-ache ex, for comfort. OK, EastEnders has always wallowed in misery, but there's a limit to the amount of schadenfreude anyone can stomach. As Pat put it: "Seven stages of grief? Right now it feels like 77."

Now, I write as one who once had a soft spot for EastEnders. I watched the first episode back in 1985 and was lured in by the meticulously unravelling destinies of the Beales, Watts and Fowlers. I'm also of the unshakeable belief that fab Babs Windsor can do no wrong and woe betide anyone saying otherwise! So why now when I dip in, having lost the faith long ago, do I ask myself: haven't we been here umpteen times before? Couldn't this be so much better? I agree entirely with my mother's verdict that "EastEnders has gone right off".

It simply isn't the gripping, ground-breaking serial it once was. In 1986 I interviewed the show's formidable "godmother" Julia Smith in her Elstree office and she impressed upon me her determination to reflect the East End's diversity and grit. The denizens of Albert Square had to look mercilessly dowdy and downtrodden. Above all, plots were treated like state secrets, not sluiced through the press weeks in advance.

Although they’d only been standing for one year, the Square's backlot and interiors were authentically sour and dingy. Check out the photo of me with my pal Richard Marson (years later to become Blue Peter editor) in Angie and Den's dismal living room. Nowadays, everything is brightly lit and most of the locals look immaculate. Of course, times change, but much of that original ethic has been lost.

EastEnders seems to be awash with unlikely situations and its own cliched plot devices. The "big stories" border on the ludicrous: Dirty Den's resurrection, anyone? Recently, we had the Ian-Beale-imprisoned-in-derelict-tower-by-deranged- stepson scenario, with its distasteful outcome - wife Jane shot in the womb. And how many more crimes and misdemeanours will be preserved on tape for maximum fallout months later? Stacey and Max's indiscretion caught on camcorder is the latest in a long line traceable right back to the perceived success of "Sharongate" in 1994.

Characters are dispensed with just as they are bedding in. The "minorities" often seem to fare worst: entire families - be they Asian, Italian, Afro-Caribbean or Turk - have been ruthlessly purged in a Soapland equivalent of ethnic cleansing. And what of the gay community? Apart from Sonia's unconvincing Sapphic interlude, there's not been a sniff of same-sex union in years. The recent introduction of Jane's stereotypically snide gay brother, Christian, doesn't bode well.

There may be some hope. The cast remains strong, newish characters like Shirley are vivid, and long-term writers (Simon Ashdown, Sarah Phelps, Christopher Reason) still deliver subtlety and authenticity. But with storyliners resorting to over-familiar formulae, the frequent turnover in executive producers and the BBC's lack of spondulicks to hang onto talent, I believe a return to the dramatic heights of earlier days will remain elusive.

Cannot stand Eastenders. Have never been able to stand EE. Just the sound of that tedious yet curiously whiney signature tune has me reaching for the remote. In fact, sometimes I am so desperate to get rid of it I press two buttons at once by accident.

My reasons. Cliche, cliche and cliche. It is boring, drab, miserable and not in the least life affirming.

Eastenders has become a "who can stab someone in the back" It's not a TV programe any more,it's out to shock and it's the same story line only 10yrs on,Look were Bianca & Rickt are now isnt that how her mother and then boyfriend started in EE,Sack the writers if you dont want to take it off TV or even better replace it with something better anythink has got to be better than EE at the moment

if you dont like eastenders then its simple dont watch it. i am sick of people moaning get a life

I'm sick of the sight of East'bloody'enders.For me.Eastenders is the worst soap on t.v.The sooner the bbc gets rid of Eastenders off the t.v the better.It is so annoying,so over the top.Even hollyoaks and the bill is better than eastenders and that's saying something.

I'll tell you now.Here's an omen for you.Grandstand has now gone from the beeb,so has Top of the pops,and even Grange Hill is now no more.

Eastenders will be next

wow steveo123 obsessive much?

It was a funny read but you could have just used the word chavs. They didn't ask to be in the situations they are and its people like you continuing to belittle them is part of the reason such a class still exists.

The trouble with EastEnders is that the characters are all one dimensional. Sorry "EE" fans but it ain't fit to lick Corrie's boots

oh come on its a bluddy tv programme it aint real life!

Television is all about ratings and money. Full stop. The general license fee should be scrapped. The BBC/ITV/4 and 5 should open a channel called "Brain-dead TV" and first on it should be Eastenders.

What I have found to be all too apparent are the people that I do know who watch this awful shite have an underlying theme in their own lives.

a. More often than not they are in crap loads of personal debt and the majority lead their own lives in denial of this.

b. They have precious little self-esteem.

c. Rather shallow.

d. Have trouble with their kids anger. Not surprising if they subject their own children to watch dire crap.

e. Have anger issues of their own.

f. Not the most intelligent people you are ever likely to meet.

8. Are too busy to cook fresh meals for themselves or their children. Probably as soaps are targeted at tv prime time.

9. After being asked "Well, was Eastenders exciting?" Invariably the answer is "Well, I dunno? It's just there isn't it."

10. Are more often than not women.

11. Have no real aspirations in life. They're are just pootle along taking what they can out of life whilst "trying to keep up with the Jones".

12. Invariably are the first people to remark in a negative way about something "How have you got that?" or "You don't deserve this or that" or "I should have that!" and yet if they bothered to figure something out for themselves or got off their own backsides and worked a little harder in life then they could always get what they need themselves.

13. Always look rather down in the mouth.

14. If they have the opportunity, don't grow their own veg and think that people that do are mad.

15. Watch Big Brother / Simon Cowell's programmes and enjoy to scoff at other peoples downfall.

There's far more that I could add. Perhaps others would like to?

I'm getting ready for the huge backlash comments! Frankly, bring it on! That is what debate is all about. Before you do though, go to the extent as I have, to ask and find out for yourself how many people you know or for that matter don't know personally, that live in your area or work with you and then take a general view of your findings. Views that are just personal have no standing at all. for example, I could say that most people who watch Eastenders have blonde or blond hair. Then, have a reply from an annoyed, overweight, out of work, red headed single lady with 7 kids and an asbo telling me that my little findings are all rubbish.

Hmmmmm?

Steve.

Thanks goodness that other folk see this programme as the dreary, formulaic sh*te that EastEnders has become. I am sick to death of the same old storylines and bored to tears at the painfully drawn out storylines with their predictable endings. I would say it is like watching endless replays of a car crash but it isn't that interesting. I would prefer to polish my garden gnome's fishing rod for half an hour than watch this scummy cr*p again.

Thank the lord someone said it, East Enders is repetitive and quite frankly dire. It's like a bug that feeds off things going wrong and trys to make TV out of it. Spend the money on world poverty not trash like this

What really p****s me off about this awful programme is the amount of money that goes on it from the extortationate license fee!!!

Agree Enders is sh#te, enough said.

Well, at least I now know who the February new character is. Can't wait to see who is lined up for March. It's really beyond silly, isn't it?

Still, it's good to see that they didn't go completely over the top when Deano came out from Prison. You know, they didn't do the usual silly thing and completely reverse his character after just a 'three month stretch'. Oh wait, they did go for that one again. All that was missing was a shot of Deano trying to familiarise himself with how light-switches work again, while muttering the line: "Ya know, it changes ya, prison." Heaven help us!

Hi dickins

Dissing Brian Blessed?! Come on. The man's a god. Booming marvellous!! You're spot on about the launderette, though. Not even Walford's wealthiest seem to own a washer-drier...

Hi MazY

Holding on to core characters and developing brand-new ones is a hard balance to strike. Corrie went through a similarly difficult period in the mid-80s when, in the space of a few years, nearly all its entertaining stalwarts had died or departed.

The dreary level of acting has to be mentioned.Ian Beale should be awarded a medal as the worst acted over the top since Brian Blessed.The wearisome Dot s bible quoting and the ridiculous pretence that nobody can afford a washing machine but must trot to the launderette + the use of mobile phone to move the story line on......the ridiculous old lag stories of Mo BRING BACK TREVOR and give him a hit list.

Eastenders? Eastenders? Oh, you mean the Ronnie and Roxy Show, surely?

I really don't know what is propping this programme up these days. It certainly isn't the storylines, which seem to become more and more protracted and bizarre. It isn't the characters as they don't hang around long enough these days, and please, when will they stop introducing new characters, as though that will magically stop the rot? (Does anyone know February's new character yet?)

I also tire of any TV station claiming top viewing figures. I'm sure there was a time when they meant that somebody somewhere had something to be proud of. These days, it means that channel happened to be showing the best of the worst at that time. We've all done it - watched something on television just because everything else really is so dire. That is becoming the norm these days, more and more frequently. So much so that my partner and I recently discussed not bothering with the television in the future. Imagine that. I never thought I'd see the day when that happened!

Television doesn't need to worry about the Internet killing it. It's doing that job by itself.