Brits Chime In on EastEnders, Or What I Did on My Summer Holiday
By Eileen Weiss
Editor's note: The writer, a New York theatre professional who went to the University of London, Goldsmiths College, in the late 1970s, returned to the U.K. for the first time this past summer for a holiday to visit some old friends. She asked a number of Brits whether they watched EastEnders. Here are their replies:
Patrick Ward from London, E17 (Walthamstow):
I stopped watching EastEnders when they got rid of Tiffany.
James Henry Ward from Walthamstow:
I can't understand half of what they say, and I'm East End born and bred!
Olivia Paterson from Alnwick (the North):
I don't watch it – it's rubbish – the storylines go on too long.
Sharon Consterdine from Alnwick:
No, never. I used to. I stopped watching when the good characters disappeared and I lost track of the others. (Good characters – like the Watts – Dennis, Sharon, Chrissie…).
Elspeth Paterson from Alnwick:
I stopped watching it because the storylines are awful and I couldn't identify with the characters any more. Other soaps are better. It seems that EE is trying to be like the show Neighbours, with more young, hip people, but (EE) doesn't have good storylines.
Eileen stumbled upon an old school acquaintance with more than an opinion about the series: Ronan Paterson from Alnwick, who quipped that it would take "paralysis"for him to watch EastEnders again. It runs out that Paterson at one time worked with the actor Peter Dean, who played EastEnders' Pete Beale, Ian's father and Kathy's ex-husband. He was in Dean's in first TV piece, called Law and Order (not the same as the U.S. show). It was a four-part, gritty, realistic, pseudo-documentary style miniseries that took a look at the underbelly of the criminal justice system. Peter played a guy in prison and Ronan played a prison officer. Much of the show's style was improvised around a scenario script.
Ronan began his career as a stage hand at the age of sixteen. Having paid his way through University working as a professional actor he then joined the Abbey, Ireland's National Theatre, initially as an actor, then subsequently as an assistant director.
"Peter had a great character and the director, Les Blair, got into an argument with him and stormed off, saying, 'You don't know what you're talking about'. This was Peter's first real role. And Peter replied, 'I never done any acting... but I done 20 years for armed robbery!'" He was also the first person that Ronan heard using rhyming slang. Ronan played one of two Scottish prison officers (the other was played by Gil Sutherland) with dark hair and moustaches. It was filmed in a real prison and it was very claustrophobic. They had to keep the prisoners separate from the "screws" (guards). The two guards had keys on chains and they were twirling them along the catwalk. Then they (hammily) broke into the song "Sisters, Sisters, never such devoted sisters..." Peter's response to this was: "Oh you bleeding Max Factors are all the same."
Another EastEnders connection for Ronan was a series called Biker Grove, produced by Matthew Robinson of EE (brother of the musician, Tom Robinson). It was rumoured that he had been brought in to make cuts in EE. Previously, he was notorious for wearing Prince of Wales checked flared trousers (from the FIRST time around) but once he was hired for EE, he actually got a black suit.
Eileen's friends Dave Ball and Tricia Rogan don't watch EastEnders much, but they used to be in a band called the Boogie Brothers Blues Band. On an episode of EE back in 1987, there was a scene shot in an archway under the railway station. On the wall was a poster for their band because they were going to be playing at the Town and Country Club in Kentish Town.
EILEEN B. WEISS has worked for a number of Broadway producers including Michael Harvey, Lee Guber/the Music Fair Group, The Shubert Organization, and Cameron Mackintosh Inc. She has also worked for HBO in Film Acquisitions, and as a freelance publicist with Alma Viator Associates (theatrical press agents) and Weiss Creative Group (a special events company). In September, 2001, Eileen co-produced GOODTIME CHARLEY at the ArcLight Theatre in NYC. Following 9/11, she co-wrote and produced an oral history/theatre piece entitled SAME DIFFERENCE, along with its accompanying video and a curriculum guide. She co-produced an original musical, BETWEEN THE LINES, at Luna Stage in Montclair, NJ and co-produced the TICKETS PLEASE film demo for a planned documentary about Broadway usherettes. With Tweiss Productions, she is producing a musical comedy entitled HELL'S BELLES scheduled to open in NYC in 2008. Eileen co-founded the human rights organizations, Jews Against Genocide/The NY Committee to Save Bosnia & the NYC Coalition for Darfur. She attended the University of London and received a B.A. in Theatre and Dramatic Literature from Dickinson College.
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