Going Home Again to EastEnders
By Judy Hirsch
Years ago, I recall receiving an e-mail from someone who “used to be” a fan of EastEnders. I couldn’t imagine how someone could talk about EastEnders as a thing of the past… until it happened to me. Walford Gazette readers may remember me as the originator of the online EastEnders newsletter and those wacky Tuesday night chats on AOL. Like some of you, I began watching EastEnders in late 1987 from the moment Tracey Ullman introduced Den and Angie on our local PBS stations. At the time, I was living in Philadelphia, my hometown.
Let’s fast-forward to 1994, when I subscribed to AOL. One of the first things I did was look for other EastEnders fans. Not long after, I started hosting the weekly chats and publishing the online newsletters. On 10 May 1998, I was featured in an article entitled “Intimacy Sells” in the Lifestyle section of The Philadelphia Inquirer regarding reasons people meet online. My bit focused on EastEnders (see clipping below).
In 1999, I changed jobs and moved to Hartford, Connecticut where I watched EastEnders from the New York PBS station. In 2002, I moved to Dayton, Ohio where I watched EastEnders on the Dayton PBS station. But then the unthinkable happened.
Within months of my arrival, the Dayton PBS station dropped the show. What took the sting out was that BBC America was airing EastEnders. The only difference – BBC America showed episodes that had recently aired in the U.K., and PBS stations aired episodes from several years back. There was a three-year episode gap that needed to be closed. We established “catch up” VHS tape trains supplied by kind EastEnders fans from other more fortunate cities. And then the truly unthinkable happened. In September 2003, to the astonishment of EastEnders fans around the U.S., BBC America dropped the show. While some wanted to fight, I believed it was a losing battle. With the help of several U.K. fans and a number of U.S. fans in various cities, I organised “Trans Atlantic” tape trains.
As the editor of the online newsletter and weekly chat room host, I was one of the people EastEnders fans came to for help. I couldn’t let them down. By 2005, after 10 years of publishing the online newsletter, hosting weekly EastEnders chats and overseeing about a dozen tape trains, I experienced what I now refer to as “EastEnders overload.”
Then to top it off, my job was eliminated. I needed to concentrate on finding another job. So I handed off the newsletter, chats and tape trains and removed myself personally from all tape trains. I stopped reading everything associated with the show, including the Walford Gazette, and started to experience what can only be described as withdrawal symptoms.
I went cold turkey.
I relocated in 2006 after finding a job in Racine, Wisconsin. By now, it had been nearly two years since I had seen an EastEnders episode. To my chagrin, the PBS stations available in Racine (from Chicago and Milwaukee) didn’t carry EastEnders. And so, within a few months of moving, the show fell completely off my radar scope. In 2008, after my job in Wisconsin was eliminated, I interviewed for jobs in companies located as far east as Philadelphia, as far south as Texas, as far north as Michigan and as far west as Arizona. This was the first move I was to make in which I don’t remember wondering if EastEnders aired on the local PBS stations. I accepted a job in New York and moved in April 2009.
One late Friday night, not long after settling into my new apartment in Brooklyn, I was bored and started channel surfing. That’s when I experienced my first EastEnders déjà vu moment. I saw Sonia Jackson talking at Jamie Mitchell’s funeral. I stared in disbelief for quite some time.
My mind flashed back to when I had heard the New York City PBS station dropped EastEnders. So I was confused. Where was this coming from? That’s when I realised I was watching the PBS station located in Long Island. (Believe it or not, that’s how I learned Long Island was NOT one of the five New York City boroughs!)
At the end of the episode, I saw the original air date in the U.K. was 2002. I was living in Dayton in 2002 and remembered watching that episode on BBC America. Little by little, the storylines began to come back to me. It had been five years since I saw an EastEnders episode and seven years since I watched this particular episode. So it felt vaguely familiar. Some of the major storylines began to come back to me with each episode. I immediately set my DVR series feature to save all East- Enders episodes.
I watched as Vicki Fowler arrived from the U.S. I sighed as Mark left and Martin went to prison. I saw Kat and Alfie behind the bar at the Queen Vic and remembered the romance that eventually started between them. I saw Dot lose her religion after she was mugged in her own home. I watched as Phil Mitchell romanced Kate, which meant he hadn’t yet found out who she really was. I saw the Ferreira family move in and I started remembering the juicy storylines to come. I saw a pregnant Laura, a doting Pat, a bitter Ian, a confused Garry and an angry Lynne. I knew the craziest storylines involving the Slater sisters had faded when I saw Little Mo had settled into married life with Billy Mitchell, and Zoe already knew Kat was her mum. I watched the departure of Anthony Trueman and the creepy partnership develop between Paul Trueman and Janine Butcher. And I watched as Janine first began to dig her evil claws into poor, clueless Barry Evans. And of course, there was Pauline Fowler always shaking her head and whinging on about something or someone. The character I had completely forgotten was Dennis Rickman. I forgot how he made a pass at Sharon. I forgot how he had had a prior relationship with Kate. I forgot everything. And then a couple of weeks ago, it hit me like a bolt of lightning. I would get to see the return of Dirty Den… again! I found myself getting excited each time Dennis or Sharon mentioned Den Watts because I knew the writers were setting up his return. Despite what Thomas Wolfe wrote, sometimes you CAN go home again. I look forward to more EastEnders déjà vu moments while I continue to catch up to the last of the episodes aired by BBC America. I haven’t been following the U.K. spoilers so after that everything will be fresh, new and exciting. I can’t wait!
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