Building for the Future

Welcome to the seventh in a series of 10 posts, written for a university assignment last year (I write this disclaimer in Nov 19), which required blogging about current issues in television. As a result, the material is rather dated/irrelevant now, and the tone a little more formal than I prefer, but I thought I'd publish it on here anyway as I put a lot of work into it. I hope you enjoy/find it insightful!...

02/02/19

Back before Christmas, news broke that the new set for EastEnders would cost £27 million over the original budget proposed in 2015, due to the complexity of the build and, supposedly the delay which moved the finish date of the project from 2018 to 2023. At the time this news broke, I was not surprised, but admittedly taken aback that the new set was still going ahead. After years of not hearing anything about the renovations, it seemed as though the BBC had abandoned the idea altogether and tried to quietly brush it under the carpet.

These suspicions appeared to be confirmed when a 2017 EastEnders plot where a tower block in the background of Albert Square was to be demolished (to explain its disappearance when filming would commence on the new set in a different location) was suddenly never spoken of again.

A sneak peek at the new EastEnders set under construction (Splash News, 2018).

However, none of this surprised me as much as the BBC’s Director General, Lord Hall’s, comments justifying the spiralling costs of the new set on Wednesday. For context, here’s a summary of what he said to the Commons Public Account Committee:

'When there are winds or rains you have to move the people shooting stuff as things might fall off. EastEnders is the heart of the BBC schedule and it's important we get it right. It's delivering a reach of nine million people a week and it's a really important part of the schedules. Once we finish this project, the editorial ambition of EastEnders can be even greater than it is now.'

So, why am I surprised by this? Well, first off all, allow me to preface this by stating that the surprise I feel is pleasant, for it seems rare nowadays that the BBC pays EastEnders the attention it is due. Lord Hall affirms what all soap fans think, and want to hear from broadcasters - that a soap is the beating heart of a broadcaster and it will always have a place in the TV schedules. It's great to see the BBC putting so much investment into the future of EastEnders, and that they are still committed to making it a high-quality programme even after 34 years on air.

Thus, this only further reinforces the future of soaps on British television. When I thought that the BBC had subtly abandoned its plans to update the EastEnders set, I was discouraged, as I saw it as a sign of dwindling faith and love for the show on the BBC’s behalf, and worried that it was a sign that the BBC were no longer planning for a future which included soaps. However, Lord Hall’s comments are very encouraging, indeed. It certainly affirms my belief that soaps make up the framework of television and have a long and healthy future ahead of them. This is only supported by the recent update of Coronation Street’s set. 

An image from a recent addition to the new Coronation Street set, which demonstrates a clever relationship between the soap and product placement (ITV and Digital Spy, 2018).

Further to that, I feel that all of this backs up what I have been trying to communicate throughout all my blog posts; that soaps are the most relevant genre in television today and that they help to represent broadcasters and thus give an indication for the future of programming. This is especially prudent with post 6, ‘Soaps in the Schedule’, in which I discuss the relationship between soaps, TV schedules and public service broadcasting. After all, the whole reason the BBC has to state their budget for the new EastEnders set, and hence justify its rising costs, is due to the fact that we, as licence fee payers, have the right to know what our money is being spent on and why.

Overall, Lord Hall’s comments are not only good to hear, but affirm all that I believe is true about the soaps. His need to justify spending money on a soap opera represents not only the duty of a public service broadcaster, but also reflects the need to justify the importance of soap operas in a world where, thanks to online streaming, globalisation and other current issues, some see the genre as irrelevant. Therefore, the fact that Lord Hall is justifying not only the BBC’s spending, but, by extension, the BBC’s choice to keep making EastEnders at all, is a great and fascinating indicator of the times we live in.

In summary, this demonstrates that, whilst many may have their doubts regarding the importance of soaps, and to an extent, the licence fee, they still persist through dissent as they remain supported, believed-in and invested-in by broadcasters.

-ASIS