Has EE ever in the past reflected the real East End?

[CAEF]

Today if the show reflected the real East End it would have mostly Asian or black people. But when the show begun way back in February 1985, would you say it was an accurate representation of the East End or not? Even back then some of the real east enders said "The East End is not like that" about the first episode after it first aired. A study in 1987 of a real East End square said the lives are nowhere near as turbulent as in EastEnders.

Julia Smith and Tony Holland did lots of research into the East End but you wonder did they get it right in the end?

[kitkat1971]

Well obviously, no one Square would have that much drama happening and also people working yards from their home but that is true of every Soap.

Re how accurate it is to the real East End, i suspect it never really has been but it has got worse as time has gone on if for no other reason than rising property prices would mean that nearly all the characters wouldn't be able to live there on the wages they would earn from their jobs. At least when it started, there were still a lot of council owned properties where minimum wage earners like Pauline would (could) be living. Now, it really would be dominated by City workers.

[CAEF]

When EE begun they did have the square as a run down East End square with unemployment like the real East End but I feel the portrayal of East London was a bit shaky back then. You could see the towerblock from the square but in the real East End it would have been 4 or 5 in a line. We had Scottish Andy, Jewish Dr Legg, the Bangladeshi Saeed and Naima, Trinidadian Tony and Kelvin and Turkish Cypriot Ali. If that was real life, there would be many more Asian and West Indian people.