Task 3

There are many different types of programmes that are shown on TV including Soaps, Serials, One offs and Reality shows, some being more successful than others. These shows can be either linear, non-linear, narrative, a cliffhanger or closed or open ended. It depends on the type of programme whether they will be expected to be seen or not.

Eastenders is a very popular soup that originated in 1985, as you would expect there are the usual codes and conventions that you would expect to see in a soup, one of them being familiar locations like the Queen Vic pub, the laundrette and the cafe. These types of familiar locations are common in all soaps as it give the viewer a sense of comfort with the familiarity, as you would if you were at home. The reason for this is because soaps are supposed to be reflection of reality, so these places are there to make you feel as much of an affiliation to Walford as you do with your real life home.

This theme is continued with the use of characters, with there being a wide range of character types. The reason for having a diverse range of people with different traits and sexualities is to keep things more interesting for the viewer; it is also to give the viewer more of a chance to have character(s) to relate to and keep it more interesting to continue watching there idea of a second reality, this is why you never really see a main character because if the viewer doesn't care about that person they may stop watching.

If you apply the socio-economic scale to the audience of Eastenders, they would usually be in the lower range, so D or E, which means that they are low income earners. On top of this the majority of those people watching will be women, most likely the type who would read 'Hello' or 'OK' magazine. Eastenders has been on the air for over 25 years, and to this day it is still gets some of the highest viewing figures of any show on TV, regularly reaching figures of over 8 million and frequently being one of the BBC's most viewed programmes.

Even though Eastenders is supposed to be a reflection of reality, a lot the storyline that go on aren't very realistic. The reason for this is if all the storylines were believable then the audience would see it as too mundane and they would get bored and stop watching, that is why you tend to often see fairy unlikely storylines. One of Eastenders most famous characters is Phil Mitchell; who is a typical cockney hard man that suits the part perfectly for a soup set in London. His character works for the audience of Eastenders as he is working class (works in a garage,) not concerned about his appearance and not particularly smart. This plays into the audience hand as the don't want to be watching someone who is better than them in any way, so Phil Mitchell is then seen as more of an equal to the Eastenders audience.

As per usual with soap operas, Eastenders end every episode with a cliffhanger, as famously the theme tune begins to play over it. They do this to entice the audience into watching the next episode to see how the aftermath unfolds. It also gives the audience a clear point to which escape from this reality and connect with others about the events on screen, this links into the gratification theory. Even if the main storyline that had the cliffhanger didn't really interest you, they will hope that at least one of the several other storylines running at the same time will have caught your interest enough to tune in next week, that is the reason why there isn't usually just one main storyline in a soup like there is in other shows on TV.