EastEnders is plotting an historic episode as it celebrates ratings success despite lagging 1.4m BEHIND Coronation Street. BBC chiefs will lure back lost viewers by staging a massive marketing campaign around the death of Lucy Beale at Easter using every single member of the cast EastEnders is lagging 1.4million viewers behind ITV rival Coronation Street – despite a new boss and characters including Mick Carter, played by Danny Dyer. Figures for the first eight weeks of 2014 put Corrie way out in front with an average audience of 9.5million viewers, with EastEnders getting 8.1million and Emmerdale managing 7.6million. Now BBC chiefs plan to lure back lost viewers by staging a massive on-air marketing campaign around the death of Lucy Beale at Easter – using every single member of the cast. And they were quietly celebrating the ratings – because it puts them comfortably ahead of Emmerdale. New producer Dominic Treadwell-Collins has pulled out all the stops to improve the show’s fortunes – introducing new characters such as the Carter family and bringing back former favourites Stacey Branning (Lacey Turner) and Sonia Fowler (Natalie Cassidy). In the plot around Lucy’s death, viewers will have no idea which of the Albert Square residents is responsible. In an unprecedented move, every member of the current cast will appear, making it the biggest episode in the soap’s history. Drama boss Ben Stephenson said: “Just about everyone who lives there is a suspect and we are going to use every single cast member in the marketing campaign, which is the biggest we’ve ever done. “EastEnders is back to its best and we want everyone to know about it.” He believes that, thanks to the efforts of Treadwell-Collins, the show has returned to its best form after two years of bad plots and unconvincing characters. At its worst, the show was lagging behind Emmerdale in the ratings, leaving former star Barbara Windsor to lament that the soap was now in “third place”. In a plot designed to start at Easter and continue until the soap’s 30th anniversary in February next year, the mystery of who killed Lucy will run and run. BBC drama chiefs were inspired by the Who Shot Phil? Storyline of 2001, which drew in 22million viewers at the climax. The death of Lucy, played by Hetti Bywater, will devastate her dad Ian Beale, who is the sole remaining member of the original cast from 1985. Today a BBC spokeswoman said: “Each episode of EastEnders is attracting an audience of over 8 million. There are huge storylines planned over the next few months and the viewers have plenty to look forward to.”
Posted on: Mon, 17 Mar 2014 12:23:53 +0000
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