TV Blog: The best (and worst) of the week's telly

Blog by Chris Lindsay | 10 Feb 2010

Duff! Duff! Duff-duff-duff-duff-duff-duff! Is there any other TV theme as instantly recognisable as the EastEnders drum roll? When something plays in your living room several times a week it’s no wonder it sounds inherently wrong when messed with - like when classic rock ‘n’ roll numbers are murdered as Europop (I’m looking at you DJ Ötzi). While it’s not just the theme tune of online spin off E20 that jars, there is much to applaud too. A brave attempt by the BBC to draw a younger audience and continue their footing in the world of online drama, E20 has just finished its first run of bite-sized mini-episodes and looks set to have more commissioned. Written by young writers (some of whom are in the cast) and focusing on four teenagers living on Albert Square, it comes across closer to Skins (minus the swearing) than Hollyoaks in the teen soap stakes. 

First up; E20 looks fantastic. While it’s unsettling at first to see familiar sets shot differently, this is one remix that succeeds; the camera work is far more dynamic and vital than the usual soap blandness. Also, as the storylines are designed to interweave with the main show, there is a lot of fun to be had seeing the Square regulars getting comedy cameos, though a BBC blunder has seen the online episodes get out of sync with TV broadcasts, spoiling the illusion of cohesion. The problems present themselves with the cast; of the four leads only half are interesting or well drawn while the remainder are the sort of 2D wish fulfilment characters dreamed up at teenage drama workshops (which to be fair is what E20 is). Their horribly narcissistic storylines seem to solely consist of them having sex in unlikely places while being vaguely ‘messed up.’ Oh and one of them is a champion boxer with model good looks and the soul of a poet! Rubbish! 

That said the first run of 12 episodes do show promise, with the better half of the cast being both endearing and having some fresh yet recognisably real life dramas to contend with. With EastEnders approaching its 25th anniversary it’s great to see the show still innovating and once E20 gets beyond its growing pains and builds better storylines for all its characters I think it could blossom into something unmissable in its own right. 

The complete first run of E20 is available to rewatch at http://www.bbc.co.uk/eastenders/e20/