As Ian McKellen joins Coronation Street, EastEnders has become a soap on the ropes. Alastair McKay talks to the man sent in to sort it out

In 2002, when John Yorke was head of drama series at the BBC, EastEnders was enjoying a purple patch. True, it was being accused by the Daily Mail of undermining the morality of a generation, but the stories were captivating. Indeed, when Yorke addressed the Bishop’s Day Conference in September of that year, he showed the assembled clerics clips of Kat Slater confessing to childhood sexual abuse, Little Mo Slater having her face pushed into the Christmas Day gravy and — for a touch of spiritual reassurance — Dot Cotton communing with Jesus.

Since those carefree days, much grief has befallen the good people of Walford. Kat has been and gone, having jilted a gangster at the altar in favour of Alfie Moon, the chirpy publican, only to see their relationship unravel when Alfie discovered she had accepted an indecent proposal from the aforementioned hoodlum. Mo, having seen off an abusive husband, gave birth to a child after a rape, losing the love of a simple man, Billy Mitchell, in the process. The saintly Dot, understandably, misplaced her faith.

Those were the good stories. They have been outflanked by the bad: everything involving the implausible Ferreira family, and the resurrection and second death (by ornamental Scottie dog) of Dirty Den. As a consequence, EastEnders entered its 21st year as a drama in crisis, culling its cast and shedding executives as it attracted its lowest-ever ratings.

Meanwhile, Coronation Street has flourished. The Street matched the murder of Dirty Den with a homicide of its own, when “Killer Katy” took a wrench to her father before killing herself in what may be television’s first suicide-by-diabetes. In March, Coronation Street was named best soap at the RTS Programme Awards. In April, Weatherfield upstaged the Windsors when Ken Barlow married Deirdre for the second time. And from today, Gandalf the Grey, in his Middle-earthly embodiment as the actor Ian McKellen, will be joining the Corrie cast as the “novelist” Mel Hutchwright.

In such circumstances, you might expect the BBC’s new controller of continuing drama series to be downcast, but Yorke, back in charge of EastEnders after two years as head of drama at Channel 4, is unfazed. McKellen joining the rivals’ cast is, he says, “a great idea”, but the precedent was the appearance of Sheila Hancock in EastEnders in 2001, as the mother of the gangster Steve Owen. “I’ve always thought that soaps should aspire to the dramatic heights,” Yorke says. “We are the Plays for Today.”

In some ways, it is unfair to compare EastEnders with Coronation Street. Though both are rooted in kitchen-sink drama, they represent different strands of nostalgia. Corrie is plumbed into music-hall comedy and Donald McGill’s saucy seaside postcards, while EastEnders was launched as a Reithian response to the 1980s issue-led drama of Brookside.

Yorke does not argue with this distinction, but he does refine it. “Coronation Street is clearly born of that kind of period, that kind of ancestry, while EastEnders grew out of the television age itself. EastEnders’ brand has always been that it’s grittier and harder, and it gets to grips with big social issues. But they have huge amounts in common. They are both fundamentally character-based shows. It’s interesting, too, that they both grew out of the imaginations of gay men.”

This gay authorship, Yorke says, is reflected in the fact that both shows are matriarchal.

“Traditionally, the shows work when the women are strong and the men are slightly feckless and weak.” Soap kremlinologists might detect in that description a criticism of the past two years of EastEnders, which has been much concerned with men pretending to be strong.

“That has been an interesting development,” Yorke says flatly. “One of the things we’re working on is restoring that balance. I’ve always believed it’s a matriarchy. I’ve always believed that everybody should be scared of Pat Butcher. That is fundamental for the good of the show.”

When pressed, Yorke is capable of making grand claims about the merits of soap. In his address to the Anglican bishops, he compared EastEnders to a morality play. He pointed out that EastEnders was seen by 16m viewers in a good week, 23m on special occasions and, on one particular day, 30.15m (Christmas Day 1986, when Den handed divorce papers to Angie). In fact, these ratings highlight the declining reach of EastEnders. When Den was “killed” for the first time, in 1989, 24m tuned in. When he was resurrected in 2003, 16m witnessed it. When he was dogged to death in February, as the show celebrated its 20th birthday, 14m were watching. More routinely, it attracts 9m.

When Paul Abbott, a former Coronation Street script editor and creator of the Channel 4 serial Shameless, was asked what should be done to rescue EastEnders, he criticised the revival of old characters, suggested that it be reduced from four episodes per week to three and recommended a retreat from “ballistic” plots, saying: “People like to watch friends talking in the pub.”

Yorke, who oversaw Shameless at Channel 4, agrees with much of this, though he avoids endorsing the view that there are too many episodes (the fourth was introduced on his watch).

“What Paul’s getting at — and he’s absolutely right — is that, fundamentally, soaps are character-driven, and they don’t work when they’re plot-led. You need plot, but it has to come out of character. One of the great joys of Coronation Street, over the years, has been seeing characters in the snug, talking. Or there’s the joy of watching Dot Cotton — Dot Branning, as she now is — and Jim talking about nothing. Gorgeous. It’s absolutely immaculate stuff.”

In some ways, Abbott is too modest. Though its limited frequency means that it is not technically a soap, Shameless, in its brilliance, is almost a criticism of the limitations of the genre. Abbott’s drama is not exactly realistic, but its command of slang and its depiction of contemporary life expose the dated templates of both Coronation Street and EastEnders.

“You can see a line from soaps to Shameless,” Yorke says. “The fact that Paul Abbott started his career as a writer on Coronation Street is quite apparent. There are strong similarities.

“For me, there is a direct ancestry from the Grant family in Brookside to the Slater family in EastEnders to the Gallagher family in Shameless,” Yorke adds. “They all work on the same principle: divided they stand. Things come in to try to bust those families up, but at the end of the day, they come together. They triumph over adversity and they all love each other.

“The great trick Paul pulled off in Shameless was that he was able to show that with what, objectively, was an unempathetic family. His great skill as a writer made you love the Gallaghers.”

The Slaters, of course, have fallen on hard times in the past two years, in part because of the off-screen activities of the actors. Kat (Jessie Wallace) is returning, but the Slaters’ role as undaunted denizens of the underclass has been bequeathed to the Millers, headed by the soap-shy Keith, a kind of Frank Gallagher-lite.

“Terrible things can happen to people in EastEnders,” says Yorke, “and they should, but what is important is that the characters fight back. They don’t give in. Once characters start to despair, the shows don’t work. That’s why Kat is such an extraordinary character, because she doesn’t give up. She’ll always fight for what she believes is important. It’s the same with Fiona in Shameless.”

Memorably (and optimistically), Yorke once compared Kat Slater to Mary Magdalene. “It probably sounds a bit mad out of context,” he concedes. “I also compared Arthur Fowler to Job.”

Edited February 16, 200718 yr by Sylph

I like and agree with the highlights. Any hope this will reach ABC Daytime?

I doubt it. Even if they are members of this board as lurkers, it enters one ear, and exits on the opposite side.

That was a fascinating article.

I love Eastenders but I admit it definitely went through a trouble couple of years as mentioned in the article.

The one thing about the article I don't quite believe is Kat Slater coming back. I hadn't heard that she's returning. From digging around it looks like she's got a quite active acting career elsewhere with plans to do other things.

ABC clearly doesn't care that they're not giving viewers what they want, or that they're losing viewers.

Fans have been complaining about the crap GH has been spewing out for several years now. It's obvious now they've destroyed all the ABC shows that this garbage is what ABC execs WANT to put on the air. They're either clueless or so stuck on this dark stupid character-destroying agenda they just do not want to put out quality material.

I refuse to watch ABC daytime until they fix the mess and hire writers who can write good interesting shows. That starts with GH as far as I'm concerned.

I really do wish someone here would run Corrie, Neighbours & Home & Away.

I have been watching the Hollyoaks spinoff "In the City" on BBC America. It's very interesting and has quite a bit of skin.

The one thing about the article I don't quite believe is Kat Slater coming back. I hadn't heard that she's returning. From digging around it looks like she's got a quite active acting career elsewhere with plans to do other things.

I think this is a slightly old article, from 2005 or so, because Ian McKellen joined Coronation Street awhile ago. Is it referring to a comeback Kat made then?

I think the matriarchy point is a very good one especially. It speaks to why ATWT went off track in December -- all Craig all the time -- and why GH as "Sonny's story" turned many off.

Edited February 16, 200718 yr by jfung79

That would make sense. Kat did come back and left again. I don't remember when. Seemed like a couple of years ago maybe.

Is Ian McKellen still on Corrie or was that a short-term thing?

A web search suggests he was only there for 10 episodes.

Yeah it was a very short term cameo thing. Quite funny though and he's mentioned in interviews that he'd be happy to go back if they'd have him.

That must be an old article since Kat left over a year ago and I don't think she's comming back and she isn't needed back either.A lot of new characters have been introduced in 2006 and a lot of them are very good.The ratings are very good as well at the moment so I guess that article must be from 2005?

Yes, 2005.