Eastenders is a BBC soap opera set in East London. It focuses on the lives of working class and lower middle class characters. The opening theme music and shots of the Thames river establish that the show is set in London's East End. The characters are depicted as having challenging lifestyles through their clothing, homes, and interactions which seem to involve blackmail and illegal activities.

1. Eastenders Evaluation

2. Which Soap is this? When the drums start playing at the beginning of the theme tune, everybody instantly recognises that Eastenders is on.

3. Where is it set? We all see the O2 Arena which stays in the middle of the picture as the camera zooms out, because of this we can then see that the river, is the river thames, therefore we know that the soap is set in London. The soap name ‘Eastenders’ tells us that it is set in East London.

4. Which institution broadcasts it? At the end of the opening credits the BBC logo appears underneath the big title “EASTENDERS” so therefore it is obvious that the institution it is broadcasted from is the BBC.

5. When is it set? It is set in the present day as we can see the O2 arena which is still there today.

6. From the music, what do we assume about the lifestyle of the characters? The music being played is a sad tune so we could assume that the characters lifestyle isn't very positive. People think that the lifestyle that they have is very negative.

7. By the first camera shot, we can see we are in a house which is where a child lives. We know this because we can see school bags, and a football which makes us think that the child is a young boy. As the camera pans up the stairs, we see a woman emerge who doesnt look wealthy. We can tell this by the look of her house, such as the style of the wallpaper, and the clothes everywhere. We know that this character has just spent the night with the man who is trying to sneak out.

8. The next scene is in a cafe, we notice that the cafe isn’t upper class. We can tell this by the builders and how they are dressed. The posters on the wall also represent a casual cafe. The female character is more upper class, we can tell this by the way she is dressed etc. We now see a more close up shot so we can see the characters face. This proves that she is an upper class person as she looks like she has an expensive hair cut and posh makeup with expensive jewellery.

9. The next shot is of a man in an office. We can see that it is not a posh office judging by the mess and the walls etc. However the business man is wearing a suit therefore people may suggest that he is a middle class business man. He starts the conversation by saying ‘Hows my favourite prostitute’ in a sarcastic tone which shows that he is about to blackmail the character on the phone. By her facial expression, we can tell that she doesn’t want to talk to him. However she still replies ‘How’s my least favourite person’ again, in a sarcastic tone.

10. The camera angle changes to make out that somebody is spying on him. He then blackmails her by saying she has to do something for him, or he will tell somebody what she has been doing. We now see the corner of a builders head, who has turned around and is laughing at her. This could symbolise that he knows something. She doesn’t look impressed and could be thinking how she is going to stop the man from black mailing her.