Apparently the BBC won't thank me for this, but they have had enough of my money over the years to ensure it should be public knowledge. It's well known that Eastenders, contrary to belief, isn't real. For a start, no one works in a well known place, chain of shops or organisation. Either they're self employed or work in a round about way for the public sector (ala Police, Doctor, Tube Driver). They don't watch TV. In fact you can't see a satellite dish on the front of any houses in Albert Square. This must mean it's ripe for a Sky Salesman to visit. They don't have washing machines, preferring to use Dot's services at the launderette and have a good gossip at the same time.
The actual place it's filmed isn't a closely guarded secret. It is however difficult to get to, and the locals of Borehamwood are a tad averse to fans peering over fences to look at the set. Let me show you what I mean, courtesy of Google Street View.
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The house in the background you'll notice is an empty shell. It's one of the houses on the edge of the square. If I cared more about 'Stenders then I could probably tell you who lives there, but I don't so I can't. The best thing about the area is the way they've tried to block off the lot with trees. Who would have thought that 25 years ago when they first made the set (on the site of Auf Wiedersehen Pet, fact fans) you'd be able to view the set from the air on a PC anywhere in the world. In fact, in this image, you can even identify the empty shell shown above.
What tickles me about this is that it's not that well shown on Google. It's easy enough to find it, just look up the Elstree Studios. But to see it from the street, this means that hopefully someone will go and petrol bomb one of the houses, meaning we can have something else on the TV every other night instead of inane drivel about who's slept with who, who's who's father, and who's going to die for "shaggin' my missus."
It also means poor TDT won't have to keep crying. This IS a good thing.
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