21

35 years

OF EASTENDERS

Les McCallum, from Isleworth, was a TV set designer and remembers the original set being built

It was more than 30 years ago that my friend Mike Hagan, a construction manager at the BBC was given the task of creating the Albert square at Elstree studios. The set designer was Keith Harris, producer Julia Smith; the brief, to turn a muddy patch of land into an East End community with Victorian houses, a pub, laundrette, cafe and railway bridge, not forgetting the market. Mike was to construct the Victorian terraces, the pub, garages, roads, and various shops in the summer and autumn of 1984. The roads were to have drainage and streetlights. The houses, which had lighting and power sockets, were about eight ft deep. A steel structure supported the scenery and slippery metal stairs at the back gave access to the bedrooms on the first floor. The whole lot was designed to have a life span of five years. The brick walls were panels of plaster made to look like brickwork, fixed to plywood backing, painted and then aged. As the programme became popular and the five years passed, the weather started to affect the scenery. The carpenters and painters had a never-ending job of keeping it in good repair, constantly replacing rotten timbers and crumbling plaster brickwork. Of course, when an actor was filmed going through the doorway the action would be continued in the studio, so it was essential that the camera didn’t see too far inside the doorway and would always be shot at an angle. The show had been running for ten years when I was sent to Elstree studios as a set designer and my first job was design Dot Cotton’s kitchen. EastEnders has two studios which contained all the interior sets. Some such as the Queen Vic, the Fowlers and the Laundrette never moved. Other sets were set in or struck according to the script for that week. As the sets were so close, seeing through the window could be a problem, as the view actually gave onto the back of another scenery panel. The solution was

to stretch and staple a fine white gauze mesh to the back of the window reveal and shine the studio lamps onto it. The effect was to give a glare as though the sun is shining through. Add some decorative nets and it looked real enough. One morning as I was coming out of the cafeteria after breakfast, I saw Barbara Windsor looking lost and nervous. Offering to direct her to the producer’s office, she struck up a conversation saying that she hadn’t worked for some time and was nervous at taking on the role as the landlady of the Queen Vic. As we walked along the corridor I pointed out all the Black and White framed photographs of her when she had worked at the studios some years before, she felt a little bit more at home and within a week had settled into her new role and became a most convincing landlady. I imagine the cast and crew really miss her now that she is no longer in the show, especially her laughter. A little story that I often tell friends, is when filming had finished, a minicab had been called to collect B.W. from the studios make up room and take her home. When, ten minutes after the arranged pick up time, no car had arrived, a call was made to the mini cab office. “He’s on his way” Ten minutes later, no car. “He’s waiting outside, been there twenty minutes” Still no car and another irate call and the cab office rang the driver “Where are you? “Outside the Queen Vic, been here ages”. Somehow the driver had managed to find his way onto the “Lot” past the barrier and was sat waiting outside the scenery pub. Barbara took it in good humour when she heard and the driver was instructed rather sheepishly to drive around to the dressing rooms and pick her up. It just goes to show how realistic the sets are. This year saw the 35th anniversary of the show and it is still as popular as ever. The EastEnders set is undergoing an £87million overhaul, replacing plywood and plasterboard with something a bit more durable which can stand up to the scrutiny from HD cameras.