How did Eastenders viewers react to the chess storyline?
The classic British soap opera is a unique specimen. Working-class neighborhood with rows of small houses, a thriving communal pub, and local shops including a chippie. This is supposed to mirror the lives of their viewers, who hang their washing in the garden and often struggle with important real-life issues like childcare, unemployment and rent arrears. Any character who is vaguely 'middle class' has clearly been teleported from planet Zog and struggles to fit in. There is often a tangible resentment of success and betterment. People should know their place. Hopefully this is now a diminishing trend in British society. The strange thing is, the Brits like their American soaps too, and the expectations are a polar opposite. Good looking actors, conspicuous consumption, a few idle rich, and hair that stays in place during a force 9 gale. No small terraced houses in sight, mostly palatial houses and plush apartments. There is a tangible whiff of success.