EastEnders

Didn't they already announce it'll be sometime in June when they recommence?

"I'm pleased to announce that we plan to begin filming again on both EastEnders and Top Gear by the end of next month"

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-52660480

Since they film four episodes over 14 days, plus normally 6+ weeks of editing, I struggle to see how episodes would resume before mid-August...

I assume their planning could involve potential extra edits and filming units working in parallel if they wanted to turn it around and get new episodes on air quicker. It could also initially return with less episodes per week - one even! Some scenes could also feasibly take place over Zoom if characters are in lockdown meaning they could be quickly bulk filmed. I’m not necessarily saying they will do any of the above, but all traditional rules are out right now and I think the BBC have many options to try and get it back on air as soon as possible.

It wouldn't be a bad thing if EE went back to a two days per week run, the quality was much better when it wasn't so much of a work horse.

From 22nd I expect the Stacey Dooley programme will replace EE.

I suspect it would make the programme more expensive if they cut it back to two a week.

So this is what they're doing.

Mondays: Secrets from the Square presented by Stacey Dooley from the Kathy's Cafe set.
Tuesdays: Classic EastEnders, with episodes such as Angie receiving divorce papers from Den.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2020/eastenders-specials?at_custom4=F3792E6E-A5BE-11EA-AF71-24D739982C1E&at_custom1=%5Bpost+type%5D&at_custom2=twitter&at_custom3=%40bbcpress&at_campaign=64&at_medium=custom7

Going to be interesting to see if they'll continue to allow the 90 second credits as was commonplace in 80's episodes.

Should filming only start up at the end of this month, usually they work to an approx. three month buffer from filming to broadcast. So I think we won't see a return to new episodes of EastEnders until September at the earliest. And even then it's likely we'll be sticking to two episodes a week for the foreseeable.

Interesting when ITV are starting filming at the same time yet they've already committed that there will be no breaks to both their soaps. So they're going to be pretty much filming to broadcast within the space of just a week or two.

I know this is eastenders space but how does Hollyoaks fair in what’s left and restarting ?

Hollyoaks has enough episodes until the end of July.

I’m looking forward to the classic episodes on Tuesdays but won’t be watching Stacey Dooley as I can’t stand her.

In my view, I think the BBC has handled Eastenders planning for future episodes very badly compared to their rivals on ITV.

Emmerdale and Coronation Street seem to have a much better plan on getting up and running, working within the guidelines and ensuring they remain on air.

One gets the feeling the BBC doesn't mind Eastenders going off air for a bit, as they are not reliant on commercial advertising and sponsorship as Emmerdale and Coronation Street are, so Eastenders going off for a while would not hurt them financially.

It just seems a bit sloppy in planning, if their rivals on "the other channel" can keep their two soaps on air, why can't BBC One?