EastEnders

They may well do, but it still doesn’t scan very well.

Will the episodes Virgin customers missed get shown? I'm guessing not?

I guess you'll have to dig them out on UKTV play whilst they're still there.

Well, that £13 I spent on the 32GB USB stick so I could record episodes while I'm away from home has gone to waste Well, not entirely I guess as it means I could watch week's episodes.

They had their own, known as the Studio Insert Unit. Kendall Avenue were reportedly not impressed.

http://www.tvstudiohistory.co.uk/studio%20history.htm#bbc%20elstree

In Friday’s second episode, about 2’30” in, you can see a camera in full view in the corner of the shop moving around to get shots. It’s just before and after they’ve told Ethel not to leave finger prints and are discussing whether or not to get the police involved.

https://imgur.com/a/x4CkZYR
(Sorry can’t get it to embed properly)

I've noticed on DS, loads of people complaining how "Drama stretch EastEnders to fill the screen", which shows just show many people have their equipment set up wrong even when they want to watch 4:3 content properly.

I believe the scene in Monday’s first episode, where Nick was telling Mark about the “new movement”, may have been censored. I seem to recall Nick gave examples of the minority groups he wanted off the streets, such as pa*is and poufs.

My smart telly is displaying classic Eastenders properly in classic 4:3! Yet Fraser on channel 4 is horribly stretched on it.

Are you watching either channel in HD?

Channel 4 i was watching in SD.

Both are perfectly fine in 4:3 here.

I wonder if they're watching on Sky HD boxes? Last time I saw one they don't have the option to pillarbox 4:3 content when upscaling to HD, you have to set it to "auto" (then have the TV switch for several seconds whenever you change between SD and HD channels). They're the only HD boxes I've seen that are like that

Yes - if your Sky box is any mode other than AUTO (or 576p) - then 4:3 native SD broadcasts will be stretched to 1080i or 720p 16:9.

Sky HD boxes don't pillarbox 4:3 in a 16:9 frame, they stretch it to full width. 1080i and 720p have no official 4:3 mode - so full-width 4:3 SD output as full-width 1080i 720p will be displayed stretched (though you may be able to manually override on your TV)

Sky HD boxes in 576p output mode still output fullwidth, but this is flagged with an aspect ratio descriptor (as 576p is a 4:3 and a 16:9 standard) so in 576p mode Sky HD boxes can trigger TVs into their 4:3 display mode (which is user selected on the TV).

In AUTO mode 1080i is output as 1080i and 576i SD is output as 576p SD (deinterlaced but still SD) with the 576p accompanied by a 4:3/16:9 flag, so you get HD output in 1080i and SD output in SD with aspect ratio switching. HOWEVER this means your TV has to re-sync as you surf from SD to HD channels. We live with this as stretched 4:3 is horrific.

When watching HD 1080i channels carrying 576i SD content then the pillarboxing is done by the broadcaster and the Sky HD box plays no part.

Why Sky refuse to offer a pillarbox option in their box settings I do not know...