Today’s TV: Friday 30 August 1985
from the NZ Listener
TV One
10.30am The Richard Simmons Show (Rpt)
10.55 Tai Chi (Rpt)
11.00 Sport on One Special: Netball
New Zealand Netball Champs, live from Wellington
12.15pm News
12.18 See Here
12.25 Beauty and the Beast
12.55 One Day at Time (Rpt)
1.35 Scarecrow and Mrs King (Rpt)
2.30 You and Your Child (Rpt)
2.40 Play School (Rpt)
3.05 Rainbow
3.20 Huckleberry Hound (Rpt)
3.45 Free Time, including:
3.46 Famous Fairy Tales
3.55 Flipper
4.25 Around the World in 80 Days
4.30 Movie for Holiday Time: Tom Sawyer (1983)
6.00 Diff’rent Strokes
6.30 News
Includes Top Half (Auckland), Today Tonight (Wellington), The Mainland Touch (Christchurch) and The South Tonight (Dunedin)
7.25 Te Reo: The Language (Rpt)
7.30 EastEnders (Starting tonight)
8.40 Te Maori: A Celebration of the People and Their Art
9.45 Barney Miller (Rpt)
10.15 Fourth Estate
10.25 The Week with One
10.35 Labour Party Conference 1985
11.05 Spy in the Sky
11.40 The Young Ones
12.20am News
12.25 12 O’Clock Rock
Rick Springfield: Beat of the Drum
1.25 Closedown
TV2
Noon The Midday Movie: Diane (1956)
1.55 Dad’s Army (Rpt)
2.30 Love Sidney (Rpt)
3.00 Sports Special: Netball
New Zealand Netball Champs, live from Wellington
4.15 WKRP in Cincinnati (Rpt)
4.45 Solid Gold (Rpt)
5.45 News
5.50 Te Karere
6.00 The Young Doctors
6.30 Dr Who
7.30 The Dukes of Hazzard (Final)
8.30 Crazy Like a Fox
9.30 Eye Witness News
10.00 The Friday Feature: Marathon Man (1976)
12.15am Closedown
The cast of EastEnders in its first year of production (1985). Photo courtesy of the BBC.
@OnAir @Leotv Remember Dirty Den? “EastEnders” screened on New Zealand television for the first time and premiered on TV One (now TVNZ 1) at 7.30pm on the evening of Friday 30 August 1985.
It began with a bang as, Arthur Fowler, Ali Osman and Den Watts forced their way into Reg Cox’s flat and found Reg near death. Several weeks later Nick Cotton was revealed as Reg’s murderer. “Poor old Reg” was written by Gerry Huxham. In Britain, the first episode of “EastEnders” was broadcast on 19 February 1985 and watched by 13 million viewers.
“EastEnders” was created by Julia Smith and Tony Holland as a serial drama to rival “Coronation Street” and draw big audiences to the BBC. Set in the fictional Borough of Walford, E20, it dramatised the lives of working class east end Londoners. Introducing the serial in the Radio Times one of its creators, Tony Holland, wrote that “gossip, intrigue and scandal are high on the list of daily events”.
Clever casting was important to “EastEnders” success. Many faces were unfamiliar, but the inclusion of the late Wendy Richard - famous as the glamorous Miss Brahms in “Are You Being Served?” - playing against type as dowdy cardigan clad Pauline Fowler, was an imaginative move. This strategy continued with the late Dame Barbara Windsor joining the cast.
Nowadays, “EastEnders” is shown on BBC UKTV four nights a week, Monday to Thursday. Episodes are currently two weeks behind their original BBC broadcasts. BBC UKTV can be found on Channel 7 on Sky.
