E20 the Eastenders Spin Off

The BBC is a British institution: it has the freedom to criticise and satirise the government, it educates, it entertains and it is not blighted by the soul destroying, repetitive advertising that blights every other major broadcasting network. It gets so many things right, but in creating E20 (the online Eastenders youth spin off) it has made a fatal error: Trying to be 'hip'.

E20 is broadcast exclusively online. In this secret cyberworld accessible only by teenagers who really like, 'get' technology and that, we cool kids can watch the protagonists engage in such outrageous activities as; pretending to be drunk in the street, getting rowdy in a Bible meeting, and, horror of horrors, almost kissing... IN A CUPBOARD!

Even though it comes in mercifully miniscule 10-15 minute episodes, they are still not short enough to avoid the barrage of cliche's, stereotypes, and most cringe-worthy of all: slang. Having obviously made an admirable attempt to portray a realistic array of ethnicities among the cast, the BBC have then proceeded to destroy any positive outcome this might have had by turning them into horrific caricatures of normal human beings. Here two of the characters argue about an incident that happened at Bible group:



'what you screwfacing me for man?'
'You disrespected ma faith, Westwood'
'why you cussin' me?'
'I don't know what I'm most vexed about?!'

Words can't explain how much I connect with these teenagers, they're speaking my language, they are so much like me and my life- finally I feel understood...

Sarcasm aside, I genuinely don't know who this is aimed at or what it's for. I am thankful that it is not on the television screens of the public at large. The most worrying thing about it is that it appears, upon researching, to have been written not by a group of middle aged losers, but be proper actual young people. I can only presume that the years doggedly pursuing fame left no time for them to have a real life on which to base the script.

However, having watched a couple of episodes and taken a look at the website, I can see that the BBC is actually providing a service. What it has actually done is set up a charity for the people who weren't pretty or talented enough to be in Skins. I hope they're grateful.


IMAGE COPYRIGHT BBC