Bryan
19-02-2006, 17:17
An intresting post by a member on Digital Spy:
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Bronze Bully looks into the EastEnders opening & closing credits to bring you this little factfile...
The EastEnders map sequence was created & designed by Alan Jeapes
The EastEnders theme was written & composed by Simon May & Leslie Osbourne
The original map was created using thousands of real black & white aerial photos of London, which were pasted together onto a big board - the big bold blue River Thames was put in because you could see clearly the joins of the photographs in this area - so to hide them, Alan painted the river blue which stood out well.
The traditional EE theme was Simon May's second attempt. EE creators Julia Smith & Tony Holland disliked his first idea of a theme for their programme - his second attempt, which was chosen, had everything they wanted.
The EE theme was changed in 1993 to a very jazzy style. It was extremely unpopular, and lasted only 11 months - from May 1993 - April 1994, when EE went 3 nights a week.
When this new jazzy music was introduced in 1993, Alan Jeapes once again took to the sky's, this time with a colour camera, to re-create the EastEnders now World famous map of London.
In 1999, Alan once again re-designed the EastEnders credits to include the Millennium Dome. At the time he was taking the photo's from the air, the Dome was not built, so he was given the construction plans by Dome bosses, and created that piece on computer, along with the flowing of the River Thames.
So popular was the original EE theme, in 1986, Simon May added lyrics to the tune, and Anita "Angie Watts" Dobson performed it on TOTP. Anyone Can Fall In Love made number 4 in the charts, and was released on a single with the full EE theme on the B side.
There is a piano solo of the EE Theme. This is called Julia's Theme, and is called so after EE creator, the late Julia Smith. This theme has, to date, never been heard in full on screen, but snippits are often used for a sad or romantic ending. Julia's theme was also released as a B side single.
In 1998, the BBC added their BBC logo to the opening credits. This was first positioned in the top left of the screen, and eventually was replaced with the BBC logo underneath the EASTENDERS logo,which we still see today.
EastEnders stoped crediting the crew on weekday episodes in the mid 1990's, before this, everyone from costume design to make up were credited at the end of each episode,following this change, they were only credited on the Omnibus. Thesedays, occasionally, they may include them on a weekday episode, but they are very random, and the theme is still cut short mid flow.
Kathy Beale got the greatest EastEnders Theme send off in 1998. Julia's theme was used, but was specially re-recorded before joining the tradional EE theme.
EastEnders didn't use the famous "duff duffs" in 1989, when Dirty Den Watts was shot - it jumped straight to the theme. Angry with the BBC's decision to cut out the scene where we see Den fall into the canal, Julia & Tony had their names removed from the credits.
Four times EastEnders have not used the theme to end the programme - in a 1995 episode celebrating VE Day, during Ethel Skinner's death in 2000,during a Slater Girl holiday in 2001 & when Nana Moon visited her husbands graveside in 2005.
The "duff duff" sound was only added to the opening credits in 1994. They have however, always been used on the end of most episodes.
The first time the Julia's Theme end was used was on 11th Arpril 1985 - episode 16. It was heard "in full" in episode 66 on 3rd October 1985 when Den met Michelle at the canal. (In full means the EE theme version, 20seconds, not the entire Julia's theme,which has never been played in full)
The look of the EE map slightly changed in 1990 when they stopped using film & opted for Video Tape.
There have been 3 styles of themes used on EastEnders : 1985 - 1993 / 1993 - 1994 / 1994 - Present. Lots of EE remixes were created for EE spin off shows such as EE Revealed, A Morning With EE, EE bubbles etc....
There have been 4 styles of EE text on closing credits. For 13 years they had the text in the top left, then, during Matthew Robinson's era in 1998, the text scrolled up the screen in the centre. When John Yorke took control in 2000, they were displayed very neatly in the centre (still occasionally seen on the Omnibus) Then, BBC Bosses decided nobody actually cared about the credits or theme, and squashed them rather messy into the right hand side of the screen, playing an advert for another show on the left hand side so you can't hear the theme - which we still currently see.
© 2006 Bronze Bully
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Bronze Bully looks into the EastEnders opening & closing credits to bring you this little factfile...
The EastEnders map sequence was created & designed by Alan Jeapes
The EastEnders theme was written & composed by Simon May & Leslie Osbourne
The original map was created using thousands of real black & white aerial photos of London, which were pasted together onto a big board - the big bold blue River Thames was put in because you could see clearly the joins of the photographs in this area - so to hide them, Alan painted the river blue which stood out well.
The traditional EE theme was Simon May's second attempt. EE creators Julia Smith & Tony Holland disliked his first idea of a theme for their programme - his second attempt, which was chosen, had everything they wanted.
The EE theme was changed in 1993 to a very jazzy style. It was extremely unpopular, and lasted only 11 months - from May 1993 - April 1994, when EE went 3 nights a week.
When this new jazzy music was introduced in 1993, Alan Jeapes once again took to the sky's, this time with a colour camera, to re-create the EastEnders now World famous map of London.
In 1999, Alan once again re-designed the EastEnders credits to include the Millennium Dome. At the time he was taking the photo's from the air, the Dome was not built, so he was given the construction plans by Dome bosses, and created that piece on computer, along with the flowing of the River Thames.
So popular was the original EE theme, in 1986, Simon May added lyrics to the tune, and Anita "Angie Watts" Dobson performed it on TOTP. Anyone Can Fall In Love made number 4 in the charts, and was released on a single with the full EE theme on the B side.
There is a piano solo of the EE Theme. This is called Julia's Theme, and is called so after EE creator, the late Julia Smith. This theme has, to date, never been heard in full on screen, but snippits are often used for a sad or romantic ending. Julia's theme was also released as a B side single.
In 1998, the BBC added their BBC logo to the opening credits. This was first positioned in the top left of the screen, and eventually was replaced with the BBC logo underneath the EASTENDERS logo,which we still see today.
EastEnders stoped crediting the crew on weekday episodes in the mid 1990's, before this, everyone from costume design to make up were credited at the end of each episode,following this change, they were only credited on the Omnibus. Thesedays, occasionally, they may include them on a weekday episode, but they are very random, and the theme is still cut short mid flow.
Kathy Beale got the greatest EastEnders Theme send off in 1998. Julia's theme was used, but was specially re-recorded before joining the tradional EE theme.
EastEnders didn't use the famous "duff duffs" in 1989, when Dirty Den Watts was shot - it jumped straight to the theme. Angry with the BBC's decision to cut out the scene where we see Den fall into the canal, Julia & Tony had their names removed from the credits.
Four times EastEnders have not used the theme to end the programme - in a 1995 episode celebrating VE Day, during Ethel Skinner's death in 2000,during a Slater Girl holiday in 2001 & when Nana Moon visited her husbands graveside in 2005.
The "duff duff" sound was only added to the opening credits in 1994. They have however, always been used on the end of most episodes.
The first time the Julia's Theme end was used was on 11th Arpril 1985 - episode 16. It was heard "in full" in episode 66 on 3rd October 1985 when Den met Michelle at the canal. (In full means the EE theme version, 20seconds, not the entire Julia's theme,which has never been played in full)
The look of the EE map slightly changed in 1990 when they stopped using film & opted for Video Tape.
There have been 3 styles of themes used on EastEnders : 1985 - 1993 / 1993 - 1994 / 1994 - Present. Lots of EE remixes were created for EE spin off shows such as EE Revealed, A Morning With EE, EE bubbles etc....
There have been 4 styles of EE text on closing credits. For 13 years they had the text in the top left, then, during Matthew Robinson's era in 1998, the text scrolled up the screen in the centre. When John Yorke took control in 2000, they were displayed very neatly in the centre (still occasionally seen on the Omnibus) Then, BBC Bosses decided nobody actually cared about the credits or theme, and squashed them rather messy into the right hand side of the screen, playing an advert for another show on the left hand side so you can't hear the theme - which we still currently see.
© 2006 Bronze Bully