EastEnders is a British soap opera, examining the domestic and professional lives of working class people who live in the fictitious London Borough of Walford in the East End of London. The show was created by Julia Smith and Tony Holland, and broadcast its first episode on 19 February 1985. Originally, the typical week comprised two half-hour episodes on BBC One, in a time slot of 7.00pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays, until August 1985 when they were moved to 7.30pm. On 11 April 1994, a Monday episode was added, broadcast at 8.00pm, and a further 8.00pm episode was added on 10 August 2001, on Fridays. As of 30 November 2018[update], there have been 5,821 episodes.[1]
The numbering of EastEnders episodes has changed three times. The episode broadcast on 11 April 1994 was given the number 1, following on from the previous episode numbered 952.[2] The episode on 6 August 2001 was also given the number 1, following on from the previous episode numbered 1170. On 13 April 2009, the episodes were retroactively renumbered, so the episode on this date had the number 3770,[3][4] and the previous number, originally 1621,[5] was renumbered to 3769 (and so on).[6] These lists use only the retroactive numbering.
We hold a collection of Programme-as-Broadcast documents here (PasBs) which contain the basic production details for all BBC programmes, including the Episode numbers for EastEnders. From checking these I can confirm that the episodes were numbered 1 to 952 from 19/02/1985 to 07/04/1994. Then the numbering system restarted again with the episode on 11/04/1994 being Episode 1, coinciding with the beginning of there being 3 episodes a week. [...] In 2001 they decided to start from 1 again, when it changed to 4 episodes a week. So the episode on 06/08/2001 is Episode 1 according to PasBs. Finally, in 2009 they decided to go back to the original numbering system – so the episode on 13/04/2009 is listed as number 3770 on the PasB (this is counting back from the first episode in 1985). This then matches up with the numbers [...] from the Radio Times.