EastEnders to make more E20 webisodes
EastEnders' online spin-off, E20, is returning for a second series. Ten new episodes of EastEnders: E20 will be broadcast on the soap's website in September, before being aired in five televised instalments on BBC Three. The first series of the youth-oriented drama, which was shown online in January, will also be repeated on BBC Three this month. The debut series, which followed four teenagers squatting in a flat in Albert Square, drew more than three million views on iPlayer and EastEnders' website. The new outing will focus on four new, as yet uncast, young characters who live in a flat above Roxy Mitchell's beauty salon. It will be penned by the team of 13 young writers behind series one, including Emer Kenny, who now stars in the main soap as feisty Zsa Zsa Carter. Her three co-stars from the web spin-off have also made the transition into the Walford soap proper. Simon Nelson, controller of portfolio and multi-platform at BBC Vision, said: "E20 was one of the most ambitious and successful multi-platform projects we've commissioned. "We had no hesitation in commissioning another series, something which will delight the 17,000 fans who've been calling for more episodes on the E20 Facebook page." EastEnders' new executive producer Bryan Kirkwood added: "Not only have viewing figures been fantastic, but - and most importantly - we've had such positive feedback from the viewers." The first series of EastEnders: E20 will transmit on BBC Three in three 30-minute instalments, starting on Friday, April 23 at 8.30pm. Series two will be available at bbc.co.uk/eastenders in 10 14-minute instalments. Click here to watch whatsontv.co.uk’s weekly soaps video preview, the Soap Scoop
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Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix.
An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.