EastEnders Independant Research

EastEnders is a British soap opera which was first aired in the year 1985, It runs four half hour episodes every week on BBC 1. It's one of the UK highest rating programs, often appearing near the top of the week's BARB (Broadcasters Audience Research Board) ratings.
For personal experience I would say that EastEnders, in terms of target audience, would have an audience in between those who watch Hollyoaks and Coronation Street. Meaning Hollyoaks aims towards a younger audience, while Coronation Street attracts more mature views. I think Eastenders would have a wide age range of 16-60, but I think it is more targeted at those in their 20s, 30s and 40s.

People who watch EastEnders would mainly be in demographic groups C2, D and E. I think this because that way, they would be able to relate themselves to the characters, as they are depicted in theses groupings.
While watching an episode, I noticed that they represented people of many different ages and races. This makes their soap verisimilitude, as it reflects real London community life.
Within the soap, male and female characters are equally displayed. Many male characters are wearing clothing that matches their job role, for instance suits and overalls, this reflects the working society of today, and gives the audience a taster of the different variety of jobs in the capital City.

In terms of sexuality, EastEnders depicts the lives of heterosexual and homosexual people. In the past EastEnders has sparked controversy by portraying a storyline about a Muslim homosexual male, that was not accepted by his family. By doing this it made the soap more realistic as this could potentially be a position that somebody is in, and EastEnders helped raise awareness about this.
Making society aware of situations that people don't usually discuss, is a key feature of soaps, and is what makes them different to other TV shows.