EastEnders
"EastEnders" is often filmed on location, away from the studios in Borehamwood. Sometimes an entire quartet is filmed on location, which has a practical function and are the result of "EastEnders" making a "double bank", when an extra week's worth of episodes are recorded at the same time as the regular schedule, enabling the production of the programme to stop for a two-week break at Christmas. These episodes often air in late June or early July and again in late October or early November. The first time this happened was in December 1985 when Pauline (Wendy Richard) and Arthur Fowler (Bill Treacher) travelled to the Southend-on-Sea to find their son Mark, who had run away from home. In 1986, "EastEnders" filmed overseas for the first time, in Venice, and this was also the first time it was not filmed on videotape, as a union rule at the time prevented producers taking a video crew abroad and a film crew had to be used instead. In 2011, it was reported that eight per cent of the series is filmed on location.
EastEnders Live Week
"EastEnders" aired two spin-off shows to celebrate thirty years of the show. "Back to Ours" was a bi-weekly online/Red Button series inspired by Gogglebox, in which several cast members watched and reflected upon some of their most well-known scenes. The other programme was titled "30 Years of Cliffhangers", and counted down the characters who had appeared in the most cliffhangers in the show's history, with Phil Mitchell appearing in the most. The Graham Norton Show aired a special "EastEnders" themed episode on 16 February, featuring appearances from past and present cast members. In addition, the programme's first episode was broadcast on BBC Red Button, as was the episode that originally aired on 18 April 2014, which decipted Lucy Beale's death. Following the live episode on 20 February 2015, Zoë Ball, Ore Oduba and Joe Swash presented an aftermath programme called "EastEnders: Backstage Live".