Watts family
When "EastEnders" began in 1985, the soap focused primarily around the affairs of three families: the Beales, Fowlers, and Watts. However, much of the show's early success stemmed from the drama surrounding the Watts, especially the antics of Den, who as owners of the Queen Vic pub (the show's most prominent set) were usually in the limelight. This prominence, at a time when "EastEnders" was at its most prolific in terms of both the media and audience, meant the Watts became perhaps "EastEnders" most eminent family and the characters known even to those who did not watch the show. Such was their success that producers went ahead with an experimental episode format centring on just Den and Angie, during which Angie lied about having cancer; so successful was the airing that it has since been repeated, and the format expanded to include "three" and "four-handers" (between 3 and 4 characters). Such episodes are highly prestigious and feature only the most popular and prominent characters in the show; thus, all the Watts, aside from Vicki, have featured in such episodes.
BBC Elstree Centre
When ATV was restructured as Central Independent Television in 1982, one of the conditions of its licence renewal by the governing body of the ITV network, the Independent Broadcasting Authority, was that ATV should vacate any London-based facilities and become more focused on the Midlands, the region of the United Kingdom for which it held the ITV franchise. For the last 18 months of its use as an ITV production studio, they were under the ownership of Central Independent Television as ATV ceased to exist as a company at the end of 31 December 1981. The studios remained in operation by Central up until July 1983 (the final production under Central ownership being a Max Bygraves-era episode of "Family Fortunes"), when its new main production centre in Nottingham was completed. When the BBC bought the Elstree site in 1984 to produce its new soap opera "EastEnders" (first aired on 19 February 1985), it did not purchase the equipment within the building.