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.
Fair City
In 1988, a year before "Fair City" hit the screens, the show was just a vague idea conceived by RTÉ when it decided that it needed an urban soap opera to compete with "Coronation Street" and "EastEnders". RTÉ gave the job of creating this new soap to Margaret Gleeson. A transmission date of September 1989 was decided upon and an initial run of 13 episodes commissioned. Gleeson, known for her work on Tolka Row and The Riordans, was appointed the show's first Executive Producer with Paul Cusack and David McKenna as producers. Tony Holland – co-creator of "EastEnders" – was brought in to give the soap its structure and storylines.