Comedian Harry Hill has revealed that some of the EastEnders cast were not happy about being featured on Harry Hill's TV Burp.
The former ITV comedy series highlighted any "silly" moments from broadcast TV, and Hill would comment on the funny and absurd dialogue or acting.
Hill and his team would watch the soaps and the biggest shows from each week including EastEnders, Emmerdale, Strictly Come Dancing, and tape on VHS the sections they wanted to include.
However, Hill admitted one soap in particular had an issue with their show.
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In an interview with The Guardian, he claimed: "After the first episode of series two went out, I had EastEnders executive producer Mal Young shouting down the phone: 'This is outrageous. I've got actors here in tears because of what you’re doing!'"
Yet, Hill continued to use the BBC One soap as he felt it was the "ideal show" for TV Burp, saying: "The ideal show for us was one that took itself very seriously and was made in a hurry: basically, EastEnders."
There was also the issue of copyright and Hill said he was even "heckled" at one point over his show.
"With ITV or Channel 4, we licensed the clips, but the BBC wouldn't let us, so for series two we used them on the basis of 'fair dealing', which meant the actors didn't get paid," Hill said.
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"Once, at the Soap Awards, I was heckled by Todd Carty, who played Mark Fowler. 'Where's our money?' he shouted."
While the series found itself on mainstream Saturday night TV, Hill admitted that he didn't enjoy watching the soaps every week in such meticulous detail.
"You'd have two video recorders: you'd watch on one and have a blank tape in the other," he explained.
"Any clips you liked, you'd tape on to the blank VHS. As soon as you'd taken the EastEnders omnibus out, you'd put the Emmerdale one in. It was bloody awful."
EastEnders airs on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at 7.30pm on BBC One and streams on BBC iPlayer.
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Jess is a freelance writer and editor with a passion for over-analysing everyone’s favourite movies and TV shows. As an English graduate from the University of York with an MA in Creative Writing, Jess worked as a magazine editor before turning freelance. Since then, Jess has written for outlets such as GQ, The Guardian, Inverse, Huff Post, Stylist, and Insider. She specialises in the representation of mental health, grief, and women in film. She’s also a major Marvel nerd and is writing a YA fantasy novel. LinkedIn
