Did you bunk class or think the only thing your pub needs to make the big time is a microwave? Is there really a difference between a poor cow and a sad cow? If your son stole all your furniture and told you he was redecorating the home, would you realise he was selling the furniture for drug money before or after he took your sofa?
Welcome to episode 12 of Watching EastEnders from the Very Beginning the OG Podcast
Comedians Kathryn Mather @watchingeastenders and Spring “Kathryn” Day @springkathryndayukcomedian are watching EastEnders from the very beginning because they both have OCD and can't start near the end! It's loads of fun. Join us as we judge the life choices of fictional characters from 40 years ago. You'll feel better about yourself because you are better than kissing your boss's wife in front of him, or at least we think you are.
 

Why are there boobies on the pub wall? Could everyone just walk in the doctor's office and interrupt your private appointment willy nilly in 1985? How old is everyone supposed to be exactly? Comedians Kathryn Mather @beforenowafterthen and Spring "Kathryn" Day @springkathrynday visit Albert Square for the first time.
People are pining for simpler times but was life ever really simple?
Comedians Kathryn Mather @beforenowafterthen and Spring "Kathryn" Day @springkathryndayukcomedian are looking for answers in the legendary soap opera Eastenders. They are on a mission to watch EastEnders from the very beginning to parcel this time capsule of a soap opera that was the first of it's kind to integrate audience research as it dealt with social issues of the day.
 
American transplant to the UK Spring wants to get filled in on the British culture she missed back when she was watching "Little House on the Prairie" as a child in the rural Midwest.  Mancurian Kathryn grew up watching "Coronation Street" and is curious to see what about Eastenders appealed to "Southern softies". Both "Kathryns" are starting from the very beginning because it's the best place to start.

Spring 'Kathryn" Day @springkathryndayukcomedian and Kathryn Mather @beforenowafterthen are watching Eastenders from the very beginning. In this second ever episode, we watch Den and Angie's Watts wedding Anniversary whilst discussing:  lunar astrology, infidelity, drinking while pregnant and facing your local bully who you may also be physically attracted to. It's a gossipy episode where we judge the fictional characters of Den, Angie, Pauline, Arthur, Ethel, Dr. Legg, Ali and Nick Cotton from forty years ago. It is very satisfying.

We live in turbulent times but was the past  every really that simple?
Comedians Kathryn Mather and  Spring Kathryn Day are watching EastEnders from the very beginning to find out.  On this episode we watch and judge the life choices of fictional 1980's characters with Schadenfreude heavy glee. We talk about: smoking whilst pregnant; cockney slang, gambling, cheating on your wife and the skills of a a young Stewart Lee look-alike making a mockery of the long lost art of stealing cigarettes from your mum's purse.

Hey there,
Record unemployment; get rich quick schemes; and lying to keep your job; fictional London in 1985 doesn't sound all that different from real London in 2026. Comedians Kathryn Mather@watchingeastenders and Spring Kathryn Day @springkathryndayukcomedian are watching EastEnders from the very beginning because they both have OCD and can't start near the end! It's loads of fun as there is a murder investigation underway as well as a MLM scam that travelled the world via chain letter, power harassment and a house party. Join us as we judge  the life choices of fictional characters from 40 years ago. You'll feel better about yourself because you are better than kissing your boss's wife in front of him, or at least we think you are.

Hi there,
One of the reasons comedians Kathryn Mather (@beforenowafterthen) and Spring "Kathryn" Day( @springkathryndayukcomedian) are Watching EastEnders From the Very Beginning is for Spring to get filled in on a lot of British culture she missed out on that's imbedded in the average British psyche… like the fact that the EastEnders theme song's name is "Anyone Can Fall in Love" and has such ominous lyrics about love, Spring's surprised it's not a country song.
In this episode 5 of EastEnders we meet the new character single teenage mum to a premature newborn a.k.a. the punk Mary who has moved into Reg Cox's old flat which she accidentally locks herself and her baby out of…We also discover Lofty has either bought nazi memorabilia off of Mark Fowler or he has gone all in on questionable Indiana Jones and the Raider's of the Lost Arc movie merch... 
Is having a pint of beer at a work lunch a good idea if you're a builder or anyone with adult responsibilities?
Also, is having never been somewhere before a legitimate reason for Lou Beale to reject an all-expenses-paid holiday to Clacton-on-Sea?!
We're watching EastEnders from the very beginning to see if there ever was truly a "simpler time" and to feel morally superior to fictional soap opera characters life choices written 40 years ago. It's a lot of fun. Thanks for listening! We'd love to hear from you.

Have you ever been a part of a neighbourhood watch? Would you join one if it meant you went around and beat drug dealers and thieves up? What if those  drug dealers and thieves also happen to be your most regular customers or part-time workers? Is the proper treatment for a mugging just to “get on with it?”If you worked in a hospital, would you sell drugs to anyone who asked? How badly do fascists need stolen calculators?
Comedians Kathryn Mather @beforenowafterthen and Spring "Kathryn" Day @springkathryndayukcomedian  are watching Eastenders from the very beginning to see how far fictional London has come over the past 40 years and marvel  how far it hasn't…watch them give you the highlights and gossip about the lowlifes of Albert Square in good old Watford…it's stupid and it's fun.

Hey there...
How do you pronounce Luftwaffe"? Is it a good sign if you can't pronounce it correctly?
Comedians Kathryn Mather @beforenowafterthen and Spring "Kathryn" Day @springkathryndayukcomedian are Watching EastEnders From the Very Beginning to marvel at how much fictional London has changed since 1985 and how much it hasn't. Episode 6, A.K.A. 'One Man's Trash' picks up where episode 5 left off. A swishy cop on the beat is investigating teenage trouble maker Mark Fowler for stealing a Nazi Luftwaffe that is possibly connected to a local murder…Also local corner shop is confronted for selling teens cigarettes by Arthur Fowler because if you're not employed you might as well get involved in a good cause. We find out more about the couple that own the corner shop Naima and Saeed Jeffery whose marriage was arranged and are struggling to be accepted by the residents of Walford. Meanwhile, Lofty Holloway, the local coward, exhibits a moment of remarkable bravery. We witness a doctor making a house call to deliver some sage newborn baby care advice "don't slap 'em" . Watch us give you the highlights and dish on the lowlifes of Walford London with daytime telly swear words.

Hey there!
Are you the type, when tragedy strikes, to deep clean the house…maybe scrub the kitchen floor with a toothbrush? Single teenage mum on her own with a premature baby certainly is! After being told Reg Cox was murdered in the mouldy old flat she now lives in, Mary spirals into a deep cleaning jag that doesn't make a dent to the dingey flat that looks like it belongs in a horror movie. Dr. Legg is looking for his dodgy lodger Lofty who doesn't have money for rent but does have money for Nazi memorabilia.
 
Den asks his best friend Pete to come up with an alibi so he can go see his mistress tomorrow night and not raise his wife Angie's suspicions….Pete manages to come up with the wildest and most contrived  excuse for a rendezvous that it makes you wonder if Pete has a thing for Angie…
 
Comedians Kathryn Mather @beforenowafterthen and Spring "Kathryn" Day @springkathryndayukcomedian  are watching Eastenders from the very beginning to see how far fictional London has come over the past 40 years and marvel  how far it hasn't…watch them give you the highlights and gossip about the lowlifes of Albert Square in good old Watford…it's stupid and it's fun.

Hey now…
What does your perfect Sunday consist of?  For Pauline and Arthur, it's pretending to be the perfect family so Pauline's mother Lou doesn't kick her daughter and her family out onto the curb for bringing another child into the world while Arthur still hasn't got a proper job. Ali and Sue devise a plan to ditch their baby for an evening in order to talk the pub lord and lady into letting Ali back into the Queen Vic after his fight with Nick Cotton. Sue's mad jealous of single punk mum Mary and does something she really shouldn't have.
Tony Carpenter takes his son Kelvin to the marsh for a man to man talk and local gossip Ethel is making the Golden circle rain money for her. Watch comedian Kathryn Mather @beforenowafterthen and Spring "Kathryn" Day  @springkathryndayukcomedian watch Eastenders from the very beginning to see how far fictional London has evolved since 1985 and marvel at how much it really hasn't. You'll be surprised at how satisfying it is to gossip about imaginary people from a soap opera 40 something years ago…

Guess what?!
Did you know football gangs in England are known as “firms” to make them sound like legitimate organisations you might want to invest in? Me neither.  At the beginning of episode 9 of the very first season of EastEnders, the local teenagers, Kelvin Carpenter, Mark Fowler, Michelle Fowler, and Sharon Watts are examining a bunch of abandoned/stolen goods by a wall with some telltale of the times graffiti on full, not-so-subtle, display…Comedians Kathryn Mather and Spring “Kathryn” Day are watching EastEnders from the very beginning l because it’s stupid to start near the end. 

Guess what?
There is trouble brewing in Albert Square and it’s hit Saeed and Naima Jeffery’s corner shop? Is Nick Cotton behind all of this or is it the local busy body Ethel Skinner’s  alter ego?! There’s also a new couple on the square, Scottish nurse Andy O’Brien and his English girlfriend Debbie Wilkins. There’s a lot of tension in the relationship but then again they’ve just moved and are fixing up their new place. That is super stressful. Teenagers Michelle and Angie are fighting over Kelvin and Lou Beal has nothing nice to say about sliced bread, take THAT inventors! Comedians Kathryn Mather @beforenowafterthen and Spring “Kathryn” Day @springkathryndayukcomedian are watching EastEnders from the very beginning because both are committed dadaists who refuse to start watching a soap opera that started in 1985 from near the very end of the world.