EastEnders legend Adam Woodyatt and more reveal how continuing drama continues to open doors in television ...Middle East

For the delegates who attended Edinburgh TV Festival 2026 last month, there was a unique opportunity for those interested in the behind-the-scenes process of a continuing drama - and for those keen on upskilling, too.

BBC Studios held its regular “The Network” talent programme workshop, with attendees treated to a live script-reading from two of EastEnders’ most recognisable stars: original cast members Adam Woodyatt and Gillian Taylforth, who play the iconic Ian and Kathy Beale, respectively, on the show.

The script read by the pair showed off the work completed by a contingent of trainees who worked on story development and scripting with senior members of the EastEnders production team and the actors themselves.

The fruits of their labour can be found below in video form, along with a discussion including Woodyatt, Taylforth, and former programme member and now storyliner, Maisie Adair.

However, this is equally symbolic of the wider work that continuing dramas such as EastEnders do to open doors in the industry.

Maria Odufuye, a former script editor on EastEnders, came up through BBC Studios’ training schemes and has gone on to other parts of the TV industry thanks to the practical start she got with EastEnders.

"Being a born and bred East Londoner, working on EastEnders was a dream come true, and it completely shaped my career,” revealed Odufuye. “Despite having a first-class degree in Drama and Creative Writing, it was the hands-on experience of working in continuing drama that taught me the most and opened doors for me in High-End Television that otherwise I wouldn’t have had access to."

High-End Television (HETV) is a legal and financial term used in the television industry to describe high-budget scripted and factual shows.

She added: "EastEnders gave me the speed, resilience, work ethic and understanding of story structure and hooks that later set me apart in HETV. More importantly, continuing drama gave me access to an industry I had no connections to, proving what an incredible training ground and entry point it can be for working-class and underrepresented talent."

Highlighting the need for entry points in the industry to be provided for people from historically disadvantaged communities, Odufuye noted: "Continuing drama gave me the access to make my dream a reality, and I strongly believe it remains one of the best and most accessible training grounds for the next generation of TV talent and our gateway to great storytellers making groundbreaking TV."

Since EastEnders, Maria has gone on to work on hit series such as Netflix’s sci-fi drama Supacell for its second season, Sky drama The Iris Affair, and the fourth and final season of hit Netflix comedy Sex Education.

Meanwhile, another success story from the training provided in EastEnders is another former script editor for the soap, Elizabeth Kwenortey, who has now gone on to regularly collaborate with Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight on his hit shows SAS Rogue Heroes and the first season of House of Guinness.

Before these high-budget dramas, Kwenortey was working on EastEnders stories including Kim Medcalf’s return to the show as Sam Mitchell, the award-winning story surrounding Suki Panesar (Balvinder Sopal) coming out, and the romance of Keegan Baker (Zack Morris) and Tiffany Butcher (Maisie Smith).

Kwenortey, who also attended the festival in Edinburgh, credited the "hard work that was done by that development team to reach out" to people like her, who were desperate to get into the industry, but needed that entry point.

"It's been one of the best forms of education or work experience I've ever experienced," she added. "I think the BBC and EastEnders as a training ground has already birthed exec producers, MDs, people across the industry who are now doing amazing things in HETV. But the foundation is the same, and it really was a space to make mistakes, to learn new things, but to gain insight and proximity to people who really know what they're doing and have been doing it for years. So it was a wonderful experience, and it really showed me I had a chance to get into the television industry and learn."

From EastEnders, Kwenortey went on to work for hit ITV crime series Grantchester and has been on the up ever since, and she credits continuing dramas for this.

Reflecting on the current TV industry, she said: "Well, I think as shows get smaller or have to, you know, wrap up, close up shop, the opportunities get taken away. But I still think some are doing the work. There are teams committed to doing the work in creating those newer opportunities or creating access to those opportunities."

She noted that soaps and other continuing dramas like Casualty and Waterloo Road are "essential" for creatives as "the first point of call", noting that some who work in the industry wish they had learned as hard and fast as the genre provides and "forces you to reckon with".

However, interestingly for viewers at home, the smaller opportunities for entry mean there are also fewer chances for upskilling. This is something that is becoming a focus on continuing drama - and even impacts icon Adam Woodyatt, who tried his hand at directing the scenes shot especially for The Network's training scheme.

He revealed in a chat at the festival that he “actually learned a lot doing that” and even joked he learned not to "try and be in the same scene that you're directing as your first crack at it".

He also recalled that the director of the episodes on the day that the scenes were shot (Richard Lynn) was also someone else who he had seen "progress through the ranks" from early runner roles to assistant directing and then to full-time directing - illustrating the development opportunities the soap can provide.

Gillian Taylforth, who Woodyatt affectionately refers to in real life as "Mum",  also revealed that she got emotional seeing her on-screen son directing her for the first time.

She said: "I thought, ‘Oh bless him, that’s my boy!"

Taylforth went on to joke that Woodyatt still tells her where the cameras are: "He has to tell me where the camera. ‘Mum, look over there. That's where you are.' 'Oh, alright,' I'm terrible (laughs)."

While Woodyatt was uncertain about whether he would try his hand at directing a full episode of the soap, Taylforth advocated for him: "I think you should do some more. I really do."

He then continued, reflecting on the learning experiences he found through the scheme's scenes, including with camera work, whether he would helm a full episode: "I always said no. Well, I go through stages saying yes and saying no, and I think I would probably say yes now."

He would not be the first soap actor to try their hand at directing; perhaps most famously was fellow original cast member Susan Tully AKA Michelle Fowler, who left the soap and acting in 1995 and is now a prestigious television director.

Speaking in Edinburgh was also Kris Green, BBC Studios’ former Training Executive who led the workshop at the festival for The Network and previously worked as a storyliner and on the script team at EastEnders himself, but is now Script Executive for Silent Witness.

Green told me: "These kinds of schemes are so important because the future of our industry is always relying on the next generation of creatives, and every year we get a group of incredible creatives [in the training scheme].

"We've got 12 storytellers this year; they're fantastic, and we're always as a group so surprised at how good they are, and we always know that the future of our industry is in safe hands - but they need to learn somewhere."

It’s a clear historical and present trend for many famous faces and names from across the industry - whether commissioners, showrunners, producers, screenwriters, script editors or directors - that they had their starts in continuing drama, including other major players attending the festival.

Netflix’s VP of content Anne Mensah, who oversees the streaming giant’s high-budget slate of shows in the UK, also defended the genre of Continuing Drama - which she noted often gets higher viewership ratings than many of the shows at the centre of industry discussions - against much of the snobbery it faces.

"It's also because there's a class thing," she noted to Radio Times about snobbery toward the genre and ignorance of who it often represents.

Mensah said these shows may not be "about class, but are comfortable within their own class", calling this an element of diversity the TV industry doesn't talk about enough.

She noted: "People want to see themselves, and you can do that in clever ways. That's why Adolescence resonated because it was of the world of the people that were watching."

Recalling her own former stomping grounds of Waterloo Road, Mensah noted that one can "properly learn TV through those shows".

This also came through in Woodyatt’s comments in our chat, who noted these beloved shows' impact in front of and behind the camera.

Woodyatt said: "We are the modern-day weekly [repertory theatre], which is where people used to cut their teeth; in the theatre doing weekly rep on tour for months and months and months. That's what we are now."

He added: "We need the whole genre to be strong."

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