In the past year there have been so many different story lines in Eastenders, each of which represent real life. One of the story lines over the last year was Chelsea's problems with cocaine. She became addicted when she felt rejected by everybody. Once she had started taking the drugs though she could not stop and eventually began to rely on the cocaine. She could not afford the repayments to the dealer and could not get unhooked from the drugs. This really represents real life as there are so many people that have problems with drugs and once they have started cannot get out the problems the drugs create without coming clean. Chelsea eventually comes clean when she seeks the support of her family and this shows to the audience how the problems of drugs can be stopped.
At the time when Eastenders released the story about Whitney and Tony's relationship there was a lot about how bad child protection was at the time. The media were scrutinizing how many children were being abused by parents or other guardians without the noticing of the child authorities. The story in Eastenders showed a 15 year old girl who had been sexually abused since she was 12 by the man whom everyone believed to be her father. He manipulated her every move and made her think that he loved her. There are many similar cases in the UK and Eastenders really managed to represent real life problems of many people who are abused without the noticing of anyone, even those in their own homes.