September 19, 2011 3.19 pm This story is over 150 months old

Lincoln writer puts her mark on EastEnders E20 spinoff

Spinoff: A Lincoln writer has put her mark on BBC’s fresh E20 series, wiring an entire episode for the EastEnders spinoff.
Faith, Ava and Donnie, the three new characters in series three of E20

Laura Turner, resident writer at Lincoln-based theatre company Chapterhouse, was commissioned to write for the EastEnders’ spirited spin-off called E20.

Turner is part of a group of young aspiring writers, talented and lucky enough to have been selected to create and write the third series of E20.

“E20 is the younger, naughtier sibling of EastEnders,” Turner explained. “We’ve created three new characters for series three – Faith, Ava and Donnie.

“Set in Albert Square and filled with familiar faces from the main show, E20 explores the lives of three young people as they crash-land in the middle of East London.”

E20 returns on Tuesday, September 20, and will be available to watch on BBC Three and online on iPlayer.

Turner explained that each member of the writers team was also commissioned to write their own episode for the BBC show.

“The series is shown on BBC Three in omnibuses that start this week, and mine will broadcast at 8.30pm on Friday, October 7.

“My episode, episode five, sees the trio adjusting to life and we meet care worker Richard and a mysterious young girl called Riley for the first time, whose story begins to unravel in my episode.

“E20 is all about what it’s really like to be young, struggling to know what to do with your life and finding people you can rely on – whilst giving Walford a run for its money.”

Turner began her EastEnders career when she was one of 15 writers to be accepted onto the E20 workshop after a gruelling process of writing trials and interviews.

She advises that to get into writing you have to be really passionate and just keep writing all the time.

“Actually sitting down to write the script is the end of a very long process of planning and being open to changing your ideas and the process has made me appreciate how much time and effort goes into creating just one episode of a television show.

“It was fantastic to be involved with the series from start to finish as we created the characters ourselves, helped them to grow and now finally get to see them on-screen.”

Photo: BBC