Catherine Harty’s VOICE FROM ABROAD     Patsy Palmer Spotted in America

If you are looking for Patsy Palmer in the United States of America, you'd
have to look from sea to shining sea.  She's organising a fashion show in
Virginia, and at the same time in Minneapolis she's started her own clothing
stall.  In Florida she's gotten married to a mechanic, while in Maryland she's
been fighting a petite blonde for the attention of a handsome Spaniard, and in
the State of Washington she's been seen with a bartender from the Cobra Club.

How can she be so many places at once?  Through the magic of television, of
course, as she appears as Bianca Jackson (and in some places Bianca Butcher)
on EastEnders.  The show is shown by PBS and by the new cable network BBC
America.   

EastEnders has been specially purchased by 19 local TV stations on the Public
Broadcasting System for over a decade.  Currently, about 17 states are able to
receive the program.  The two (sometimes three) weekly episodes are shown at
various days and times.  For example, some New York and Florida fans are able
to see it Sunday afternoons at 1:00, while fans in Houston, Texas see it at
10:00 on Friday nights. 

These PBS stations rely on grants, sponsorships and  viewer pledges to
survive.  At least twice a year fans are asked to send in money to their local
station in order to keep EastEnders on the air.  If the pledges are down, the
show goes off the air, as it has in numerous places.  It almost did in
Minnesota, until a group of fans organised The Albert Square Fan Club and got
it put back on the air.    

A very few areas of the country are able to receive the cable network BBC
America, in which the shows are shown within weeks of their initial showing in
the United Kingdom.  This is in contrast to the 18 months to 2 years that the
PBS stations are behind.  Only 500,000 homes are currently able to receive the
signal, but the new network hopes to reach 25 million homes in five years.

Fans have learned this the hard way that EastEnders not show nation wide.
Many have  moved from one state to another only to find that their new area
doesn't carry the show.  Their pleas fill up screen after screen on the
internet.  They are looking for a kind soul to video tape the show for them
and send the cassette through the mail.  These are called “tape trains”, as it
usually goes from one fan to the next for many months.  Someone in Kentucky
writes, “I DESPERATELY NEED YOUR HELP!” A fan from Phoenix, Arizona writes, “I
don't think I'll be able to survive the withdrawal pains.   There are dozens
and dozens of fans from such populace American cities as Chicago, Boston,
Atlanta, and Dallas who wished they could keep up with the goings on of
Patsy’s character of Bianca, and the other inhabitants of Albert Square.

Being an American fan of Patsy Palmer isn't always easy. 

In the next issue:  I'll explain how U.S. fans band together. 

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