It was during their time on Angels that the format of the programme was changed from weekly 50 minute-long episodes to a bi-weekly half-hour serial, with the further possibility of the show being aired all year round.

In 1983, the BBC approached Holland and Smith to produce a new programme for their channel, a bi-weekly soap-opera that would rival the long-established ITV favourites, Coronation Street, Crossroads and Emmerdale Farm.

and together, Smith and Holland came up with the idea of a programme set in a Victorian square within the East End of London, focusing on its close working-class families and eccentric Cockney inhabitants.

Holland and Smith wanted the primary focus of EastEnders to be a large extended family, representative of the type most typically found in the East End of London.

Holland also used some of his experiences as a barman in London's pubs and clubs to create the dynamic pairing of Den and Angie Watts, the owners of the Queen Victoria public house.

[2] On his departure from EastEnders in 1989, Holland was approached by Ireland's national broadcaster RTÉ to give their new urban soap opera Fair City its structure and story-lines for the first season.