FOR 30 years the dramatic births, bitter family feuds, sordid affairs and scandalous murders of EastEnders have been filmed at the BBC Elstree Centre.

Over the decades millions of viewers from across the country have tuned in to the beloved soap each week to watch the outrageous lives of Walford's residents unfold on-screen.

Now the Elstree and Borehamwood Museum has unveiled a brand new free exhibition - EastEnders at 30: In Our Manor - celebrating the soap, which is filmed in the centre just across the road.

From Pat Butcher's gaudy clip-on earrings, to weapons used in a selection of the soap's most infamous murders, the collection of artefacts spans EastEnders' long history.

"We started planning it in the middle of last year," remembers Ruth Stratton, heritage and museums officer at Hertsmere Borough Council, who speaks to me from the recently unveiled show.

Organised by Hertsmere Council, Elstree and Borehamwood Museum and the BBC, the exhibition is on display for six-months with a change-over of items on display in October.

Ruth, a life-long EastEnders-addict, says: "Probably because I’m an EastEnders fan, it has been great to actually work with the BBC and to find out all the snippets of information that you might not have known. It has been absolutely brilliant.

"It is just so nice to have something here which is a national treasure. I think local people are very proud of their film and TV heritage. EastEnders is not just local, it is watched all over the country."

The exhibition, which examines the themes of birth, marriage and death, considers how the soap has developed over its 30-years.

Alongside the treasured artefacts, there will be a collection of behind-the-scenes photographs documenting the process of putting together the soap, from set building to script writing.

But perhaps one of the main attractions is the birds-eye view into the set itself.

"People can have a look at the exhibition and we can say: 'If you go and look out of the window you can see the railway bridge that is used in the EastEnders set'," says Ruth.

“It feels like we are all part of the same thing and it is great to celebrate that as part of the Borehamwood heritage.”

EastEnders at 30: In Our Manor, Elstree and Borehamwood Museum, 96 Shenley Road, Borehamwood, until Thursday, January 7, Tuesday to Thursday, 12pm to 6pm, Saturday, 10am to 3pm. Details: 01442 454888, elstree-museum.org.uk