Anyway, as an avid soap fan, my two cents is this:
From an access point of view, Eastenders hasn't really been doing a very good job with its recent storyline about Oxbridge. Luckily I'm already at Cambridge, but were I two years younger and about to apply I doubt Eastenders would do very much to convince me. The guy applying for Medicine at Cambridge has a habit of cutting up rats at the kitchen table (where, I hasten to add, his mother cooks curry as part of her new Indian takeaway business which was shut down for hygiene reasons). The girl is slightly more normal, but still typically geeky. I don't think the storyline is going to encourage people to apply, to be honest. That said, it won't *discourage* people to apply, as anyone who applies is intelligent enough to know it is fictitious. It's just a bit of entertainment, I don't think it should be done for serious access purposes.