It seems like most soaps are like that. I never got into any of them, Eastenders is the first for me. Never watched American ones either.My brother and sister are super into it. They've started watching from the start (1983ish) and I caught a few episodes when they were back for the holidays - it's pretty dreadful even for a soap back then.
I watched it a bit in the early 00s. It was okay then. It got to total trash towards the end.