DRW50

They've cut out most of Alfie's ties to the Square and any relevance to the point where I almost wonder if they're hoping Shane will quit so they won't get flack for firing him. At this point I don't care if he stays but I just don't want him back with Kat. It's a degrading, unpleasant relationship. They could put him with Donna or whoever. I'm waiting for the shoe to drop when Kathy returns and when Phil returns, but I really have been happy to see a better focus on Sharon recently, especially since her stories last year (like the "revenge") were so off in tone. Sharon feels more character-driven now, and is more of a person in her own right, and Letitia's work has improved markedly. I wish she wasn't tied so closely to the Mitchells, but at least it isn't Phil-dominated and at least Shirley is not involved that much right now. I wonder sometimes if Sam Womack's part-time status with the show is a factor - if both Roxy and Ronnie were around full time, I wonder if that would distract DTC, as they always seemed like Sharon cut in two. Thanks for reading the articles. I don't have many of those magazines but I've had that one for a few years and it's only been the last month or so that I could look at it without thinking what might have been in terms of the wasted potential for Sharon (and EE as a whole). I'm not as down on the show at the moment so I figured why not. I'm not sure if this is the full clip of the other Bobby/Peter scene, but:

I don't think it would be that hard to salvage the Slaters - bring in Belinda, have Little Mo pop in sometimes or move back for good with her daughter. Elaine Lordan seems to be having problems again (?) and Michelle Ryan will never return (no big loss), but they could easily recast Zoe. There's also Jean, and Charlie for visits. Kat needs to be matured and Alfie desperately needs to go, but the main problems aren't that hard to fix IMO. But I don't think the Slaters will ever be treated as a major family again. Ironically the Carters, who are barely a year old, are already far more broken and unfixable as characters.

I thought Billie's death episode was incredibly strong and could have been used to talk more about binge drinking - too bad about some of the aftermath... Ellen Thomas, probably best known to EE fans for her work as Mercy's grandmother, is returning in a different role. Some fans are already shouting that she has to be Ada Fox, but someone else said will be called Claudette. Who knows. If she's related to Vincent, I already don't care, although I will give it a chance. http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/soaps/s2/eastenders/news/a632269/eastenders-ellen-thomas-cast-as-new-albert-square-matriarch.html Apparently EE accidentally aired a different Peter/Bobby scene for the omnibus. http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/soaps/s2/eastenders/news/a632215/eastenders-omnibus-airs-different-bobby-and-peter-beale-scene.html#~p5EL9HOPs4585u

I know a lot of people praised the Tony story with Whitney. Something about it never quite worked for me. I'd say Patrick's story has been OK, but not after that random, quickly forgotten segueway of Denise abusing him. Understated is the right word for how these stories should go. These days they believe viewers need to see trash and shock value, so you get them patting themselves on the back for things like Stacey's bipolar, only to then very quickly say that it's OK if you commit murder as long as you have bipolar disorder.

Thanks. I'd never seen that. I wonder if they got into any hot water over that - I can see some old pious woman writing a strong letter from her armchair. It's very pretty. Sometimes I imagine the show giving Ricky a reggae music career to match Sid Owen's own...career. It makes me laugh. But it would have been better than most of Ricky's later stories.

In the show's earliest, roughest years, we would have been hearing tra*** and other comments, but the characters had enough integrity and inner life (the gay or POC characters) to where it didn't seem like a cheap "issues" storyline or an attempt at controversy. The show in recent years doesn't have that. It's always so clumsy. The way they write disabled characters is just awful - they always come in being rude and aggressive in some type of "we're not being PC here!!!!" clumsiness. I hope they won't do that with a trans character. Just be matter of fact about it. Don't play games or pat yourself on the back. Just trust the audience. If you trust the audience they'll go along with you.

Soapcentral is usually wrong. Peggy returned for part of 1979, mostly just behind the nurses' desk. I don't know if she ever had a real exit. She's there up to Jackie's miscarriage - not sure after that. I guess you could say it's passing the torch to the newer nurses like Katie and Hilary. Kind of sad though that a character who literally grew up on the show didn't get a bigger goodbye.

In one of the 1977 or so episodes available of her, she had longer, darker hair. It's weird because usually women on soaps with hair like that are/were presented as bad girls or troubled women. Yet Cindy said they wrote the character more sympathetically because of her performance in the role. It's another example of GL's women defying convention.

Thanks for finding that. I saw "She's better than Anita Dobson!" comments. She's a better singer, yes, and it's a pleasant enough, horribly dated song, but not dated in the cheesy fun way that the main EE tune (and Dobson's version) is. The main EE tune always reminds me of the old Brookeside theme - of a time, but also timeless. That version, while I did grow to like it, just makes me sleepy. DTC says they will be bringing in a transgender character, ideally played by a transgender actor. http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/eastenders-introduce-first-transgender-character-5250950

Cute Angie/Jessie bit at the start. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVgwFfOQBgs

(that one made me laugh as many of the people in it were gone by the end of the year, or soon after) (I'd never seen that one - nice to see more Max/Lee)

The person who put up the 1982 episode and the V/N wedding episode is back. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGd-CMhNwvTZ_b7flg44FdA

I think those may have been from the DVD sets. I'm not sure. Anyway, the person who put up GL videos and got taken off Youtube (for other videos) is back with a new channel. They're uploading some new content - full March 1979 episodes. These have been on Youtube before in clip form, but not the full episodes (full episodes is how it should be always if possible IMO). https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGd-CMhNwvTZ_b7flg44FdA

That's an awful photo of Helen Slater (looks like a mug shot) but I'm happy they cast her. I've always liked her, and she was Supergirl, flop movie and all. It's a nice way to honor the past.

Yes. When I say dangerous I don't mean she's going to cut somebody, I just mean she knows how to really hurt someone with her words. She's always on the edge mentally so she strikes hard and fast and first. I think we've all known people like this...I can't imagine what it's like dealing with her, although I will admit she's good TV when she's in this mode.

It sort of feels like there are several different shows - Yolanda's on one, Lisa V is on one, Eileen/Lisa R and Kim/Brandi (Kyle in the middle) on the other. I do wonder if they might cut at least one of Kim/Brandi to shake that, but who knows. Lisa V must really enjoy that she can now bring up the Paris incident without any criticism. She's mentioned it over and over in her blogs. I guess I can't really blame her. I sort of like to imagine her writing it with a smirk though.

It's very clever deflection from Kim (if that was the intent). She's a very dangerous person. I guess it's good drama, but I really wonder if they can keep her on for another season. I think it would become too toxic.

Billy Bush is annoying as hell. Like that woman said, I almost hope that was staged, as breaking the wine glass and so on is a little extreme otherwise.

Clearly that wasn't the case here.

Joan had an interview with a Star Trek site last month. http://www.startrek.com/article/exclusive-interview-legendary-tos-guest-star-joan-collins

He was taking photos of her from afar (he'd done this with Belle for a while too before Belle's mental problems drove him away). He started sending her gifts. She didn't think it was anything serious (she didn't know about the photos). On her birthday, she was drunk, and he was waiting for her alone. He gave her another glass of champagne and he had one himself. While she dozed on the couch, he put his fingers inside her. She woke up during this and was horrified. He insisted she'd led him on and he'd done nothing wrong and it was what they'd wanted. With her sister's help she quickly went to the police.