DRW50

You should put that in the WATN thread. Tuc Watkins ad. Similar to the David VIckers commercials.

I missed most of her last run. What I did see wasn't very good, although she did well when Billie died. Sadly the EE of the last 10 years doesn't know how to do nuance. I guess at least Sharon is a little better now.

You. I liked Chelsea (that cocaine story was so poorly written but she did her best). I'm glad they included Alan. Such a solid, strong character. Great chemistry with Lindsey Coulson. I liked Ruth too, until her poorly written last year.

As it was never onscreen I guess he could still come back. Who would your picks for underrated characters be?

He looked decent enough (as did Gianni), his voice just annoyed me. To be honest with you the only time I was interested in him was when he was friends with Steve - I thought they had good chemistry and could have hooked up (I felt that way with Steve/Matthew as well). I just don't think he was one of the all time best EE characters. I did feel sorry for Greco when he got the [!@#$%^&*] beat out of him by idiots because he had stolen TIffany from Grant, or whatever. I wonder why he stopped acting for 5-6 years.

I don't think Beppe should be on this list, but I agree with most of the others, although I would have chosen Colin or Carmel or Mary Smith, all terrific characters who would never be on today's Eastenders. http://www.digitalspy.com/soaps/s2/eastenders/feature/a626730/eastenders-30th-13-underrated-characters-from-beppe-to-winston.html#~p44q7SYQNTUycr

I also think they should have done more with Jack and Cole, although Bergman's version of Jack just wasn't good enough to make it work anyway, most likely.

Probably, but long-term I would have preferred Chase/Nina to Ryan/Nina.

In other news, Linda Henry has been cleared of racism charges. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-31425051

I never liked Mo that much, but I liked Charlie. He was a weak man and deep down he knew it, which led to some real drama (like when he went HAM on Little Mo's rapist). I also thought he had an interesting relationship with Kat, and she has none of those at the moment. But the show is more likely to have her shake her tits in the Vic for a few pound notes than to actually give her a character-driven storyline.

I hate that mushmouth Owen and his bad dye job so much (he's another reason I stopped watching Corrie - yet ANOTHER failed Collinson character [did Collinson have any characters who weren't failures?]). I did want to see Lorraine from Eastenders, as I was a big fan of hers back then. I even liked her pointless role on Hollyoaks (which was then taken over by, of all people, the wonderful Samantha Giles, since she and Jacqueline Leonard have so much in common!).

Fans seemed to be out for her blood after the whole Roy business earlier this year. Corrie doesn't seem to actually get rid of characters unless the actors quit, but sometimes I do wonder if the only Windass left will be Gary and his well-packed jeans.

I can see why Phelan became such a camp favorite at DS. This is such ridiculously hilarious trash, especially the end.

Looks like Kat's upcoming story has been dropped. Can't say I'm surprised, given the BBC's Saville issues. http://www.eastendersultra.co.uk/news/news-stories/13427/exclusive-derek-martin-not-returning-to-eastenders

I saw some speculation that this may mean Big Finish can now do New Who audios - not sure if that's the case. I hope so.

Reading a Daytimers from February 1980, which mentions rumors of Keith Charles leaving (which I guess would put this in November or December 1979). They mention that Barbara Rucker still hadn't heard whether or not they were bringing Sandy back, but she thought they were. Clearly they didn't. I wonder what story plans they would have had for her if they did.

I don’t expect anything from the current Eastenders producer, but considering that he created Roxy, I’d think he would remember that the one-nighter with her sister’s boyfriend was an extremely unpopular storyline that led many fans to hate the character, helped make many fans just see Jack as a manwhore who would work his way through every blonde Mitchell woman (at one point some of us were wondering when he would give Peggy the eye), and all but destroyed the relationship between Roxy and Ronnie. Then you have Ronnie, who has had a loop of misery for years on end, to the point where Sam Womack eventually quit the show. It was important that she have some period of happiness, with a man who certainly wasn’t perfect, but who was faithful to her. Then you have Charlie, one of the few popular new male characters from a show and a producer that has consistently failed to create popular new male characters in recent years. (Remember Calum? The Moon brothers? Joey? Leon? Lee?) So what do we get? Yet another affair storyline that is based solely on the soap cliche that of course a sibling has to have it off with the spouse of their sibling. Getting a hard-on because you find out your wife might never wake up from a coma is pretty damn sick, stupid writing. And this just makes Roxy look like trash. Dominic Treadwell Collins still seems to think he can make Eastenders into another Dallas or Dynasty. Those shows had terrible last years for a reason. And one of the reasons is because of inane plots like what we saw last night. You are destroying the integrity of your characters for a “shocking” storyline NO ONE wants to see.

A piece of pint glass, I think.

I thought this last episode was one of the best I've seen on any soap in a while. I noticed it was written by Karin Young, who has written many of the episodes that feel "real" (one of my favorites was the cot death story for Laurel and Ashley about 7 years ago). I appreciated that every scene in the episode revolved around Katie's death, other than some brief bits with Priya, Rakesh, and Jai (even in soapland I have no idea how that man keeps a business going). Some of the performances were better than others, but seeing the various reactions, from friends (Leyla, Vanessa, Chas) to loved ones, to people who barely knew her, or just didn't care much (Val's one-liner about how much she'd enjoyed the wedding was a classic), really made it stand out. We got to see an actual community, which is so rare on soaps these days. Kelvin Fletcher was terrific in the final scenes, and I was impressed with the woman who plays Leyla too, but the Chas and Aaron scenes blew me away. It's been ages and ages since I've felt like they know how to write Chas or give Chas any purpose beyond being a mother or a girlfriend or a barmaid, so getting to see those awful self-destructive, nasty tendencies in her again were a welcome return. She felt like the "real" Chas again. I loved the scene where she cried to James that she was pushing Aaron away again, and Aaron was listening through the door. So "soapy" in the way soaps should be, so raw, so perfectly acted.

To me Dan's death sort of made sense storywise, but Paul's definitely did not. Is the 65 stuff when Eileen was back to finish out her story, or was she back for good? Promo about a minute into this of the somewhat silly "Lily in Montega" story (this story ended with her getting a scar, which probably would have led to more story if Martha hadn't quit). I think the guy with Cricket is Alexander Walters (Mark Kasnoff).

Great work from Tricia Cast in the last clip. She was such a unique actress and Bill Bell did a great job writing for her. No other show had a character like Nina. Bierdz wasn't much of an actor, but he did connect well with her. The last scene is sad for so many reasons. I keep forgetting Philip isn't actually dead. Maybe that's for the best. Surprisingly strong chemistry between Chase and Derek in that second clip. It doesn't help that they look like gay porn stars of that era. Of course no soap was going to go there...then and not even now. Chase was so cute.

Thanks. That's a fun read.

Watching some of that May episode... I think that may be Jill's most ridiculous outfit ever. She looks like a festive placemat with wings. I didn't realize Philip was still alive at this point. For some reason I thought he'd died in April. Poor Katherine. Jeanne so overwrought...one of a kind. I wish they'd had her fall off the wagon again around this point. I guess because Margeurite Ray spent most of her decade on the show focused on the Abbotts, but I tend to buy her more with the family, whereas VRF I did believe as caring about the family, but I connected with more in scenes with Dru and Olivia.

You're all such talented writers! I had a few ideas too, but not much, really. Mostly just about Vanessa taking control of Spaulding from a very immature Lizzie and this causing a lot of ugliness in the family. And I would have had about 3 people return from the dead, which probably would have annoyed people...

I saw one of the people from that biphobic show begging Frankie Grande to appear. They must be desperate. (I don't mind Kenya - just hate the show)