DRW50

I'd like to know that too, about Robin. I was bewildered when I read these synopses and they talked about Matt/MJ. Doesn't that seem very random? I guess they had run out of ideas for the characters. So did Maggie lose her baby? I found another 1981 recap I had. This one is in the middle of the two September 81 I already posted. September 15.

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the Roxie/Alfie scenes on Thursday. It helps that they don't seem likely to be paired up. But I have never liked her with anyone and the "friendship" with Christian does not work for me.

I liked Nana, she was too cutesy, but I thought she was a nice character and worked well with Alfie and Kat. I also liked the Spencer/Alfie relationship. I just don't think Spencer worked on his own. Jake seemed popular. Danny didn't seem to be though. The problem is Michael seemed so dull...I have no real desire to ever see him again.

I think it makes some sense to show more of Alfie's family, but I don't really care about Michael. I hope his father is more interesting.

I think that Max still could have interacted with the women in his harem as well as the Brannings, if the writing had made the effort. In 2010 he was more involved with Stacey than he had been in years and he still had a lot of scenes with Carol. To me the Brannings are different than the Mitchells because the Brannings aren't steeped in tropes and nostalgia. There is no "famirrrrleeee" with the Brannings, there's no pub they revolve around, they don't have the same stories again and again, which I think the Mitchells generally did. The Mitchells falter as characters on their own, whereas the Brannings don't. But I agree that Jack could go and the family wouldn't suffer. It looks like one family will be expanding - the Moons. http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/soaps/s2/eastenders/news/a299682/david-essex-lands-eastenders-role.html Hey, Rita sang a David Essex song at Christmas. Bryan Kirkwood is ripping off Corrie1!11!!11

I think that bringing in Brannings generally works, as long as the casting and writing is there. They really bounce off each other well and the family is fascinating, they have so much baggage. I would like to see more of them while Carol is still there, because once Lindsey leaves (if she does) she may not ever come back. I think it only fails when they do a poor job establishing relationships, like they did for the first few years with Max/Jack/Suzy and then barely any interaction with Bianca or her kids. They had more Slaters a few years ago and they were barely in story together, it seemed. I'd like to see more Beales though. Two different posters at DS have said they heard the Sinead thing. I hope you're right though.

Great scene with Sonia and Carol. Not the most flattering hairstyle for Sonia. The Brannings do family drama better than anyone. There are all kinds of rumors going around DS, one that Derek Branning and his two sons (late teens and somewhere in twenties) will be announced soon. Another is that someone said a Hollyoaks actor told them Sinead Moyenhan has been cast as a love interest for a new Branning. If that's true...I didn't hate her as much as some fans did, but of all the Hollyoaks actors to bring over, why the wooden Sinead? She was Rhys' sister/lover, Beth.

January 19, 1982 Digest. This should cover the last few days of 1981, or part, right? MichaelGL I don't want to post too many too quickly as I don't know if you might only have time to read some, so when you want to see the 1982 I have please let me know.

Wow. Nothing against the actor, but I can see why you've all said he was not right for the role of Derek. He looks like Mike Karr from Edge of Night.

December 8, 1981 Digest.

From the October 27, 1981 Digest.

I read that too. You can already hear the hype starting, about how fantastic this is and what a blow to Eastenders, and isn't it fantastic. I actually laughed when I read that about "strong female characters", because Collinson has ruined any strong female character Corrie ever had. The women on the show now are shockingly weak and exist only to be dominated by men. Any time they try to make a decision on their own, they fail miserably, and men have to save them. He's even turned poor Eileen into another one of these twits. Collinson is also terrible at camp, and he's terrible at bringing in new characters. So what is there to look forward to exactly? Corrie gets a lot of praise at the moment no matter what it throws up on the screen, so I'm sure this will be no different, but it's going to take a lot more than stunt casting to make up for the bad writing and regressive, depressing atmosphere which has taken over the entire show. Michelle Collins worked well as Cindy because of the writing and because of the mating of artist and character. Nothing else I've seen her in since has come close. I just hope she takes a look at the disaster of Tracy Barlow's return and makes sure her great pal Phil doesn't give her the same [!@#$%^&*] writing and directing.

October 13, 1981 Digest.

From the September 22, 1981 issue.

OK. I am putting up another 1981 now - any other year you're interested in just let me know. This is from the September 1 issue.

From the December 1977 Digest.

For some reason I thought Weiss killed Sara off. I guess now it makes more sense if so many others also went, as it seems like Sara should have been a major character, especially to balance Nola. I think that a lot of these soaps did get into the pattern of changing for the sake of changing, not for good reasons. It probably doesn't help that they had exhausted their core characters - reading the recaps it seems like the only one who wasn't exhausted was Maggie. Did you get to read the ones from 1976 or were those ones you'd already read? I don't have any more from then. I do have some from 1977, 78, 79, and 80, so if you are looking for any specific time let me know and I'll try to find it. In a few minutes I'm going to put up some more from 1981-1982.

Did Vanessa always dislike Leslie or did that not start until later?

I didn't know Katherine/John did any skinny dipping...I hope it wasn't the same place Jack/Jill did.

My apologies - I don't have a lot of 81-82. Through the day I'll print what I have. Here is the recap from the March 31, 1981 Digest.

Vanessa saw Leslie as a nice and sweet young woman who would be Lance's ideal. My guess is that if Leslie/Lance had ever been a serious couple she would have hated Leslie too. I don't know how Leslie left for sure.

Jean le Clerc was part of a story about a woman who stayed young and beautiful through a serum he provided. He fell in love with her daughter and some triangle ensued. At the end of the show, she'd gone to her natural age, and she sat in the church watching him marry her daughter. I think she might have been the one who had the line about, "This town thinks Brecht is a hairspray."

I think that a lot of longtime viewers would have been put off, but then by that time many longtime fans had given up on the show. It sounds interesting to me in the recaps, I wish I could see it. Alec Baldwin didn't seem to be all that thrilled with the show when he was interviewed a few years later - he said that he realized not long after he joined that this was a show where magazines weren't going to be calling him up for interviews, no photographers at the door. I think he said David O'Brien called it something like "off-off-daytime." I'm sure the cast got on (Alec and Kim Zimmer seemed close from what she said), but it must have been grueling, those last few years.

March 1977 Digest recap. I think this would count as being at the end of 1976, but I might be wrong. Let me know.

January 1977 Digest, which means this should still be in late 1976, right? If not let me know.