DRW50

June Brown said about ten years ago that if they moved to 5 nights a week, she would quit.

http://stopthecap.com/2011/01/03/telecom-deregulation-fails-canadian-consumers-mediocre-broadband-now-comes-with-limits

I think that 5 nights could work under the right circumstances. The last few weeks of 5 episodes to 6 episodes have added some real momentum to the stories. The question is beyond the production issues, are the characters and actors strong enough? I don't know. But this is the strongest cast the show has had in years and years - I'd say this is their strongest female cast ever - and at least 5 episodes might give more focus to characters who are being left behind, like the Masoods.

Have you heard about the rumors of Eastenders going to 5 nights a week? Nobody tell June Brown.

The thing is this story will likely help to improve viewer knowledge of cot death -- it's not like someone will watch and decide to steal a baby. This story is something that can be good drama and also help teach a lesson. All this complaining has done nothing but neuter soaps, and what annoys me is that the stuff I find most offensive is never complained about. Why don't people complain about the horse sh!t Jane story? I find the message that Ian's child Bobby was not good enough for Jane to be more offensive than this mess.

Graham is sitting in this scene with Kathy. Stupid Angie, obsessed with moving to the village...and then she died. Don't move to a soap town, ever!

The climax of the story used to be on Youtube but was taken down last fall. Sorry This is an episode from around that time, but Graham isn't in it.

Thanks for sharing these with us. Malcolm is still into this type of stuff now. It's too bad he doesn't do more acting, but he seems to be happy. I think Clem was dropped from RH not long after that article. What a waste.

It's nice that he's so passionate about the show, but a lot of his tone in the interview sort of reflects onscreen - obvious and trying too hard. When I see Silas I don't think menacing, I think the show trying too hard to make him seem menacing, which means the other characters look foolish for not realizing what he is. I also kind of rolled my eyes when his well-meaning comments about the pain transgender people go through were put beside that ridiculous photo of "Jason" with long hair curled up in a hat. Most of the Jasmine/Jason story, while well-acted by Victoria Atkin, has seemed distant, and sometimes like some princessy martyrdom fantasy, especially the unnecessary and distracting self-harming scenes, where her music box plays and off she goes. Jacqui/Rhys don't work at all and their story "dividing" people and "will they get back together" makes me wonder if the show realizes they don't work. I also got a laugh when he basically said he cast Emmett Scanlan because he looked good in a pair of jeans. Scanlan's acting choices kind of baffle me, so this helps explain his hiring. At least Amy will be back, even if it's in a crappy story with Lee and the atrocious Leanne. I still wonder if those rumors that Brendan was supposed to kill Amy were true. Now they are backpedaling and they want Brendan to stay around, so that means it's time to make Ste look bad. I wouldn't be surprised if Ste is gone by this time next year -- this story has never made sense and now that it's becoming about Ste being abusive again, it will just alienate even more. I don't buy Bart as a McQueen for a minute. I also don't buy him as a teenager. I think Mitzeee is extremely out of place, and Brendan is also shoehorned into the show. The Costellos are still a confusing and cold family, most of whom have no believable relationships, and with badly miscast actors in the roles of Riley and Seth, and I might say Heidi too. That's the problem. All that story was burnt through in about a month, and they were left with nothing. They basically ARE nothing.

Wow -- they really will be sending her character out with a whimper.

I would guess either Terry or some minor character like the cop or that weird man who wants Lisa.

Brenda looks the best, but the others look like pop-ups from a very odd children's book...aside from Viv, who looks like some sort of X-Men supporting character circa 1985. Viv IS the leader of the Morlocks.

You can see why he grew the facial hair. He must have been on the show off and on for a few months. In spring or summer they had some scenes where Zoe and Kelly humiliated him and the character was fired from his job.

She has to move back - Max has a life without her. Can't have that. Get ready for the "Tan" obsessionpalooza. It will be 2008 all over again. I guess that's why they had Max stripped off for the episode - a consolation prize. Since poor Jake Wood still doesn't get any recognition for his acting I'm going to mention those Rear of the Year awards again. Wake up people.

So apparently,

I guess he uses that to vent, but what he doesn't realize is that Eastenders being so high-profile is a double-edged sword. If he were on a show like Eastenders, the stories he's been given, especially the one with Jackson's paralysis, would have been flayed alive by the press and a lot of fans. Did you see that really awful promo photo for the fire? I haven't seen such bad Photoshopping since Out of Our Asses.

Clare's return was soul-destroying, and trashed Nigel in the bargain. But then what can you expect.

Poor Jake Wood

Ha ha, the best part of this is the look on Denise's face. I should warn that the clips starts off very loud so turn your volume down! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPPjKvcQO6E Kim really is the best comic relief character they've created in years and years. Little Mo is on a reality show. http://famousandfearless.channel4.com/celebrities

That's very interesting stuff. I think Kate's Mary would have made a more believable cop than Siobhan, and might have given more story than the reporter stuff. I can't imagine Faith/Jack at all! I wonder if this plan is why they had Jack and Jill as previous lovers.

I think it's more down to Melissa Suffield's firing. They have run concurrent stories before. I think they just don't know what to do with Jane or Ian. I'd rather they have Amira and her baby return, as you mentioned. It's a bit odd if they ignore that while having Syed and Christian want another child. Unless Glenda miscarries, or she decides to give the baby to Ronnie, and this leads to a big ugly fight, and Syed/Christian lose, only to then have Amira or her child with Syed come into their lives. Some have suggested that Jane should have been the one to be in a baby swap, not Ronnie. While I guess I can see that, I think that Ronnie, even though many have said this is the end for her, can recover better than this from Jane. I think that the existence of Bobby, even if he was ignored by the show for much of 2010, has made Jane look very unsympathetic to a lot of viewers.

There are some claims that she was contractually obligated, under Kim Crowther, to make this return. Was this the paper that claimed Betty Driver was retiring? But then they got Eddie Windass' firing right. I'm sure some will say that if this was a brief return this is why they show had Tracey so OTT, but I still think this story has been a mistake. It's about the damage done to Tracey, but even moreso about the damage done to other characters -- it's going to take a while for me to forget about how the Barlows have acted since her return. Her return also served as a momentum-killer, as the ratings have shown, and the other stories aren't so fantastic that there will be a guaranteed ratings recovery once she's gone again. If this was done to make Becky more sympathetic then I think that was also a mistake -- the only thing that will make Becky more sympathetic is to stop having her on the show so much and to move away from the constant baby obsession.

I do remember that story, although I've mostly just seen a few clips so far. He made Rachel look like the image of his ex, and then when she stupidly confronted him on a cliffside, he threw her over. I think this story was a mistake, because the actress who played Rachel might still be on the show today, and they need more Sugdens. The end of the story was when Graham, who had started to date Kathy, was in a car with Kathy and they were perched on the edge. They were going over the edge, and Eric Pollard and Biff Fowler saved her. Graham was killed in the explosion/drop. Eric was annoyed that not enough people recognized his heroism, and he sold the story to the papers. I can't remember if this was before or after Biff jilted Kathy at the altar. The woman who played Rachel started on the show with her real life brother playing her brother on the show, Matthew. He was killed off in the late 93 plane crash (another dead Sugden relative). She said she was very guilt-ridden about staying on the show after he was fired. EmmerdaleFarmer has put up a few more clips from 1994, including the brief story arc with Eric's first wife Eileen.