DRW50

She signed it over to Peggy. She wanted nothing to do with the Vic at that time because she finally realized what Archie was. I think it's more than just disliking the story, I think that the BBC's firing of the story's central character is also involved. While it is messy, I guess I can't be that bothered because the story was so awful and made Jane look like a lunatic. I still shudder at the memory of her with the crazy eyes while watching the video of the woman giving birth. I do agree that fans should be annoyed at the long gaps (whereas I don't really see why people should be so shocked or disappointed at the gap in story for the Masoods, given that they just ended a big story this spring/summer, one that clearly ended earlier than expected because Preeya quit.)

I don't know if they really want you to invest in Jane's revenge plan against Ian. I think that was more Santer and DTC. Some used this story to talk about how bad Kirkwood is but Kirkwood would probably be playing this story heavily even without Lucy if it was his. It's a terrible story and Jane's baby rabies has been a terrible story for years. I remember Lauren as being very sullen at all times. She was barely seen for most of 2010, so that might seem like she was less upset, but I still remember how she would barely even look at Max as she left for summer camp. I think Lauren has been angst-ridden for her entire time on the show. I agree with you about bad continuity, but Phil actually does own the pub. Roxy signed the pub over to Peggy before the fire, and Peggy, after leaving Walford, signed it over to Phil.

I don't know if Karl would ever come back for more than a brief appearance. Blyth also has little interest in the Sugdens.

When wasn't Lauren full of moody angst? The Beales have probably been away because they have to recast Lucy.

I'd forgotten Cassie was already on the show when Ellen temped for Robin. Randall Edwards and Roscoe Born were getting together at this time in real life. They have nice chemistry onscreen (he had none with Ann Gillespie, probably best known as Kelly's loser mother on 90210). The best Delia fantasy was, "HELLO, DELIA!", but I guess that belongs more in the RH thread. What the hell... Back on topic for AW, here's Morgan Freeman a year or two before he was cast in Bay City.

I didn't know she was on Roseanne. She played Steve Aldrich and Carolee's daughter, I think. She left the show for Mommie Dearest. There's an interview with her I'll try to post when I find it again. There's a funny bit where she says that Joan gave her a watch after she accidentally hurt her during a scene, and in the interview she says something like it's a Timex and her mother VERY quickly says it's a much more expensive watch. You may already know this but Hillary Bailey Smith and Jean LeClerc also got their soap starts on The Doctors. Fortunately you will see this for yourself because Hallmark is going to start airing them...any year now. That is strange about Kathleen and Kim (if they'd been in Kath and Kim I might have watched it). They also have so much magnetism. Supposedly Kathleen never really did when she was on daytime, but who knows. I'm just sorry some of these soaps had to go off the air, I think with the right care they'd still be on today.

Here's a brief scene of Ellen Barber, when the new writers (Michael Tucker and some woman) gush over her.

Judith was on the show from summer 1981 to early 1982. She played Barbara Wilde the neurotic soap star who had spent 25 years on the Proud on the Passionate as the lead heroine and was obsessive about every detail. She knew that her career was over when the show was (and it was close to being canceled -- a lot of her outrage about the changes in the show basically is a mirror to the exact same stuff killing a lot of longrunning soaps at this time). She dated Seneca but got upset when she realized he didn't want her. She then choked on a canape and Roger had to save her life but she sued him because she claimed his milogram made her paralyzed. She was faking. The story became much less interesting when it became about the lawsuit and stopped being about the soap. Like many stories on the show at this time it felt made up as it went along and also lazy. Judith did not get along with John Gabriel/Seneca, and frankly, you could tell when they're onscreen together. There isn't a lot of her on Youtube. If I ever learn how to put my tapes onto Youtube you will see more! For now, here's a Casablanca fantasy: Judith also talks about RH in this interview, along with AMC and AW. Her story about going back to AW as a day player always makes me sad. http://www.welovesoaps.net/2010/02/wls-interview-archive-judith-barcroft.html

Since she is apparently still alive, if she's acting, OLTL should snap her up for a brief run. She can play Echo's mother, and clash with her like she clashed with Nola all those years ago. (and Kathleen Turner could pass as Kimmer's sister...) It's interesting seeing some of the old photos in the Digests, because for whatever reason there seemed to be tons of photos of the Doctors cast partying. Now I wonder if that's why they went off the air, because, in the words of Eddie Murphy, they partied all the time. One was "Kim Zimmer skates!" And you see Valerie Mahaffey skating too. If only we'd seen Alec Baldwin and Ian Ziering out there too. And the little girl from Mommie Dearest.

Yes, she was on for a few months in summer/fall 1981. She was Barbara Wilde's (AW alum Judith Barcroft) bitchy frenemy on the Proud and the Passionate. She would "joke" about Barbara being old and fat.

I've heard that but never seen her. But she was so good in her RH scenes. And she does look like Robin, especially the more exotic looking Robin of the 80s, before the big reddish hair and power suits.

How do you think I felt, for years I never knew her as anyone but Aunt Eugenia.

I was looking through a Digest from mid-1986 and they mention rumors that Judi Evans was going to join her then-fiance, Chris Whitesell, at AW. I guess that was just a rumor, but I wonder who she would have played. I can see her as Vicky/Marley. What did you guys think of Rhonda Lewin?

Yeah. I think, from what I read, she modeled for him. They got engaged, but there was conflict with Mike, because -- was it something about Ben's past, hadn't he been sent to prison for a robbery or something? I'm not sure. Anyway I guess Robin left or they fired her, and then Ben was with Eve and they brought Amanda in. Ben and Eve were married but they divorced because of his feelings for Amanda. You've probably already seen these, but there are some clips of the triangle under Mountains, and A Wanted Man. http://glmemories.blogspot.com/search?q=ben+eve+amanda

I don't understand why self-loathing Ste would quickly accept his sexuality. I also don't understand why there's a big following for a story which is all about how love = abuse and that gay men have nothing to hope for but being battered. And of course the guy who beats the crap out of other men is SO hot and SO sexy. To have this as the only story on the show involving gay men sends a very bad message. The bad pacing and the ongoing joke that is Brendan makes the story ridiculous. What annoys me most is Ste is a fantastic character but I don't know if there is any future for him on the show after this story. Marquess has dumped just about everyone else he didn't create -- Ste might just be another to go, after he has gone through the shock value storyline. It's pretty sad to me that British soaps now have nothing for gay men but pain and violence and misery -- between this and the ruining of anything of the Emmerdale story, the default story I like most is Christian/Syed, never exactly favorites of mine.

Rare interview with Barbara Knox and Eileen Derbyshire. Eileen rarely talks to the press. I'm glad they are being honored. I'm especially glad for Eileen because she gets little notice for being in Corrie for nearly 50 years. Emily has always been a strong supporting presence, and when she gets the chance to lead a story, she is brilliant. Emily is the type of character so often sneered at by soap fans as "boring" or "dead wood." The time that these characters leave is when soaps lose all connection to reality.

Also from this issue.

From the January 1977 Digest. S. O. D. Publishing Inc.

From the January 1977 Digest. SOD Publishing Inc.

Thanks. I will have to listen to those. I think RH went wrong other times (I blame Kimberly and the mob) but he does have a point. I was wondering if you could give us a recap of the 5-10 RH episodes from 1981 aired in 2007 but won't be aired this time around? I'm glad you enjoyed the articles. I have some more here and there, I think. That's interesting what Groome says about Pat. I wonder if he said anything about the time in 1976 that he decided not to do press because he had no story.

I saw it a while back, yeah. Great soapy moment. You could see where a lot of her eccentric characters came from.

I think it's lazy and Marquess probably wanted little to do with this story. He couldn't even bring anyone back like Craig, Debbie, or Steph's father. Or even Jake. He can bring someone back for the Valentines, and Warren, but not Steph.

We Love Soaps does a few video interviews but more would be nice. Soapnet moved pretty quickly towards treating viewers like they were morons, which took away plenty of great opportunities. I guess a Dobson special would have been great on Pure Soap, or the larger E! channel, back when that channel was actually entertaining. I'd already heard about some of the article from posters here, but the full read was very interesting. They're fascinating people. It's kind of sad when she said they'd tried to get jobs at other soaps but no one would have them. You can tell how much they loved the genre, and how much they loved the Santa Barbara characters.