DRW50

Poor Becca. In the long run I don't think her exit was worth it...I kind of wish she and the baby (who is all but invisible anyway) had gotten to leave Chester.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ORFfW-MCPI&feature=related

Thanks for the videos! A few 2003 or 2004 clips I've never seen before. Of Chloe, Izzy, Mandy, and Becca at a spa. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hy-WZ7PpXBk&feature=related

Happy days! http://www.digitalspy.com/soaps/s2/eastenders/spoilers/a239076/darrens-devastated-as-jodie-dumps-him.html

In one sense, it was obvious from early on that the show was putting Kat/Alfie and Sharon/Dennis together, so that was preordained, but they did at least take a little more time to build them up. It seemed like Ronnie and Jack were thrown together almost immediately and the will they/won't they stuff started almost immediately. The whole thing was a burden on the actors because they were already being sold as a supercouple without anyone knowing if they were or not, like what happened with Sam and Jax on GH. Steve Owen and Mel were also thrown together, and I wasn't a huge fan of them either, but it tends to depend on the couple. I do think that it works best when you don't write characters based on relationships. Sharon and Michelle, for instance, were both very well established so that they did not need to be in a certain relationship in order to be popular. Otherwise Sharon never could have had a successful return after being in such a huge relationship with Grant for so many years. On the one hand I could say that some of the reactions to Libby slapping Adam were a bit cheesy but on the other I did appreciate that they were trying to bring some fun and some community spirit. I also think that Roxy is much better suited to this type of story, and her friendship with Christian, than the dramatics. So far Kirkwood is doing well with her. I've complained before about some of Ronnie's sexual abuse story but I think they've gotten it right lately. The scene where she saw the video of herself as a little girl was harrowing. I must say that I am surprised at how on the edge they are going with this storyline, it's one of the more unsettling stories of this type I've seen in recent years.

I will have to watch these last few episodes soon. I really like Val. I don't know if you've seen the 2004-2005 stuff with her but she had some great moments, although she was a real wild card back then, a tornado. I think Anita Turner made her too much of a joke, and that turned some against Val, but Charlie Hardwick is a wonderful actress and she has such a special bond with Diane. I hope that Val will have more to do eventually.

I think Lucy was smiling to show support, and Libby smiled back. I thought that Libby's line about pushing Adam off a cliff was excellent, but a lot of the other parts of this story were a bit forced. Giving Peter and Lucy scenes to themselves isn't the best idea, as they aren't the strongest of actors (Melissa Suffield tends to spit out all of her lines). I also didn't like how Adam used his being a paraplegic to try to shame people, as he's done before. I don't believe that a show has an obligation to show someone who is handicapped in a certain way, but I've been surprised at just how crass and one-note this character has been, increasingly so over the last four or five months. I don't know if this was supposed to be daring or what. At least he did have one or two scenes trying to comfort Libby, so that's better than nothing. This is the type of thing which the show has veered more and more towards in the past decade or so, ready-made couples, they were just sold from the start and we were supposed to love them because...we were supposed to love them. I never had any idea why I should want Ronnie and Jack together, although the show is finally giving them some everyday scenes, which is a nice change. Those scenes where Ronnie was on the bed with the magazines torn up were very sad. I also really liked the scene with Roxy and Glenda, that was the first time they've ever genuinely connected. Did anyone else think that doll looked like the outfit Roxy wore in that promo for Roxy and Ronnie's debut? I don't really care about Christian and Syed as a couple, although at least Syed once or twice managed to have a smile around Christian which did not look like the Joker painted it on. I'm more interested in Zainab's reaction. I liked the scene where she automatically set Syed's place at the table. I'm glad that they aren't having her say or do nutso things just because they want viewers to be shocked, which is what kind of spoiled the aftermath of the reveal. I'm also glad that people are finally confronting Phil about his poor parenting instead of just turning a blind eye as he abandons his son for months, as he has done before whenever he has a hard time. I think he has a few more appearances.

I don't know why I forgot about Nell Carter, as I loved her performance -- I guess it was because she wasn't around long. I especially loved her scenes with Sarah Felder, there was this very unique, strong energy emanating from those characters which made the show stand out and which I missed when Siobhan just became a mob wife. I remember that Tracey said years later she didn't enjoy her time at the show, although I think she blamed that on being a new cast member on a show that had been on for years and already had established relationships between actors.

I think he chose to leave the show -- you're right that they should have given Joe a child. It was also a poor decision to kill Joe off, if you ask me. They made a lot of mistakes with the Sugdens.

Yeah I comment too much, I can't help it, sometimes I worry that the person uploading thinks no one cares. I love those early episodes but I don't want to go through them too fast. I should though. I especially enjoy the family atmosphere and the scenes with Sam or Annie or Matt. I look forward to the Jack scene -- they did something similar about 15 years later when Frank Tate whipped and kicked a man who had an affair with his wife Kim. I wonder if this is the last time they showed Home Farm until the early 80s when Alan Turner moved in. Frazer Hines revealed today that he's been battling cancer for eleven years. http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/news/Emmerdale-star-reveals-11-year-cancer-battle/article-2427684-detail/article.html

You're ahead of me. I'm up to the part where Trash dies. My favorite part of the story with the Verneys is the vicar, I really like him, he's such a natural character, a good man but not sanctimonious or fake.

Wasn't 1968 around when LOL's ratings started to slide? I remember reading that Van divorcing her husband (Paul Raven!) was too much for some viewers. I guess campus unrest stories wouldn't have helped. It's interesting how in 1966-1968 several soaps suddenly began featuring black characters, albeit in supporting roles, to at least try to acknowledge changing times. Sad to think that 40 years ago some soaps were more progressive than today. I didn't know they had a twin story all the way back in 1961 or 1962. Were Maggie and Kay the first identical twins on soaps? Jonathan Moore ended up dying didn't he? Thanks for that clip AMS! That seems very natural, especially for the soaps of the time, don't you think? The cheesy singing, asking her to join in, she says she wishes she could play guitar, and so on. The whole thing, and the way they're dressed, seem a bit more current to the time than you'd expect. That's kind of underscored by that organ music intruding at the end.

I guess where I wish they'd focused on Syed first is that they bill the story as being about a man and his faith but generally it's been more about will they/won't they and a secret affair. I think a month or two showing Syed struggling privately, perhaps have an old boyfriend show up in Walford to try to see Syed, then after that, the relationship with Christian could have started. But I do agree that the story certainly has captivated some viewers. I do wonder about that. Christian was initially very wild, he had a lot of parties and one-night stands. After the complaints about his kissing scene with one of his short term boyfriends, that was toned down, and then with Syed they toned it down even more, because they didn't want to cause offense. So now will they bring back any of that aspect of Christian? Eastenders, like all other soaps, have never really had a very sexual gay couple, so it will be interesting how this is handled, and how Christian's life is handled. I wish they could use this opportunity to bring in one or two more gay or bisexual characters, male and female. It seems like when I look at various boards Zainab tends to get more blame than Masood, perhaps because she's had the more extreme moments. I just hope that none of this causes people to not ever be able to accept her character, because before this started late last year she was becoming a very popular character, and now it seems like she's often seen only in the light of Syed's judgmental mother. I hope soon they will give her other material, because Nina can play anything. Poor Cheryl Fergison. I hope this story is a wind-up... http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/showbiz/news/a245958/fergison-lover-cheryl-is-fat-and-old.html

And OLTL has done this story three times -- it happened again in 1990 with Max. I wonder if that's some kind of record.

Let's just say that I am hoping that is one of these fake spoilers the show is supposedly planting. I like Gail a lot more than many fans seem to like her, but it's just becoming a joke.

Used to always want to hear this on jukeboxes... The Jets - You Got It All Over Him http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOTEA_pdE-4

That's interesting. Not a lot of shows would write out their most popular actress just because they couldn't write for her. Was this at a time when the Ames were being phased out?

With Craig the show seemed to try to say that he still desired women and the only man he cared about was John Paul. They just did such a poor job of showing Craig's point of view that it often seemed he wanted both John Paul and Sarah, or he only wanted John Paul so no one else could have him. With Syed, they have tried to say he has never loved any woman and he has only ever loved or wanted men. I don't think Marc Elliot ever put that across in his scenes with Amira. I really wish they'd had Syed's coming out storyline before he ever got involved with Christian, because the lines have been so blurred, and instead of being happy that Syed has accepted his being gay, I end up thinking that he is just rushing into a relationship instead of actually taking time to figure out where his life should go. The other problem is that the show has implied that everyone should accept Syed's relationship with Christian and that goes hand-in-hand with accepting Syed's homosexuality, when actually I think the Masoods have very good reason to not accept his relationship with Christian, even if they accept that Syed is gay. I agree with you, that her kids love her, and she can be overbearing and they have to love her in spite of that. I think where I get confused is when they go back and forth over whether Masood or Zainab should be more to blame for some of the problems with how they reacted to Syed. Sometimes Masood has thrown all the blame on Zainab, and they have Zainab saying and doing crazy things while Masood feels sorry for Syed. Yet on other occasions Masood led the charge in driving Syed out of the family.

Wow, saynotoursoap. I've never heard a story like that. That's nuts. I guess they didn't do that again when Dorian Lopinto took over? I see what you mean about P&G and permanent understudies. When I was watching an ATWT episode from the early 90s, Graham Winton was there as Caleb, even though Michael David Morrison was still alive at that time.

I definitely agree that Nina is a better actress than Wendy Richard. Wendy wasn't so much of an actress as she was a personality, which probably suited Pauline. You tend to see Wendy "acting" more early on. As the years went by, Pauline BECAME Wendy, and vice/versa. I don't think that Nina and Zainab have that much in common. The main difference between Nina and Wendy is that EE did such a great job of setting up a family unit around Pauline, one which lasted for years. I don't think Zainab has that. Too often her scenes end in her family shunning her or barely tolerating her. Mark and Michelle and even Martin loved their mother, she was not simply a gorgon, at least not until near the end. I wish there was more complexity and more family happiness in the Masood scenes. This is one of the reasons I want Shabnam to come back, not because I think she will add happiness but because it's another dynamic to add to the family. The Fowlers had Pauline/Michelle, Pauline/Pete, Michelle/Arthur, Pauline/Mark, Michelle/Mark, and Lou's relationships with her kids and grandkids. They alone could have had their own show for years. I thought that the wedding episode was very well-acted...what I really loved in this episode were the scenes where Zainab finally told Masood about his nasty brother putting the moves on her, and Masood throwing him and his wife out of the house. Other than that the fight between Christian and Zainab was probably the high point. That was John Partridge's best acting moment on the show, and to his credit, he told Nina Wadia to actually hit him, and hit him hard. The fake slaps on this show are ridiculous (see just about any scene with Pat or Peggy) and a fake slap in this moment would have thrown you out of the drama. In terms of the writing, I thought this had some of the same flaws as the rest of the storyline, which is a) I don't believe Syed and Christian are in love b ) they are both immature and they use people while acting like victims c) they are both ridiculously melodramatic at all times. And this episode, like the scene where Masood punched Christian, involved Christian going on about the hot sex he and Syed had. Christian claims to care so much about Syed but more than once I have gotten the feeling that he just enjoys the idea of this forbidden affair, that if Syed were some guy he met in a club, he wouldn't have been interested after the first night. Christian has a history of wanting men he can't have. He did this with Jane's husband and with Steven Beale. The other thing which bothered me was that Christian was basically doing his best to break a woman who was in the last stages of a risky pregnancy. The original plan supposedly was for this baby to be stillborn. If that had happened, then even though I'm sure the show would have found a way to not blame Christian and Syed, I would have put a lot of blame on Christian. I don't know why they changed the decision, if they did, but I'm very glad they did. What always stays with me is how long Syed kept this lie going, even when he knew he was going to hurt so many people. Sometimes I think the show would rather viewers believe that Zainab knew about Syed for ages and pushed him to be with Amira because she knew he was gay. I feel like I might enjoy his work more if I only watched occasionally. I have seen him do the exact same mannerisms so many times (the Shakesperean yelling, the teary eyes, the terrified look, the glazed over smile), in so many scenes, that I can't tell the difference between Syed leaving his family behind or Syed getting the wrong packet of cereal. I also think that they should have played down the stuff with Amira because even now I have a hard time believing he never loved her. He had so much more chemistry with her.

I don't know the exact times she was there, I think it was 1989-1991 or so. She did the Eden's rape story.

Thanks for all the information. I still wonder sometimes why Clem vanished without a trace and then they didn't have any other black characters until the last few years of the show. So did Faith and Jill make up in 1982 and then they were close until Faith left the show? Who were your (or anyone reading this) favorite actors for each recast role? For me, although I haven't seen some of the later actors... Mary - Kate Mulgrew Delia - tie between Ilene and Randall Siobhan - Sarah Felder Pat - tie between Malcolm Groome and John Blazo Nancy - Nana Visitor Faith - I'm tempted to say "None" but I guess Catherine Hicks Frank - Daniel Hugh Kelly Joe - Richard Muenz

Do you agree with those who think JFP ruined the show?

Yeah, there were one or two episodes around Jack's shooting that weren't too bad. Mostly when it involved Carol and Dot. Ricky and Bianca getting married and Carol returning wasn't bad either. I was watching some special last night, 30 Years of An Audience With (an ITV show), and when they showed a clip from the Spice Girls appearing on the show, I guess in 1996 or 1997, they showed Barbara Windsor out in the audience, and I could swear Samantha Janus was sitting not far from her. I wonder if they remembered that when Sam went to Eastenders a few years ago.