DRW50

That really sucks She has consistently been one of the biggest delights on the show for so many years now. The McQueen family won't be the same without her.

I thought E20 was usually used to bring in new characters.

I like Jodie so far (Vanessa is a bit too rushed to invest in right now). I don't dislike Mercy's grandmother, but she is just such a caricature. She reminds me of Miss Cleo or the Pine-Sol lady. Kim is a delight and her scenes were the best in Monday's show. Tired of the attempts to make us pity Phil, oh he can't lose his kids, he's really trying! After being on a bender for days. Can't stand him. Denise is really coming into her own as a character lately. Today was one of the rare days I liked the way they handled the story with Darren and Heather having a son. I did hate when Heather was going on about Phil being a good father and when she had the tantrum with Ian. Grow up.

Monday's episodes... Still not interested in most of the Gail story, and the more Tina screws up her face like an eccentric aunt trapped in a young woman's body, the less I have any interest in seeing her. Yes she will eventually realize that her father wasn't a saint and Gail is innocent but the problem is they have removed this character so far from the core of the show that I don't know what is left for her. Clinging to Graeme is not enough. Gray O'Brien was just fantastic in these episodes, especially the first one, where his sarcasm and bitterness and pretending not to care were all jumbled up with his madness. I didn't care as much for the stuff when Maria showed up, although I did REALLY like the scene where Maria said she was walking out and when he said he'd shoot her, she said, "No, you won't." I also thought the little moments with the guy from Vicar of Dibley were strong. I wish they'd done more with him. The stuff where Carla and Hayley convinced him to turn against Roy were the most interesting part of the episodes. Carla has been a very difficult character from the start, because she is so often used as a bitch or as shrill or as some type of vamp. She's also very isolated from most of the canvas. Kim Crowther got the balance just about perfect for Carla for most of 2008, but her return hasn't worked, she doesn't really work with Trevor or with Nick (especially Nick), and when she starts the shouting I found myself wanting Tony to shoot her. If they can't fix this character then it may be time for her to go. There are a lot of surprisingly isolated characters on the show now, which is crazy, as Corrie is all about relationships between a community. The stuff at the pub was memorable for the brilliant line when Janice called Nick "Max Headrom". Love Janice.

How ironic that John Partridge talks about the Chryed story was beloved because viewers wanted to wait for the secrets to come out, when actually that part of the story was a huge afterthought compared to months of the same two or three scenes being repeated and further weeks of gay men being beaten and attempting suicide. Is it me or did the audience look kind of pissed off and nervous in every single clip? Is it because of that unpleasant Graham Norton? Santer continues to try to look cool and hip by not washing his hair and by wearing a tuxedo that belongs in an episode of Welcome Back Kotter. Thick of It <3 Armstrong and Miller <3

Thanks. Not a lot of answers about the character but a few more. I guess he doesn't think he'll be at Emmerdale much longer if he's angling for a job on Eastenders. I'm not sure whether to invest in the character if he's only going to be short term, there are already so many short term characters on the show. I doubt Kirkwood will hire any Hollyoaks people for a long time, because he will be trashed for that by a lot of fans.

That last shot of Duncan screwing up his face before the credits...ugh. I thought he was going to snort.

When I see Frank I'm always distracted by his bad rug (I hope it's a rug). Mandy was very OTT and very polarizing. Even now when people say bring her back, someone makes a face. Was Nick still on the show at this time? The guy who almost killed himself was Biff Fowler. He thought he was going to give his unborn child a serious disease. He didn't, he turned out to not have the gene (his father had died of the disease), but his wife Linda lost their baby, and later that year, her life. He was close friends with Betty and Betty's partner Seth. He last returned to the show for Seth's funeral.

I would have Kathy sleep with Jack Branning...no, just kidding. I'd have Ian begin disappearing for business trips or visiting family, and soon Jane begins to think he's lying to her. She uses this as justification to almost have sex with Masood. They stop because Jane gets a call from Ian, telling her he has to see her. She rushes to the hospital, thinking he or one of the kids was hurt, but then he introduces her to Kathy, who is still in a coma. Ian tells her that Kathy's been slowly recovering for years and he has kept quiet because he didn't want to traumatize Ben, who believed his mother was dead, and he was afraid that Phil, who was so desperate to get Ben back, would kill Kathy if he knew she was still clinging to life. Jane convinces Ian to tell the kids, believing that they will help Kathy get better. Jane herself feels guilty about Masood and is a bit nervous around Kathy, which could lead to story much later down the road if Kathy susses out what happened there. Kathy wakes up and begins to recover, but Ian keeps lying to her about where Ben is. Finally Lucy, angry at Kathy trying to be too stern with her, tells her that Ben is in a juvenile detention facility, about Stella's abuse, everything. Kathy can barely take the stress, but she says she's not going to let Ben down again. This starts a slow boil of very strong tension with Lucy. Ian wonders if Kathy doesn't like Lucy because of Cindy, but it's mostly because Lucy reminds her of Donna, one of the biggest regrets of her life, and a very toxic person. Meanwhile, a recast Ben is having a horrible time adjusting to the detention facility, and he ends up stabbing a bully boy in self-defense. For his own protection he's isolated. Lisa has taken Louise and gone into hiding, so Phil has nothing left but Ben. Phil becomes convinced that he should break Ben out and they can flee the country. Ian hears about this through Heather, who wants him to try to stop Phil. Ian tells Kathy he doesn't know what to do, he's afraid to get Ben in trouble, he doesn't know whether they should get the police involved. At the getaway place, one of Phil's hired men bring him Ben, and Phil tells him everything's going to be fine now. Ben suddenly looks shocked, and then smiles. Phil is beaming, assuming Ben is happy about the plan. Then, for the cliffhanger, Ben yells, "MUM!" and runs into Kathy's arms. Kathy hugs him and stares down a flabbergasted Phil.

When was he kidnapped by Martin? Does anyone else wish the show would just say "to hell with it" and say that Kathy isn't actually dead? Just say she's been comatose for years and some doctor kept her hidden away while she recovered. I have never thought bringing Den back was the problem, it was the storylines after his revival. There's tons of stuff for Kathy to do if she returns.

A classic episode featuring some of Kim Tate's prime malevolence -- she had faked her death and husband/rival Frank Tate was put in prison for her "murder." After he was back home, Kim surprised him, and watched as he lay dying of a heart attack. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YUFGCloHBk

I was about to post that article from the Sun. Don't you love how they try to make this into such a controversy and an outrage. REPLACED by OTHER, BETTER ACTORS!! You mean the bridal shop stuff? I read about that. I'd rather see them married than on the same push and pull they've been on for the past few years but I wonder if Sam will return and ruin their wedding.

Lacey and Barbara look good, especially Lacey. The other two, a bit garish; Laurie's outfit hurts my eyes. Radio interview with Jessie Wallace and Shane Richie. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xdkaix_shane-jessie-heart

It's been confirmed by Kris Green.

Not at all wrong. A lot of people would agree with you -- there was a very bitter fan war over that on several forums. I think Sam has often been a pointless/vapid character no matter who plays her, but I liked both Kim and Daniella. I thought the writing for Daniella Westbrook last time around was very one-dimensional and humiliating, the way she dressed and how she kept changing personality and motivation. If they had done more with her, and dropped the pointless engagement to Ricky which was never developed and was a bad plot device, she might have been better. When they had a special on her return I could have sworn they implied she was Archie's daughter, but then that never went anywhere. If she does come back, which I'm not too sure of (her exit seemed very final), it would probably just be for Peggy's exit, and Minty's.

I'd forgotten about that.

I don't know the track record for Daily Star and soaps, but every soap scoop they've had the past few days has annoyed me, so I hope it's false. Marquess did say he was going to have some stories to get away from the depressing atmosphere so I guess this might be one of them. I did think of the alien on GH, until I got to the boob-grabbing part. Casey the Alien going honk honk with Tiffany and Bobbie and Lucy would have been fascinating viewing.

Goodness. http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/view/138564/Alien-takes-star-role-in-Hollyoaks/ And apparently this is the exit for Zak and Kris: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/soaps/s13/hollyoaks/scoop/a223323/pic-kris-and-zaks-exit-from-hollyoaks.html

So, I looked through some of the Chryed thread at Digital Spy earlier today and one unconfirmed spoiler claims Some of the fans went a few days ago to the studio where Eastenders tapes and they said they saw

I meant Holly's friend, Rosie or, is that her name? They've had a lot of cheating stories but most of them haven't been about someone being in a happy relationship and then being attracted to someone else. That's one of the reasons I was hoping for more with Moira/John/Eve, I thought that could have had more dramatic potential if built over a longer period of time.

Sylph, that's very true, the teens are mostly about image. But it's been true of the show for the past few years overall -- Whitney, Christian, Syed, Ryan, Jack, they're a mile wide and an inch deep. I think one of the reasons they relied so much on returns is because they could use past history because they didn't create that much history themselves. There are some photos of Jodie up at Walford Web. She looks very nice, although her skirt looks like a toilet seat made by Iola Boylin. Don't forget that Emer Kenny looks too old to be a teen. They only brought her in to try to be "edgy" and because that's the cliched entrance scene for young women on the show. They never gave a reason to care. It would have helped if she didn't have marbles in her mouth.

Andy's arms looked very nice (although the back end is his best feature -- Emmerdale more than any other soap is the one where men in tight jeans are way too distracting). I liked his scenes with Adele, I think more could be done with this, with his regret, but at least they mentioned it again. I could have done without the part where he said he didn't take any pleasure out of abusing his wife, or whatever he said. Adele's not the best actress but she's decent and she has some rapport with Andy. She also seems to have strong arms of her own... David has been a bumbler for several years now, all the way back to his comic schemes with Nicola, but I'm surprised he didn't realize what this Tania woman was doing, setting him up. I wish they'd just gone for an affair story instead. She's a bit fake but she is attractive (nice cheekbones) and rich -- David would probably be tempted. Holly was a little better on Friday's episode. I'm glad the writers are having both Moira and John as making mistakes with Holly. I hope they aren't going to go there again with Moira/Marlon though. Adam Thomas did a good job in those scenes where Adam got Holly to come home. He's so good at the puppy dog eyes, and listening, and pleading. Does the girl Holly spends time with remind you of anyone? She's like a cross between Michaela from Hollyoaks and Victoria. I felt sorry for Doug on Friday, mostly when he realized Victoria was also no longer in his life. It was nice to see more of Alan. This is what a vet does for a show, they may not have a lot of story, but they're a comforting presence. I like the Nicola/Jimmy scenes where they are friendly more than when she snaps at him. Overall I enjoyed most of their scenes, and the stuff with Laurel and Nicola. One of the most believable friendships in soap. I did laugh when Jimmy was looking at his gut and when he talked about his wedding with Sadie. Has Nicola's mother ever been on the show? There are rumors going around that

Oh. I'm so dumb. I thought they meant someone else was Mark. I did see that part. It's way too early to tell but I actually kind of prefer this idea to the one of Lucas going around trying to save and then kill a prostitute.

You have a good point about whether the more recent viewers or younger viewers will keep watching. Kirkwood knows how to do stunts so that won't be a problem but if the tone of the show changes from what it has been for most of the past few years, which is generally shallow and doesn't explore that much, then I wonder if people will want to keep watching. And then there's the exits of some of the teen characters. I don't agree with the idea you sometimes hear that teens only watch for teens, but a lot of the younger viewers do seem to like Lauren, so that might cause some of them to lose interest (although she has barely been on most of this year anyway). I guess a lot depends on the new characters Kirkwood brings in and the stories. Generally I think Eastenders has been rebuilt enough to where it will still stay strong in the ratings as long as care is taken. They were lucky that the time between the live episode and the most recent episodes were not long enough that people would go away (it took several years of not so great episodes for viewers to leave starting in 2004, didn't it?). I've heard some fans say Shirley is being regressed, and I guess that's something I would complain about with some circumstances, but the problem is that Shirley has mostly matured because of a fantasy world. Her relationship with Phil and dealing with his kids -- she has built herself up for that. When it goes away, what is left of her? I'm sure Shirley will go back to enabling Phil soon enough. So I missed the part where Lucas talked about someone named Mark. What was that about? Is that part of the rewrite or is the woman Lucas saw at the end of the episode going to be his focus?

Well, you, Sylph, and Amello already seemed to cover everything, but I agree with what you said, there did seem to be a big change in tone. I asked myself if I was looking for this because I wanted to see it but I think it's more than that. Everything seemed much more extreme, in a good way. Like Shirley. There was no real reason to believe all those months she spent passively watching her little family fall apart. The Shirley we saw today was the real Shirley -- a very nasty and confused woman whose only solutions were getting drunk and lashing out. I thought the scene in Ian's kitchen was great. I LOVED the scene where Ian told the "teens" they were nothing special and then they all left. The best part was Fatboy's reaction when Ian said that Fatboy was a young Ian. I thought Mercy's grandmother was a little bit of a caricature, but she was OK. I wish they'd done more to introduce Mercy because as much as I like Mercy, how many viewers are going to be upset at someone they have seen for a week possibly leaving town? I liked that all the stories were weaved together. Liz and Grace talking before they went to their separate stories. Ian and Shirley/Ben/etc and Ian and the "teens". Liz and Grace being interrupted by Vanessa before she went to meet Max and Darren. Vanessa had a decent entrance. Low-key, but with some promise, which is what a soap entrance probably should be. The flirtation with Max wasn't too fast, and they had chemistry and they both looked very attractive. I thought Darren was a bit much but Max repeatedly telling him to back off was funny. The best part of the episode was the party at the Foxes. So many different personalities in that one room and it really was riveting to watch. Kim was very loud but she had some hilarious moments...my favorite part was when she led a toast to Jordan, ending in her screeching "JORDAN!!!" as fast as she could. I also liked the mention of a Dionne Warwick impersonator. The good thing about Kim is she isn't just a loudmouth, she's there to push buttons and help us get more insight into Denise's history. Repeatedly bringing up Owen and making Lucas and Liz squirm (it was a good writing choice to have Liz as the one who seemed to be the most like Lucas in those scenes). Encouraging Denise's wild side. And those scenes where a drunk Denise pleaded with Lucas to be with her, to want her. It was all very character-driven and a good start to what might be ahead.