DRW50

Jo was seen as a bit of a tart and a homewrecker for several years. She seemed to become more popular in her last year on the show. Roxanne Pallett isn't the greatest actress but she did some wonderful work in the wife-beating story with Andy. I also loved seeing her become friends with Debbie, which helped Debbie decide to take a more active role in her daughter's life. I'm not sure why Nicola and Laurel became friends. They've been friends for quite a few years, probably not too long after Laurel joined the show in 2002 or 2003. Laurel was a lot like Paddy's wife Emily (one of my favorite characters in the older episodes), very fidgety and nervous. I think the show saw it as a good contrast for the nervous Laurel to be friends with headstrong Nicola. Daniel's death episode was around the time they were writing Nicola as trying to kill her husband; thankfully that story didn't last long. Probably the character who has changed the most over the years is Jimmy.

At the time I originally watched that I thought he was serious, but he was joking...not too well I think it would have been interesting if he'd been gay, and in love with Daz (they were very close friends), but he wasn't. He desperately chased after Jo, then he dated Jasmine for a while.

I think the show is good right now, not perfect, but most of it is decent, a lot of good acting and some interesting characters. I think it's easy to enjoy the episodes, they're a good way to pass time, and sometimes there's something really great to be found. The 2009 stuff isn't anything that MUST be watched, it's just something that you may want to see if you want some build up to what is happening now. The only stuff from that time period I'd definitely recommend is Lexi King, Carl's wife, slowly falling apart and finally nearly committing suicide on the hospital roof. That was very good stuff, and helped lead into the story where Carl and Chastity got back together and broke Paddy's heart, which pushed Chas further away from Aaron, a story that is being echoed at the moment. For a long time Emmerdale had a very complex history which would build for years and years and if you didn't know some of this it would almost feel like all the pieces of a puzzle weren't put together. But the show has lost a lot of characters over the past few years and most of the older characters they do have have been reset, so it's not difficult to get into the show now. You may have already seen these but these are some great clips of some of the best moments on the show in recent years, like when Debbie gave birth to Sarah, Charity's exit in 2005, and Laurel and Ashley losing baby Daniel in 2008, one of the best soap episodes I have ever seen. http://www.youtube.com/user/awweson1#g/c/6DB9194C7ABC9CDB

One of the reasons I liked Natasha is because she wasn't a big player. She was a fun, entertaining supporting character. She often made me laugh or smile. And now apparently she's leaving in some miserable way. As Ben mentioned, why are these fun supporting players going while the deadwood continues to stay??

I was very fond of Little Mo for several years. Unfortunately they ran out of ideas for her and seemed to think that they needed to just keep victimizing her. To have her raped a second time was very questionable, and even the producer at the time now regrets this. She was eventually in a love triangle with Kat which, for whatever reason, was extremely unpopular with viewers. The whole Christian/Syed plot is very popular in some quarters, and considered groundbreaking. I think I'd be more drawn in if they actually delved into these issues about Syed's faith (they took a large backseat) and if they hadn't just paired up two men who don't work very well together but happen to be gay, but hopefully they won't keep Christian and Syed together, instead using this story to explore Syed as a character in his own right, his struggles, his religion. Two things I will say about the EE of the past few years -- it is very in love with the idea of its own legend (which is why they have had so many characters return), and it is a show where the stories are fairly meaningless. It's become about archetypes. Someone will always be a fool. Someone will always be depressed. The stories just circle in that pattern. The show has several very strong characters and they're the main asset; the community and the tone of the show itself are less important.

I think she will have the baby, as she already lost one child and she's lost Bradley, but I wouldn't be surprised if someone else ends up raising it. I guess there's always Lynne, offcamera. She never had a child.

You really have to wonder if the only reason Stacey got any big story over the last year was because they knew Lacey was going. The same for Bradley? Remember their brilliant story for most of 2008? Callum frigging Monks.

I'm afraid these cast departures may make them more likely to keep the teens around. This has all been so poorly handled -- Whitney was obviously someone they had high hopes for yet they have damaged her very badly over the past months. And Zsa Zsa is obviously someone they see as their future, yet they cast a middle-aged troll doll who can barely even manage to hide her accent. How did that happen? Who is in charge of the casting on this show now? They've messed up a lot of key roles the past few years. Zsa Zsa, Danny, Syed... I know you mentioned the baby. I wonder if Janine will do something to harm the baby, or threaten to, and Ryan lets Stacey leave with the child. Either that or as you mentioned, Ryan never finds out he's the father.

I think they're going to make Lucy into a mini-Janine. I sure hope they can get their teens into some good acting classes.

I think Lacey will either just do small stuff, or return to EE within a few years. I don't think they'll bring back any Slater sisters. Little Mo was an exhausted character, Lynne would have no point in returning, Michelle Ryan would never return, unless it was for a brief visit, maybe, and Belinda apparently no longer exists. I won't be surprised if they fire Laila Morse and just have Kat without a family, running the Vic. I really do believe someone at the show probably thinks Whitney and Zsa Zsa can replace Stacey. I was going to say I'm happy because this means no Sean, but then I remembered Sean rarely spent time with the Slaters anyway.

You have to wonder if this is why they are trying to build up the woeful Zsa Zsa. In their mind they probably see her as the new Stacey. Eastenders has so many characters who are being poorly written at the moment, and just about every single new character brought in over the past few years has been either a dud, or squandered. I wonder what they are going to do when they're left with 4 nights a week of wooden teens, Syed, Heather, Tanya, and Roxy Mitchell.

That explains why they were so happy to make her Archie's killer. They wanted to just pile all this mess on Stacey as fast as they could because they knew she was going and it wouldn't matter in the long run. This makes me wonder if those rumors about Sam Janus leaving are also true.

I wonder about Lacey though, her career I mean. She's one hell of an actress but she's not a Hollywood beauty and she is very, very low-key. She doesn't like to do press, she doesn't go around degrading herself, she often looks miserable when she's at the soap award shows. The way they painted Stacey into a corner, I wondered if they knew she was leaving, but I'm still a bit shocked, as she still had a few stories left to play. Getting rid of Jean I see as a mistake, because Gillian Wright is one hell of an actress, but then, what could they do with her if Stacey is gone? I just hope they won't kill Jean off I also have no idea why they fired Charlie if Stacey AND Jean are going. Kat is going to have, what Big Mo left? Come on. Big Mo is OK but she's a mid-level supporting character and always has been. Kat is not going to have anyone.

You did a great job. I would have had about ten million paragraphs and no one would want to watch after that. AMS if you want to see episodes from July-December 2009: http://www.youtube.com/user/EmmerFan

That's a clever headline. Not quite as good as Headless Body in Topless Bar, but close...

The Sun must be loving this. They hate Brown. There are some Labour names who are saying this is all a setup or the media is being biased, but there really is no one to blame for this but Brown and his handlers. To put him in that situation when he apparently is not very good socially, then to forget to take the mike off -- that's stupidity, not a conspiracy. Here's the incident: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14f3aOC929w&feature=player_embedded His head-in-hands reaction, which some say is even worse PR than the incident. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/election_2010/8649200.stm

This has to be one of the all time biggest political blunders ever. http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2010/0428/British-election-Gordon-Brown-undone-by-gaffe-about-grandmother

http://writersguild.blogspot.com/2010/04/oedipusenders-on-radio-4.html http://www.digitalspy.com/broadcasting/s2/eastenders/news/a77057/all-about-eastenders-dominic-treadwell-collins.html?locale http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4532080.stm

I wonder if she still feels that way after the more recent episodes. They have done a wonderful job of making both of these characters selfish and pathetic, and the actors do not have anywhere near enough chemistry to make it work. I'm surprised to hear that Pat is his favorite character. I wouldn't have though from the past few years that Pat is anyone's favorite character. Maybe it's down to Pam St. Clement not wanting to work as much but they don't seem to know how to write for Pat most of the time. It's always a sort of self-parody with Pat these days, especially with Peggy and Janine. Then again, Ronnie and Roxy are his favorite characters, and look at their writing. All those mentions of Sean Slater still make me cringe. I already had enough of that vile, racist thug. It will be nice to see more of Shirley.

The fallout of Aaron's suicide attempt has been wonderful viewing. It reminds me so much of the soaps I grew up with like ATWT, that sense of community, and you get to see the different reactions of so many characters, you get to hear what they think. None of this is considered boring or repetitive. And finally all the disparate Dingles are brought into this in one way or another, even if it's just talking to each other. I was especially glad they remembered how close Shadrach and Aaron once were. I hope he might get to see Aaron. The tough talk from Chas to Aaron bothered me but I think he also needed to hear it. I loved the conversation with Aaron and Adam, poor Aaron so vulnerable, asking Adam if they could be friends again. Then Adam getting him to laugh, and to get over himself, by making fun of his suicide attempt. You could tell Aaron wasn't expecting anyone to go there, but it did him a lot of good. They're great as friends. Has David actually done anything on the council? Now he's resigning? I hope they will let another character get that seat -- being on the council provides good drama if the show makes the effort. As it is now, what will David do? I recommend underwear modeling. Any time any character lashes out at Eric, I feel sorry for him.

Syed is gone! If only this were for more than five minutes, then I might be happy. Great scenes with Zainab falling apart, broken, ashamed, probably ashamed at herself most of all. Zainab is the biggest mouth but Masood is generally the cold one when he needs to be. I liked when she had to face her pain in the Vic. The only thing I didn't like was that witch Roxy, who, what a surprise, only cares about Christian long after she could have done him any good, lecturing Zainab about family. This is the woman who basically drove her sister out of the family for being molested by their father. Loved Charlie's line about Doctor Who, especially since he was on Who. I still don't buy that Tamwar would be so worried about Syed. They've never been very close, and Tamwar was close to Amira. He may not be happy about what's happened but I don't think he'd be this concerned or be angry with his parents. It's not as simple as Syed being gay driving him away, and Tamwar is smart enough to know that. Peggy/Pat filler, barely watched. Skipped most of the stuff with Ben, although the scenes with Phil and Shirley were good, they have a good chemistry these days. 40 year old teens, skipped most of it. They managed to make Big Mo seem youthful. I think Wendy Richard had that same hairstyle in her last few years on the show. How pathetic is Whitney now? Everything in her life is about clinging to Billie, no matter what. And Billie is even more pathetic, going to see Jack and expecting a pat on the head. I was able to break away from my amazement at Jack's miracle recovery long enough to cheer him as he berated Billie. Now I just don't want to have to see those chins of Billie's quivering again.

So have they said the story is going to change a lot now under Bryan? That scene was much better than just about anything the empty Killer Lucas story has had so far. I still can't believe those endless scenes where he yammered to Libby in the church and apparently this caused her to stop looking for her father.

He also said that the changes had been made for the better! And he takes a dig at Treadwell-Collins. I Nitin AND Masood. The Revealed is good. The Chryed stuff is forced and once again the writers come on to try to shove a story at people without bothering to ever tell it onscreen, but there are some other strong moments, like talking about the show's first gay couple, Barry and Colin. They also have a montage of gay characters over the years, although it just reinforces how poorly EE has handled gay characters for most of the last 10+ years. Seeing how the Masoods act in real life was fun.

All the emphasis on hunks, a shallow part of me wonders if they might go back to showing more skin, as they used to do for a long time. Hollyoaks might get a few extra viewers with some nice bottoms on display.

Some spoilers in a new interview.