DRW50

The Pat/Peggy "comedy" scenes, especially the shoving match, were some of the worst moments I've ever seen on this show. And the drunk scenes were little better. If I was watching this for the first time I would have no idea that Pat or Peggy were ever important characters. They need to give Ben less scenes where he has to speak or cry. The scenes he had with Heather were, somehow, the best part of the episode. I don't say that lightly about Heather. I loved seeing Masood turn the screws to worthless whimpering Syed. I know this is all going to end badly and we will probably have to see something about homophobic Masood and Zainab and how Zainab did not trust Masood and poor Syed is the victim, but I just like seeing Syed squirm. Then again, he squirms all the time, doesn't he? And I also want to say that I hate the way Christian says "Sy." I don't mean to make it sound like I support their homophobia, because I don't, but I just can't bring myself to feel any sympathy for Syed.

Yeah, Adam is very nice, and genuinely nice, not "nice" as in, this person acts like a jerk but other characters tell us of his goodness. He does care so much about Aaron. Ironically I think this makes Aaron hate himself even more. I wish the clips were still on Youtube from when Carl's bitter ex-girlfriend, Chloe, sent hate letters to Chas and made her think Colleen was the one writing them. Chas punched Colleen in the face! Then Colleen wouldn't let Carl see the kids. It was all such trashy goodness. I think my favorite scene was when Chloe, who was living with them at the time, erased the message from Colleen telling Carl that she was dropping by with the kids. She then put on her flimsiest gown. So that meant when Colleen and the kids dropped by, she, Carl, and Chas were all in their underwear. Colleen was not amused Did Carl tell the kids he didn't love them? I thought I'd read that.

Since Marquess wants to bring in a Jordan wannabe, they could have Steph mentor her, since Steph had those exact same stories for years and years. She's also the only friend Lee has on the show. Carley is one of the show's best actors and has a lot of ties to everyone, it would be bizarre if they don't exploit that, especially compared to dead zones like Cheryl or Theresa or Carmel.

If he fawns over Cheryl and doesn't like Steph, who is one of the few long-serving characters, then I will stop watching.

I'm glad to hear he loves Jacqui! Wow, Lee is still a student. He's the new Zak Ramsey

I liked seeing a lighter side of Frankie, not a lot else off the top of my head. I think some people felt like she did a better job with Cindy than Kirkwood did.

I hope Malachy being included means Marquess has big plans for the character and that this isn't just his exit. Malachy was one of my favorites during the time I watched consistently and he and Jennifer Metcalfe had fab chemistry until the Calvin disaster. I'm looking forward to this. The Sarah stuff in the last one was the highlight for 2009 on HO and probably in soap overall.

Have you ever read any of the Hollyoaks books they wrote years ago? Some seem interesting. There was one that was all about various e-mails sent back and forth between the characters on the show at the time; someone hacked into their accounts and would sometimes pass on e-mails to someone else who was being talked about in them, if he wanted to stir up trouble. It was a good way of recapping stories and giving character insights. I wish they still did that now. Then again I don't think I'd care about Anita's Secret Diary.

I'm not sure why he was bewildered that the judge who sentenced his attackers was black. That's awful, what happened to him. I didn't realize he was only around 40. He looks a bit older in the photo I've seen. Maybe it's from what happened to him. The funny thing is that the Musgrove family he axed -- their son Matt went on to appear on Hollyoaks for several years, he was the love interest for Chloe, their comic relief/quasi-serious overweight character who was on the show for about 4-5 years. The actress who played her wrote a book a few years ago, something like The Fat Girl Off Hollyoaks.

Probably not going to happen, but someone at DS said that on Devon Anderson's Twitter he thanked EE for the last few months of work and then asked people if they had connections in America and asked about other acting opportunities.

Ben Price is a bit too old for the role of Nick and he makes a lot of weird facial expressions. I kind of feel sorry for Chesney because he was brought in as a cute kid, and he's had to grow up onscreen, when most people don't care about seeing the cute kids grow up. He's not a great actor but he's OK. I like him best with the Windass family, he's like a little brother to Gary and a son to Anna. Did you see the new girl in the wheelchair, Izzy? I thought she had chemistry with Gary, although I don't know if that's going anywhere. I hate the whole "Let's bring in someone because they're disabled and that will get us publicity," idea, especially if it's done as callously as Eastenders did it last year, but Izzy might have potential. Corrie had a popular character on the show for most of the 90s who was in a wheelchair, she was named Maud Grimes. I think Rosie works as the comical sexbomb but sometimes they take it too far, mostly when they try to make her a vamp. She's been a lot better lately. I enjoyed her scenes with Natasha where they got one over on Graeme. Alf was a good character. He made a few appearances in the early 60s then became a more regular character at the end of the decade. Bryan Mosley, who played him, was a heavy in a number of films, like Get Carter, but Alf was a sweetheart, most of the time. Alf's first wife died, then he married Renee. She looked like Deirdre, so when you would have these two women in the same scene with their big glasses, it would get confusing. Their biggest story was when Alf was sitting in the Rovers and a lorry crashed through the window. He had some head damage and went through a period of time where he would go from sweet to extremely angry and nasty. Anyway, a new producer said the marriage made no sense, so they killed Renee off in a car accident. Alf was very upset, but eventually married Audrey. Audrey was very stuck up and put on airs as the wife of the mayor. There was a funny episode, I think it's on Dailymotion, where she refused to be mayoress because Alf wasn't giving her enough perks to go along with the title. She assumed he'd go back to her after she pouted, but then Betty, the barmaid, let everyone know that Alf had made her the new mayoress. When Bryan Mosley died they put Alf's fedora on the top of his coffin. Here's the scene where Renee dies.

I remember at the time I thought they were a real breath of fresh air, which the show needed, as it seemed very empty at that point, since so many major characters had left.

There are rumors about Ryan going, and if he does, then I think his death would bring a lot of consequences. As it is now he doesn't have a lot of ties to the Square so they may see him as dispensable. I think Becca will end up faking a pregnancy with Max, or saying he raped her, or something, and going nuts with jealousy/envy/love over Stacey. I guess Stacey will be the one to find out she made the phone call. Either Stacey or Jean.

A few story ideas...in the very tiny hope that anyone running the stories will read this Stacey has her baby. She tells Ryan he's the father, but asks him to keep it quiet until her life calms down. Ryan agrees, as he doesn't want to anger Janine. Janine still manages to piece it together, and as she and Ryan have a big argument, they learn that Becca has taken Stacey and the baby hostage. Ryan saves them, but dies of stab wounds from Becca. Janine is devastated, and goes to confront Becca in prison. Becca tells her that Stacey killed Archie and let Bradley die for it. She says Stacey is her real enemy, and she's telling her because the police won't bother. Janine blames Stacey for taking Ryan from her and begins a plot to make it look like Stacey killed Archie in cold blood and then framed Bradley to take the fall for her crime. Ben becomes unglued over Louise's constant presence and Phil's obvious favoritism towards her. He decides to start a fire and make it look like Louise set it, but Heather catches him, and as he runs out, she's overcome by fumes. When Heather wakes up, she agrees to say she accidentally started the fire, but tells Shirley she and George are moving away because the Mitchells are too dangerous. Ben decides he doesn't want to keep being a burden and calls up his cousin Tony to ask if he can live with him. Phil is furious at the thought of Ben living with bisexual Tony, but changes his mind when he sees just how distraught Ben is about having to live as a Mitchell. Christian and Syed move in together, as Syed is cut off from his family. Syed often feels ashamed of Christian's flamboyancy and sexual drive, and they have little to talk about. Lucy is suspicious of Syed and feels he is too selfish to be able to love anyone. She baits him by telling him that he should sleep with a few more men before he settles down with Christian. When Christian hears of this, he ridicules Lucy, telling her Syed would never do that. Then Christian goes home and finds Syed in their bed with another man. "It just happened," says Syed. Christian barely even has time to react before Syed says he hasn't fully explored what he is, and that he still might just need to get homosexuality "out of his system." He moves away from Walford, to parts unknown.

That's how I was too. I stopped with BBC America once they stopped airing the 80s reruns. I loved those. Even edited down, they were wonderful! They were so much like the soap I wanted to see, moreso than Phil overload, and Mel, and Zoe Slater, and all that. Still, I did like some of the stuff at that time, it's just I was annoyed at seeing the classic episodes yanked. I got back into the show around late 2007 and have been here and there ever since (I had to avoid most of 2008). I'm still annoyed so many wonderful clips were taken off Youtube.

So when did you start watching the show? I started around the 1997 episodes.

There's some spec that Santer was the one who brought Louise back and didn't bother to figure out there would be backlash over Louise returning without any proper explanation, so Kirkwood decided to get Lucy Benjamin back. Her returning for only one episode suggests the decision was quick, as they can write the episode in a hurry and stick it in the taping schedule out of order. If any of that's true then it shows Kirkwood has his eye on the ball. I hope Shirley might get to talk to Lisa and see that life with Phil does not end happily. The only thing I like about their relationship is how protective she is of Ben, like when she warned off those bratty girls. You could tell how insecure Phil was when Shirley said if the girls weren't scared off by Phil, Zsa Zsa would step in. He doesn't like his women to ever forget their place...

Exactly! Roxy is Tawny's long lost daughter. I don't watch B&B very much so it's perfect. Or she could be the heretofore unknown British Logan sister, like when Blake and Alexis suddenly realized they had a long lost British daughter.

We should try to get him to send Roxy to a US soap (how about B&B...) in an exchange program. They can have Stephanie Forrester move to Walford.

I wanted her back mostly because it's so ridiculous to bring back Louise without her. If she does come back I hope they won't just have her return for a few days and then use that to justify Phil taking Louise. Phil is a terrible father, selfish to the core, his kids are all about what makes him feel better. I'm tired of Mitchells getting everything just because they're Mitchells. Given that Louise seems to be a Dotty knockoff, I wouldn't care if she left with Lisa. I liked Lisa a lot for a while, especially in comparison to ice queen Mel Healy, who was shoved at viewers nonstop from 2000-2002. Unfortunately Lisa got into so much crying and whining and misery and they made sure the nice relationship with Lisa and Mark ended in a mess. Do you have Netflix? You should try Jupiter Moon. It's a cheesy but at times entertaining and surprisingly moving little soap opera in space. It was done around 90-91. Anna Chancellor (Four Weddings and a Funeral) and Lucy Benjamin both got their start on that show. Lucy played a big-haired young computer genius, Fiona. What did you think of yesterday's episode? The Syed scenes were like a parody, weren't they? Whining, crying, sniveling, repeating again and again that he can't be with Christian yet pawing at him anyway. Is it me or if does this story come across as anti-gay stereotypes? This pathetic, self-loathing man seduced by the calculated and distant queen. That's how the last scenes came across to me. I'm glad Masood knows but that shot was so poorly directed, a lot of fans didn't even believe he saw Syed. Masood is one of the show's best characters and actors, I hope this story will give him some time in the spotlight. The scene where he saw Syed praying and later gave him the Quran passed down from father to son to father to son was one of the few in this story which have worked for me.

That's a very nice banner. You have to admire a guy who can work a flannel shirt. And the head on his hand thing. I think the only moment I find more entertaining is when he flicks his tongue out

Yeah, I could come up with a lot of stories for Billy, especially regarding his past, which we know little of, beyond his abuse. And I would give him a good job where he can interact with a lot of characters. Yeah, the Taverniers were probably the most successful black family on the show. How long were they ago? I know Jules lasted to around 95-96. I remember when they fired Yolande and the actress called the show out for their racism, in that as soon as they brought in Jordan and Lucas, that meant they had reached their quota and one had to go. I think she was right. The writing for the black characters has generally been shoddy, especially Chelsea. To have her dumped offcamera after spending weeks pining and obsessing over Jack. The five minute drug addiction.

They did get rid of Kim Medcalf's Sam. I like Billy too, I think Perry Fenwick is a wonderful actor, it's just that they have given up on ever writing stories for him that go beyond him being a loser who steals money. If they ever tried to do more for him it would make a big difference. I remember the Taviniers. I thought Jules was great. The kids were OK but most of them weren't the best actors. Were there two brothers or one? I know one was involved with Michelle.

I like Victoria too, she's come a long way over the past few years. I wish they'd give her more to do, her backstory is begging for more storyline. The girl who plays her has also gotten a lot better. She was great when they found Shane's body, then when Jack died and when Daz left. I always enjoy her scenes with Aaron.

I like Mercy too. I think she could fit into Eastenders the best of the newcomers if they write something for her. I have a feeling they may just have her get killed by Lucas. I'd rather see her with Dot. My guesses for the three, if that rumor is true, are close to yours, although I think it will be Billy Mitchell who is the third firing. I think one of Patrick, Billy, or Denise will go. Did you like that clip where Charlie tried to get tough with Alfie after he found out about Alfie/Mo, and he knocked Billy across the room.