Skylover

Aww I'm glad someone is watching and enjoying it. I'm surprised you've found it quite easy to figure out who's related to who as there are quite a lot of random characters with no links (i.e. Marilyn living with Alf and Roo) and Leah, Liam, Ruby and Romeo. I love the dynamic the Walker family bring to the show, are you a fan of them Matt? Indi is my favourite current character as I think she's stayed true to her character throughout her time on the show. The actress wasn't great at first but in the last few months she's really become a favourite of mine. Dex is great too and April seems much more likeable now she's with him again. I'd really like the writers to focus more on the older characters again though. I would love one of Irene's children to be brought back.

Is anyone watching Home and Away at the moment?

This makes me worried that they're going to ruin Sharon now, too. I really hope they remember the connection between Kat and Sharon but I doubt they will. It might give Kat some depth once again. I think I might watch a few old eps to see what's been going on. I think it doesn't help in termf of me liking Lola that I really dislike Billy too. He, along with Jack, are the two characters I hate most in soap land. I've never ever been able to see the point in him. I guess Lola has finally given him a point but I don't have any interest in this pairing. Maybe if I was watching I would change my mind. I personally think that if Peggy was still there the Mitchells wouldn't be such a problem. A lot of the time she was the person who could get Phil to stop acting like an idiot and now he has noone to control his tempers and he just comes off as an !@#$%^&*]. If she was still there they'd still be in the Vic too. I think it would be worthwhile to let the relationship between Phil and Roxy develop instead of making him resent her all the time. I still think they should bring Kim Medcalf's Sam back. Thanks for the description of the Masood story. I agree with everything else that you've said, but what has Lauren been upto? Has she recovered from her alcohol abuse? I really love this character and I can't wait to see what they've got in store for her in the future. As for Neighbours, I don't know if this is the appropriate palce but nevermind. I am enjoying it, but not as much as Home and Away. My major problem with it at the moment is the forced interaction between certain characters, which I think I've mentioned before. I don't like the fact that Karl is living with Tash and Summer, the Susan/Summer relationship annoys me as does the Susan/Paul relationship. There don't seem to be any natural interactions. Neighbours problem at the moment seems to be the opposite of Home and Away's - only the older characters in Neighbours seem to work (I'm thinking Lucas, Rhys, Vanessa, Paul etc) Summer, Chris, Andrew and Tash fail miserably. In contrast, Ruby, Indi, Romeo, Dex, April etc work extremely well in Home and Away, but the adults have become extremely vacuous which is a shame (Alf, Roo, Irene, Marilyn).

Sorry to be a downer once again, but even reading those moments you mentioned makes me realise I'm glad I haven't tuned in. I literally feel no emotion whatsoever for those characters, especially Lola and Jay. I don't know why it's just not drawing me in at the moment. I think it might be a structural problem to the show which seems to affect a lot of the soaps at some point or another. There are no strong family units. As mentioned previously, the Mitchells are lost without Peggy, I don't think the Masoods work unless Syed interacts with them (speaking of which, has he had much to do with them recently? And have Syed and Christian featured much?) So many of the characters have become parodies of themselves and therefore no longer work as characters. I'm thinking Shirley, Kat, Michael, Derek. It's almost as if they're they're to fulfill one purpose and can't function as characters in their own right (Michael as the antagonist, likewise Derek the antagonist with a human side). I'm not sure what Phil and Kat are upto anymore but they no longer get decent writing in the day-to-day episodes and seem to only be there for their legacy. And Jack. JACK. The character I hate the most in soap land. If they pair him up with Sharon I will never forgive the writers. I like the Brannings but having them as such a huge unit (including Derek, Jack et al.) seems unnecessary and detracts from the chemistry the original lot have as a unit. I find Cora to be a cliche as well. Sigh. It's a good job I'm enjoying Home and Away at the moment cos Neighbours ain't great either, but not as bad as EE atm IMO. Has Joey had a topless scene yet? Haha

I've basically stopped watching the show now. I didn't want to because I've loved EastEnders for years but I realised I didn't even like a single character other than Ben. The whole show seems to be based around random characters talking to each other about unimportant things these days. The Michael/Jean thing was atrocious, Michael has ruined Janine for me (I don't think I can watch while they're still together) and Kat's back and stilla a mess. Sharon will get me tuning in but I can't even be bothered to watch for the Ben stuff at the moment because it's lost in the mess of everything else. Even Derek's hot son isn't enough of a draw.

Glad you like the video. The Milco storyline was pretty much universally liked if memory serves me correctly, it was a brilliant storyline executed so well. I don't think at the time in 1988/89 the writers ever envisaged Milco to turn out to be a real person, especially 20 years later. Sally's whole story makes sense bar a few slight inconsistencies. Such a brilliant character and Kate Ritchie is/was fantastic, even when she was young!

If you guys have 20 minutes on your hands I've made a video of Sally's time on Home and Away. She is my favourite soap character of all time, the writing for her character is so consistent and authentic, it's difficult not to love her and I don't think any soap character comes close to her... Unfortunately some pivotal moments are missed out (mainly the 90s and her relationship with Flynn).

It would be great if Izzy came back but I think it's out of the question. The actress who played her is now very famous in Australia and earns far more than here the pittance Neighbours could pay her I imagine.

It is sad, isn't it. Did you read the rumours that Nicola Charles has been tweeting she's returning as Sarah? The account looks authentic too, I hope it's true.

Ben - at your suggestion I decided to upload my old episodes, starting from episode 3971. Gonna upload all of 2002, all of 2004 and most of 2003 if you're interested. I'll post the first episode in here, already uploaded 12:

I think it's a mistake to get rid of Anthony and I hope Tyler doesn't go. The cast consists of virtually NO hot guys in comparison to say Home and Away or Hollyoaks. I know that shouldn't be the most important thing, but Anthony's only been in it for a year, they need time to settle in. Ronnie and Roxy weren't popular at first and neither were Max and Tanya, but now they seem to have a larger fanbase (ok, they're still hated by some fans) but still I think it's a mistake. Anthony's character seemed to have more depth too unlike Tyler. The show is in such a state. Considering all the cast breaks/departures/arrivals/emphasis on terrible characters, you wonder how it's going to make it through but perhaps this transitional phase could be the making of it. I agree that Whitney's a waste of space. There is potential with her character but Shona struggles with the bigger plots (with the exception of the episode Janine found her in Rob's flat - that was good) but the writing has been all over the place for her too, making her come across as a selfish bitch. When Bianca had financial issues it seemed like Whitney couldn't give a crap. I thought Whitney was portrayed as Bianca's rock when they were brought in in 2008...?

As harsh as it may sound, I really don't think Colleen is a big loss to the show. Ever since I started watching Home and Away again in 2006, I've never seen the point of her. I rarely find her amusing and I don't think it's worth having a character there just for comic relief if you're not going to do anything dramatic eith her. Celia would make a good replacement (if they do feel the need to replace her) - Colleen has always been a second rate Celia. I loved Celia because although she was like Colleen in some respects, she was never a laughing stock and was also able to take on serious storylines too. For me one of Home and Away's most memorable scenes involved Celia on Anzac Day recalling how she lost her fiance during the Vietnam war. The show does seem to have improved quite a bit since 2011. Characters such as John and Gina are getting more screentime and not just filler, while Marilyn seems to have returned to form rather than the rather serious version we got of her from late 2010-2011. Unfortunately there seems to be no long-term plan for the character and although Roo is one of the best characters played by one of the most prestigious actors, she's stuck with Harvey who brings nothing to the show and they've now brought in his daughter! I also think the Rivery Boys are much better without Charlie who seemed to hold Brax back in some respects. He has a lot of chemistry with Leah so I hope Steve Peacocke is still there when Ada comes back from maternity leave!

God, I really miss Libby.

I will never understand why they're getting rid of Mandy. One of the best characters - it may have been predictable but I'd have loved to see a relationship develop between her and Roxy. As for Bianca - I love her too, I think she should stay. I don't think she suffers as a character without Ricky; in fact I've been enjoying seeing more of her the last few weeks but they've given her some shoddy storylines, this money thing isn't entertaining and I don't ever remember money trouble storylines being entertaining. It seems like they've gone to a lot of effort to writer her out of the show. They're apparently making the kids go to live with Carol somewhere- I guess it would have been ridiculous if Ricky and Bianca, as the parents, kept flitting in and out of the show.

Why are you so surprised? He's been a one dimensional character all along!

Ian and Mandy's relationship is one of the best things to come out of Kirkwood's tenure, they really work well together IMO and I don't see why it couldn't have been a long-term thing. Was she axed? If so, I think it's the wrong decision. Ben - I take it you just don't like Ben then? You are right, I'm spreading the Ben love

Thanks Y&RWorldTurner, I will give that a watch.

Did anyone watch last night's episode? Phil and Ben's scene at the end was magnificent...

I much prefer the character of Heather to Shirley. Shirley's 'one-liners' got tired and predictable years ago. The writers try too too hard and literally force these into her dialogue to the point it made her character seem unbelievable. I like the friendship between Heather and Shirley, though, most of the time. And the week in Southend was great and proved to me that Heather was a character worth keeping. I think if this was Coronation Street, they would have held on to her because they like to keep all their characters. What's your opinion on the Ben storyline, Carl? Do you like the Ben character? Talking of Ben, where is Ben, as in forum member Ben? LOL

Thanks Carl. Cheryl looks really nice in that clip, it's a shame EastEnders always made her look so ridiculous. I'm really going to miss Heather, I wish she wasn't being killed off. Perhaps it would have been better had Heather gone into a coma for a few weeks and woke up. I'm not really sure why they got rid of her but I am guessing she was axed as opposed to it being her own choice...?

That's true, there are quite a lot of memorable scenes involving Trevor and Little Mo. Didn't she whack him round the face with an iron? Thanks for the advice. Damn Derek Branning forcing me to quite the show just when one of my favourite characters got some brilliant material. I only just watched the following scenes and I am extremely impressed. Joshua is magnificent and I just continue to love Ben more and more. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AbhsNag6T4&feature=related

Thanks for posting the clip. Very interesting that Sam doesn't regret her time at EE but Alex does. I wouldn't have thought that Alex had been in the role long enough to have become typecast, had he? I'm sure he was only there for 2 years at the very most! I've been watching clips of Ben on YouTube and it appears he has played quite a big role in the show since January (whe n I gave up thanks to Derek Branning) Should I go back and watch his scenes, Y&RWorldTurner, or is there no point? I don't want to miss any of his important stuff if he's been a big part of the show, especially if he'll be gone in a few months

Would you like Ben to stay long-term, Y&RWorldTurner. I think, in contrast to someone like Janine who literally got away with murder (well, eventually) Ben probably doesn't stand as much a chance of staying since he lacks the support and fanbase Janine has/had. I think it's important to portray Ben as getting his comeuppance in some way but, as in real life, criminals don't always get justice and in some cases, it can take years for them to be revealed as killers etc so I would be very pleased if the writers decided to give him his comeuppance in say, a few years. I really love Joshua in the role and I just feel he's too well-crafted a character to leave. I suggested the idea to my friend that Ben gets away with it in the time being (i.e. goes to prison in a few years) and she said she thinks viewers would just get p*ssed off that Ben would walk free for now. I mentioned to her that Joshua/Ben has had an extremely poor reception among viewers (well in part, the viewership seems to be divivded into complete haters and devoted supporters like me) and she said that she thinks Ben is only hated becauseof his looks, i.e. not being conventionally good-looking. I think she has a point there because I know Josh isn't the best of actors, but he is certainly better than Charlie Jones and I think he's a lot better than some. Also, in terms of looks, I think he is a perfect match to be Phil's son. Apparently Daniella Westbrook was chosen for the role of Sam based on the fact that she had a round face like her screen brothers and I think that's why Josh's casting is great because he is similar facially, too. Ultimately I would like Ben to fall in love and for that love to be reciprocated. I'm guessing that, for now at least, the writers may be shying away from this due to Ben's and Josh's age, but it would make fantastic viewing to see him be redeemed and at the end of the day, I think all Ben wants and needs is to be loved. If he did fall in love, we could then see his whole life crash before his eyes in a year or two if the writers decide to out him as Heather's murderer. Sorry for the rant, I just love Ben and had to share my thoughts with fellow EE fans.

Thanks fo the picture, nice to see all of the cast from 2001 together. Is it the whole cast? Just I'm surprised there were only 26 regulars That's not much more than Neighbours! I'm worried now that Kirkwood's going that the new EP may cut short the Ben story. I really want this story to go on until at least Christmas (I'm guessing that's when Ben will be sent to jail) although if they want to stretch it out longer I'm happy with that so long as Ben can stay in the show. I know his end is going to come soon though because soap villains never stay very long, especially once killing someone I may not have agreed with the majority of Kirkwood's stuff, but he's done wonders for Janine, Dot and in particular, Ben.

With the huge Ben story at the moment, I'm surprised no-one has commented in here. I actually adore Ben. Does that make me a sick viewer? I think he's one of the best characters ever in any soap.