Skylover

Carl, I totally agree with everything you've said. Tuesday's episode was, I think, the strangest episode I've ever seen. I was surprised in so many ways. 1 - As you say, Shona McGraty pulled out all the stops. I've always thought her acting was mediocre at best, but she really managed to pull her scenes off realistically. 2 - Liam. I've always thought he was crap too, but I believed in his scenes a lot more than I would have expected to. I think Carol is the best character and actress the show has got. The Brannings and Jacksons are definitely the best family unit. I'm kind of glad that the Carol/Bianca two-hander was scrapped in favour of the Max/Carol scenes, as I think they have fantastic chemistry as brother and sister and their relationship hasn't been explored in such depth before, unlike Carol and Bianca's. I'm another person who didn't notice the double, and I'm usually very observant about such things. I lost interest in the show after the baby controversy too. Such a shame really.

Interesting news: From DS and Media Spy. Well done Neighbours! Maybe Neighbours will still be on air if we ever get the chance to write for the show, Ben!

Well done Neighbours! The press in Australia is still reporting that the figures have gone down dramatically, saying that losing any more of a third of its audience on Ten is a 'haemorrhage' despite the fact that Tuesday's episode was the highest rating program of Eleven and the third highest rated show of digital as a whole. Seriously, Oz really has it in for the show. I really hope it can go from strength to strength. The problem is, it really can't afford to go through rough patches now as the audience is so small as it is, so they really need to do all they can to keep this loyal audience. I wonder if it will get 300k+ come the winter?

It wouldn't surprise me if the baby swap storyline did influence Sam's decision to leave, but I doubt she had problems with it artistically. It's probably more to do with the fact that playing a character like Ronnie is so exhausting and emotional, she probably just want to try other acting projects. I will miss her, because Sam Womack is probably the best actress on the show now that Lacey's gone, and I do think Ronnie's a good character. I am glad that it will bring an end to the Jack/Ronnie pairing, as I've never seen them as a golden couple in the way the show seems to. Definitely a good time to bring back Sharon now, I wonder if Bryan would prefer to create new characters though, rather than bringing back past ones.

Enders baby plot complaints reach 6000 I think all this fuss is ridiculous. If you don't like the storyline there's an easy solution, use your remote. It's a wonderful little device to change the channel if you want to.

That is a shame. I love Patsy Palmer. One of my favourite ever EE scenes is when Carol finds out about Bianca's affair with Dan!

I thought I'd share my fan card with you lot, which I recently received from Lynne McGranger aka Irene Roberts. They made a mistake in the programme, saying that she has played Irene for 14 years, when it's actually 18 years.

I wasn't a big fan of Dennis. He was hot, but that's not what should matter I guess. I found Nigel Harma's acting to be quite poor. Did you lot like the Sharon/Dennis partnership even during the rough patch that was 2004-2006?

Sure, will do, where's the best and worst thread?

I'm sure you would have seen me on Digital Spy before. My favourite soap is Neighbours, which I am very protective of, and am still hoping it will pull out of its recent ratings slump, as it's totally unique to the other shows. I have ventured into that thread but it seems that not many people here watch it. Home and Away would be my second, and I collect the fan cards for these two shows. EastEnders has been a favourite in our family for absolute years, though I got totally put off during the time earlier this year when they sent all those dreadful teens into the woods. I'm not very impressed with Kirkwood for making Mercy and her grandmother permanent, as I never thought Mercy was a strong character in the E20 episodes. Vanessa and Jodie Gold totally make me cringe; whenever they get a big story I seem to lose interest, such as when Vanessa's ex was causing all sorts of trouble with her, it seems to me that Vanessa was a gold-digger and only stayed with Harry for his money, though I think the audience is supposed to feel sorry for her because of the way Harry treated her when they were together, but I just completely lack any sympathy whatsoever. The Ryan/Stacey/Janine plot has put me off as well, though Stacey's Christmas Day exit was extremely well-done. I feel like Janine isn't developing much as a character, and before her return she was my favourite soap character of all-time on any soap. It seems that the writers have brought her back as a panto villian and she was such a complex character before. I like that she's fallen in love, but some of the lines they give her are so unrealistic. Ryan is a boring plank too. I'm really enjoying Connor and Carol, which is a storyline that apparently not many enjoy. I think they have good chemistry, I care about Carol, Lindsey's a fantastic actress, and Connor is extremely hot so I'm not complaining

I'm loving this forum. The last week or so I've been reading the first 40 pages of this thead because the comments you guys have made are so insightful and intelligent, it's hard to not carry on reading. As someone who is not an avid viewer of this show, I've found it interesting that you think Santer focused on the big reveals and controversial storylines rather than focusing on the truth of the characters, and telling the stories with integrity. Without having time t look through the rest of the pages in this thread, what do you think of Kirkwood's reign so far? I've read that many people have been unhappy with the direction he's taking the show, and also many are unhappy with Kat and Alfie's return, although I personally like them both.