I Am A Swede

At least you lasted longer than I did. I quit after the first episode and from what I've read about the show I'm glad I did.

Emmerdale's bitch queen Kim Tate had a friendly relationship with longtime veteran Seth Armstrong. It sometimes even felt a little like a father/daughter relationship and it definitely helped humanize Kim. Amazingly the showrunners even remembered this friendship when Seth passed away in 2005, more than 6 years after Kim's departure, and had her send flowers to his funeral. A wonderful touch that, sadly, would never happen now with the current showrunners.

^^ Well and truly the end of an era... That farmhouse kitchen remains the set I most associate with Emmerdale, and with Annie. It always felt so safe and familiar and it has such a prominent place in my childhood memories. I remember watching Emmerdale Farm alongside my mother when I was just 4-5 years old. It was her favourite show on tv and I used to lie under the sofa table and watch it together with her. I didn't understand English and I could barely read so I had no idea what was happening, but I remember loving the theme music.

One of my favourite Tina songs

Wow, I'm stunned. Tina was such a larger than life character that it almost feels impossible that she's gone.

Ron DeSantis makes my skin crawl....

It's hard to believe that she's actually 90 years old....

It is possible to mine the show's history for stories, despite the hatchet job that has been done on it through the years. And it is, surprise surprise, even possible to do it without involving the Dingles!

I realize that having a major storyline on this show that doesn't involve the Dingles is unrealistic nowadays, but I firmly believe that the Caleb vs Kim storyline could have been so much better, and much more tied to the show's history if written differently. I would have had Caleb be the brother of Steve Marchant, Kim's husband just before her departure in 1999. He and Kim had plotted to commit insurance fraud by stealing one of Kim's horses, selling it and also collecting the insurance. Unfortunately Steve hit Kathy with his car while he was stealing the horse and she ended up in a coma for a while. When she woke up everything unraveled. Steve was sent to prison, while Kim got away with a load of cash. The story should then be that when Steve eventually got out his life was ruined and he eventually killed himself. Now his brother is targeting Kim for revenge.... I think that would have been a much better story than this whole convoluted Caleb-being-the-illegitimate-son-of-Frank crap they've given us.

He also played Peter de Vilbis briefly on Dynasty.

On this side of the pond I'd say that prime examples of characters that ate (and continue to eat) their show are Emmerdale's Cain, Charity and Debbie Dingle, together with the rest of their vile family. They have taken over this show like a disease and infected every aspect of it. Now it's rotten to the core and probably beyond salvation.... Such a sad end to a once great show.