I Am A Swede

It's a bit hard to tell, but it does look and sound like him.

Hyeon Chung, 21 years old from South Korea, ranked 58th, has just eliminated Novak Djokovic from this year's Australian Open. In the quarter-final he will face Tennys (fantastic name for a tennis player) Sandgren, a 26-year old American, ranked 97th, who defeated Dominic Thiem. Not exactly the quarter-final pair anyone would have guessed. right?

I never said that I considered him a villain. I just said that I didn't particularly like him, and listed some of the reasons why. The one that was portrayed as a villain was always Robert. I really resented the way Jack almost always sided with Andy when the two fought. It was especially infuriating how little consideration Jack seemed to have for Robert's feelings towards Andy after he found out about Andy's involvement in Sarah's death. Jack had no trouble forcing Robert to leave Emmerdale after the accident that caused Max King's death, yet he went to extreme lengths, even going to prison himself, to keep Andy around.

What's there to like? He was an obnoxious child whose thoughtless behaviour was at least partially responsible for the deaths of Vic Windsor and Sarah Sugden. When he grew up he and Katie behaved completely childish when they decided to have a baby just so they could be together when they were clearly too young. Then his impulsive and reckless behaviour caused him to shoot and almost kill Jack Sugden. He slept with an underaged Debbie Dingle and got her pregnant, thereby forcing the Sugdens to be forever tied to the Dingle family. His feud with Robert later caused the death of Max King. When he finally got together with Katie he then proceeded to cheat on her with their lodger, Jo. After Katie left and he got together with Jo he started to abuse her, finally forcing her to flee from the village. All the character did was cause pain and suffering, and I'm not particularly sorry that he's gone.

I never really cared for Andy, so that isn't something I would hold against Chrissie. I just hope that simply because she's dead all the other nasty things she did will be forgotten and people will mourn her or Lawrence. Most of the villagers didn't care about them when they were alive anyway.

They're always seen as being in the wrong too. How can they be mean to the poor, innocent little Dingles.... I've already seen Joseph described as the show's new villain and this clip perfectly demonstrates how that makes me feel

I don't mind if Rebecca lives. As Sebastian's mother she will always be a part of Robert's life, and when, inevitably, Robert and Aaron get back together she could be around and make Aaron's life miserable. And for me everything that annoys a Dingle is a bonus. I too fear that Joseph and Debbie will be paired again, but I'm desperately hoping that the show will prove me wrong. Can't they please have at least one person in the village who hates the Dingles?

It's a bit ironic isn't it that Joseph is trying to evict the Dingles when his own mother Rachel fought against his grandfather Frank when he tried to do the same. Ugh, thinking about how Rachel fought for the Dingles is enough to make me want to re-watch the moment when Graham threw her off the cliff....

I've said it before, but Jack and Marian could have conceived a child when he went to Rome to support her in 1991 when her husband died. She wanted to keep it a secret since he chose to stay with Sarah, and that's why she didn't attend her own father's funeral later that year. As for Joe, I wouldn't mind a similar scenario and reveal that his first wife, Christine, was pregnant when their marriage collapsed and she kept her pregnancy a secret from Joe. Now he/she has found out the truth and comes looking for his/her relatives. That child would be in his/her early 40s now and have children thereby extending the Sugden family tree with several new members in an instant.

The treatment of Robert has been horrendous. I know that Robert wasn't exactly an angel before he left, but he had a reason for being the way he was. He was constantly overlooked by Jack in favour of Andy, and probably felt more close to Sarah. When he then found out that Andy was responsible for her death, and that Jack knew and covered for him, it was only logical that he would grow even more resentful towards Andy and do what he could to destroy his life the way he probably felt Andy had destroyed his. But the Robert we've been shown has very little resemblance to that Robert, and his only value to the show seems to be as a trouble-maker and to elicit sympathy for poor Aaron. I have just two things to say about bringing in more Sugden relatives: Sandie Merrick and Sam Skilbeck! With Robert back nothing would make more sense than to have him reach out and seek contact with his older half-sister and her family. As for Sam I realize that there is virtually no hope of TPTB bringing him (or Matt and Dolly) back, but if the incredible was to happen I would do cartwheels of sheer excitement.

Nick Kyrgios wins in Brisbane. http://www.bbc.com/sport/tennis/42595696 Could he be the one to end the wait and do what Pat Cash, Lleyton Hewitt and Pat Rafter couldn't, give the Australian audience a home win for the first time since Mark Edmondson in 1976?

I've never watched Guiding Light, and I'm not even sure it has aired here in Sweden, but if these Shaynes you talk about were only half as annoying as the Dingles then I pity long-time viewers who had to put up with that. My history with Emmerdale stretches back to the late 1970s, and I have such a strong emotional attachment to this show that I can't let it go completely even though my viewing has been a bit off-and-on on occasion. But the presence, and prominence, of the Dingles has been a nuisance more or less constantly ever since they first turned up in 1994. I took an immediate dislike to them and that dislike has over the years turned into full-blown hate. For all I care TPTB could write them all out tomorrow and never even bother to explain where they've gone. They have no redeeming qualities whatsoever. I guess they must be popular with the audience though, since they have been kept on the show while other characters have been written out left and right. But for me they are all a waste of space. The fact that two of them, Chas and Charity, have taken ownership of The Woolpack is enough to almost make me weep with frustration. To think that the legacy of Amos and Mr. Wilks is defiled by those two is infuriating. Joseph Tate's return has given me a glimmer of hope that someone will finally be able to really inflict some pain to this horrible family, but knowing how TPTB seem to love the Dingles I fear that it's only a matter of time before they have him panting after Debbie. I pray to every deity that has ever existed that that day will never come.....

Meaning me! For me the mere fact that they exist is enough. I've always disliked them intensely. Sometimes a few of them have been tolerable, but as a whole I feel they have almost ruined this show, and I deeply resent the fact that they get to multiply and have new family members pop up on a regular basis while longstanding families like the Sugdens, the Bates family, the Windsors etc have been more or less wiped out.

RIP France Gall (1947-2018)

Oh my god, did Charity really do what I think she did in the house?! What a disgusting bitch she is! Even though it would be great to see them again, I think that Kim should stay away. Her run was iconic and she had a perfect ending. Any return would only diminish her and I prefer to remember her the way she was.

Please, Helen Keller could see that one coming!

That's wonderful news, and I certainly wouldn't object to seeing Zoe again. If Joseph stays around and continues torturing and humiliating Dingles it would be a wonderful incentive for me to start watching regularly again. But I know that this show has a raging hard-on for all things Dingle so I'm fearful of what the future will bring. I'm not sure I could stand for Joseph falling for Debbie, or the Dingles in any way getting the upper hand on him. The mere thought of that makes me want to throw up.

I think it has been so common and so widespread that it has become the norm, and it's not until this #metoo movement that many have realized what they have been subjected to, or what they have subjected others to. This is not meant as an excuse, but I think that some of the perpetrators really haven't realized that what they've been doing is wrong, simply because it's been so common. At least I hope that is the case, because I'd hate to think that there are so incredibly many sleaze-bags out there.

With Leah Bracknell's health problems I think that's doubtful, unless they recast.

Hmm, I don't know how I feel about that. On one hand I'm impressed that they actually remembered he exists, but on the other hand I'm terrified of what they will do to him. I'm sure he'll be a Dingle cheerleader in no time, just as soon as he falls in love with Debbie for real. Please, please, please show, prove me wrong on that!!

Doreen Keogh, an original castmember of Coronation Street, has died aged 91. She played barmaid Concepta Riley during the show's early years. http://www.digitalspy.com/showbiz/coronation-street/news/a846520/coronation-street-star-doreen-keogh-dies/