TimWil

They obviously wemt for the "prettier" choice. Although Tovey would certainly have had the Mitchell look.

Didn't Brittany start off with a hearing impediment?

Thanks for the kind comment, Carl. No, I'm not a professional writer by any means. Hah! re the other pledge drive volunteers chatting with the actors playing Conor and Mary, instead. They've never been out to Long Island for a WLIW pledge drive. However the actress who played Tiffany (Martine McCutcheon)'s mother has!

When I met Pam at Elstree a year after first meeting her in NY (it was November 2001) I tried talking to her about Wendy. I'd had a few unsettling experiences with Wendy and her partner John at their local pub in Marylebone. Pam, classy lady that she is, only gave me a look which made it clear that she was well aware of Wendy's "issues" but would always stay above the fray.

I just finished reading Pam St Clement's book. I loved it. Here's my review which will appear in an edition of the fan newspaper The Walford Gazette:

My personal bias regarding Pam St Clement and her autobiography, The End Of An Earring (is that a great title or what?) is even more all-encompassing than the one I had regarding Michelle Collins' extremely engaging memoir This Is Me. I had the great pleasure of spending a bit of time with Ms. St Clement when she was over here to appear in a WLIW EE pledge drive in December 2000. I interviewed her for The Gazette and actually got to drive out to Long Island with her in a stretch limo for the event. I vaguely remember that a bit of champaigne was imbibed. I know all too well that I bent a few fellow pledge drive volunteers' noses out of joint that night because I ended up spending most of my time with Pam in the green room area swapping show biz stories and this ended up severely limiting her time with the devoted EE volunteers manning the phones. I apologize wholeheartedly for doing this but, uhhhh, really, could you blame me? Pam is a wonderful, wonderful lady. I was overwhelmed by being in her presence, spending time with her was something quite addictive and I never wanted it to end. Pam's WLIW appearance unfortunately fell on the same night as Gore's conceding the presidential election to Bush and so the viewership numbers might not have been as high as it normally would have been and this did seem to affect the amount of pledges. Oh, well. Pam was definitely saddened a bit by this and actually apologized over and over-what a compassionate, concerned, lovely lady she is.

OK, now to her book-The End Of An Earring. Words can't express how much I adored it. It is beautifully written and contains many, many wonderful anecdotes of her highly unusual life. I was very glad that I had next to no knowledge of her early life because...wow. It is sometimes something out of a novel, perhaps by Daphne DuMaurier! Pamela Ann Clements was the daughter of a Reginald Arthur Clements and his wife Ann, who he married in 1940. Pamela was born in 1942 and when she was 18 months old Ann died of tuberculosis. This was apparently not an uncommon occurance during the WWII years. Pamela's father Reginald had been born and raised in the East End and was the son of a railway worker and was placed in an orphanage at a young age by his destitute mother after his father suddenly died. This sense of dislocation seems to have played a large part in how he later lived his life. It certainly seemed to affect his dealings with women. The man had five wives! Pamela's mother Ann was his second wife. He was by all accounts a self made man who rose up the ranks to achieving considerable success as the managing director of a toy company-Pam claims that he may have even been responsible for the invention of the nozzle on certain sports balls through which to insert air. Pam's very early childhood was spent in her father's apartment in Regent's Park, an extremely posh address, indeed. He then married his third wife and poor little Pamela was sent to a seemingly endless series of "foster homes" all over Britain. Some of them he found through advertisements, some were through friends, including a German couple he barely knew! My jaw dropped open reading these chapters. Her father was, quite simply, a piece of work. He was a womanizing alcoholic with a propensity toward violence, especially towards the women in his life. Pamela, thank God, was never a victim of physical abuse although she clearly suffered from verbal and emotional abuse. He shunted her to and fro throughout her childhood until she finally settled into a good, stable balance of a boarding school in the South Downs with a farm in Devonshire. Pam writes very lovingly and at great length about this particular home farm in Devon, run by her beloved "Aunts" Sylvia and Courty. Their impact on her life was enormous and her memorial to them via this book is unforgettable.

I'll be honest with you-when normally reading about someone's early life in a biography, especially a "show biz" one, I tend to skip to the part where they start performing. Or at least beginning to learn how to perform! I found the first chapters of this book detailing her life at boarding school and on the farm to be absolutely riveting, though. It shed light and helped me see why, in my admittedly limited exposure to Pam, she is such a special person. When I came to the parts of the book describing her early acting career I was already firmly acquainted with her natural integrity and work ethic as well as her ability to be naughty and have fun!

When she began her professional acting career Pam had to change her name from Pamela Clements because there already was someone with that name registered with the British Actors Equity union. She chose the last name St Clement, which also happened to be a street in North London where her parents had first met. She writes glowingly of her time at the Rose Bruford College of Speech and Drama. Her chapter detailing the three months she embarked on a world tour of with the Royal Shakespeare Company in Hedda Gabler starring Glenda Jackson is delicious-Bette Davis suddenly appeared in her dressing room during the Los Angeles run! She made many appearances on stage and on television, culminating in, of course, her role as Patricia Harris Beale Wicks Butcher Evans on EastEnders.

Pam writes numerous chapters about her time on EE and it is a 100% satisfying book to enjoy on that aspect alone. She is way too classy and intelligent to dish any dirt on her fellow actors but if you read between the lines carefully enough you can glean certain perceptions from her remarks! She doesn't name names but the people on the show over the years she seemed to take the most issue with were a certain diminutive assistant director with a particularly nasty way of running the set as well as a certain director who demonstrated what he wanted in a scene by manhandling the actors like human chess pieces. Pam writes glowingly of her fellow EE colleague and increasingly frequent scene sharer Barbara Windsor and is very honest about Wendy Richard and her complex persona. She acknowledges that Wendy had a very large heart if she liked you but if she didn't she could be antagonistic and highly difficult to be around. Pam adored working with Michael French (who played her son David) and Tony Caunter (who played her fourth husband Roy). But, as it should be, a big portion of the EE section of her book is devoted to Mike Reid who played the unforgettable Frank Butcher. She agrees with head writer Tony Jordan that Pat and Frank's love story was the only true one in the show's history. I agree with that, too. The only time Pam appears to have been furious with the show's higher ups was when they wrote in a fire in Frank's car lot not soon after Mike's son had committed suicide by actually setting himself on fire. This does seem like an "inhuman" thing to do, to use Pam's words. When it comes to Pat's eventual "departure" Pam does a very smart thing. She writes in her prologue, entitled "We Have Our Entrances And Our Exits," how she was written out and how surprised and saddened she was when it was decided, against her gentle requests, that Pat was to be killed off rather than simply hop on a flight to New Zealand. I agree that this was a terrible mistake born out of a desire by the show's executives to generate quick fix headlines. The only good that came out of it, in my opinion, was that one of my all-time favorite characters, David, returned to Albert Square for a year or so, as a result.

Of course Pam accepted this situation with class, dignity and integrity and played the hell out of the scenes where we saw Pat slowly deteriorate to the point of ending up on her deathbed on New Year's Day 2012. In an absolutely brilliant chapter Pam writes, in her own words, what she imagined was going through Pat's head as she lied there on that bed, waiting and hoping for her favorite son David to arrive. Here's a brief extract:

"He won't come...that's how he can punish me. I wanna tell him how much I love my beautiful boy...he's ruining his life and hisself...always running and destroying...destroying...neverhealing...he's like a jealous little kid...not wanting anyone else to have what he ain't got. Smashing his own brother's relationship like a toy train then walking away..."

That knocked me out. I want Pam to write for EE NOW! Or maybe write a play or a television film or a movie, I don't care! She shows genuine writing talent with this book. She is a wonder. I adore her. I think she still has further mountains to climb and it's my fervent wish to somehow meet up with her along the way.

I can't recommend this highly absorbing, entertaining memoir strongly enough to you EE lovers out there. It's simply a class act all the way, like the lady herself.

They're both horrible, Roger Sloman (Les), especially. Last night's hour long episode was torture. The actor who plays Tamwar is so atrocious. It makes me angry that he's managed to stay on the show for so long. His smugness on the Back To Ours special he appeared in with Nitin Gatra (Masood) a few weeks ago made me even angrier. The kid just mumbles a few lines, stares into the middle distance and sucks the life out of any scene he's in. Maddy Hill deserves far more than him-I hope Nancy gets paired with Kush eventually.

Oh, dear. Nothing could be as amusing as when Rosie did the same thing on Coronation Street.

First of all, Carl, thanks for the compliment re: the Gillian story. She was an extremely likeable interview subject, someone you'd want to take out and drink a few beers with. I specifically remember her saying that she was particularly mortified by the allegations because she claimed she's never been a "sexual" person and her sex drive is fairly low! Ah, well. I'm not necessarily claiming she was telling the whole truth but I tend to believe her.

One of the reasons I think Kemp might not ever return to the show could be that he might not be too thrilled with us seeing Grant as the father of a teenage daughter (Courtney) and even possiblly, down the road, a teenage son (Mark Jr.).

I interviewed Gillian for the Walford Gazette when she was on EE and she swore up and down that she was not giving her bf a bj that day. She then offered me a ride to Borehamwood Station, cracking "Don't worry, I won't try anything." Gal had a sense of humor. I liked her a lot.

Sally Dynevor has said in interviews that the Sally/Kevin ship has probably sailed but never say never.

I don't think so, Carl. I get the feeling that is more than a few years off still.

I'm enjoying the show a lot more. I can't help but wonder how they'll kill Deirdre off, though.

In a 1980s flashback scene in the last episode of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt on Netflix Jane Krakowski's hairstyle and wardrobe is hilariously similar to her look on SFT as TR.

They'll make an odd couple physically-Callum's very tall and Sarah Louise is tiny-is she even 5'2"? Very strange.

Pretty bad episode with mainly Kat, Linda, Kim, Shirley, Lee and Whitney. Tameka Empson's weaknesses as an actress were particularly exposed in this one and Kellie Bright and Jessie Wallace have zero chemistry as scene sharers.

I agree, BetterForgotten, I was certainly annoyed when Sharon referred to Carol as her "real mother" and Gavin as her "real father." Were the writers afraid that "birth mother" and "birth father" would sound too technical?

I don't think Sharon's birth father Gavin is the same Gavin who Kathy was married to. That would be stretching credibility quite a bit. But then again...

I agree that the Sharon/Shirley scene tonight was good. It was underplayed just right by Henry and Dean. So now it looks like Sharon will be searching for her "real" father. I'm surprised he was referred to in that way in Friday's episode.

I always hoped that if Mandy were ever to return it would be with Mark's son. Of course Mark's HIV status would play into this. Of course they went in a completely different way by having it turn out she'd gotten pregnant by Ricky...blecch.

I'd be all for another Mandy return.

Thanks for posting these. They seem to be shots taken the same time as the new opening.

Someone who works on the show told me about the pay thing back in December, Ben. Yes, it's definitely considered a negative thing for reasons I couldn't quite understand. The cast have been having company meetings about it and there are ruffled feathers. Apparently it will be good for production in some ways in terms of sets being made more available and less SAs (their term for extras/background actors) being needed. I'll be getting in touch again with this person for clarification. It really does seem to be a problem and a few actors might even choose to walk rather than put up with the new wage system.

Just got confirmation that the omnibus ends forever in April. That alone will affect wages.

Has the omnibus stopped running over there? I gather that the fact that there will no longer be an omnibus affects the earnings of the cast and they're NOT happy. Also apparently they'll now be paid by the week, not by episode. Anybody know anything more about this?

LOL, Carl. It could still happen, though. I predict Mick/Linda's wedding will end in tears and Mick might gravitate toward Stacey.

I don't get the idea of a Martin/Stacey pairing, either. I can see her with Mick, though. I have a feeling that Lacey Turner will use all the pull she has to keep that from happening, though.

Heh. No. But he did swing his ding dong around convincingly in his Emmy-winning turn on Boardwalk Empire.

Sweet bit of Peter and Lauren walking off to Julia's Theme. Maybe she'll be back for grandpa Jim's funeral in the fall? And Peter is presumed dead in an earthquake in New Zealand but turns out to be working as a go go boy in Tokyo?

I think of Danny Dyer as being the British equivalent of Bobby Cannavale. Only Cannavale actually has talent.

I really like the new opening. The astonishing toddler Nell and her parents blowing bubbles is adorable and the final bit of Karl and Susan in the driveway is quite sweet.

God, I hated Mel and Phil sharing a storyline, too, that was horrendous.

Tamzin was definitely being groomed by the BBC at that time for a future with it as a contract leading lady in series and TV films. I floated the idea of her starring in a BBC remake of The Stepford Wives set in Britain to Tony Jordan. He loved the idea but it had turned out the rights were already scooped up for what turned out to be that godawful feature film starring Nicole Kidman. One of the times I visited the set Tamzin and Martin Kemp (Steve) passed through the Green Room. They both looked stunningly glamorous together. I remember staring at their coats which were gorgeous. What a beautiful couple they were.

An actor on the show told me that Peter Dean had allegedly sold stories about other actors to the tabloids. It was never proven but he seemed to have been the one who leaked the story about Leslie Grantham having served time in prison in Germany for manslaughter. Grantham apparently had to be restrained often from strangling Dean. Pete and his girlfriend (forget her name) would have been prime candidates for the Witness Protection Program because she had married into a big mob family. Their fatal car accident could have been faked so that they could give evidence about them. Way too late now, obviously.

Yes, Anita Dobson was asked to return many times but always turned them down. They gave her one more chance in 2001 with a storyline where Sharon would go to Las Vegas and Angie would be there running a legal brothel! Phil and Billy were also to head to Las Vegas to track down Sharon, who'd be discovered working as a croupier at a casino. But even though Dobson was tempted she still said no. So Miss Angie was killed off.

Carl, the irritating lady in that fun clip you provided is Judy Finnigan who was a hugely successful daytime TV "presenter" along with her husband Richard Madeley. Here she is having a notorious wardrobe malfunction on national television: