TimWil

You could be right, Nothin'ButAttitude.

The moment with Jay and Ben was blessedly brief-just a very quick, fumbled attempt by Ben to get some ginger comfort from his "bro."

I am so frigging sad about Anne Kirkbride I can't see straight. So, so awful. I adored her.

slick, I did a lot of extra work on the show back around that time and remember hearing rumors that the role of Roger was in the process of being cast as a love interest for Jenny but they decided to make it Greg, instead.

Wow, thanks for posting that, Carl! The other lady looks vaguely familiar but that's it. Gee, that Post Raisin Bran Betty is one bossy beeyotch! Speaking of commercials I just saw Judith McConnell in one for Walgreens during Celebrity Apprentice. She's got short white hair now and looks terrific.

I think that Jim Branning's death might have to wait after the Dot/Nick story. I'm thinking that will happen in the summer. It looks like Stan will die around Easter and I think the show probably wouldn't want the two storylines to run concurrently. Carl, I agree with you about Harry Reid and Jamie Borthwick but I still think Ben has a limited shelf life in Walford.

According to friends of mine who knew them Juliet's nickname was "General Mills." And their marriage was...complicated but built on a very firm mutual understanding.

I agree, BetterForgotten. My guess is it will have something to do with the upcoming storyline involving Dot and Nick.

I'm a big fan of Hubbard's but, frankly, her ad-libs and "improvements" really didn't work well out of context. In the years that I served on the Best Actress panel on the Daytime Emmy Awards I would go in wanting to vote her first but couldn't. Compared to Erika Slezak, whose tape included immaculately clean work, Hubbard's performances always came off as fussy and ill-prepared. I suspect that's a big reason why she probably ended up being placed no higher than third on most ballots.

Here's a really interesting article about the origins of the sets. Nice to see that The Walford Gazette fan newspaper, for which I've contributed many interviews with actors and production personnel, is included: http://londonist.com/2015/01/exclusive-the-story-behind-the-sets-of-eastenders.php

I think Fatboy is sweet but a pointless character.

I sort of agree with you, Carl, but Taylforth's reprising the role for a Children in Need sketch in November apparently spurred on DTC and co to look into bringing her back. I think killing off Ben would be a good way to facilitate this.

I'd be all for Ben getting kllled off this year. The actor just isn't working out and I think the character has actually run its course. Someone connected to the show told me recently that there really has been discussion about bringing back Gillian Taylforth. I don't know anything more than that. Maybe it could be a Kathy look-alike rather than Kathy herself?

Erin Torpey appeared briefly on tonight's premiere of Agent Carter as a radio actress.

I thought the New Year's Day episode was beyond ludicrous. Emma wasn't sideswiped by the car, it frigging ran her over and she hit the ground but she still got up and wandered around. And anything with Nick in it is beyond awful IMO. Pantoland times a thousand. And it's only going to get worse in the coming weeks as he tries to get Charlie to accept his newborn son. The show decided to skip New Year's Eve completely which was baffling because wouldn't that be one of the busiest, most lucrative nights of the year for the Vic? Then again Mick and Linda were off "on holiday" leaving Nancy and Lee in charge. Oy. Cora's not going anywhere. Ann Mitchell has signed a new contract. I was so convinced that Max will be Lucy's murderer that I was tempted to place a bet on it while I was in London recently. Jake Wood pulled a stunt a few days ago when he was seen at a darts tournament holding an "I killed Lucy Beale" placard. As a result bets flooded in for Max being her murderer, lowering the odds significantly. I don't think this was mere cheekiness on Wood's part. He's apparently very pissed off that the BBC won't let him do the Strictly Come Dancing arena tour which could have earned him a significant chunk of change.

The Dot-Nick stuff was OK. I am looking forward to the Ronnie-Nick showdown and hope she ends up killing him. The Lucy murder storyline just goes on and on and on. I gather it will pick up big time on New Years Eve. I think it's fairly safe to guess that dopey detective Emma will end up dead after finding out the culprit.

Thanks for the Geri/GL tip, Carl. I'll definitely check it out. I loved Bernadette Peters' performance as Rose in Gypsy. I loved the production itself, Sam Mendes did a great job with it. I think Laurents was simply pissed off that he didn't get to direct it himself as he had done with the first two revivals. As for the episode tonight I agree that "HE'S YOUR BRUVVA!" was nowhere near as powerful as the "You ain't my muvva!" "YES I AM!" moment between Kat and Zoe. I think they could have come up with a more clever way for it to have come out.

Yep, Carl, he was a notoriously nasty piece of work. Actually Nancy's exact line was "the ORIGINAL Broadway program for Gypsy" and Lee adds "And personally autographed by Miss Bernadette Peters herself." It was actually sweet. Peters has been mentioned on the show before as being one of Linda's favorite musical performers. As for the rest of the boffo hour-long Christmas episode it had its moments but Linda bellowing "HE'S YOUR BRUVVA!" was meh.

Nancy gave Linda an autographed Playbill from the "original Broadway cast of Gypsy." And it was the one from the third revival of it starring Bernadette Peters! Down in Hell Arthur Laurents must be FUMING. He HATED that production (directed by Sam Mendes) and went out of his way to direct another revival (starring Patti LuPone) a few years later. Heh.

The new actor who plays Martin (James Bye) is pretty good. At certain angles he actually resembles a young Nick Berry (Wicksy). Carl, I really hope you watch last night's episode. Linda Marlowe, who plays Sylvie Carter, has made a truly spectacular debut. Wow.

I think the actor who plays Nate is a pretty weak actor in general but I was moved by the scene where Nate told Susan what happened in Afghanistan.

I think the Marta/Aleks scenes with them alternating between English and Latvian was beyond ludicrous. It was well established that Marta had known very little English and had learned a bit from her daughter. But there she was conversing in English with Aleks on intimate matters which seemed even more stupid.

Lola looks to me like the perfect combo (physicallly) of Denise Van Outen (Brit performer) and January Jones. There were, funnily enough, not one but two decent shots of Lee'a butt in last night's episode-and Jake Wood happened to be there, too!

I want Sharon back in the Vic but NOT with Phil. Maybe one of her biological parents if they ever bring them on. There must be a story behind Sam Strike leaving after just a year. Johnny wasn't featured in any storylines since the attack on The Albert (was that in June?) so something must have happened in the spring to cause production to put the breaks on. Maybe it had something to do with Khali Best (Dexter)'s sudden suspension which threw a wrench in plans for a Johnny/Nancy/Dexter etc. teen storyline. I respectfully disagree with you about the young actor who plays Jay, Carl. His voice drives me nuts-by that I mean the sound of it as well as his accent. I'd have a big problem with the show if he was on any more than he is already.

I'd like to see Kush's tush. Yep, I went there.