Ben

I'm loving the show so much more these days. It feels a lot more like Neighbours, so much warmer with more heart. The show is constantly evolving trying to claw back its very damaged rep. The incidental music needs a major revamp, though. The good kind of comedy is back, which was missed, and since the crash, Sophie is much less annoying, and even Kate isn't as bad as she once was. I think the show has handled Andrew's epilepsy well, and I'm enjoying Carmel's return and seeing Karl and Susan interacting with someone 30+; Carmel and Susan are quite realistic as sisters, IMO. I'm so looking forward to Sarah's return, and the demise of the news paper - that's one set that has run its course. I don't think the Lucas/Vanessa/Rhys triangle has worked the best it could have. It was boring and tedious for so long, but it's been better since Vanessa learned of Lucas' feelings for her. The sham wedding was not great; good drama for the actual event, but the idea was flawed from the start. I also dislike how exploring Rhys' family history was shelved for this dull triangle. Connor's return was also disappointing, as he never interacted with the other characters he knew outside of #30! However, they did manage to write a realistic story for Connor and his inability to mature. Him going away and coming back, only to be confronted with the realization that everything has changed apart from you, is probably quite realistic and relateable for some people around his age. I love Priya. She's become my new fave character. Now that Jade has gone, and I've dealt with that (), I needed to update my avatar, and she was the perfect choice. I'm kinda disappointed that Aidan is leaving, but I do feel he and Chris have run their course, especially considering they don't have any PDAs! Also, I don't want them to do the cliché story where the gay character falls in love for the first time and they become insta-soul mates, never to be with anyone else ever again. In an ideal world I would break up Chris & Aidan and keep both characters on, but that would require Neighbours having the potential for 4 gay characters at once, unless one of the guys never had a love interest ever again. I think if someone isn't used to watching a soap that is grounded in character, and is slower (more realistic) in nature, then it probably will come across as boring, compared to EastEnders or Home & Away, where murder and violence and plot takes precedence over characters - Neighbours is not that kind of show; it's not the kind of soap that would be telling the Tanya/Max/Kirsty story or the hideous Derek/Kat/Alfie crapfest. I no longer watch Days - the writing is hideous as it sucks out any potential drama and goes the opposite way. Everything is speeded up. However, being a new viewer, these things may not bug you as much as me, as you don't come with any history of the show or characters. I'd say give the show a go, as Will & Sonny are in the middle of a big story. Not sure what's going on with them right now, but they have featured quite a bit over the last few months. I've got to give the show some props for their first gay couple, as I never thought such a conservative soap would show as much as they have with Will & Sonny.

Is anyone else enjoying the Masood/Ayesha story? I quite like it, and I quite like Ayesha, too. I hope she sticks around after Zainab exits in February. I like the Cora/Ava/Dexter scenes, and the Jay/Abi/Lola/Dexter group actually work really well. But, why must the entire Branning family all have storylines at once? Some of them need to be supporting players. I thought Denise and Ray's kiss had potential, but I don't like the direction it has taken them and Kim. It's turned into a mess, and for what? Ray's turned into a jerk, Denise is being branded a whore, and Kim is just stupid. I was rooting for Alfie & Roxy, but I don't like the way they've gotten together, or how Alfie still gives Kat the time of day. And why must Bianca always be dirt poor? It's so repetitive, tedious and boring. Move the character on already, otherwise what was the point in bringing her back.

I'm not sure quite how to answer that, Bright Eyes. If you don't like it now, then you probably never will. It's more true to itself these days, than it has been for a few years, and long term fans are appreciating the changes. I'm loving the show ATM. Granted, it's not perfect, but the feel, tone and pacing has improved so much last year. It was deadly dull in 2009, the worst year the show has ever had. In 2005-2007, the show was OTT, and maybe more your cup of tea. It had an evil twin impersonating their comatosed brother, and blowing up a plane killing a major family (that didn't go down well with viewers), poisoning and gassing people; one comedy character went psychotic and started doing crazy stuff. The Lassiters complex was set on fire in 2004 (it's best finale ever). Paul Robinson turned evil, then had a brain tumour and got retrograde amnesia during 2006-2007. There was a bush fire in 2008. But the show can't be like this all of the time. You watch a lot of soaps already, and I don't know how you manage it. I find Corrie so boring and miserable these day; Emmerdale is tedious; Home & away sucks - it's all murder and violence.

H&A rarely does Christmas. The last one I remember was 2004, and then 2010 (I think), when Alf dressed up as Santa - but I wasn't watching. In recent years, the show has jumped time from the finale to be up-to-date with RL when it returns. Neighbours does Christmas most years, it just plays out earlier than RL. The later the show returns, the less chance Christmas will still be commencing. E.g: Christmas happened close to 2011's finale, and the return was a continuation of the cliffhanger, so Christmas was still happening, until it randomly disappeared in the next episode, and the show was back correlating to RL dates. It can be a bit jarring when watching the episodes in succession. New Year is hardly ever celebrated. Or mentioned in either show.

The season finale is December 7th. It always airs for longer than H&A. The break usually varies, but it appears it may return on Jan 14th; generally it's 4 weeks, but they now film 6 episodes a week, so they can have a longer production break over Christmas to save money. The show always goes on a production break for the whole of January.

I'm sad that Rhys will be leaving, too. Very complex and interesting character, that has yet to be fully developed. I guess this is why The Turners are coming, and probably why they're bringing back Mark and Steph to ease the transition period. I didn't include Sarah, as her return has been in the making for a whole year! This is one of the problems with the show (and H&A) - the younger actors just don't want to stay for more than 2-3 years; the lure of Hollywood is too great for Australians, it would seem.

So glad they killed him off. In hindsight, I'm happy they killed Maddie off when they did, now that another of her fellow, pointless students have gone, too. I also wouldn't have been able to stand her screaming that Esther was to blame in every scene. So glad that Bart is getting all the blame, as it he should. The SORASing of Holly is silly, as she looks as old as Cindy who is supposed to be her mother. Now, Holly has gone back home, so why randomly introduce her then? As first impressions go, Holly's wasn't a good one. That look of disdain at her mother breaking down over her blood-stained wedding dress was bad. Jacqui is so awesome with this material; she's really selling the grieving widow. On the subject of Rhys, you may be happy to know, Bright Eyes, that his legacy will apparently live on...

I love how you want them gone, but hope it works out for them. That's a bit twisted. So far, these people died: They could have killed off more teens, as we are still left with major dull duds. Hopefully Bart will go to prison for driving stoned, and causing the crash. Phoebe was a homeless kid, who George met on the streets when he ran out of money. They were both groomed by this couple who kidnapped them and tried to turn them into prostitutes. It was all very grim. George moved in with Kanes (and reconnected with his absent parents who believed he was dead), but Phoebe was still homeless. Her mother is a deadbeat call girl who used her daughter to buy drugs (I think), so Jacqui took pity on her and moved her in with her and Rhys. It took weeks to build up the trust between them. Phoebe has a lot of trust issues, and she doesn't like other people coming between her friends, so she kinda manipulates their lives so all they have is her, like all she has is them. I like Phoebe; she has a lot of potential, and is ultimately very damaged. After the scarring, Carmel ran away to live with Nana McQueen (off screen). IRL, she had to take time out of the show after her dad died. She's away for a while, but is back on screen now.

If you haven't seen it, yet, or tuned out of the show, make sure you watch the crash episodes, as they have been awesome. I won't spoil the deaths, but one was extremely sad, while Karma acted quickly for another, in the most genius way. They really blew the budget.

Oh, UK Law, so good to see someone so knowledgeable fill in the blanks. I'm not so good with the finer details on things. I remember the episode started with the body bag being removed from the Swan, and how it flashbacked to the earlier day, but I had completely forgotten that the whole week was used to tell the story leading up to Pete's death. The sexing up of the show did feel hollow, but maybe over time that may have fixed itself, but we will never know. Now that you mention it, the show did focus on more younger characters, and people like Sadie were written out, which I thought was a shame. Do you know if David Easter wanted to leave, or was he let go by SO'C? Do you have any idea what they would have renamed the show as?

I think he felt like there was no way out for him. He shot at the police knowing they would shoot and kill him - suicide by cop. I don't remember his mental state at the time, but it was quite a sudden exit. Eileen was a hot mess. But a fun mess at that. They brought her back b/c she was popular, and the character needed some kind of closure. Fans weren't happy when she left, and felt she should have stayed. No-one else was brought back at all, which may show how random the cancellation was.

Really?! It was a good storyline. Graham was one of those characters who was nice to everyone, but then nasty to Denise. At one point, she let doubt filter through and started to believe she was mistaken and even apologised to him, but then he switched and revealed she was right all along. He was so nasty and creepy, who had no remorse; he totally got off on terrorising/taunting her, knowing that no-one believed her. It went on for months, and was so good when Denise was finally able to unmask him. Here's Pete and Eileen's bios, and you can see how there stories intertwine.

Ecstatic. Love that Steph and Sarah are returning, and I'm one of the few (it seems) that actually liked Mark. Some people found him dull b/c he's a nice guy, who has integrity, which makes him seem a bit uptight about things; he was a good contrast to manipulative Dr. Rhys and happy-go-lucky, handyman Kyle, who he shared Number 26 with. I loved Sarah, but apparently, a lot of people found her boring. Why do nice characters get such bad reps? I'm looking forward to her sharing scenes with Toadie, but more importantly, Karl and Susan. Sarah is probably just a plot device to get Karl and Susan back together, but I don't mind, as it's so good they're using history in a positive way to move story. But, they aren't permanent, which I kinda knew they wouldn't be. Steph is back for 2 months, Sarah: 6 weeks, and Mark: 1 month. Libby was still with the show when Steph went to prison, so she should either be surprised that Libby has left, or she would've been filled in off screen by her mum Lyn, Susan's best friend. Hopefully they'll reference Libby's absence. Having Lauren return should give Lou a purpose again. I mostly remember Lauren for falling off her horse, being brainwashed by a cult, and that love triangle with Brad Willis and Beth Brennan. She was a bit of minx, from what I recall, so a lot of fun. We'll see if Lauren 2.0 has the same edge, or if she's been toned down. They début in February, Oz pace, so I wonder what changes will take place between now and then? Whose house will they occupy?

(Sort of) big returnees and a new family are coming: Sarah Beaumont, Steph Scully, Mark Brennan, and a recast Lauren Carpenter with her family, the Turners! Not sure where they're all going to live - the new family in particular - so maybe a few other characters will be leaving soon? These scans from TV Week, do not belong to me, but http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaffas_mum_uploads/

Looking at Wiki, I'm totally mistaken. It says the Boulters arrived in December 2003 and were all gone by the latter half of 2005. This makes more sense, otherwise their stories would have been all squashed in to a few months! Here's a brief story overview for Denise Boulter.

The longer the show went on, the more diverse it got. I'd say, it was the best at diversity, as you never really had stereotypes, and they weren't afraid to mix it up and have black or Asian characters be both villains and good guys, or gay characters not being just white. You know what I mean? These days, everything is scrutinised and analysed, and people complain about this and that. I guess maybe being a minority soap, it was never in the public spotlight to be critiqued to death. The Boulters came into the latter half of 2005, and while the family wasn't that great to begin with, Denise's rape put them on the map and showcased how talented they were (well, how talented Denise was - she'll be good on EE, I hope). I'm sure Sean and Tanya did... it sounds familiar, and a story that writes itself. I'm not seeing the Lenny Henry comparison, but maybe that's b/c he's older and tubbier these days.

Marc (or the viewers) chose Yasmin. However, Geri ended up getting cancer, and Yasmin, finally finding her self respect and dignity (and out of loyalty to Geri) kicked Marc out and got a divorce! Due to the viewer vote, Marc stayed around for a little while not doing anything, until he left town, only to return a year later wanting to get back with Yasmin. It was more interesting on screen, however, Marc wasn't an interesting character, really. It was also the first time a British soap had launched an interactive service like this. I did wonder if TPTB were inspired by Days viewer vote in 2001, to choose the father of Hope's baby... This is the last batch of articles. I'll post some character/story bios to help fill in the blanks of some these, too.

I'm so sorry Carl (and to anyone else) that the articles have all been deleted. Photobucket redesigned their layout, so I took the opportunity to reorganise the scans, not realizing the links would change! Doh! I don't remember too much about the Cheryl stalker story. She was a guest character, so she didn't stick around for long. She and Dave weren't that great a couple, IMO. They seemed like they were for the long haul.

Yasmin's story with Deke and Ziggy wasn't a main story; it was probably a C-story. I never liked it. None of it felt true, and Yasmin never suited either character. Both characters were dire. I was glad when they left town. The crime stuff was toned down, but not for long... Charlotte didn't stick around for as long as I would've liked. She was a good character, who only lasted several months. I can't remember if Charlotte was still around when Pete/Lucy happened - I want to say she wasn't... But don't quote me on that. LOL. That episode looks like it is from 1998-99, give or take a year. This first article should have featured further above.

Oh, it was very well researched and plotted. All of the Costellos big storylines were. She was the first actor to ever win a BSA for the show, and rightly deserved it was. It put the show on the map, and got people to look at it differently. This was why the cancellation was such a shock. I guess Channel 5 were tiring of the show, and thought the positive exposure of the awards would suddenly translate into bigger ratings, which didn't happen. They said the show had a £1 million budget, and it was a cost saving measure; I guess splashing £40 million on Home & Away left them strapped for cash...

The Costellos stayed until the end of the show (minus daughter Melanie, who was a poor man's version of Sara Warrington. She made a return in the final episode). They did give the Costellos a lot of dark plots. If you think that's dark, following on from this was a paedophile story involving Chloe and young family friend, Bradley. From here it launched into the next big story, and the reason why Chrissy was sectioned.

So, they did it. They killed Carl, and made him and evil, attempted rapist to boot. More character assassination from SB. What a horrible story. Cameron should have died. Carl should never have been ruined and written out. This story is so predictable. Chas thinks she killed Carl, and Cameron will let her believe it (or some variation), while Jimmy will be the number 1 suspect, due to his cuts and bruises from the fight with Carl. The Gennie/Nikhil scenes were great. They had some good character interaction during the birth, with Val wanting her to mess the carpet so she could claim it on the insurance, and Lizzie the blind woman, being the only one not to have had a drink and fit to drive her to the hospital. Sian Reece Williams did a great job in those scenes. IA, too much Debbie. Her giving birth in this episode wasn't necessary, IMO. I quite liked the Declan/Katie/Megan/Robbie scenes. Maybe it was b/c something was happening. Although, when Katie was recapping everything, she forgot to mention how Robbie attacked her, which is what started her and Declan's revenge on Megan. I guess Katie is the villain in the story. The Live episode was produced well, and the acting was good, shame about the suck-y writing.

The awards the show won were for stories before O'Conner took over. He came in right at the end of 2005, with apparent big ideas, like renaming the show! Oh, yes they did. It wasn't all bad. Clive was a nightmare, but when they introduced Sami in 2005, he was as camp as a Christmas tree, but he was a really good character. It took me awhile to get to like him, but once they peeled back the flamboyant façade, he had a vulnerability about him, and his friendship with Yasmin was sweet. He was soaps first gay Muslim, a fact that gets forgotten about now that Syed exists. I don't think I've posted anything on Lucy, yet. But Dave has already appeared in the last page, I think. The one about him fighting custody against Pete.

Pete had been with the show since 1997, and it was only in 2002-ish that he started taking breaks. Well, the show was left with Pete, Sadie, Yasmin, Dave, Cat, Geri, Eileen, Lucy, and any randomly new characters that were being brought in. This was when Roy, Nikki and Sara, Andrew, Luke, Becky, and her brother (the Warringtons) were written out, along with Matt and Karen, Jim and Paul Webb. Paul chose to leave to take up a role in Shortland Street. FYI: Matt was Nikki's brother, a fact that was never portrayed well in screen. I'd completely forgotten that they were even related. I guess the smaller soaps could get away with telling more risqué stories, and they probably saw incest as a ratings grabber. Sadie's plastic surgery story was a sad one, especially when she realized she couldn't have the actual surgery and could have been worse off. Sadie arrived during the first revamp, after the Harts were blown up, and stayed until 2005, when they wrote her out along with Dave Matthews, Lucy Day and Pete Callan. This all occurred when Sean O'Connor took over as Executive Producer, only for the show to get cancelled. I disliked that Sadie and Pete weren't around for the end (it was only 4 months off!). The finale end up being about new characters who nobody really cared about. After some research, I now know who you are talking about. Clive Starr and his best friend Gabby Johnson; the cop was Adam. This happened in late 1999-early 2000. I vaguely remember this story, but I don't remember Adam's character at all. Clive used to bug me, as he was the stereotypical gay guy - flamboyant, loud, bitchy - think a fatter, warmer version of Corrie's Sean, with some heart. I didn't watch much when they were on. And I have nothing on this story. Sorry. Ooh, Adam was the same cop who returned to investigate Josh Matthews' murder. Nice bit of continuity that went over my head at the time. That's how much I paid attention to his earlier story with Clive and Gabby.

This was a rushed period, it seems. The brother/sister story wasn't that interesting, as they were all new characters, including Tanya, and no-one cared that much. None of them stuck around for long, either. It was sad to see Declan leave as he had been with the show for 3 years, but in the third year, he was on the backburner a lot, and was given bit stories that did nothing for him, so it was time for him to leave as you could tell they didn't know what to do with him. Laila also starred in Hollyoaks and Footballers Wives, and up until a few of months ago, Holby City. I do like Laila, but she never stays with a show for long. The Davenports were a disaster. They were so boring and uninteresting. Cameron stayed around for the longest. The father should have gone with his wife and daughter. He didn't work with Cat at all. There was also the false rape allegation that Cat's niece Geri, lobbied at him somewhere in there. Conor stayed for a few months, and from I remember, that was his only story. Bit of a pointless character, IMO. The characters sound familiar, but I don't think I do. The only character to have a gay best friend was Tanya (not the same as above) with Sean (the Will & Grace couple). Unless you're referring to Melanie Costello, whose boyfriend Brendan cheated on her with Sean, and it was revealed Brendan was bi? I have something on that.