Ben

It all comes back down to the awful pacing, and the over reliance of plot over character. Isolate the Shirley/Mick story from the rape story, and you have a simple story that features a whole host of complicated characters that had a year's worth of material at it's feet; if this had been Emmerdale, they would have gotten all they could out of it for the entire year, and we would have felt every beat of the story. Babe had a crush on Stan when they were kids, and she has been jealous of her sister ever since. This should have been foreshadowed months ago, instead of randomly revealing it for shock value. They could have fed off of the sisters' rivalry and bitter resentment for a couple of months, with Babe struggling to care for Sylvie, sometimes restraining her out of bitterness, while Sylvie struggled to keep her mask from slipping. But no, we don't get any insight into any of these characters relationships or emotions b/c it isn't important compared to the shock value plot twists. Shirley only told Mick all of this so she could earn his sympathy, while throwing everyone else under the bus. It was all an excuse of course, b/c Shirley never owns any of her actions. So, Shirley got pregnant without realizing (b/c Sylvie hadn't bothered to tell her all about sex, contraception or even what her period was all about), and Sylvie wanted her to get rid of it, labelled her a tart, etc, beat her, and pushed her down the stairs. Sylvie is now evil, a 1940s Cruella di Vil, so nasty and twisted as she spits at Shirley that she should have had her aborted, while lurching from demented to lucidity at leisure. But wait, lets not forget that Stan used to be reviled by his family for being nasty, too (before he turned out to be relatively nice with an acerbic tongue), so it turns out he used to hit Sylvie while being a violent drunk. Babe is revealed to be short for Baby, as their parents couldn't be bothered to name her, and it was Babe's idea for Shirley to pass Mick off as her brother - Babe entered as bit of a nasty character, who it turns out is just quite sad. Shirley blames them all for her problems. They even try to convince Mick that Shirley was a good mum as she took care of him and Tina after they got them out of care. (I swear, the timeline for all of this is so small!) However, none of this explains why she ended up being an awful mum to Dean and Carly, considering she apparently married Kevin not long after abandoning Mick and Tina to live with drunken Stan. None of it explains why they all act as if they weren't estranged for years (something they all seem to forget). Shirley's Wicks history jars with her Carter history due to the retcon. It's all very theatrical (DTC is a theatre fan and it shows) and melodramatic, but due to the poor pacing, structure and a lack of heart, the whole thing left me cold. All of this happened after Mick & Linda told Lee and Nancy the truth about the rape, and Mick admitted to feeling like he failed Linda by not protecting her. The guy has a lot going on up stairs, so to throw this Shirley mess at him was too much - the guy should be having a breakdown with everything he has to deal with. And a better actor would be able to convey all of that. Tim: I don't think it's Matt Di Angelo's fault, as the writing just isn't there. It's not focused on exploring the characters emotionally, so Dean is just reacting or advancing the plot when necessary. I do like Linda, now, and feel she has a lot of potential. Her character is leading the rape story right now (after months of it being all about the plot).

Rakesh gave Jai half of the money to pay Josh and get "his son" back. Rakesh pointed out that if they call the police, he could be done as an accomplice to child trafficking or child abduction. They are all up to their necks in a whole heap of trouble. Gotta say, I never saw this twist coming, and it was awesome. Never has a soap literally shocked and surprised me in a very long time. One of the brilliant things about this is that I'm sure they used the same child actor who played Archie when he left for the same kid that Jai "brought", so for the viewers, it was the real Archie and no-one ever suspected a thing. For the first time in 2 years, Jai, Megan and co are finally involved in a story that has captured my interest. I did feel a tiny bit sad for Jai when he realized that he didn't have his son all along, but that quickly disappeared the moment he decided he didn't care about Fake Archie; at least Megan had the sense to remind him that he's just a kid and needs them. I get the feeling Megan will want to hold on to Fake Archie for as long as she can. They already went there with Ali/Dan months ago. They had a ONS, Ruby found out, dumped her, then married her a few weeks later. I don't think Kerry has forgiven Ali, yet. Are you looking for spoilers about the Aaron/Robert/Katie story, Carl?

What hasn't Charity done?! Yeah, she's the blonde who alerted Moira to the fact Cain had an aneurysm, and has recently said she's still in love with Cain. Charity and Cain used to be a couple; Debbie is their daughter. Charity pulled suicidal Declan Macey out of Home Farm after he set it on fire due to being heavily in debt. They ended up falling in love later down the track, but to begin with they were a couple for appearances only. Declan needed the insurance money to pay off his debts and rebuild Home Farm, so Declan suggested framing her cousin Sam for the crime. Sam at the time had broken into Home Farm with the intention of stealing his Christmas presents as payback for firing him, but had a change of heart and put them all back, but he was caught on CCTV. Charity felt guilty for framing her cousin, so decided to blackmail Sam's girlfriend Rachel Breckle as revenge for having a child with Charity's then husband Jai Sharma. Charity gave Rachel an ultimatum: confess to starting the fire, exonerating Sam, then leave town with her and Jai's son for ever, or, stay and let Sam rot in prison. She chose the former. Jai was devastated at losing his son, and Sam was heartbroken. The insurance money paid out, and Declan and Charity started their new life together. But, Declan's sister Megan didn't trust Charity and wanted her gone. Declan wanted a baby, but Charity didn't want any more children; she didn't feel she was the maternal type, and really after screwing up Debbie's life, she had Noah (her son with Chris Tate) who has acted as a "do-over", and didn't need or want any more children. But, a baby was a deal breaker for Declan, and Charity got pregnant. Only, she didn't want it so got an abortion in secret. Charity framed Megan for "killing" her baby after they got into a fight, and Megan was ostracized by Declan. Megan teamed up with her son Robbie to uncover the truth, and once they did, Declan went on an epic revenge rampage by poisoning Charity, then luring her to a secluded cottage where he bashed her over the head with a meat tenderiser, and planned to bury her alive. She escaped onto a boat where Declan surprised her; he aimed the flare-gun at her, but Robbie swam to stop him, jumping in the line of fire. He died. Declan sent a DVD to the cops (and everyone else) confessing to starting the fire, and blaming Charity for the insurance fraud, framing Sam and blackmailing Rachel. It would have been her word against Declan's if the corrupt detective Bails hadn't been out for revenge. Charity used to be a prostitute and it turned out that Bails was her pimp (someone correct me if I'm wrong), and later his life got messed up as a result when Charity got out. Bails blackmailed Debbie's boyfriend Pete into convincing Charity to confess to all the charges. She eventually decided to do the right thing by Debbie and made a confession. Rachel returned to give evidence, which sealed Charity's fate. Hence why she got two years.

Rakesh is awesome; he's such a likeable character, and I love his little unit with Priya and Kirin. When he arrived, they billed him as villain, I think, and gave him that boring blackmail story with Jai, which has thankfully fizzled to nothing. Jai was shouting from the rooftops that Rakesh couldn't be trusted, but never revealed why for no logical reason other than being a douche. It never went anywhere. I hate Jai and Megan. I used to like Jai with Charity, but as soon as they split, he became such an unlikeable jerk. He doesn't really have any redeeming qualities at all. He's rude, obnoxious, arrogant, and really needs to go. The wrong Sharma brother left the day Nikhil went to Canada. Megan randomly latched on Jai and they became an item, even though they have no chemistry. It felt like they were paired up b/c Megan was drifting about. Now, Megan has stayed with Jai after finding out about his affair with Layla, which is very out of character. I guess it's b/c she doesn't want to be alone, but still, she's given away all of her self respect and dignity to bloody Jai of all people. Megan should have left after Robbie was killed and Declan went on the run, as she's a spare part with no connections to the village. She's also pretty boring, too. I'm also not keen on the idea that Jai is some kind of super catch. Layla is falling all over herself to be with him, even though he's not treated her well at all. They're another couple with no chemistry, and Layla is another woman who is giving away her self respect to Jai. This is what bugs me about ED at the moment: 50% of the show is decent, with potential, and interesting characters leading story, while the other 50% is awful.

Dodger's exit was dumb and super contrived (what's new). Part of HO's problem is they have this penchant for hanging on to characters when they shouldn't. Dodger and Maxine should have left together, that's where the story was heading, and would have felt natural. But no, Dodger must go on the run b/c his incest daughter pushed his half brother off of the hospital roof, and he'll definitely go jail, despite Will trying to kill both of them moments before. If Sienna, Patrick, Freddie, Grace, Trevor (and basically every other villain in the last 2 years) can escape any charges brought upon them, change alibis and statements at the drop of a hat, then surely Dodger could have wriggled out of this. Such awful writing. KMan: You're right about Dodger being isolated from the rest of the cast. They seemed to have forgotten about his friendship with Darren over the last year, and for some reason, he barely shared any scenes with half the cast. I think that was a shame, as he was a decent character who had chemistry with everyone he worked with. I guess they prefered to focus more on the Roscoes, Ste, Sinead and mixing them up with as many characters and stories as possible all at once.

Shame Charity had to go down, but a necessity for the character. I bet it wouldn't have happened if EA wasn't pregnant. Now she's revealed she's in love with Cain (again), I guess this will be the story focus for when she returns in a year's time. Don't like Rachel, so not happy to see she's back permanently. But, it does explain why they chose to bring back the awful Tracy. I'll have to FW what will surely be the tedious triangle of Rachel/Sam/Tracy. I think that's something some people have picked up on, but something that isn't necessarily true. It's something they do HO, which people have noticed happen on other soaps for some reason. A notable exception would be that scene of Christian/Syed in bed on EE, where both actors were shirtless. I think sometimes it's just directors playing it safe and sometimes living up to what has become a "thing".

Denise isn't an alcoholic - yet. She just likes to drink a lot b/c caring for Patrick is stressful; Diane Parish has stated that Denise is not an alcoholic or dependent on it in that way. She beat Patrick off screen once. It came off very random and I choose to forget it ever happened, just like the characters have. I think the reason Santer and DTC's first stint was praised so much is b/c it came off the back of the awful 2004-2006 period. They did turn the show around and made it more watchable. There was a lot of terrible story decisions like Lauren mowing Max down; anything involving Jack's sperm, etc, etc, and towards the end especially, things started to fall apart. Just like in 2007, DTC has stepped in after the horrors of 2010-2013, making the show watchable again. It hasn't been as good as what it could have been, and there has been an over reliance on shock and plot driven stuff that makes the characters look dumb.

BIB: A bizarre backlash by armchair detectives who know nothing about the industry. Thanks to them (and Corrie/ITV's overreaction) they have gotten her fired for something of nothing. Actors have a playing age range, and hers was 16-20, so playing 14 wasn't that much of a stretch considering they actually hired her. Actors fudge their age all the time; it's no big deal to anyone. Now the poor girl's first experience is a negative one. Corrie/ITV did this to seem kosher and not dodgy. But, all they've done is give credence to behaviour that should never have been taken seriously to begin with.

I think Belle is supposed to have schizophrenia. But we'll see... I wonder if Emma is intended to just be a guest character for a few months? The story does seem to be moving quite fast at the moment.

ED churn out random 1 hour episodes every so often for no reason at all other than to clash with EastEnders (it would seem). They used to do 1 hour episodes on rare occasions and they used to be special, but ITV went crazy with ED's episode order and scheduling several years ago (probably when ITV decided ED needed to air 6 episodes a week for some reason - which has been a detriment to the show's creativity ever since). The Bartons as a family bore me. But, I love Ross, and I like Finn, and I love Moira/Adam's relationship right now; but throw in Pete and James and I'm just so bored, especially by James. Emma is interesting and damaged. I think she has potential, but she could easily burn out quickly, so I hope they keep her the right side of crazy. I love your idea Carl, about Emma moving in on Lawrence and Home Farm. But, I'd tone her down just a little, as I can't imagine Emma getting a kick out of tormenting Lachlan for no reason. I think she'd either try to mother him in some twisted way, or ignore him. She'd deffo clash with Chrissie and enjoy pressing her buttons, while locking horns with Robert. The Bartons (particularly Ross) would take advantage of the opportunity to gate crash Home Farm whenever they want, lounging about, eating their food and drinking their beer, whilst irritating the Whites. A good mixture of drama and comedy. I was glad they brought back Gemma to do the voice overs, as the story really needed to be seen from Belle's POV. I've not really cared much for the story until now, which is weird, as it's a very similar situation to what my cousin found herself in after her father's death.

Don't think Fatboy has done much of anything. His story was with his alcoholic father did nothing to make me care about him (Fatboy). The only pairing I really liked him with was Mercy (and this is probably my fave Fatboy story). I did like his thing with Denise, but that was more about Denise's character than Fatboy's. His friendship with Dot is the best thing about the character, and I really want him to have a proper home, not keep moving around like a random stray. I think they could have done more with him in the Nick/Charlie story. He also needs a decent love interest, someone he has chemistry with and isn't one of his friends. They could introduce his mother (I forget if she's supposed to be alive or dead), but then all of this would mean introducing new characters just to keep him relevant. I'm just glad they abandoned whatever plans they had of a Fatboy/Shabnam romance. No chemistry at all.

Thought this might interest some people: Caitlin Stasey (ex-Rachel Kinski) gives a blunt interview (and goes full frontal nude) on feminisim and sexuality on her new website. http://herself.com/caitlin/ It's a very thoughtful, abrasive, super-liberal and interesting read. A small extract was published in the Herald Sun.

Jim's death is so iconic for the rolling oranges and the horrible CPR acting, not to mention how diabolical Fiona Hartman was. I miss Rosemary and Helen.

A few things to note from that clip: 1) Hunter was indeed radiantly beautiful, even when wearing make up to make her look pale and dirty due to being held captive for several weeks. It's easy to forget how naturally beautiful she was, due to all the cosmetic surgery she's had since. 2) Morgan should have been around for years, much like how Sheila was, but she was dispatched with way too soon. 2001 was also the penultimate year before B&B took a misdirection with the introduction of Nick Payne in 2003. The show slowly became awful after that. 3) Salem Place on Days! One of the show's most missed sets. 4) Check-out Marlena's huge cell phone. I wouldn't have mentioned it, but there was a segment on BBC Breakfast yesterday about the anniversary of the mobile phone, and Marlena's cell phone was one of the models they were discussing.

Clearly, unmasking Lucy's killer is far more important than going to the hospital after being mowed down by a car. I let that slide b/c this is Emma: the ex-cop who thinks she's unmasked a killer and decided to confront said killer over the phone and in the park, instead of going straight to the police. In light of this, her not going to hospital is understandable. I don't know, people are suckers for a stunt, and I think even if it wasn't DTC producing, they'd still get praised for this. Ben Vs Lee randomly pops up for no real reason. I don't think it's even a story any more, just two characters who hate each other for no real reason. Carl - the only thing left to do when a character is bland and pointless is to get them naked.

Yeah, I didn't like Denise beating Patrick - OK, so she hasn't admitted to it, but it's pretty obvious that's where it's heading. If they really want to go this way, then it would have been better if we had seen more of Denise/Patrick, instead of a handful episodes here and there, as it's all be played off screen. The NYD episode was probably the best for a long time. It developed nicely, was written well, and was suitably dramatic in all the right places. Loved the soapie goodness of Ronnie dying, then coming back to life, while Emma randomly collapsed every time Ronnie was stable, making you wonder who would die. Also loved how all the suspects randomly held their mobiles and randomly looked suss at the same time just for the sake of the storyline. This was also the first time I've actually liked Emma - she's a terrible cop (who isn't in soap), but it was good seeing her be proactive for a? change, instead of acting like all drippy. And, Nick finally served some sort of purpose. So, do you think Cora really will leave with Dexter?

I loved Aleks and Roxy as a couple, but always knew that his wife would have to factor in eventually. I think this story had heaps of potential, but for whatever reason it feels like TPTB got bored of it, so decided to speed it all up without developing any of the characters involved. Marta arrives; Aleks takes Roxy on holiday; he dodges both women for a couple of episodes; Marta disappears for a month, only to pop back up and Aleks' two-timing is exposed. That's literally the beats to the entire storyline. I really wanted to see Aleks go between Roxy and Marta in secret, showing us how different he is, and how different his relationships with both women are. But we got nothing. No reason to care about Marta and his daughter; no real reason to care sufficiently about Roxy picking yet another failure b/c they haven't really invested much screen time in showing us Roxy/Aleks as a couple. I also really wanted to see Tamwar feature in this more prominently, considering he knew about Marta. Then Charlie randomly found out and threatened to tell Roxy, which I thought made him look like a complete hypocrite considering he's hiding evil Nick, whose supposed to be dead. Really awful story all round.

What year is Sweden up to? If you take a Christmas break, combined with the overly huge number of episodes per week, you will never really catch up! (But, I don't know how many episodes Sweden airs per day...)

Forgot to mention this yesterday, but some viewers found that scene quite violent, apparently - too violent for the timeslot. I guess those people don't watch much TV in general. I thought that scene was written all wrong: Lee is a soldier, and would be trained in how to deal with the enemy in strategic ways. He should have locked Ben down and applied pressure to his lungs, cutting off his air supply, instead of pummelling Ben like a common thug with anger management issues. This could have been a good time to showcase some of Lee's army training, giving the character some much needed depth, as really, you would never know he used to be a soldier. Much like how you would never know Johnny wants to be a lawyer. And does Nancy have any interests? Neighbours has done a much better job at writing a soldier in a believable way, and really shows Lee up for being a poorly defined character. His last outfit showcased his arms nicely. He's had a number of dances that's drawn attention to his ass.

I like Zak. I think he's a fairly relatable guy on some level. I do think the family could do with a reshuffle. They made a mistake having Belle accidently kill Gemma, as she should have always been the one Dingle that was better than the rest. I'd say Marlon could go for sure, preferably with Laurel; Chas can also follow him out the door. I think this story with Belle is too big for the actress to do justice. She just doesn't have the personal experience (or acting experience) to give it the emotional gravitas it needs. I also think they should have had Gemma appear visually when Belle revealed that was who she was talking to, or at least had Gemma's voice echo in Belle's ears. I know they're going for realism, but it's a TV soap, and they're supposed to be visually creative, and I think this was an opportunity for them to be more creative with the material. Bernice hasn't had much to do, really. She works well with Nicola, Rodney, Diane and Ashley, but her relationship with Andy was random and awful. I really didn't like how spiteful Bernice became over a man she dated for all of 5 minutes, plus she was reinforcing her demon daughter's demonic actions.

I'm not that enthralled by Belle's story. They're playing it up like she's being stalked by some mystery assailant, when it seems obvious that it's another mental health story for the Dingles. I just don't find it all that interesting, and I think that's down to the writing and how they decided to execute it. They couldn't just play it for what it is, they had to go and cover it with a thin veneer of mystery, like a whodunit. It's a bit too sensationalized, and not grounded enough for me. It bugs me also how the Dingles have not recommended she see a counsellor. It wasn't long ago that they were referencing Zak's battle with anxiety and stress, but suddenly he doesn't recognize any of the signs that his own daughter is displaying. It's all very deer-in-the-headlights, 'what's happening to our little girl', 'it's all that Lachlan's fault', kinda stuff. Speaking of Lachlan, I like him. He seems like a decent enough teen character, and he works well with Belle. He's the only interesting part of the whole story.

Carl: What do you think of Cindy and nuShabnam? I think Johnny's last story was in August with GuanLuca. It definitely feels like something went down to make Sam Strike quit, considering they clearly had the Johnny/Ben story planned to continue into 2015. That story has suddenly come to an abrupt end, and Johnny is randomly buying a vesper and asking GuanLuca if he can come and stay - in Italy! On the bright side, this awful Ben/Johnny story has ended; it isn't just regressive and annoying, but it makes every character look stupid, especially Abi and Phil. On a different note: I think they do those bilingual scenes awkwardly. Marta entered the show needing her daughter to translate for her, while Aleks hopped between English and Latvian in a semi-believable way. A month off screen later, and Marta now understands enough English to know what people are saying (even with the slang), but still can't speak it. So, we get badly written scenes of Marta talking to Aleks in Latvian, and him randomly replying in English (her and Roxy throwing shade at each other in their native languages). I've never known anyone not able to speak a language that they can clearly understand. They did these scenes so much more realistically when Mas/Zainab used to argue in Urdu.

Carl, brilliant post. Summed up how I feel about the show very eloquently. I to hope they don't turn Robert/Aaron into a big love story. Although, I don't really like Pete, as I find him to be a very dull character. I also appreciate Chas' off screen time. NBA: They never utilize Victoria - ever. Diane had a small story a month ago with Doug, as they finally got together. She's actually being used very well with the whole Robert vs Andy feud.

7 Reasons Why Neighbours Is back On Form: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/soaps/s14/neighbours/feature/a614569/ramsay-street-revitalised-7-reasons-why-neighbours-is-back-on-form.html#~oXAAVrRXev807y

If they were actually interesting and engaging, it wouldn't be so bad; but they're quite dull and tedious.