Manny

Soaps Christmas Ratings Thanks to @I Am A Swede, I copied this article also here from the Emmerdale and Corie threads. I am happy EE is back on top for the soaps! At least for a day! I didn't watch Emmerdale or Corie, so I cannot judge on the quality, but I loved EE holiday episode, so I'd say it is deserved

Since I don't watch US soaps anymore, I will only mentioned my wishes for EastEnders... I would love to see more positive, heart felt moments and stories and less violence, sadness and tragedy. I would also love to have more Brannings back. I really loved that family and I think I loved all of them, I don't remember a Branning that annoyed me. It's such a shame that they killed off Abi and Bradley, so this new generation is crippled. But I'd take Max back, as well as Carol! It would be nice for Sonia to have her mom back as she is going through her pregnancy storyline. Also, I would love to have Masoods back Well actually I think I would be happy if only Zainab Masood came back lol She was fun! Dean and his daughter could be the connection that brings Zainab back, as she is Jade's grandmother.

The follow up episode brought less positives for me. Mostly because of Sharon and her reaction. I found it to be revolting, really. I mean, this is your best friend, who was saving your life. And even though there is a brief moment where I thought Sharon was back to her common sense after such a shock, it did not last. Horrible! And again, poor Linda. I did like how the Six was so chaotic and some wanted to call the cops, while others did not and they disagreed and bickered. We all know this was self-defense and they all know that too. But there two bodies there... it does make it less believable that they all attacked 2 different men for self defense within one hour. So I can see how this could look bad on all of them. Then again, I see Stacey or Kathy's point with "I didn't do anything, why should I not just leave". So Keanu gets buried in the rubles, where I assume he will stay for a while. Although I assume since Kathy sold the cafe to Nish, he will eventually start to rebuild the cafe. And possibly find the body... so not sure this was the best idea. But lets see. The Six are not united at all, which is interesting, so I am curious which one will spill the beans first. I do wonder where the stories will go from here... since everything seems to be settled... Stacey/Jack/Diane seems dead in the water... Maybe Stacey will have to deal with Theo again somehow? I assume this is not over as the actor is still with the show, from what I understand... Keanu/Sharon stuff is over... will she now bond with Phil over Albie? Ew! Especially after tonight, I do not give a [!@#$%^&*] about Sharon. Especially Sharon and Phil. Suki and Eve I assume will continue their relationship, and Nish won't be able to do anything about it. I do wonder what happens when Nish and Ravi see each other again after Ravi helped Suki escape. And will the video of Ravi killing that man ever come out? Also, will Suke confide in Eve about what happened...? I am interested in this for sure. Kathy and Rocky are over, so I have no idea what is left for Kathy now. I guess she will deal with Beales? Poor Linda will continue on her downward spiral it seems. Clearly Dean and Gina are going to be a thing. That will be another hit for her.

I would love to see Karen back now. I mean, I guess for a while, everyone will think Keanu left town after the break up with Sharon. But at some point when his body is found, I would like to see Karen back to react to the whole thing. My main reason for eliminating Keanu as a suspect was that Karen only now left the show, so it didn't make sense. But if they hide his body long enough for Karen to come back at some point (because I don't know if the show fired Lorraine Stanley or she left on her own, as I don't really follow backstage gossip). Since I have seen a lot of "EastEnders Christmas Death" complaints, I went and checked how many of these deaths have actually happened It has been a lot of death indeed around the holidays (either Christmas or NY) after 2002.. although they seem to have slowed down a bit in these last 2-3 years (as the last death was Tina in 2020 and before that Roxy and Ronnie in 2017). Christmas Deaths (I counted 24, 25 or 26 December): 2002 - Jamie Mitchell 2006 - Pauline Fowler 2009 - Archie Mitchell 2011 - Yusef Khan 2012 - Derek Branning 2015 - Arthur Chubb 2023 - Keanu Taylor New Years Deaths (I counted 31 Dec or 1 Jan): 1998/1999 - Tiffany Mitchell 2003/2004 - Barry Evans 2004/2005 - David Collins 2005/2006 - Dennis Rickman 2007/2008 - Kevin Wicks 2011/2012 - Pat Evans 2013/2014 - Carl White 2014/2015 - Emma Summerhayes 2016/2017 - Roxy & Ronnie Mitchell Between Christmas & New Year (27 - 30 Dec): 2020 - Tina Carter

There is the third part of the "EastEnders Whodunnit?" interview with the Six and it shows the entire conversation with Kellie Bright and Chris Clenshaw as he reveals everything to her. It is fun

LOL That was fun! But I feel really bad for Linda. She really does have A LOT to deal with and now this

OMG!! What a great episode!! I love that Nish was not the final victim from the flashforward because it was predictable. Even if those scenes were awesome and I would not mind it, this was so much better. When I realized that the scene is continuing and that there is more to come, I literally gasped when Keanu stormed in and the scene continued and I realized it will be Keanu as well who dies!! I just thought it would really come out that the two of them would both die. Now that slimy Dean is in the house still, isn't he. We never saw him leave, we just saw the door left ajar, but he must have stayed in the house!! OMG, amazing! I cannot wait for today's episode!

Oh I am excited too!! Been a while since I have been so excited over a soap opera! lol Literally years... Whatever happens, I hope they don't disappoint!!

It is really icky how they are pushing Gina and Dean together and how she feels bad for him just because she had a 10 minute conversation with his sick daughter, whom she saw for the first time in her life.

Eden's rape on Santa Barbara was very graffic and brutal from what I remember. I was a kid back then, but I would say that was the darkest moment I ever saw on daytime soaps. I remember her being all beaten and bloody and crying..

Great episode today!! Spoilers for those that did not watch yet today's episode!!! I am shocked that Nish and Suki already had their confrontation!! It was intense to watch. Nish is really a sick posessive maniac, who truly thinks that Suki will love him after he admitted her got rid of a person she loves. I was annoyed that things moved so fast that police already found witnesses and blood in Ravi's car. And did Ravi snitch on Nish, so that is why they arresred him too? Vinny is such a pathetic loser, blaming everything on Suki. Now unfortunately my theory of Suki killing Nish has fallen through. I mean, with Eve back how can Nish and Ravi be set free? So Nish cannot be the victim... The only truth left is Keanu kidnapping Albie. But I just don't believe Sharon is the killer. She literally moves in to check the pulse. She is very calm and collected, so she did not do it. Maybe it really is Dean. Or Jack.. I am excited to see this play out in a couple of episodes!! I hope it is not something lame

Hahaha Alfie and Billy are selling those cufflinks to anyone and everyone So I guess that those that ended up during the year with someone (Phil?), I guess doesn't matter... who will get to buy them maybe now?

Hm, interesting. It didn't feel like the show was stalled, at least not in the second part of the year that I watched. Lots of stuff happened which is leading to the Christmas murder(s).. Just out of curiousity, what makes the stories feel stalled for you?

I somehow still think with the onset of his affair with Stacey, that Jack still lives... I don't see them starting the affair only to kill him off next week. I could see it if the killer was someone outside of the six ladies, but with one of them being the killer... Hmmm.. Although nice catch about the bottle of wine that Denise was holding! 👍

Well did I spoke too soon or what? My predictions were written before I saw all of the episodes of last week. Now I watched and my prediction doesn't change, I still say Nish is killed and Suki does it. They really were making people threaten Nish in public, haven't they? Kathy having a public fight with him.. even Keanu yelling he would kill him. It is a bit surprising that they are also creating these male suspects with all the threats flying, when apparently it is one of the six ladies who is the killer. And then as I mentioned, I knew the Linda recording will come back, I just didn't expect it to come back so soon. And then here we had George yelling he would kill Dean in front of everyone. I still don't think it's Dean. His daughter just showed up and there is still stuff to play out. I.e. this gross thing with Gina.. are they really going there? Gina and Dean? Ew! Oh and Linda publicly said she would kill Dean when she caught him playing Santa with Ollie. Also, Kat finding out Sharon's secret. Did not expect that to happen now. But Kat will not tell Phil, I am sure. Making it even more clear it is not Phil who dies, because all this needs to play out. I cannot wait, because I don't like Kat and Phil. Oh and Theo is now suspected to be kidnapped Eve. I just don't get it.. is Theo in prison? Or not? Jack mentions he is in Scotland? And there goes Stacey threatening Theo to kill him. But I do upgrade Theo to potential victim, because based on everything, Theo will somehow get free and visit Stacey again. And you gotta love Jean, questioning Stacey if she and Jack are getting involved and reminding her it would be a third Branning for her I laughed! Jean is right though. And the literally in the same episode, they kiss. Stacey/Jack romance is gross. The only way I'd be into it is if Max comes back. I love messy Max. Oh there might be two deaths? That makes it really interesting then. Yeah, the whole cufflinks thing I don't know. I read about it, but I think I read Phil has them now? I would be very shocked if they kill Jack off. I wouldn't mind it, but I would be surprised. I just think killing both Dean and Nish would be so obvious. If you're gonna do two deaths, then at least one of them should be shocking. Jack, for me, would be shocking. Basically anyone other than Nish/Dean/Theo, would be kinda shocking to me. They are the most obvious. Yeah, Jack is kind of looking into Eve's disappearance, but basically the police in general is. They questioned Ravi and Nish in the last episode on Thursday. Can you maybe share which casting news is making you think it's Jack? I am curious now

Since I only came back to EE this summer, I missed the flashforward in February. I actually didn't know about it until yesterday lol So I watched it and I watched the BBC special that @j swift mentioned today. I find this murder mystery to be very interesting. I love how they executed it. Really, from production standpoint, to have created in late 2022/early 2023 and then the rest of the story playing out only end of 2023, wow.. I am really interested who did it and who is the murder victim. But I want to venture a guess... So in the flash forward, Linda seems to be coming into the room, so I think we can say it is not her, right? Most obvious would be one of the three ladies closest to the body (Stacey with bloody hands, Denise holding the (I guess) murder weapon, and Sharon with a bloody wedding dress). Kathy had no expression on her face at all. So I think it cannot be her. Finally, Suki.. she did seem really shocked.. so she is still a possibility. Might be she killed him, then stepped back and the other three ladies got blood on them. As for the victim... I would love it to be Phil.. but I don't think it's him. They just have so many unresolved stuff to play out with Phil.. Albie's parentage, the fact he cheated on Kat with that lady.. There is no way Jack is killed. I haven't seen the first part of the year, but he's don't NOTHING in this second part of the year that I watched. Theo.. could be.. obviously he's a creep.. but wouldn't he now get sent to prison after pleading guilty? Rocky... well the truth came out about what he did and Kathy didn't kill him.. lol And again, based on Kathy's expression in the flash forward, I just don't think she did anything. Now Keanu... sure, Sharon might flip out if the truth comes out at the wedding. But I don't think he gets killed off at this point without Karen there to play out the death scenes. They would have killed him off sooner while Lorraine Stanley was still there. So it is either Ravi or Nish or Dean. Now, I don't believe Linda did it, but Dean being killed off is a possibility. However, they just brought his daughter in, and this whole thing with Linda "confessing" he didn't rape her in a recording surely will come back at later stage to play out. So that leaves Ravi or Nish. I have been wondering how they would ever save Ravi from the murder he already committed as well as the kidnapping of Eve. So maybe him getting killed is the way out for the character. But the only issue is, I have seen that Eve actress is on some break, so I don't think this break would be so official unless it is bit longer. So the truth about him kidnapping her would not be possible to come out yet. And on top, the murder he committed has to come out in some way at some point. So I think he still has stuff to play out. So then, would the body be Nish? Maybe they do find out he found out the truth about Suki/Eve and a fight happens, Suki kills him and is shocked, while other ladies stand around trying to help. And I don't see any loose threads in Nish story to keep him around. With Nish gone, Eve can come back, Kathy can maybe get her cafe back somehow, and Suki is free (because probably she kills him in self-defense). So I will go with that.. Suki kills Nish!

I still have this week's episode to watch, but I fell behind at some point due to life, but now I have just finished Karen's exit story and it was amazing!! I never really cared for Karen or in general the Taylors, but I have to say... how everything unfolded was awesome! And amazing acting by Lorraine Stanley! She was so good, you could see Karen was heartbroken at taking the fall for her son, even though she resents him that he let her. And goodbye scenes with Bernadette and then Mitch agreeing to come with her. It was nice. I love that they took Phil's money. I don't like Phil. I hope Bernadette snitches on Keanu at some point. Count me in as someone who LOVED Nish/Eve scenes. I had no idea that Nish didn't know about Eve/Suki. When I came back to the show and was reading about certain characters, for some reason I thought that everyone knew that Suki and Eve had an affair. But it was great acting and really well done. Nish telling Ravi to take Eve and kill her reminded me of Snow White And then Ravi takes Eve to the forest (like the hunter does with Snow White hahaha) and eventually lets her go! Awesome! I do wonder how this will unfold when Eve comes back. I feel bad for Suki, Nish is really disgusting. I also wonder how Ravi will get out of this, since he already has Denise knowing he killed that guy on the video, plus now Ravi is involved with Eve's disappearance. Speaking of Ravi, I just hate his ex and his new daughter. They are both so annoying. Especially the daughter. And then the story with Linda and Dean... Not knowing the history, I wanted to ask everyone how the show played the rape scenes. Was it really rape or did they have an affair? Based on the comments here, I see that it was rape. So it really makes Dean really disgusting. I feel bad for Linda. But like @Chris B said, these things happen.. men get set free all the time for rape, so I get the story from that perspective. But I really hope he gets punished. Because he's more than gross. And something that happened in the previous episodes, Cindy clashing with Ian over Bobby, that was interesting. Lots of conflict there. All in all, even though I enjoyed a lot of stuff in second half of November and early December, I do hope EE lightens up a little bit with their stories. Every story is so dark and heavy. They need to have a least one lighthearted and cheerful story to balance it out.

I like Linda and Alfie's friendship too! It would be refreshing if they do just remain friends 😉

Oh thats true! I hope they don´t kill Alfie! I really like him. I am guessing they won´t... it seems they are also building up a Linda/Alfie/Kat/Phil quadrangle, no?

Oh my, awesome episode today!! I really enjoyed it all! Beale storyline is great right now, all the drama... Cindy vs Kathy; Rocky hiding the truth; Cindy reporting Kathy to the cops; Peter being the one most hurt vs Bobby being less hurt... really good drama. I am really curious how this will continue now. I like that they used this moment to bring Cindy and George more closer too. Alfie is back! Yay! But oh no, his cancer is more aggressive than they thought. Shane Ritchie was so good in the scenes with the doctor and then especially in the scene with Kat. I was heartbroken for him. Really good soapy stuff right now! Cannot wait for tomorrow!

Oh wow, so two of my most boring storylines have reached some exciting points within the story! Wow! Firstly, I would have never guessed that this boring Sharon/Keanu storyline would ever go into the "fake kidnapping" direction. It was very interesting to watch and I am curious what happens after Sharon finds out. Knowing the casting spoilers, I assume which way it will go, but still... should be interesting. However outside of the kidnapping, I am really bored with Keanu and Sharon as a couple and I don´t see any chemistry. Secondly, the betting storyline for Rocky.. wow! How much did he owe to Nish? My God, they were always mentioning some small amounts and then this was enough for him to set Kathy´s restaurant on fire?? And then Bobby goes in and through a series of stupid events, Bobby makes the restaurant explode?? Wow! Did not see that coming! I saw this betting storyline as a C tier side thing, but wow did it have an impact. I still don´t care what happens to Rocky, but I am interested in Peter and Bobby. Although Bobby not calling the fire department and starting to clean the place up alone in the middle of the night was very stupid. I am interested what happens today!

Great job, Jason!! Thank you for sharing all of this with us!!

So Jay is already awake from his coma. I am sure he will be up and about by next week. Just like Gina after her OD episode. This was always bothering me in UK soaps, how fast they are going through things. Anyway, a lot of Keanu/Sharon/Dorian, which is boring to me. Ian/Cindy have also started boring me. I did enjoy her return, but these last few weeks, she´s been very boring. I did enjoy her bonding with Gina over Jay. They continue this Rocky gambling story which is zzzzz... Dean Wicks came back. I have never watched the show while he was there, so that is not really shocking to me, but lets see how it goes this time. I will have to read his story. Oh so Cindy and Ian brought Dean as their partner? They have been searching for one for so long, that I am glad they found someone, so that we can move on. This is my last episode (31 October) for today, so I will finally stop my monologues here LOL

OMG, this damn show is making me cry!! Great acting from Perry Fenwick, Max Bowden and the little girl playing Lexi. Ben telling Lexi about Jay´s accident, then them speaking to Jay over the phone and then Billy telling Jay he is his son and not to die... omg, been a long time since I cried while watching a soap...

Oh, the scene where Jay argues with Ben and Billy and mentions their [!@#$%^&*].. it was nice when he told Ben that he´s not a saint. But then they argue over Lola´s ashes and drop the urn.. omg, heartbreaking And now police comes over and Jay might have been in a car accident. Some good scenes here!!