LondonScribe

Now that the show is definitely a go, I’ll join in the conversation more often.

4 hours ago, MichaelGL said:

Looks like the UK soaps are making the same mistakes as the American soap have made; recycling producers. 

By and large, the ITV soaps have this standard pathway. Wherever a producer comes from (Iain MacLeod, for example, has his roots in Hollyoaks), they land on Emmerdale as showrunner, and will invariably move over to Coronation Street.

Kieran Roberts, Steve November (previously Frost), Stuart Blackburn, Kate Oates, Iain MacLeod, etc

A few, namely Phil Collinson, did not follow that path.

https://www.digitalspy.com/soaps/coronation-street/a60316073/coronation-street-kate-brooks-new-producer/
 

Kate Brooks is the new producer.

I’m not a watcher of Emmerdale anymore, but from the little I understand, this won’t exactly inspire confidence in the audience.

Everybody needs good… Hollyoaks?

https://www.digitalspy.com/soaps/hollyoaks/a60271202/hollyoaks-spoilers-time-jump-job-cuts/

Dex confessing and implicating Sonny has clearly limited/ended his time on the show.

My guess is word gets back to Sonny and Dex will be killed off, either before the former is arrested or as a result of an arrest.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/bbc-eastenders-boss-five-word-32376369.amp
 

Seeing reports that ostensibly nobody experienced or worth their salt wants the producer’s job at Coronation Street.

As one put it, nobody wants to be the middle of a ‘MacLeod Sandwich’ as Verify MacLeod is supposedly going to remain in place, while Iain bears down from his new promoted position.

It’s the first American soap I truly fell in love with, so I’ll always back it to exist, and I’m happy it will continue to do so, even though I don’t watch it right now.

However, from the perspective of someone who remembers what it was, I wish the powers that be would re-examine Josh Griffith. It looks like the show is very much his, top to bottom, and as much as I want to jump back on, I fear it’ll hurt to see what it is.

Funny that I’ve found this.

After a long writers block, I’ve started experimenting with writing 1-2 minute shorts, to get back into it. 

I’ll keep an eye on this to see if anything comes of it.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-68380093.amp

John Savident, portrayer of the classic character, Fred Elliott, has passed away aged 86.

1 hour ago, TEdgeofNight said:

Of course I speak for everyone! The entire world. As The World Turns. 

Just watched today’s Knight-focussed episode of Eastenders.

Wow We.

One of the most nuanced and true-to-life expirations of racism as was, and as is. 

It might not chime with everyone (indeed I’m waiting for some in the media to invoke the ‘w-word’) but I found it very thought-provoking.

Just watched that TEXAS scene. Goodness me, that’ll stay with me for a little while.

It also makes me want to go and find the show to watch. 

The power of sophisticated writing, the likes I could only dream of doing myself.

2 hours ago, John said:

Not saying there won't be exits but if there are do them gradually. Don't do something dumb like putting them all on a bus that goes over a cliff. I am more into defined characters, romance & family dramas.

I don’t think there are many current U.S-based producers or writers who would go down the U.K. route of just writing a load of characters at once.

Case in point, this stunt killed off 6 characters in one go (though one died 2 episodes later for the drama):

The same producer then axed about 8 characters in the space of a week and a half on Family Affairs in 2003.

Then about 11 characters over a 2-3 week period I believe in Hollyoaks years later in 2010.

I’ll admit, I know little about Patrick Mulcahey, as he hasn’t written for the shows I watched or certainly at the point I watched them, but I’ve heard nothing but really good things about him and his work.

So this level of cautious excitement is fascinating to me.

Now I know how you all felt when I came armed with information and warnings about Mal Young and his previous work in the U.K. when he joined Y&R

Of course this is much more positive and  I look forward to seeing how this plays out, however long it lasts for.

2 hours ago, BetterForgotten said:

Apparently, Janice Ferri Esser has announced her retirement at Y&R - and just like that, the last writing vestige from the Bell era is officially gone. 

Wow. Once put like that, it’s a pretty big moment.

3 hours ago, MichaelGL said:

Sucks that he gets a promotion even though he's a complete and total hack. I just hope this means that with him being moved to a higher position, that we will get a new EP for Coronation Street, sort of like how they have Kate Oates over BBC dramatic programming, but Chris Clenshaw is the EP of EastEnders. 

I’m guessing ITV has now modelled his new role and structure on BBC’s Soap and Drama department, so he’d basically be doing what Kate Oates does.

I don’t watch enough of Coronation Street to make my own subjective judgement, but enough people say that his stewardship of the show has led to uninspiring output that there must be something to it.

2 minutes ago, Manny said:

Oh was she back only for a limited time? For some reason I thought she was back full time..

This time around, she’s back permanently, though I think I read somewhere that her schedule didn’t work out for that week.

On 1/1/2024 at 7:03 PM, I Am A Swede said:

Emmerdale, early 1994, those last few precious months B.D.  (Before Dingle)  Little did we know about the horror that would soon arrive and infect this show beyond salvation.

Ah that 1994 period after Phil Redmond’s ‘parachuted in’ period was over and Nicholas Prosser was left to retool the show out of the rubble.

Then Mervyn Watson came in and established the Dingles as a core family. And the show has never looked back, neither moved forward, it seems.

It has just been announced that Zak Dingle actor, Steve Halliwell, has died aged 77.

This has probably been discussed but do we know (or have any ideas) who may have written DAYS during the strike? If they are sufficiently sensible, it might entice me to watch for the next 6 months

I watched the episode and I won’t spoil anything for people in this thread, but let’s just say that it’s clear that Chris Chibnall has left the building, and more pertinently, it’s VERY clear that Russell T. Davies is back.

https://www.digitalspy.com/soaps/hollyoaks/a45794166/hollyoaks-credits-new-producers/
 

Just in case the circumstances surrounding Lucy Allan’s abrupt exit wasn’t hammered home enough

What a sad indictment. And as history can not be learned at times, she could end up back in a promoted role in future.

I don’t think I'm imagining things, but are a number of running storylines and threads coming to a sudden end over the last couple of weeks?

Almost as if the strike writers are wrapping things up in anticipation of Chris and Dan’s returns? I’ve lost track of the timelines. 

1 hour ago, Skylover said:

I personally wouldn't consider Holby City, Casualty or Doctors to be soaps, they're all medical dramas, with Doctors perhaps being the most soapy of the 3. I can't see EastEnders going anywhere.

Holby City and Casualty, I’ll give you. They are/were always officially designated ‘continuing drama’ whereas Doctors is a soap opera. To the extent that it features in the British Soap Awards in a way that the first 2 do not. 

And you’re right. Eastenders isn’t going anywhere.

And BBC’s original and last remaining medical drama/soap, Casualty, has just had its output reduced going forward. Plus, its only original character, Charlie Fairhead, is leaving the show after 37 years. 

And it’s Executive Producer, former Eastenders producer, Jon Sen, is off as well.

I’d say the show probably has 2-3 years left. 

With Channel’s 4 and 5 no longer airing British soaps on their main TV platforms, it looks like the U.K. is slowly going the way of America when it comes to the value of soaps vs costs involved.