LondonScribe

Kate Oates has form for producing long-running deaths. Remember, it was her who started the Ashley Thomas Dementia storyline in Emmerdale (though it was Iain MacLeod who took it over and concluded it), and Aiden Connor’s depression and suicide in Coronation Street. And as we’ve seen, her day-to-day Executive Producer, Jon Sen, prefers long-form storytelling. At the risk of repeating myself, he apparently has story planned up to Christmas/New Year 2021/22. I fully expect Kush to die, especially since the other long-planned exit made a point of the door being left open for the character to return.

Cards on the table, I’m no longer an avid watcher, but still know what’s going on. But I’m not a ‘stan’ for Jon Sen, either, though I appreciate his profile and some of the powerful stuff he’s produced/directed drawing attention to the Asian community (I think he’s Indian, but not certain), but his last job before Eastenders was as a director on Casualty, which succumbed to the filmic gloss a while ago. If I’m honest, I think that period Kate Oates produced the show solo was stronger than when he took over the day-to-day running. But you never know, something might click, a la Iain MacLeod at Coronation Street (as I understand it) and things pick up.

I’m pretty sure I read a quote from Executive Producer Jon Sen saying the story had been planned out with a clear ending in mind from the very beginning. Come roughly September 18th (the speculated date of transmission), this would have been running for about 18 months. The fact that he has plotted Christmas 2021 probably tells you all you need to know about his long-term planning 🤣

The conclusion to the Chantelle and Gray domestic abuse storyline has been revealed by Eastenders themselves tonight... I’ll not state it myself (as it has not been broadcast, so technically counts as a spoiler) but the fact they decided to is very significant and actually marks a first in British soaps. Anyone who finds out will see the sense in my rather garbled message and understand why they probably had to.

Curious question, totally hypothetical (as I imagine he has his next gig lined up) but if he did go over to America, what soap (or show as a whole) do you think he would suit most?

You know what, I had a feeling within my bones that he was going to leave. Don’t ask me why, I just had a feeling. Whoever replaces him is going to be massively important. Because whatever people think of him now, he has a place in Hollyoaks (and British soap) history. In terms of making the show award-worthy and increasing its coverage in the media. Previously, actors would have to go to another show to enhance their profile. I’ve been watching the show on-and-off since it began in 1995, and his arrival the first time in 2006 was the start of something different. He clearly has a very firm grip on all aspects of the show and it is a ‘bigger’ programme than it was before. That’s not to comment on the quality of the storylines, acting, etc. I mean, my viewing is ‘on-and-off’ for a reason 🤣 Do we reckon someone will be promoted from within or will they hire someone with experience to manage the show given the scale of the show?

I presume this is in relation to American soaps? Because I first became aware of Mark Ruffalo in the late 90’s (or early 00’s) from Australian soap opera Home And Away. I don’t recall much about his character other than he made a dramatic exit in a plane/helicopter 🤣

Exactly this. I’m making YouTube videos, and getting bogged down in other stuff, but I plan to knuckle down properly and add to my short story and increase my output every day. This is a great achievement and I’ll try my darnedest to get a hold of a copy.

My writing has taken the form of short films and short stories. I’m toying around with formats and sentence construction in a short story. Once I’m finished with it, I plan to self-publish, so looking forward to that. I resisted writing anything set in lockdown but I think I’ve found a way to make it work. As for short scripts, I’ve had 3 made into short films (though the 1st was more me taking someone’s idea and putting my own spin on it. My professional background made me able to mould the story plausibly). I was in the very early stages of getting a crew together to make another one when the pandemic hit. I’ve been interested in writing radio drama or a radio serial, but know very little about it, so I look forward to researching that and trying to put something together 😊 I deliberately didn’t talk about my own writing on here- because, who wants to know about little old me, eh? 🤣, plus I try my darnedest not to imagine myself writing these existing shows, (though the real network nonsense allows me to not want such a job, and thus, not apply my mind to it)... but this thread came along. On the back of this, I went and looked for any of the written stuff I did in my own soap and I managed to find the whole story outline from 2003-2007. Some of it was totally bonkers, but it does flow, story-wise.

Wrote and formulated a series back in 1994. It actually started as a teenage serial, focussing on 2 teenage private detectives, Troy and Tracy, who were twins, brother and sister. I was really really young so logic wasn’t really there. Their recurring mother was the voice of reason. It focussed on the siblings and the crimes they would solve, and their band of friends. If I had anything of it left, it would probably be appalling. But I used to tell my siblings these stories and it kept them entertained. Within 3 months, I’d fallen in love with all of the characters and fictional seaside town they lived in, and expanded it into a full-on soap. I SORAS’d Troy and Tracy (and all their friends) into adults, moved them into the town’s CID and told what I perceived to be more mature stories, which included the mother of one of the friends being caught in an explosion after a siege. My first big ‘controversial’ story was having Troy and Tracy’s sweet, wise mother ripped off by an ageing con artist she had fallen for and subsequently dying in her sleep of a broken heart. At that point, my siblings lost interest, even when I introduced characters based on them 🤣 I carried it on until 1998, then did other teenage things. I then found myself drawn back to it in 2000, and revamped it, and carried it on, inventing producers and head writer (equivalents) to explain away any changes in storytelling style. Then, in 2007, I just stopped. 13 years later and my mind occasionally wonders what the characters are up to. I hadn’t really thought about it until this thread came up 🤔 Now, I mainly work on other writing projects and (short) film scripts.

I work, and write on the side (or write, with some work on the side, take your pick) so I’ve been operating from home since mid-March, even before lockdown was imposed in the U.K. Is it bad that I’ve been more excited for these older episodes than absolutely anything aired in the last 15 years? And is it bad that I’m actually dreading the return of 2020 episodes? I mean, while other people may have had their relationships with each other tested during this time, my relationship with Y&R is at a crossroads (again).

💯

South Africa: Generations: The Legacy (2014-present). Originally called Generations, it debuted in 1994, and ran until a dispute led to the entire cast being fired in 2014. The present iteration was born from that. Nigeria: Tinsel (2008- present) Nigeria: Super Story (2001- present, though reportedly may not be around for too much longer). Funny story. And I’ve never disclosed this, but in somewhat of a ‘sliding doors’ moment, I could have worked with the show’s creator.

Nothing new said here, but watching these classic episodes (or should I say vintage as ‘classic’ possibly shouldn’t be applied as a broad stroke with some of the choices), serves as a depressing reminder what we probably have to look forward to when everything is up and running down the line. I saw a suggestion that perhaps the series should be run in order from a point in 1998. Sign me up for that. Hardly any of it has dated badly in terms of language or subject matter, that I can recall, and we’d have the benefit of the older sets, Bell/Alden writing and superior production. It would be a riot if it build up a steady following, given that it would effectively serve as a first run for some of the few younger viewers the show has today.

It says a lot that episodes from 10 years ago have aged worse than those of 30+ years ago.

I’ve said (seemingly ad infinitum) that for me, 2003 was the last really good year the show had before John Smith (who was made Executive Producer after the exit of David Shaughnessy, who in turn had followed Ed Scott) really started to put his stamp on the show, as EP and I think Head Writer) and things started to miss with more frequency rather than land with more consistency. *The above subject to factual verification.

Nina’s son is Chance, a colloquial term or nickname for ‘Chancellor’. He is Phillip Chancellor IV. No prizes for confirming the name of his father 😉

Or even up to the early 00’s with what would equate to ‘run-of-the-mill’ or not-quite-headline’ scenes plonked in the middle of an episode. While going down a soap opera rabbit hole tonight, I located these 2 videos from the Christine/Isabella story in 2003 when (a still shades-of-grey) Michael helped cover up what he thought was a crime. He had detective Weber on his back and Victor wanting him to do his bidding in the Safra/Newman v Tuvia/Jabot corporate feud. The two dovetailed nicely: As I said, from what I remember, neither scene closed out their respective episodes but they feel meatier than anything in the last few years and the writing, direction, music, lighting and music made that happen.

This episode certainly left an impression on me when I first watched it all those years ago. The look, the sound, the feel, the acting (largely), the writing and emotion was everything for me. And exits don’t get much more gruesome than David Kimble’s. This episode was one of the many examples of Bill Bell at his gothic best.

Allocco and Kurtz’ scores are definitely missed. And I mean a lot of gothic, moody and sinister stuff from the 80’s and early 90’s. However good it would be to hear the litany of classic scores, the way the show is designed, shot, lit, written (number of scenes per episode, as well as the type of storytelling), and directed, I don’t think they would completely fit anymore. Sad though that is.

I remember the Masquerade Ball. I saw it in 1994 because of the delay in transmission to the U.K. at that time. Can’t wait to see the episode. I got a real kick out of the David Kimble storyline as well.

The character simply stopped being mentioned once Katherine passed on and his daughter Mac left. Actor Beau Kazer sadly passed away at the end of 2014.

It’s been about a month or so since Iain McLeod exited stage left at Emmerdale (at least as far as what’s in screen is concern, loose-ends notwithstanding). Is the show any more watchable?

Iain Macleod’s name is gone from the credits? Well, I’ll let the anniversary week pass (likely when he planned some of his stories to conclude) and gauge the general consensus before deciding whether to get back in or not. His Emmerdale was not for me. I’m taking the Y&R approach (though I think that may turn into a more long term ‘holiday’ given the shiny new hatchet gifted to Mal Young).

http://www.digitalspy.com/soaps/eastenders/news/a863452/eastenders-casualty-holby-city-new-producer-kate-oates/ Reality is often more bizarre than fiction. And she’ll be overseeing Casualty and Holby City, too 😳 If I’m right, I believe this also makes her the first producer to get the ‘top job’ on the traditionally BIG 3 soaps (of the past 30 years) Of Eastenders, Coronation Street and Emmerdale.