LondonScribe

On 5/30/2019 at 3:58 AM, ranger1rg said:

This Josh Griffith and Tony Morina interview about the return of Michelle Stafford sickens me. I think it’s so rude and dismissive of Gina Tognoni. If they think Stafford returns some iconic sensibility to Y&R, they’re nuts.

Edited: due to irrelevance.

I don’t know if it means anything but Daran Little wrote tonight’s episode of Eastenders (25/2/18) 

Given how far in advance soaps write their episodes, it might mean nothing. But let’s be honest

Daran Little was only there because of Mal Young.

2 minutes ago, durk said:

I hearing that  Anthony Morina is liste as EP tomorrow and josh co EP

Correct. 

Just finished watching the episode (as sad as it is to watch for the known reason) and yes, Anthony Morina is the Executive Producer, Josh Griffith is the Co-EP and Mal Young still lists as Head Writer.

I’m guessing this starts that transition period where they mold and change what Mal Young wrote and planned in anticipation of their stuff.

28 minutes ago, RavenWhitney said:

Sally started following Josh Griffith on Twitter recently...HMMMMM

Danielle Page started following him too but that might be because they're both published authors

Using the Head Writer to spy on hubby at work... we know your game, Sally

I mean, what else could it be?

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).

On 26/07/2018 at 11:52 AM, Edward Skylover said:

I really hope Kates Oates takes over EE.

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.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/6839858/kate-oates-heading-to-walford/

Nothing even close to being confirmed, but it seems it was more than just wishful thinking by the DS forum crowd.

13 hours ago, DRW50 said:

Home & Away. Cheesy but still good and it draws you in - very much like Australian soaps in those years. 

 

 

I also liked the early '00s update.

 

 

They no longer have credits, which tells you all you need to know about what the show has become.

 

Neighbours has had a number of very unfortunate updates to their theme tune in recent years, but I always really liked this one - both the image and the vocals.

 

 

I still remember when they first made the switch to this Neighbours theme (I think in 1992) there was such a backlash, but I always really liked it. Though I always liked the title style that originally went with it. It was like an envelope or postbox.

I did not know that the old musical cue catalogue had been sold. Firstly, what a silly, short-sighted thing to do and secondly, doesn’t that make it harder to get them back/use them? As whoever owns them now may not want to sell them back?

I did not know that Mike Dobson was back and couldn’t tell in any event. If he doesn’t have the rich, wonderful catalogue at his disposal then it could be a frustrating and fruitless experience for him.

When he was given the keys to the kingdom, I simply recapped on this board what Mal Young did as producer of Brookside and the sensibilities he brought to the shows he had supervion of at the BBC. I did not once say he would be great for Y&R. What would happen if he is sacked is a whole other conversation and one that fills me with trepidation simply because SONY and CBS have proven time and again they can’t get this choice right. And that seems rooted in the fact that they  want to stay away from Bill Bell and his interpretation of the show.

Plus, the powers that be have shown how much they can dig their heels in when it comes to sticking by their appointments. 

For my own reasons I’ve merely been a spectator around these parts but this is too big to pass up...

http://www.digitalspy.com/soaps/coronation-street/news/a855484/coronation-street-news-producer-kate-oates-quits/

In my opinion, viewers and critics in the media will look back over this period in a few years and wish they hadn’t pushed for this happen.

Especially since Iain McLeod’s sensibilities have made an ex-Emmerdale viewer out of me. Unless Coronation Street truly is a mega beast all of it’s own, then I think he won’t do a better job. In my opinion, this is too soon for him.

And as for Emmerdale, I can’t think of a single person who is ready or primed to take over. Unless they go cap-in-hand to Hollyoaks and hire Vicky Tennant (who has history with Emmerdale) or even get Ross Adams to write again, at a stretch.

(Casualty’s spin-off show, but now often seen as the superior of the 2 and now has the curious distinction of having retained its original theme tune since its inception in 1999, longer than Casualty before it altered in 2001, 15 years after that show began)

20 hours ago, Adamski said:

 

Kathleen Beedles is still in the soap game - she produces a show in Singapore called Tanglin. But I think she's back in the UK regularly, so who knows?

 

Jerome B-N is now Story Producer on Holby City, but he is a good suggestion. I wonder if he's too young, though? 

 

BTW, I loved Diederick Santer's shady response on Twitter to the news about Sean O'Connor:

 

https://twitter.com/DiederickSant/status/878563209271181312

Ah brilliant, thanks for the clarification/correction.

I hope those names were taken as no more than being thrown out there, rather than suggestions.

2 hours ago, Edward Skylover said:

I really really really hope Bryan Kirkwood doesn't come back. I mean, he did some good things like re-casting Ben and Lauren, though he did miscast Lucy (at least I think it was him) and wasn't he responsible for Vanessa and Jodie Gold, and Michael Moon? I had to stop watching the show entirely because I hated Michael Moon so much.

 

I know people slag off SOC but the show couldn't carry on the way the previous producer was taking it. He was all about 'big' episodes and it was months of filler in-between every single time. I've liked SOC's style even if there are issues. I'm gonna be so p***** if Michelle gets axed, bet she will be.

It was Kirkwood who introduced the 'David Essex-branch' of the Moon family and the Gold family. As well as the killing of Pat which people may never forgive him for (even if he did manage to get Nick Berry out of retirement for 30 seconds and Michael French to return).

The good he did do, such as the year-long terror Dr Yusuf Khan (the brilliant Ace Bugatti) brought upon the Masood family will never be remembered to the above.

Moving the E20 cast to the main show yielded mixed results.

To be honest, I'm not sure how much he would want to return, given that fact he gets to call the shots at Hollyoaks and as I pointed out when he joined the first time, the BBC is a heck of a machine he has to work within, with more people to answer to, including Piers Wenger (formerly of Doctor Who) and Oliver Kent.

The 4 people I would advocate (Myar-Craig Brown, Kathleen Beedles, Johnathan Young and Tim Key) sadly no longer work in soap/drama and the only other I would say is good at giving shows a shot in the arm (initially) is heading up Coronation Street.

Paul Marquess? I'd say no. His last chance has probably come and gone with the chaos he wreaked on Hollyoaks (even if he created the Brendan Brady character that so many loved). After the damage he inflicted on both Brookside and The Bill.

For some reason Alison Davis is always gone as soon as she arrives at Eastenders, even though she has shown over the years to be a good hand.

Liza Mellody (who I didn't even know was back at the show) is a no-chance, no-brainer. She's too closely associated with Sean O'Connor, and as a tandem, they were canned from Hollyoaks about 13 (?) years ago. Even though I didn't mind the changes they brought to the show, I think something didn't click and they didn't last too long. Even if she was the perfect candidate, she is one of O'Connor's people and I don't see her staying.

Simon Harper, current Executive Producer of Holby City, and soon Casualty. He's just got those gigs and it's his first executive job so it may be soon? Plus, he's seemingly in the mould of Oliver Kent, who I can't stress enough, I can't trust with a show like Eastenders after the mediocrity he inflicted on Casualty, both as Series Producer and latter as EP. Kent is still pretty young and obviously a schmoozer, hence his promotion within the BBC.

I'm not saying they would or should, but apart from promoting from within the show (and I know how 'popular' Alexander Lamb is) there is the option of 'left of field/statement' appointments such as current writer/storyliner/editor(?) Jerome Buchan-Nelson (young, black, and yes that would be a 'thing') Or Vikki Tennant, who in about 10 years went from River City in Scotland to Hollyoaks as a writer, to Emmerdale as a storyliner/editor. I believe she is back at Hollyoaks as one of the Series Producers. Or maybe even former writer and consultant, Simon Ashdown? 

Dare I suggest that former acclaimed writers Tony Jordan and Sarah Phelps have outgrown the show?

Whoever it ends up being, great care is to be taken. 

http://www.digitalspy.com/soaps/eastenders/news/a831548/eastenders-confirms-producer-sean-oconnor-is-leaving/

Well, this is unexpected. The timing will make people believe that this came off the back of the Soap Awards and the general criticisms, but assuming it is as he has said, then the fact he is leaving on his own terms will probably annoy a lot of the DS rabble. You know a lot of (us) Brits love a sense of punishment or retribution.

Of course, The Sun (who appear to have been the original breakers of the news item) are reporting he WAS effective told to go. We may never know exactly what the true reason is, but I know which version many people will 'prefer'.

So John Yorke returns (again) as a temporary safe pair of hands presumably as a permanent replacement is sought.

It would be 'something' if someone like Oliver Kent or even Bryan Kirkwood ended up back at the show, in the ultimate case of being careful what you wish for. Whoever it is, I don't think the Eastenders viewers will be happy.

5 hours ago, DRW50 said:

Yes. I'm glad you're enjoying it. Sorry I haven't put up more. I always liked Paul, and I wish he'd pop in a bit now, at least to see Bernice. I loved Carl...don't get me started on that one. 

 

I wish more older stuff for Emmerdale was around. 

 

One thing that I don't think new viewers realizes is that Bernice started most of what we have now with Ashley, Laurel, Diane, Nicola, etc. I'm not even sure if the show remembers considering how rarely we see Bernice.

 

If you want to see more 2011 material I have another channel called Frank Harker. 

Side note: I walked Tom Lister (Carl) in the Stratford in East London area a few weeks ago and was struck by how tall he was. I'm 6'0 and he's easily 6,3 or 6'4.

I was in a hurry but didn't say anything to him, but seeing Carl's name reminded me. I'd totally forgotten.

5 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

 

He meant someone who broke an embargo to leak the news several days before broadcast. But I did laugh at wondering if he meant trash sites like DS and Metro. 

I didn't know about the broken embargo. Then again, I still haven't rekindled my love affair with Eastenders so these things are passing me by.

In fact, I only see bits and pieces of each British soap and only fully watch Y&R and Home and Away consistently as well as focusing on my own writing. 

I'm hearing of improvements to Coronation Street and I'm still adjusting to McLeod's tinkered version of Emmerdale, but is Eastenders (in general) worth getting back into? 

9 hours ago, DRW50 said:

Sean O'Connor interview about Michelle's return.

 

http://metro.co.uk/2016/12/25/eastenders-boss-sean-oconnor-reveals-show-vision-and-2017-spoilers-6343991/

Is it me or was a little jab at DigitalSpy and the like when talking about click bait websites? 😂

I see Digital Spy have jumped aboard the O'Connor Express pretty sharpish.

http://www.digitalspy.com/soaps/eastenders/feature/a808647/is-eastenders-going-back-down-to-earth-under-new-producer-sean-oconnor/

It's as if someone watched a few of his actual episodes and realised "oh, we quite like this"

Now it's been broadcast, hopefully I will be forgiven for saying well done to the winners. 

I also hope I'll be forgiven for suggesting that most of Emmerdale's wins seemed to be 'fanbase' wins. 

The test will be if Coronation Street wins Best Soap next year. Or if this year's winner can gain momentum.

A newspaper article (the Metro, I think) said June.

Iain McLeod is doing a lot of talking, isn't he? Lol

I'm surprised it took me this long to discover this item.

Sean O'Connor fascinates me as he is what I used to call a 'not quite' man. Not as a term of criticism because often what he does is very good but never for long enough before other factors get involved:

As series producer of Hollyoaks (with Liza Mellody) in the early 00's they came up with interesting ideas, such as comic character Bombhead's growing secrecy, that turned out to be him looking after the skeleton of his mum (who had died without anyone knowing) and the 'mysterious' Bella's developing romance with Cameron. Both ideas and stories were immediately halted when they were swiftly removed in favour of stalwart producer Jo Hallows.

Footballers Wives had quite the following, with the advent and popularisation of the WAG culture. But it was the creation of the Tanya Turner character and general change of the show in Series 3 (under Sean O'Connor) that seemed to spark it onto life. Opinions on actual show quality vary, however.

I think the most prominent example of 'not quite' was Family Affairs. Made series produced after Paul Marquess moved Alison Davis over to The Bill, O'Connor revamped the cast, getting rid of Dave Matthews and his son, Jake, as well as other characters as well as introducing and highlighting Sami, the openly gay Muslim man and his closeted, married (I believe Jewish) boyfriend, Max. The tone and types of stories changed but darned if I remember much of them. Then came what I call a quiet revamp in the first week of September 2005 when the show went from 'film' to 'live' and Pete Callan was killed off. It was also the first use of musical scores in the show, something that would occur increasingly. The Swan burned down, Eileen fell into the Thames, Eileen left, the pub was rebuilt and renamed The Phoenix, complete with mysterious new landlord, Rex Randall and his obsessive sister (whose name escapes me), Gary Costello was caught drink driving and lost his license and job, then lashed out at the increasingly bratty Chloe. The feeling was he was going for a 'younger', 'sexier' and more scandalous show with the kind of characters  (student nurses and a junior doctor, a former footballer and his wife, a policeman and his wife) and antics such as Eileen flushing Pete's ashes down the toilet, and Sami's disapproving (and culturally ashamed) mother stabbing him when he refused to deny his homosexuality. There were interviews about he, his executive producer, Johnathan Young, and his story producer Dominic Teadwell-Collins, projecting stories 2 years into the future 'opening up Charnham' and possibly renaming the show... 

Then Channel pulled the rug from under it all and announced the show would finish at the end of the year.

Only in the last couple of years has he been able to implement any kind of vision and that was on the radio soap (and more popular than most would realise) The Archers. I don't listen to it on any regular basis so I won't say too much other than I remember raising my eyebrows when he got the job as the Editor of the show (that being the equivalent title for show runner) and many devotees aghast with horror. The general view is his vision is a little more in keeping with telly soaps, though it does seem to be in the general conversation more than before. Or maybe I just notice it more. The one storyline that has people talking a lot is a not very nice man called Rob who has been manipulating, controlling and mentally dissecting his wife, Helen, playing on her insecurities and looks like he's trying to mine issues of the past such as anorexia and is succeeding in isolating her from her very close family. It's playing out in 'real time' apparently and has been a source of interest and frustration to those used to shorter term stories.

So there you have it, more (factually shaky) ramblings from me on something wholly inconsequential. I'm not even going to try and predict how he could affect the show. I'll just see what happens.

Well, let's just see. Mal Young, it has been said, started the shift in focus from Brookside's roots to what subsequent producers, specifically Paul Marquess, did, which was more heightened drama (and sensationalism). A style of producing that allowed the newly established Channel 5 to use him to create Family Affairs and the BBC to poach him to the position of Head of Drama that same year. If I have this right, he was responsible for the Eastenders stewardships of both Matthew Robinson (Steve Owen character, Saskia murder, Matthew Rose saga, Tiffany exit, Grant Mitchell exit, etc) and John Yorke (you know what he did and who he introduced, lol) as well as the creations of afternoon soap, Doctors and Holby City. Add the re-commissioned Dr Who to the mix (though I think he may have left by the time it came on air).

He is not without question, having hired the well meaning but unfortunate Louise Berridge at Eastenders and former Emmerdale and Coronation Street producer Mervyn Watson to overhaul and completely 'soap-up' Casualty at roughly the same time ITV hired Paul Marquess with the same mandate.  

Having being hired both here and in the States for 19Television (I think it's called) as Head of Drama, it would be quite a turn up if he isn't taking up a fairly significant role at Y&R. A potential replacement one (or both) of the current Executive Producers? I don't know as the senior executives at CBS and Sony seemed to be all in with the two incumbents.

And there are pictures he has taken of Y&R actors. It'll be interesting to see what happens with this. Perhaps he has taken Mary O'Leary's role? Or is a Supervising Producer? I say that as he appears to be on set. 

I guess we'll see.