LondonScribe

I guess written humour is not my forte. I'll get it right.

I'm going out on a limb here, but do you think Paul Marquess has been given all but TOTAL autonomy over the show's vision in a way Lucy Allan wasn't?

It's not a recent thing. I wasn't a watcher of Brookside, but did watch Family Affairs and still do watch The Bill. Both shows were rendered unrecognisable by Mr Marquess. To his credit, The Bill gained a new audience and became fashionable (in a different way). To this day, it struggles to shake the 'soap' tag (despite the best efforts of current Executive Producer Johnathan Young). Family Affairs improved massively but had other problems (poor advertising, being on Channel 5, channel 5 being more interested in Australian soap, etc). And Hollyoaks clearly needs an overhaul. This is only the beginning...

Sean did meet an untimely demise on a New Years Eve (I forget which year) at the hands of a little thug called Liam. In turn, Tanya left Liam as he died of an asthma attack. Blowing up the Harts on the boat was the work of former Coronation Street producer Brian Park, who oversaw the first revamp of the show back in late 1998/early 1999. The original premise of the show was the focus on the Harts. Brian Park saw this as an obstacle to the show's sucess so removed the Harts and relocated the show to west London.

Family Affairs suffered mainly because it was on Channel 5. Even now (with its stability and decent quality programming) it still suffers from tha old stigma of being 'that cheap one with the dodgy porn and shitty docs'. Family Affairs was originally made by both (Talkback) Thames and Channel 5, whose Head of Drama was Corrine Hollingsworth (Former Eastenders and Eldorado producer). Thus she was listed as Exec Producer. Her Series Producer was Jane Harris. In the early years, that role was occupied by Mal Young (co-creator of the show who went on to be Head of Drama at the BBC). When Channel 5 realised the show was suffering badly, they handed the production to (Talkback) Thames and their Head of Drama was Paul Marquess. He drafted in his own Series Producer and many of the writers and technical staff from The Bill (such as writer Steve Hughes and senior writer Catherine Cooke). Another reason the show had problems was because it was on at 18:30- the exact same time as Hollyoaks, which had younger and more attractive actors. Now make no mistake, Hollyoaks was largely diabolical at the time, but all they had to do was put the character Natalie Osbourne (for example) on screen in a low cut top and that was it. As for gay character, one of the first Marquess introduced was Sean Steele, who with best friend Tanya Woods became the Will and Grace (if you will) of Charnham. And he was paired with Brendan Boulter, who hid his sexual orientation (I believe he was bi) on account of his family and the fact he was black. I'll not get carried away as this is the Hollyoaks thread, but Paul Marquess helped the show for a while. Gave it a new lease of life..... Goodness me, I clearly have too much space in my head if I remembered all of that

Paul Marquess has become somewhat of a 'fixer' and does not waste time. When he took over as the Executive Producer at Family Affairs, 5 characters were written out by the end of the first week (Matt, Karen and Jim left for Spain on Wednesday and Fern and Robert were killed when Jake drove one of Gabriel's dodgy cars [that he was meant to ditch in the river] through the cafe entrance). This period began (if I remember correctly) on the 1st September 2003. By Decemeber, about half of the cast had been removed (including the last remaining original character, Roy Farmer). He and Alison Davis (Series Producer) did admittedly make the show much better. Ultimately, it suffered from being on Channel 5 and from not having much money thrown at it. When he took over at The Bill, by the end of 8 episodes, 2 long-serving characters were part of the 7 out of 8 that died in fire-related incidents. The 8th resigned before being prosecuted for beating up a racist suspect. The aforementioned explosions (linked below) being in retaliation to the beating done by DS Singh. Derek Conway's death (Episode 6) The Big Explosion (Episode 8) Marquess (similarly to Bryan Kirkwood) has no problems prolonging a story if there is mileage to it. That approach doesn't always work, but I will credit the man with turning The Bill around and possibly saving it from the axe. His first 6 months, culminating in Superintendent Tom Chandler's suicide were a good watch, even if you did have to remind yourself at times it was called The Bill So happy were ITV with what he did that a 'Golden Handcuffs' deal was put in place guaranteeing the show remained on air until at least 2010. So I would say his first 6 months (to a year) if he is allowed free reign should be pretty interesting, although mark my words, the show will probably be rendered unrecognisable. Whether we like what the end result will be remains to be seen...

Seeing as my name was mentioned, and I've been looking for a reason to post after merely being a lurker for the best part of the year, I thought I would comment on this. I think it goes without saying that I did NOT see this coming. If there was ever a show Bryan Kirkwood was 'destined' to write for, it was Coronation Street. Then again, Maria Arena Bell wasn't supposed to be the Big Bad Wolf, so nothing can be taken for granted. This is possibly the biggest challenge of Bryan Kirkwood's producing career. With all due respect to Hollyoaks (which has, for the record, declined massively since Lucy Allan has taken the helm), Eastenders is a much bigger soap. Not only that, it is an institution, as much a part of the British psyche as The Queen, Wimbledon and the Teletubbies (I hope you can all appreciate how legendary the latter truly is). It is also a machine, one that is not easy to mould or manipulate in the same way Hollyoaks was. Bryan Kirkwood will not be able to stylise the show, add music or incorporate the quirks he did with Hollyoaks. Musical scores are virtually non-existent and the tone of the show, whilst gritty is not dark in the same way Hollyoaks. His success on Eastenders will depend almost soley on his storytelling. I've waxed lyrical since 2006 about his abilty to tell stories, and whilst the run-up to his departure didn't tally with the rest of his tenure, his time on Hollyoaks has shown his ability to craft stories and create interesting characters. Obviously he will be working within stricter parameters and a firmer production frame, but if his creative ability has been refined and improved since he became an executive, then this gig should establish Bryan Kirkwood as a production heavyweight. One that will allow him to break free of the 'Hollyoaks Man' shackle he undoubtedly has.

Bryan Kirkwood joined in January in 2006, but didn't jump straight in. He sat back and waited, though he did work with the previous Series Producer, David Hanson to steer the show to where he wanted it to be when he took over. Justin and Becca was the work of David Hanson and Previous EP Jo Hallows (who between them nearly destroyed the show in my view). The dates escape me, but the week that led up to the Twins Birthday/the reveal of Justin and Becca was Kirkwood's first set of episodes. I believe it was May or June 2006. The next few months that led to the explosion at the pub were what could be classed as a 'transition period' where characters came and left (Warren, The Valentines, McQueens, Kris, Zoe, Will, etc arrived. Olivia, Joe, the Twins, Sam Owen, Jez, etc left) and the stories shifted. The tone of the show also changed. According to Bryan Kirkwood, one of the first things he did was call a massive story conference, in which he and his storyliners (details might be sketchy, as I'm typing from memory, here) mapped out the show's stories for the next two years. (These included the explosion, Clare's terrorising of Max, Tom and O.B, Clare being pushed, JP and Craig, Hannah's anorexia, the continued McQueen sagas, Will and Zoe, etc). I'm sad to see Bryan Kirkwood leave, as he clearly has talent as a storyteller (Coronation had problems with their stories around the time he left, which wasn't helped by the fact Steve Frost was an inept producer, but that's another topic). If he is able to adapt his storytelling style, then he will go far. It's not likely going to happen, but imagine if he was given the pen to an American soap. He could be the 'new blood' some have been asking for. Imagine he and Bevan Lee (Home and Away) being allowed to write a soap in the U.S. Producers here can vary in role. Usually, they work with all areas of production and writing. They set the tone of the show. They are an amalgimation of the Head Writer and EP. They may not map the specifics, but the direction and outcome generally come from them. Each has their own strengths. For example, Diederick Santer's strengths lie in production (compare it to Edward Scott), whereas Bryan Kirkwood is a storyteller, so he is hands-on in that department.