LondonScribe

For anyone who may be interested. 
Hopefully it’s not geo-blocked.

Farewell Gladys, we hardly knew ye

On 9/19/2023 at 7:16 AM, lucaslesann23 said:

Yeah, a bit surprised the new EP hasn't been announced. When Bryan left I'm pretty sure it was announced quickly that Lucy was taking the reigns.

 

https://www.digitalspy.com/soaps/hollyoaks/a45335600/hollyoaks-new-producers-2023/

I have no frame of reference regarding these 2 Acting Executive Producers, but Kieron Richardson has said that their material kicks in from January. Though a quote suggests it’s actually from the later part of 2023.

One of them is called Hannah Cheers (previously Sowden) who previously worked on the show and has been drafted in from a Co-Producer role on Emmerdale. Given what I’ve heard about the current Emmerdale, that might not be hugely encouraging

On 9/21/2023 at 8:07 AM, LondonScribe said:

Possibly? I’m guessing that will be expanded on.

I’m sure they’ll find a way to link the tarot cards to Victor.

Bingo!
And I’m no genius.

3 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

Thanks for replying! I have seen so little of Family Affairs, so if you have any memories, I'd enjoy reading them.

I’ll do a bit of a retrospective from my perspective at a date soon in the future, but word of warning, there were periods in the earlier years that I missed because I was too busy being a teenager

But watched consistently from about mid 1999 onwards (as the show was finding its feet post-Hart family axing) and could describe my views, chapter and verse on the big revamp in 2003 and the attempted Sean O’Connor-inspired retooling in 2005 that came too late to save the show.

15 hours ago, DRW50 said:

Never seen this before. 

@Ben @Forever8

 

I absolutely remember this, and thinking it was cool as heck at the time as I’m pretty sure none of the other soaps did anything similar.

21 minutes ago, Manny said:

So I just finished watching August 1st episode. That's the first episode I found available for me.

I last watched EE during the live episode during the Lucy storyline. Was that in 2014/2015? And even before that I had a long break of not watching.

Looking at the cast list in wikipedia, it is so HUGE.. how do they juggle all these characters? How can they all have stories? I guess they don't....

Anyway tuning in now, I barely recognize anyone... Stacey and Jean are there, Kat too.. Jessie Wallace has not aged.

Someone else seems to be running Queen Vic

This response is based on your timeframe and not today.

The landlady is Elaine, Linda Carter’s mother, and fiance of George Knight, ex boxer. George is father to Gina (older and taller) and Anna (younger with blonde hair). Elaine helped Linda purchase part of the pub after the latter’s husband was presumed dead at Christmas. She moved George and girls in much to Linda’s surprise. Linda didn’t trust George who was initially cagey about his own ex-wife and mother of the girls. The mother is called Rose, and she vanished 9 years prior. Though we found out in June that Rose was in fact the long presumed dead Cindy Beale, who is in France with ex-husband Ian, and son Peter. Ian knows the Knights are in Walford, Cindy and Peter do not.

21 minutes ago, Manny said:

There is Bobby Beale, but he's a teen now. Didn't he kill Lucy? How was he punished for that? I know he was a kid, but still..

Bobby went to prison/juvenile detention when the truth came out. He re-appeared as a teenager, upon his release and having converted to Islam. He’s generally a kind, good natured young man now, though he’ll always be tethered to his past. 

21 minutes ago, Manny said:

I'm sorry, Stacey is now married to a woman?! Whaat? 
 

This largely occurred when I wasn’t watching but I believe when actor Lacey Turner went on maternity leave, Stacey was sent to prison, and while in there she met ex-lawyer Eve Unwin and they married out of convenience to assist Stacey’s case for release. It’s well-known within the square that’s what it is. Eve is gay, Stacey is not, but they are best friends, and if you stick with it, you’ll see how clear that is.

21 minutes ago, Manny said:

Who is Sonia's boyfriend/husband?

Reiss Colwell is Dot Cotton/Branning’s great-nephew, who first appeared towards the end of 2022 at when Dot was being laid to rest (following both hers and actor, June Brown’s passing). He’s Sonia’s boyfriend, though he is married. His wife is has been in hospital in a coma for a number of years. He’s a character that divides opinion among the fanbase.

21 minutes ago, Manny said:

From the story perspective, I was bored, I must admit. This girl (Anna?) is searching for her mother. While her sister is doing drugs and boxing. And Anna is dating Bobby?

Bobby is smitten with Anna and she’s fond of him, but nothing more substantial than that has occurred. Gina has been willing to leave the question of their missing mother in the past, though it’s suspected that her drug-taking stemmed from ‘Rose’ disappearance. Anna, however, wants to know what happened and where she is, even if just to provide closure.

21 minutes ago, Manny said:

And this other kid (Freddie?) is looking for his dad.. weird that they have two same storylines going on in parallel. A teen searching for a parent... anyway, why doesn't Kat want to tell him who his Dad is?

In short, Freddie Slater is Little Mo’s son, and the product of a rape by a man called Graham Foster, who was imprisoned in 2004. Freddie doesn’t know who his dad is or how he was conceived. Little Mo has refused to tell Freddie and none of the family want to go behind Mo’s back. But as Freddie decides to find out, Kat is panicking. Anna’s search for Rose spurred Freddie on to find out his dad. Or was it the other way round?

Oh, and a quick note. Freddie and Bobby are best friends.

21 minutes ago, Manny said:

 

And baby Tommy who has now grown since last I watched is here to reveal the truth! Ok, lets see who his Dad is and what this Graham guy is all about....

See above…

21 minutes ago, Manny said:

I think storywise, not else much happened... Stacey went football watching, got pestered by some drunk dude and "saved" by another guy.. don't know him. But I am still shocked Stacey has a wife now. 
 

Stacey’s 12 year old daughter, Lily became pregnant by Ricky (Jr) Mitchell (Sam Mitchell and Jack Branning’s son) and Stacey has been experiencing money woes. Earlier in the year, she took to doing cam work, a take off of OnlyFans. One man seemed particularly keen and he paid her handsomely to chat over the app while she dressed up/down for him. She couldn’t see him, he could see her. At roughly the same time, Freddie was diagnosed with ADHD and went to confront his old teacher, Theo Hawthorne, who made school harder for him. Theo appeared contrite and they came to an understanding. Theo ended up privately tutoring Lily who stayed at home during her pregnancy.

Stacey is also getting close to her ex, Martin Fowler again.

Long story short, Stacey’s mystery benefactor is a lot closer to home than she realises. 

21 minutes ago, Manny said:

Didn't really understand what's happening with Sonia... and Whitney...

I don’t have much time left to type this one out but perhaps someone else can explain?

3 hours ago, John said:

Does Charolette's use of Taro Cards play into what she is doing?

Possibly? I’m guessing that will be expanded on.

I’m sure they’ll find a way to link the tarot cards to Victor.

I suppose it probably doesn't matter, but any word on if anyone has been tapped to be the new Hollyoaks showrunner?

Especially given all the mediums the show will operating on going forward and the creative adjustments that might be required. And how the budget might be affected by it- something I haven’t seen spoken about too much.

If I had to guess, it will either be someone promoted from within (to avoid having to throw money at an experienced ‘name’ producer) or someone from the Waterloo Road team, being a show that is younger-skewed.

I was convinced Montague was going to drug either Cody or Sasha (or both). Of course, this latest development/plot point means no-one will listen to them when they plead their case.

And as I’ve said before, I still think Gladys may extricate herself from trouble, leaving Montague to carry the whole can.

Well this is a turn up for the books…

https://www.digitalspy.com/soaps/hollyoaks/a45048007/hollyoaks-channel-4-scheduling-shake-up/

Today’s writing gave me the impression that they are going to somehow untangle Gladys from the doctor and she will skate this situation, while he takes the whole blame.

As an aside, I used to love the British game shows when I was growing up. 

Including Going For Gold, with the Hans Zimmer-produced theme, the wonderful array of accents and Henry Kelly’s soft Irish lilt.

I always felt they used to make more effort with their theme tunes than the American theme tunes. At least to my unsophisticated young ears.

On 7/28/2023 at 3:16 AM, LondonScribe said:

Replace the name of characters, and this statement could more or less be about 2009-2010 after Bryan Kirkwood left and Lucy Allan took over the first time.

I don’t watch Hollyoaks, so I say this from a slightly unqualified position, but I’m pretty staggered that Lucy Allan appears to have learned nothing in the decade or so since she abruptly left. 

She is a more experienced and tenured executive and producer, so unlike last time, I think the Hollyoaks fans will have to grin and bear it for longer this time around.

https://www.digitalspy.com/soaps/hollyoaks/a44781972/hollyoaks-boss-lucy-allan-leaving/

https://www.thesun.co.uk/tv/23426024/hollyoaks-crisis-bosses-sacked-toxic-lucy-allan/amp/

Welp, I clearly know nothing

Thing is, there is no obvious option out there to step in. I’ve no reason to think Bryan Kirkwood would jump back in, even for a short stint, Bevan Lee-style at Home and Away in 2004 and 2008. 

I don’t know anything about the current Hollyoaks setup to identify anyone. 

I don’t imagine anyone from the Eastenders or Doctors teams would want to leave to join another.

I imagine fans of Hollyoaks wouldn’t want anyone from the Coronation Street or especially the Emmerdale teams.

The better producers and writers from the last 20 years (Myar-Craig Brown, Alison Davis, Diederick Santer, Kathleen Beedles, Johnathan Young, etc) have all seemingly left the soap world or retired.

Anybody in anyone else’s mind?

On 7/29/2023 at 2:36 PM, Liberty City said:

Well, let's not forget: following Marquess' exit, Gareth Philips & Emma Smithwick both succeeded him as series producers. Philips lasted most of 2011, and Smithwick came in at the tail-end of 2011. By September 2012, Bryan Kirkwood was back. I would not be surprised if Kirkwood was announced to be exiting EastEnders and returning to Hollyoaks by the end of the year.

That’s true. From what I recall, Gareth Philips brief tenure was widely praised, being parachuted in after the abrupt exit of Paul Marquess, following what was described as a ‘production crisis’ (word might be wrong) centred on the restaurant fire that killed off Steph Dean. He remains the most praised producer between the Kirkwood tenures. I think he was only ever meant to be a placeholder, so imagine the disappointment when he left, and Emma Smithwick’s approach undid a lot of what he did.

This is all from vague memory, so I welcome any corrections.

12 hours ago, AMCOLTLLover said:

The thing with the 2010 overhaul is that most characters that got axed were mid anyway. Boring ones like Archie, Dave, Charlotte etc. Only shocker was Josh Tbh.

the storytelling was stronger coz they added stronger characters like Brendan Brady, Silas Blissett. Theresa killing Calvin etc. There was so much going on that was helping the show move forward. This year not so much

A point of clarification. The 2010 overhaul you mentioned was the work of former Brookside and The Bill producer (and whose idea inspired the cult classic, Footballers Wives) Paul Marquess. 

That’s his M.O: Come in, blow things up, axe a lot of characters and retool a show. 

In this instance, it initially helped reinvigorate the show after Lucy Allan’s first tenure. But, he too, only lasted a year.

2 hours ago, mikelyons said:

I've watched Hollyoaks since 2016 or so and, man, it's been a rough ride since Bryan Kirkwood stepped  as down executive producer. Lucy Allen's tenure has been a boring, muddled, unfocused disaster. I think one of the problems stems from most of the storylining team and producers being fired when Lucy Allen took over. Goodbye to institution knowledge! I barely recognize the characters. We've been inundated with new characters Ethan, Dillion, Norma, Lexi, Dave & Co.,  and the insufferable Rayne. Endless cast exits (DeMarcus, Serena, Honour, Imran, Verity, Zara, Grace, Damon, Juliet, Celeste, etc.) paired with juvenile plotting, high jinx, and shenanigans have made it a chore to watch day after day. I fear the heart and soul of the show has been ripped out, never to return. 

Replace the name of characters, and this statement could more or less be about 2009-2010 after Bryan Kirkwood left and Lucy Allan took over the first time.

I don’t watch Hollyoaks, so I say this from a slightly unqualified position, but I’m pretty staggered that Lucy Allan appears to have learned nothing in the decade or so since she abruptly left. 

She is a more experienced and tenured executive and producer, so unlike last time, I think the Hollyoaks fans will have to grin and bear it for longer this time around.

Well, that was very surreal. The follow up episode has just aired, at least attempting to explain in a little detail how Cindy came to be alive (nothing revolutionary there, in my opinion).

While I suspect the show will sit on the Cindy time bomb for a little while longer, the episode has spun and spotlighted a web of lies and secrets that might provide some compelling drama over the summer if done properly. 

If done sloppily, and the various threads flop, then it’ll be looked at as a failed ratings stunt.

Because I suspect that not everyone who visits this thread has seen this episode, I won’t discuss it in detail, as a couple of little bits might provide a pleasant surprise

25 minutes ago, I Am A Swede said:

EastEnders: Michelle Collins returns as Cindy Beale after 25 years

It would have been a huge shock, spoken about for weeks afterwards, if The Sun newspaper hadn’t spoiled it a while ago

Have Alexis, Sam and Molly always interchanged Christina’s name with the shorter Chrissy they’ve called her the past couple of episodes? Or has that coincided with the recast?

Just spent an hour going down a Fred Elliott rabbit hole. 

Such fun, I say, such fun 

Good Lord, that was painful to read.

Boy, the writers undertook a lot of dialogue and structural gymnastics to take the sting out of Cam’s verbal ‘showdown’ with Joss. 

1 hour ago, Liberty City said:

Finally got BritBox and watched until into the beginning of December and whew... this soap is fantastic!

Glad to see people enjoying a show. What are you enjoying about it?

I’ve just finished episode 3 as part of a staggered watch (I’ll be done by tonight) and it’s very good.

Well written, well directed, very attractive cast (Deborah Ayorinde really does it for me) and shows the opulent side of my home city, rather than the gritty estates and streets our writers prefer to highlight.

And they didn’t have to take us to Wartime England or the aristocracy to do it.

Even better, my culture is being highlighted and celebrated (as well as examined) to achieve this.