2008 BRITISH Soap Awards Montage

[LondonScribe]

Try www.itv.com/catchup or www.tvcatchup.com for all your Emmerdale and Coronation Street needs.

Though, I don't know if it is country specific.

Good luck

[Sylph]

Thank you, Ben, I knew I could count on you!

Why did you abandon Emmerdale?

[All My Shadows]

Seriously, what's the point of posts like this one? Are you purposely trying to start [!@#$%^&*]?

[Ben]

Good question. Thinking about it, I can't actually remember what was going on when I last watched!

I stopped watching because things started to become stale. Characters were changing like the wind - the King brothers all switched personalities with each other (Good-guy Carl became Mr. Nasty; Middle bro Jimmy turned into Mr. Nice, while Evil Mathew took on Jimmy's role - all without any proper reasoning) - storylines were unrealistic (Jonny forgiving cheating Paul 5 minutes after he 'fessed up), dull, or non-existent for some; new characters were bland and boring (Ross Kirk, Lexi Nicholls), while decent characters (Rosemary) were being pushed out the door due to having "run their course".

TPTB had a dispute with Linda Thorson (Rosemary) about the direction of her character - she wasn't happy that she was being written in an out-of-character way - and decided to terminate her contract. Linda has been quite vocal about this. Saying that, I've just remembered the last episode I saw, which was Rosemary's funeral, where Mathew sadistically dug up her body with a JCB and crushed it in front of Grayson! Her exit was abrupt and the character was killed off screen, via suicide (something I believed she would never do). I thought it was all in bad taste and I stopped watching. I read a couple of months back that they've also axed Jonny, one of the few decent gay characters in Emmerdale, who had a lot of storyline potential.

[Sylph]

Ben, that sounds like a lot of cr*p!

Who is writing this, by the way? Who is the lead writer?

[MarkH]

What is with the billy-goat avatar?

[JamesF]

I think you've made me realise some of what I hate about the show and for the record, I had no idea that they did that tacky grave stuff. I remember the producer putting a spin on Rosemary's exit at the time and how it was "storyline dictated" but it just stank because I don't see more than five minutes a week and I knew very well that the character wouldn't top herself. My parents love the show but they didn't actually understand that Rosemary had even left until the suicide rubbish came through.

At least in the past with ludicrous stories such as Steph going mad there was a through line for the characters. Their actions made some kind of sense other than arbitrary flip flopping. Now I don't know who's good or bad or whatever and that's not because characters are written in complex shades of grey, God knows. They just don't make any sense. Not to mention that nothing ever seems to happen that isn't marred by panto-esque humour.

The only thing I will maintain is that the episode dealing with the death of Laurel's baby is in the top 5 soap episodes I've ever seen. I have never, ever been as moved by an episode as I was for that.

Enjoyed the bushfire promo btw. Susan Bower's being a little too overtly symbolic about clearing the dead wood but it's exciting stuff.

[Sylph]

I think I'm drawn to Emmerdale because it's not a typical British soap in that it's about richer people than the traditional working-class soap and because it has these awful over-the-top storylines. I would just like to see how the Brits represent the wealthy in TV. Why is that such a tabboo? And wasn't there a Wales-based soap about the rich and famous? Which was awful, BTW.

Was this show ever good?

[JamesF]

Oh Emmerdale used to be great back in the 90s when it was about the wealthy Tates. The difference is that it combined camp stories played absolutely straight with genuine humour instead of the strange panto thing they've got going on now.

Kim Tate is one of my favourite soap characters ever. She bashed her wheelchair bound stepson over the head, left him for dead and took off in a helicopter with her baby son (whom she'd previously sold to his real father for £1 million). Not to mention her "coming back from the dead" and scaring her ex-husband Frank into dying of a heart attack. She checked under his nose with a compact to see if he was breathing and then used it to touch up her makeup.

Not sure about the Welsh soap but I'd be interested to find out more. I know Howard's Way did wealth in the 80s and was dreadful. Revelations was about a wealthy family which I enjoyed. Then obviously there was Footballers' Wives. Other than that, Emmerdale is really the only British soap to consistently showcase wealth.

[Sylph]

Oh, how much I love JamesF's posts! The only problem is that I have to squeeze them out of him with my incessant questions!

So now there's no soap that does these campy, over-the-top stories? At least, not well?

Oh, I hate Footballers' Wives, and I'm sure you do to. The delirious flood of narrative, terrible stories, cr*ppy dialogue, inexistent acting, Amber going to see the witch doctor to hex Tanya!! :lol:

And I made a mistake, it's not Welsh, it's Cornish - Echo Beach, which you also hated if I remember correctly.

[Toups]

Thanks Ben and Danni.

So Tanya buried Max alive!! You know I'll need to see what hapens next! LOL So please, keep them coming! Is there a youtube channel where I can watch new episodes?

I really like stories that last for a very long time......stories where things lead to something else and that you can trace back the root of the story to a year or two ago. That's awesome storytelling.

[dannigold]

You should watch this Eastenders revealed episode, which looks back over the last twenty years of EE christmas storylines, with contributions from cast and crew. It also shows you the build up to Max and Stacey's affair.

http://uk.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=...istams+fallouts

[Sylph]

OK, dannigold, you are a mystery to me: do you watch any of the US soap operas?

[dannigold]

I watch Y&R, Bold and Days. I just rarely ever post about them.

[Ben]

Well, the chick who was running the show from 2005-2007, was Kathleen Beedles. Anita Turner took over the role of Exec Producer sometime this year, and really, her stories aren't any better... maybe worse. The Bland & the Boring are still around harvesting up airtime. The ratings over recent months have also reflected this; the show now fluctuates between 5.8 and 7.0. It's not good, but then ITV1 really don't seem to care.

Ooh question: The Nets over here take the audience share over the ratings on most occasions. If the rating figures are low, but the show garners a high audience share, then the programme is classed a hit. Is that the same in the US? Do you have audience shares, as I don't think Toups posts any when he adds the weekly ratings?

Because I'm not watching, I missed that episode. Apparently though, people weren't happy with the baby switch revelation afterwards - as it tainted the cot death story - even though it had been planned for a year. Was the baby switch element really needed?

The bushfire eps are awesome. Friday's was really suspenseful, with Karl and Susan, lost, running away from the fire. I'm pretty pleased with her work so far. Did you read the interview she did for NeighboursFans.com? The only element about her, is that she doesn't seem to be interested in learning about Paul's history, while at the same time, stating that continuity is of the utmost importance - major contradiction! I thought it was testament to a writers credibility to actually take the time to learn about the show, and all it's characters.

That's exactly why I loved Emmerale - because of it managed to combine the ultra rich, with the mega poor. Somewhere recently, the lines have become blurred, and the rich no longer have their trademark characteristics, and the poor are just, well, dirty. Lady Tara and the Tate's wouldn't be seen dead fighting over garbage contracts - the term rubbish plot, was taken a little too seriously with that one!

I wouldn't say it's a taboo, more of a combination of culture, and trashiness. Culture wise, this is one of the claring differences between the UK and US - in the latter, you guys love to look up and strive to have the success and power that comes from having money; while over here, the UK has always been about celebrating the working class. The trashiness angle comes from shows like Footballers' Wive$, and the recent drama, Rock Rivals, where the rich are always portrayed as OTT, trashy and psychotic. This type of portrayal has dented anyone else from taking on the challenge of portraying them in a realistic, non-trashy way. That and the fact that American's do it better.

I use to love Emmerdale when I was at school. It was the show that no one dared admit they watched. Like, James said, Kim Tate was awesome. From the cottage fire that claimed her lover, Dave, to her faking her death, and employing Kim clones to trick Frank (how very Days of Our Lives ), and scaring him into a heart attack, to whacking wheel chair-bound step-son Chris over the head with a paper weight and fleeing in a chopper, were all classic moments.

Lady Tara Oakwell was another awesome bitch, who liked to get down and dirty (in every way possible); The Charity/Chris/Zoe triangle and Chris' murder were gripping and shocking (Charity bedding both brother *and* sister); Zoe's lesbianism, and decent into schizophrenia were all well handled and acted, who had one the most memorable exits when she blew up Home Farm. Psycho Graham was also great - He transformed Rachel into his murdered wife, and then pushed her over a cliff, who then seduced her best friend Kathy, nearly killing her by driving over said cliff! Even the whole Bernice/Carlos/Nicola triangle was good (I remember it was very similar to a story from either B&B, Days or Beach at the time - I forget which soap), Louse's stalker who turned out to be her boyfriend Ray; and the infamous plane crash of '93, all had something that the show has now lost.

Ah, the memories.

Footballers' Wive$ was horrible. There was never any follow up to the season cliffhangers, and characters vanished without any explanation. The acting and stories was worse than Passions - applying fake tan to a baby just so it could look "darker", so the baby switch could be revealed! Purleeez!

Echo Beach was a disaster. The show didn't no whether it was a satire, or a serious drama. I think it was supposed to be about the middle class, more than anything else.

I would say Hollyoaks is the closest you'll get to the campy OTT-ness. I don't watch it, but from what I've heard, a certain character is going to fake his death, and switch identities with a dead corpse that they stumble upon. Oh, and I think they're doing the first case of Dissociative Identity Disorder (but don't quote me on that!).

Night And Day was always outlandish, and campy and fun. It's such a shame that ITV never gave it a decent chance.

There doesn't seem to be anyone uploading regular episodes. Maybe it has something to do with BBC's iPlayer, where recent eps are uploaded. I'll keep an eye out for anymore recent stuff surrounding that story.

I love stories that last for ages and spin out into different directions. The only problem that can arise from this kind of storytelling, is the payoff might not live up to the expectations that the storyline has set.

I couldn't help but laugh at that. It's like you were asking: 'What the hell are you doing here?' So random. So Sylph.