This was a great week!  I enjoyed it!  Acting and writing were spot on.

Started watching this on Hulu after seeing a clip of Mac online. I got hooked with the Nightingale family and the aftermath so I decided to pick up in January. The show is so good but it is hard to get invested when this thirty minute show has such a large cast. I can barely keep up with who is who and by the time I remember them they do not appear again for over ten episodes after having two front burner episodes. Lol. Hopefully I'll get the cast together. 

January 2018 Episode Rankings
A total of 22 episodes aired this month.

 

1. Bob Cryer (Glenn Donovan) : 13

*. Tamara Wall (Grace Black) : 13

2. Ross Adams (Scott Drinkwell) : 11

3. Ashley Taylor Dawson (Darren Osborne) : 10

*. Gary Lucy (Luke Morgan) : 10

*. Jacob Roberts (Damon Kinsella) : 10

6. Sarah Jayne Dunn (Mandy Richardson) : 9

*. Alex Fletcher (Diane Hutchinson) : 9

*. Michelle Holmes (Maggie Kinsella) : 9

*. Harvey Virdi (Misbah Maalik) : 9

10. Gregory Finnegan (James Nightingale) : 8

*. Parry Glaspool (Harry Thompson) : 8

*. Rish Nair (Sami Maalik) : 8

*. Kristy-Leigh Porter (Leela Lomax) : 8

*. Ijaz Rana (Imran Maalik) : 8

*. Kieron Richardson (Ste Hay) : 8

*. Michael Salami (Shane Sweeney) : 8

*. Adam Woodward (Brody Hudson) : 8

18. Amanda Clapham (Holly Cunningham) : 7

*. Jessica Fox (Nancy Osborne) : 7

*. Duncan James (Ryan Knight) : 7

*. Nick Packard (Tony Hutchinson) : 7

*. Sophie Porley (Ellie Nightingale) : 7

23. Theo Graham (Hunter McQueen) : 6

*. Ellis Hollins (Tom Cunningham) : 6

*. Aisling Jarrett-Gavin (Darcy Wilde) : 6

*. Lauren McQueen (Lily Drinkwell) : 6

*. Haiesha Mistry (Yasmine Maalik) : 6

*. Stephanie Waring (Cindy Cunningham) : 6

29. Aedan Duckworth (Oliver Morgan) : 5

*. Jessica Ellis (Tegan Lomax) : 5

*. Jimmy Essex (Adam Donovan) : 5

*. Jazmine Franks (Esther Bloom) : 5

*. Jimmy McKenna (Jack Osborne) : 5

*. Ruby O’Donnell (Peri Lomax) : 5

*. Malique Thompson-Dwyer (Prince McQueen) : 5

36. Susie Amy (Scarlett Morgan) : 4

*. Nicole Barber-Lane (Myra McQueen) : 4

*. James Bradshaw (Geoff Thrope) : 4

*. David Kennedy (Dirk Savage) : 4

*. Luke Jerdy (Jesse Donovan) : 4

*. Nathan Morris (Milo Entwistle) : 4

*. Erin Palmer (Ella Richardson) : 4

*. Krupa Pattani (Farrah Maalik) : 4

*. Sophie Porley (Ellie Nightingale) : 4

*. Daisy Wood-Davis (Kim Butterfield) : 4

46. Lysette Anthony (Marnie Nightingale) : 3

*. Jacqueline Boastwain (Simone Loveday) : 3

*. Amy Conachan (Courtney Campbell) : 3

*. Lucas Heywood (Toby Wilde) : 3

*. Jenny Lee (Granny Campbell) : 3

*. Lizzie Stavrou (Roxy Cassidy) : 3

52. Duayne Boachie (Zack Loveday) : 2

*. Richard Linnell (Alfie Nightingale) : 2

*. Nathan Sussex (Buster Smith) : 2

55. Ela-May Demircan (Leah Barnes) : 1

*. William Hall (Lucas Hay) : 1

*. Nadine Mulkerrin (Cleo McQueen) : 1

*. Nikki Sanderson (Maxine Minniver) : 1

 

Contract stars not appearing this month :

Karl Collins (Louis Loveday)

Rory Douglas-Speed (Joel Dexter)

Anna Passey (Sienna Blake)

Annie Wallace (Sally St. Claire)

They've worked wonders on Scott, going from an annoying nobody to one of the most human people on this show, yes I said it. I still think him pretending that the woman who raised him doesn't exist is harsh, but the addition of his brother has been great. What they've done with Scott reminds me of Grace's evolution. Of course he's no Grace but still.
Peri on the other hand is still as despicable as ever. There's no hope for her, lying to her mother that Tegan woke up from her coma to then make it look like her own mother caused her miscarriage. I've always hated her, her bullying a cancer-stricken classmate and then doing the same a year or so later with another girl.
I was taken aback when they showed the date of Bart's death, I can't believe it's been nearly a year since Amy's murder and all that surrounded it. They sure take their time, see the whole Milo thing.
The Glenn recast seems to have changed the character, I like him better than the previous one, but turning him into a crook overnight seems to limit his potential and it feels as though they're going with another abusive relationship storyline.

I didn't realize it was her,  but Hollyoaks alum Rachel Shenton and her fiance won the Oscar last night for Best Live Action Short Film for The Silent Child. 

48 minutes ago, BetterForgotten said:

I didn't realize it was her,  but Hollyoaks alum Rachel Shenton and her fiance won the Oscar last night for Best Live Action Short Film for The Silent Child. 

I was wondering where I saw her before. Attractive couple.

1 hour ago, BetterForgotten said:

I didn't realize it was her,  but Hollyoaks alum Rachel Shenton and her fiance won the Oscar last night for Best Live Action Short Film for The Silent Child. 

 

Chris Overton was on Hollyoaks too.

I finally started back on the show with November and I know they killed of Amy, which was a terrible decision, but four episodes in and I’m at Frankie’s funeral! What happened to Frankie? That’s the one thing I hate about British soaps, the endless deaths. 

The actress decided to bow out. Frankie had a heart attack after the school's explosion which killed Neeta but I'm not sure you know her (one thing that really annoyed me recently was Grace telling Hunter to "get over it" when her brother covered his graffiti painting of Neeta, weren't they BFFs for a while?). I think killing off Frankie was another stupid move given right before she was thinking of leaving with her ex-husband. And now Darcy and Jack are ridiculous.

 

I hope I'm right about Sienna's mystery 'man'. That person playing the part in which she refers to Sophie as her "only daughter" seemed like foreshadowing but I could be wrong. That would be a great twist!

 

So Milo's trial got coverage in the local press but no one gave enough of a damn to follow it or see what he looked like?

Haven't watched in quite a while, but I always feel like the show often kills off the wrong person, lol. Amy, Neeta and Frankie .... sigh. I'm still annoyed they killed off Jade and that happened how long ago? lol. That's about when I started to tune out. I go through phases watching. It grabs me for a while then I get annoyed with a decision and the turn in stories and move on for a while and then come back ...

The storyline with Brody and Buster, especially the part where he was made to hug him...totally made me uncomfortable. Great storyline, but it did give me the shivers. 

They killed off Sienna! 

The twist of Sienna and the cop who's Ben's son (he looks 45 and should just have been his brother) faking her death as a plot to catch Nico doesn't really make any sense but it was unlikely they'd spoil a real death through a flash forward months earlier. It was hilarious it backfired on her as Warren came back to take their son, and it was even more hilarious when she showed up at her wake screaming "he's taken my son!" and no one believed her with the mother of all stunts she just pulled. I find the twist of Sienna hiding out a pregnant Nico in her flat interestingly twisted and ironic, and something they would do.

The balance on this show remains way off. No one ever seems to appear for more than 4 episodes at a time and then they disappear for 2-3 weeks while other storylines take their place. It's easy then to avoid people you don't like but things often lose momentum and it feels as though they move too slowly and a lot of people are used to 25% of their potential.

And the Nightingales have disappeared.  

 

 

The Ollie story gives me chills, but well done.