EastEnders: Discussion Thread

[DRW50]

I read that too (about Dean). Wasn't it something about lines? Or jealousy of Leslie Grantham? I can't remember.

NBA, Carty has a few credits in recent years, but not much. It's too bad that his last major role on British TV was being a big joke on Dancing on Ice.

I do think they'd run out of material for Mark (all that time spent pining for sad, sad Lisa), but I agree killing him off was a copout. I wish they'd just let him move to the US to be with Michelle. The Fowlers needed a quiet-but-strong male presence, and Martin will never be it.

When I first started watching Eastenders in the mid-90s, I thought he was hot. I didn't feel that way as much by the end (although he still looked decent enough), but that smirk on his face after he punches that [!@#$%^&*] Nick (who, oddly enough, suits that hairstyle quite well) - it brings it all back.

You're right about Angie...although I wouldn't mind seeing Sharon confront her and Den in some dream scenario.

Edited February 22, 2015 by DRW50

[BetterForgotten]

I know they tried for years to get Anita back on the show (but she always refused). Barbara Windsor herself also tried to talk her into it (Babs and Anita are good friends), but Anita has always said that era of her life is over. They only killed her off due to that.

I think John Yorke almost got her back on the show when Sharon came back in 2001, but Anita backed out and they later killed Angie.

[DRW50]

Not that it would happen, but it would make me laugh if Pete also came back from the dead - didn't he have one of those weird offcamera deaths? Something about he was coming home because he and his girlfriend were supposed to be safe, but their car blew up?

[NothinButAttitude]

I hated Lisa. I always felt like Mark needed to be with someone with fire. Someone like Melanie Owens. And agree that he should've been sent off to America to join Michelle and Mark Jr.

Speaking of Mark Jr., I think it is time for him to return along with Vicky and a recast Michelle. The Fowlers needs to join Martin and reestablish themselves on the Square. Martin, Ian, and Sharon all need Michelle badly.

Plus, Mark Jr's paternity needs to come out now. It's practically the best kept and long running secret on this show. But I don't know if I trust DTC with this story.

And I wouldn't mind a dream sequence with Den and Angie. As long as they quarrel one last time....

[BetterForgotten]

Oh god, I always hated Mel with a fiery passion, even though the 1998-2002 era is very close to my hear for several reasons.

The Mark Jr. stuff is better left untold as Sue Tully and Ross Kemp will never return. That story just can't happen without those two.

I don't think I could ever accept anyone other than Sue as Michelle. Sue and the character are too ingrained with the first decade of the show for me.

Edited February 22, 2015 by BetterForgotten

[NothinButAttitude]

I know Sue and Ross have moved on but it wouldn't kill them to come on and do an arc. Ross is at least open to returning but I get this feeling that he won't commit because the show probably wants him back for a long period. And Sue has practically moved on, so sorry but Michelle needs to be recast. Her character is needed badly on this show. No need in holding the character hostage if the actress does not want to return. I loved Sue as Michelle too but a proper recast can work at this point. British soaps don't use flashbacks like ours so it can work. They just need to find a strong actress who is capable to win over the fans.

[DRW50]

I don't trust Eastenders to do right by Michelle. It's only by Lindsay Coulson's talent and relatively infrequent screentime that Carol hasn't become a fishwife from hell, IMO, and I'm afraid that's what Michelle would be without Tully in the role.

I do think Grant will be back at some point.

I think Mel worked within certain doses. She got a little too much airtime. More than a little. I hated the Phil/Mel stuff.

At least Tamzin still seems to be a supporter of the show and cast, even though she doesn't keep up with it (she tweeted something about Adam). That's nice.

[BetterForgotten]

I liked Tamzin, she always seemed like a class act.

Mel just got such a huge push in that era, I often wondered what Matthew Robinson and John Yorke were so fascinated about. There was never any depth to that character. She left at the right time though, and she wasn't pushed as much by the end of her run when the Slater's had started dominating airtime.

[TimWil]

God, I hated Mel and Phil sharing a storyline, too, that was horrendous.

Tamzin was definitely being groomed by the BBC at that time for a future with it as a contract leading lady in series and TV films. I floated the idea of her starring in a BBC remake of The Stepford Wives set in Britain to Tony Jordan. He loved the idea but it had turned out the rights were already scooped up for what turned out to be that godawful feature film starring Nicole Kidman. One of the times I visited the set Tamzin and Martin Kemp (Steve) passed through the Green Room. They both looked stunningly glamorous together. I remember staring at their coats which were gorgeous. What a beautiful couple they were.

An actor on the show told me that Peter Dean had allegedly sold stories about other actors to the tabloids. It was never proven but he seemed to have been the one who leaked the story about Leslie Grantham having served time in prison in Germany for manslaughter. Grantham apparently had to be restrained often from strangling Dean. Pete and his girlfriend (forget her name) would have been prime candidates for the Witness Protection Program because she had married into a big mob family. Their fatal car accident could have been faked so that they could give evidence about them. Way too late now, obviously.

Yes, Anita Dobson was asked to return many times but always turned them down. They gave her one more chance in 2001 with a storyline where Sharon would go to Las Vegas and Angie would be there running a legal brothel! Phil and Billy were also to head to Las Vegas to track down Sharon, who'd be discovered working as a croupier at a casino. But even though Dobson was tempted she still said no. So Miss Angie was killed off.

Carl, the irritating lady in that fun clip you provided is Judy Finnigan who was a hugely successful daytime TV "presenter" along with her husband Richard Madeley. Here she is having a notorious wardrobe malfunction on national television:

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Edited February 22, 2015 by TimWil

[BetterForgotten]

I hope Kathy's only involvement with Phil is through Ben. I hope they don't try to re-do Sharongrate in reserve (and without Grant). Sharon and Phil should end their relationship for natural reasons instead of an affair.

Kathy should be primarily involved with Ian and Ben. I wonder how she and Sharon will get along. If I remember correctly, they were on their way to rebuilding their friendship in 1995 shortly before Sharon left, but it was never 100% again. And of course, they haven't seen one another since 1995! I hope with time they remember they actually knew one another before the Mitchell's and Kathy and Angie were best friends and Sharon is one of Ian's ONLY friends.

It's just too damn bad that Pat is no longer with us. I would love to see her with Kathy and Sharon again, and she would have been a wonderful comfort to Ian during this Lucy storyline.

Edited February 22, 2015 by BetterForgotten

[DRW50]

I hope they won't make Sharon wildly insecure about Kathy and Phil. She will be insecure about Kathy's return, obviously, but I don't want to see slanging matches in the pub.

Most likely Phil would cheat on either of them with Shirley anyway, so I'd rather they not have to fight over him at all.

I've seen some fans suggesting Max sleep with Kathy to get revenge on Phil. I think I'd rather watch Mick Carter reading War and Peace than see that, ever.

[cassadine1991]

At times I still forget Ben is Peter and Lucy's uncle

[DRW50]

I'm finally trying to finish this Backstage Live show that was so panned...by the second half the (awful) presenters seem to just embrace that it's a trainwreck, but it's still so dead and strained. I think the most memorable moments were when Zoe Ball said June Brown's been on EE 26 years (which she has, but it's not quite that simple) and June immediately pointed out that she'd been there since 1985, and when Joe Swash asked Maddy Hill and Matt di Angelo how hard it had been to be in the live show, and Matt (whose role in the live amounted to being passed out on the floor) proceeded to go on an extended piss take as Maddy laughed at the idiocy of it all.

Zoe Ball, when she isn't calling actors by their character names and getting names wrong period (Ricky "Northwood") keeps scrunching up her nose like she's going to turn someone into a toad.

And the Mastermind thing was just a huge waste of time.

Edited February 23, 2015 by DRW50

[NothinButAttitude]

I thought the Backstage Live episode was a total waste altogether.

Sorry to those who enjoyed it but I didn't.

It might've won me over more had it focused more on EE greatest characters and stories over thirty years. I felt like the whole thing focused too heavily on the live episode and the current cast--many who need to be cut from the show or suck altogether. The people I wanted to see weren't featured with the exception of Letitia Dean, Adam Woodyatt, Matt DiAngelo, Ben Hardy, June Brown, Gillian Taylforth, and Tameka Empson. Were Diane Parrish, Nitin Ganatra, or Jake Wood even on? I don't remember and if they weren't it was criminal.

I could care less about the Carters, the Mitchells, or most of the younger cast.

[DRW50]

I don't think they were.

The ratings were fine, so I'm sure the BBC is happy, but it did get a lot of negative viewer comments, even from some of EE's bigger cheerleaders at DS.

It just seemed thrown together and very "clap louder" in bizarre kids' tv host merriment from the hosts.

For me the worst was that endless segment on Walford families with mushmouth Danny Dyer. That and the cliffhanger thing with the hosts that I skipped.