This last month has been absolutely terrible man. Went from consistently being my favorite soap to barely getting through episodes. They’ve centered things around Zoe, Vicki, Nigel, Harry and Ravi in these miserable, thinly plotted, predictable and repetitive storylines and its making for an awful watch. Every initial fear I had about Wadey based on his past work has proven true. 😔 I’m going to stick around for Sam’s return and the flash forward episode but woof, I hope someone is hitting the panic button and making changes BTS.

Looks like we have a Max centric year ahead of us oh lord

Flash forward episode centering around him

Just now, MichaelGL said:

Looks like we have a Max centric year ahead of us oh lord

Flash forward episode centering around him

Brand-new character to me; excited to see what comes.

7 hours ago, detroitpiston said:

This last month has been absolutely terrible man. Went from consistently being my favorite soap to barely getting through episodes. They’ve centered things around Zoe, Vicki, Nigel, Harry and Ravi in these miserable, thinly plotted, predictable and repetitive storylines and its making for an awful watch. Every initial fear I had about Wadey based on his past work has proven true. 😔 I’m going to stick around for Sam’s return and the flash forward episode but woof, I hope someone is hitting the panic button and making changes BTS.

There is going to be another FF episode? :o

13 hours ago, detroitpiston said:

This last month has been absolutely terrible man. Went from consistently being my favorite soap to barely getting through episodes. They’ve centered things around Zoe, Vicki, Nigel, Harry and Ravi in these miserable, thinly plotted, predictable and repetitive storylines and its making for an awful watch. Every initial fear I had about Wadey based on his past work has proven true. 😔 I’m going to stick around for Sam’s return and the flash forward episode but woof, I hope someone is hitting the panic button and making changes BTS.

I struggled with getting through the show in Clenshaw's last few years (I had a particular disdain for all the forced camp, what they did with Sonia, what they did with Linda, anything Panesar-related, and the whole Cindy and Knight setup), so I'm not in the same boat as many are in feeling a big decline in quality, but that doesn't mean the show's complete lack of momentum or direction is any less confounding. Clenshaw was better at making the show seem competent whereas Wadey just seems to have no real ability at present to put together episodes. The pacing is along the lines of radio soaps from the '30s or '40s.

I am not even sure what the changes would be if they did panic - my guess is something like Ben returning to reunite with Callum (which is likely happening anyway), Kat sleeping around, and Phil returning to being a cardboard gangster - but I do hope they find some ability to steer the show again. If Wadey can't, and the incompetent people above him like Kate Oates can't, then the BBC should make changes while they still can.

Are they really doing another flash-forward?? Come on.

Matthew Robinson, who revived EE in 1998, has written a book about his years at the show. I'm not sure if they are just the blog posts he wrote at Walford Web, but still worth a mention.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Axeman-Cometh-untold-stories-EastEnders/dp/1326059548/

Edited December 4Dec 4 by DRW50

Gosh the Sam return ain’t as great as I hoped :( what a waste

On 12/13/2025 at 8:24 PM, AMCOLTLLover said:

Gosh the Sam return ain’t as great as I hoped :( what a waste

About the same as usual to me - Kim Medcalf doing most of the heavy lifting. Some lovely work from Paul Bradley and Karen Henthorn though.

Did my yearly check-in lol Found the couple episodes I watched (albeit a small sample) quite watchable. A little less depressing than usual. I don't need that much Max but found that Kat/Zoe scene on the bench quite touching. I will keep checking in.

I cried watching that Nigel episode, it was so good.

Very good Nigel centric episode. I might not find most of Wadeys tenure must see tv, but he does tend to get the emotional beats of the story right.

It was a strong episode, and an episode very unique to EE, which you don't get with soaps now - they always seem like different shades of Hollyoaks. There was that specific EE mix of heavy self-awareness, digging up the past, poignancy, melancholy, raw honesty. Pat and Barry were such clear fan service but the way they were presented made this more along the lines of the show being aware of what they were doing and tweaking the concept. I think many fans needed those moments with Pat, even if she wasn't quite like Pat. That last moment where she said goodbye to us was especially transparent, but even as someone who was OK with Pat's death, I understand why many want this final moment.

In the behind the scenes you can see how grateful Shaun Williamson was to be asked back, and he expresses that well in his work onscreen.

The casting for young Phil and Grant, especially Phil, is uncanny. You can see Phil go from Nigel's boyhood chum to the Phil we know in just a few minutes. Clenshaw did well finding them.

Karen Henthorn, Steve McFadden and Paul Bradley were superb, especially Karen and Paul. I assume Julie will leave when this is over, but I hope Karen gets some strong work out of this stint as she was never even a real character the last time around and this time, she's been consistently terrific for months on end.

The moment with Debbie and Nigel was gorgeously staged - sad, sweet, and yet not too sentimental, as we knew Nigel was not in a good place. The show's refusal to sugarcoat Nigel's decline is something Julia Smith would have been proud of.

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by DRW50