EastEnders: Discussion Thread

[KSlater]

Thanks Y&RWorldTurner! I'll start off with June 2010 then.

Yes, KSlater is for Kat Slater. I can't believe they are coming back -- I am happy because loud, mouthy, too short-skirt wearing Kat Slater is one of my all time favorite soap characters ever and I adore Alfie, although I wonder about his character without Nana and Spencer in the mix. Should be interesting. I know that the Louise Berridge period is often criticized as awful, but that is when I started watching EastEnders and a lot those characters featured during that time are near and dear to my heart.

[DRW50]

Berridge made a lot of mistakes, most of which are well-documented, but she did help create some classic characters (Stacey, Jane, Nana, Chrissie, Alfie, Dennis, Kate) -- more than any other producer since combined. She also knew how to handle difficult characters like Janine and Pauline. Dennis was also the last younger leading man the show successfully created, unless you count Bradley, who was basically backburnered and written as a patsy for Santer's entire run.

Edited July 17, 2010 by CarlD2

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Looking back, I wonder if expectations were too high for Berridge, especially coming off the highly successful (both in ratings and awards) John Yorke era. Though, she made some very stupid mistakes, namely having Little Mo raped for a SECOND time.

The show might have also been due for a media backlash during that time, since it had been so popular for so long.

But Kathleen Hutchinson and Kate Harwood weren't really any better...

[Ann_SS]

Dennis, oh my beloved Dennis. Damn them for getting back at Nigel for wanting to leave and killing Dennis off. I would give my right eye for Dennis, Sharon, and little Den to return to the Square, take over the VIc, and feud with the Mitchells. Sharon would give those Mitchell sisters, especially Roxy, a run for their money.

Edited July 17, 2010 by Ann_SS

[DRW50]

I think someone once said that, I don't know how this works, but that Yorke's era on the show went through a lot of the storylines the writers had come up with, and by the time Berridge took over, they had much less to work with. And Berridge was also working with a production model that still suited 3 episodes a week, not 4. The press was pretty awful at that time, they definitely seemed to want to show Eastenders who was boss, or whatever. The columnists were sick of the show(although soap columnists generally annoy me more often than not -- I'm still over Grace Dent saying that Fatboy was so wonderful and older people just didn't get him...yes, nothing like a man who looks 30 saying a middle-aged writer's idea of "hip" slang to reach the "yoof"), but even beyond that there was a lot of anger, like what happened with the sting against Leslie Grantham.

That doesn't take away from Berridge's mistakes, like Little Mo's second rape, the poor story they came up with for the Ferrieras after the father was deported, putting Sonia and Martin together as a genuine couple, the poor Vicki casting, Den sleeping with Kate, etc. but she did have a tough time. I have more sympathy for her run than I do for someone like Kate Harwood, who pretty much just took a big crap on the show and did horrible long term damage by killing off Kathy. I don't care how much some say Den's return was a mistake, it worked out far better than killing off Kathy ever would.

[DRW50]

Sometimes I wish they could just say Dennis was faking his death.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Sharon will return one day, she has to.

She's really the only vital character that links together all the popular eras of the show. She has strong links to the Angie/Den era of the 80's, the Mitchell era of the 90's, and the renaissance era of the early 00's. Ian and Dot come close, but Sharon is probably more vital more at the "heart" of the show.

Berridge considers these the highlights of her era:

http://www.walfordweb.co.uk/item.php?id=2284

[DRW50]

I hope she comes back. I don't want to overuse the roll eye icon but that annoyed me when Santer said she couldn't come back because she was too much like Ronnie. Come on.

"Storyboarding" was the word I couldn't remember...

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I don't know about the production model since John Yorke's era was still very successful when he moved the show to 4 mights a week, yet Berridge seemed to have problems with it.

The show seemed to lack a general consistency when Yorke left and Berridge took over, I don't think she was inventive and imaginative as Yorke was. The Yoke era is definitely the highlight of the show over the past 10 years, I'd say.

Berridge said that it helped bring Sharon back at the heart of the show, where she belonged.

Edited July 17, 2010 by Y&RWorldTurner

[Y&RWorldTurner]

This is what Santer said about bringing Sharon back, and about Kathy and Cindy:

http://www.walfordwebforums.co.uk/prod/topic/10774-its-diederick-santers-turn-in-the-spotlight-new-in-spotlight-at-walford-web/

Edited July 17, 2010 by Y&RWorldTurner

[KSlater]

Ann_SS, that's how I always refer to Dennis -- my beloved Dennis and I've got to give Berridge props for him and for pairing him with Sharon.

Carl_D2 -- I also wish that Dennis faked his own death and would return, but that's not going to happen I guess *sniffles*. I would love for Sharon to return too. I don't think she'd overlap Ronnie and Roxy -- she's so different from them.

ITA about little Mo's second rape. Truly unnecessary. And the Ferriera family -- I never got into them after the dad left.

Thanks for the articles Y&RWorldTurner. Very interesting reading.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

That family was just so poorly drawn from the get-go. Kareena had to be one of the most useless and annoying "heroines" I've ever encountered. They really tried to make her happen and it failed.

I started watching the show most religiously during the John Yorke era in 2000 on BBC America. I had followed it on and off for years on PBS though.

My PBS affiliate is airing stuff from the earlier part of Berridge's era right now and I'm getting to examine that era all over again. Kat and Alfie are just getting together, and Kareena is all over the place crying about her "love" for Tariq, and there's Vicky and Sharon and Pauline trying to support her in that awful pregnancy story.

Edited July 17, 2010 by Y&RWorldTurner

[DRW50]

I didn't mind Kareena that much, at least once she stopped pining over Tariq. I thought she had some potential, she had a nice smile and was better when she wasn't distraught. To me she and the brother with the glasses, blanking on his name right now, were the two with potential. Ady was passable, he might have been more interesting if he had been able to have the coming out story. The one that I really disliked was Ronnie, and Tariq wasn't much better.

The pregnancy story was probably an example of some of Berridge's weaker tendencies, which was going back to history whether it was needed or not. There was no real reason for Vicky to be pregnancy other than her being Michelle's daughter. I especially disliked the choice to try to surprise us over the identity of her father, again, just because the same had happened with Michelle. With Michelle this had been built up where she was close to all the potential fathers, but Vicky was suddenly wandering around and they were trying to make us think Gary, or Gus, had knocked her up?

I hope the reaction that Heather's WTD story got (let's just say I don't think it was what the show expected) has ended this particular plot twist for a long time.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I wonder if Sam is even coming back pregnant, she didn't even look so in the spoiler pics and there's no sight of a baby with her...

[KSlater]

Ugh -- Tariq and Kareena. The family seemed thrown together. I was happy when they left. Kat and Alfie at the beginning was so entertaining. I've tried to forget about awful Vicky.

I started watching on BBC America right before Steve Owen was blown to smithereens. At first, I was so confused because of the amount of characters/storylines. The rhythm and look of the show was so different from US soaps. And I had a horrible time figuring out what Phil Mitchell was mumbling at first -- took me a while to get an ear for some of the characters accents. But I loved that fact that stories moved, the actors for the most part were wonderful, and the dialog was, in comparison to the soap that I was watching at the time (Days), light years ahead in quality.