The new series story producer is Emily Gascoyne.

Thanks. She's had an extensive career at Emmerdale, only leaving or being fired there last year. She was a storyliner from 2004-2006 there, then Story Edior from 2006-2008, and then Story Producer from 2008-2009.

Himesh Patel interview:

Page 1: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/soaps/s2/eastenders/interviews/a287945/himesh-patel-tamwar-masood-eastenders.html

Page 2: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/soaps/blog/scoop/

2004-2009 were uneven years from the show, but they had some fantastic long-running dramatic stories, which would serve Eastenders well. It's a shame Blyth fired her, but then he seems to want to make the show his and ignore what might have made Emmerdale best.

2004-2009 were uneven years from the show, but they had some fantastic long-running dramatic stories, which would serve Eastenders well. It's a shame Blyth fired her, but then he seems to want to make the show his and ignore what might have made Emmerdale best.

Yes, I slowly but surely am being quite turned off from the show. I only keep watching for the characters I have grown to love at this point.

Edited November 16, 201015 yr by Amello

Seems like Emily Gascoyne has a longer resume. She's also worked with former EastEnders EP Matthew Robinson on a project, and was also a Script Assistant on Brookside and Hollyoaks briefly before joining Emmerdale.

http://www.culverhousejames.co.uk/scriptwriters_cv.php?uid=52

Spoilers for the week of December 13th. Apparently, the spoilers from the week before are embargoed, so something big must be happening.

Monday 13 December

The Mitchells celebrate Jay's new surname in the first visit of the week to Walford. Meanwhile, Ian tries to talk to Phil about Ben's imminent release.

Elsewhere, Julie tries to teach Billy a lesson.

Tuesday 14 December

Carol warns Bianca to keep Whitney away from Connor in tonight's visit to Albert Square.

Meanwhile, Ben is annoyed by how close Jay has become to Phil; and Billy is still angry that Julie made a fool of him.

Thursday 16 December

Peter nurses a broken heart when things don't work out for him and Whitney, in tonight's visit to Walford.

Meanwhile, Carol finds out that Whitney is selling stolen goods, while Alfie makes plans for the baby's Christmas arrival.

Friday 17 December

Bianca loses her Christmas money when a company goes bust in the week's final visit to Walford.

Meanwhile, Denise kicks out Kim and gets a shock when she receives a letter from Lucas asking her to come and see him. There are more surprises when Glenda makes a startling revelation.

Nice that they at least remembered Denise and the stuff she went though earlier in the year.

June Brown will be on the Christmas Strictly special.

http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/s104/strictly-come-dancing/news/a288327/brown-terrified-about-xmas-strictly.html

Randomly reading about some stories from the recent past....and WTF, Darren and Heather had sex!? THE HELL!? Who wrote that and why?! WHY?!

Edited November 18, 201015 yr by All My Shadows

That was more Santer shock value. He wanted to rip off the story about viewers not knowing the father of Michelle's baby and they would each get a phone call and then the father would show up. The choices were, I think, Minty, Phil, I can't remember the other, and Darren. Darren had gotten drunk at his 18th birthday party and went home with Heather. Heather came across like a headcase because she talked to Shirley about how special this time had been and how they'd had special cuddles...and then it was a drunk Darren.

Wow...that's unbelievable. And no one (on the show/in the audience) had an issue with Heather being in her FORTIES talking about having sex with a TEENAGER? Jesus H. Christ. In a way, I'm glad they don't use her much anymore. Any scenes with her and Darren talking about their child would be utterly awkward.

Quick note about the current episodes -- I'm not feeling Vanessa and her storyline much at all. To be honest, she's boring me, and the whole Desperate Housewives style they've got going on with her just doesn't fit the rest of the show at all. Her blaming everyone else for the lie she told to her daughter for nearly 20 years isn't helping.

There were some very funny scenes where Libby and Denise and Chelsea went after Heather when they found out (they found out because she passed Darren a note at a pre-wedding thing for Syed and Amira). Denise kept on for a while. I loved it.

It was a terrible and pointless story but didn't have bad followup compared to some other shock value stories, as Darren, after initially not wanting anything to do with the baby, agreed to start paying support, and spends time with him occasionally, and Heather tells George that Darren is his father. It is, compared to a lot of stuff on soaps, fairly realistic.

I actually like both Vanessa and Jodie...sometimes I feel like Jodie is on the wrong show, but I think Vanessa/Max and Darren/Jodie both work well together. I'm not quite sure what isn't right. I do think that it was odd to shove the paternity reveal in so quickly and Harry is a mess of a character.

Edited November 18, 201015 yr by CarlD2

Interview with Barbara Emilie, who had a major role in the show's storytelling and casting from 1992-1995. Louise Berridge also has some wonderful comments about building up Arthur's exit.

http://www.walfordweb.co.uk/item.php?id=2723

Ellie also had another supplement with Louise Berridge:

General:

It’s great to see this from Barbara, and remember what a really wonderful time on the show it was. The Jacksons were the ‘Slaters’ back then, Cindy was starting the descent into fabulous villainy, Ricky and Bianca were becoming one of the show’s most iconic couples, and Sharongate garnered 22 million viewers.

While Barbara is being typically generous in her mention of me, I’d like the chance to set the record straight on one thing. Because I was Series Editor at the time Sharongate was broadcast, I’ve often been given a credit for it I feel is undeserved. ‘Sharongate’ was Tony Jordan’s story, plain and simple, and while it was my job to plot that story out over specific episodes, the bulk of this work had already been done by my extremely talented predecessor, Jane Fallon. Jane went on to produce the phenomenally successful ‘This Life’, but she was Series Script Editor on EastEnders before I was, and her tremendous creative contribution to the show is too often overlooked. This, incidentally, is the same Jane Fallon who is now a bestselling novelist, author of ‘Getting Rid of Matthew’, ‘Got You Back’, and ‘Foursome’.

A Post-Script [Note this was written by Louise before Barbara mentioned Wellard in one of the answers)

There’s one new character whose introduction has been missed in this discussion, and that’s the wonderful Wellard. He was created by the late and still lamented writer Susan Boyd, the name coming from Robbie’s belief that the dog was ‘Well ʼard’. His champion was the script editor on that episode, a rather talented ex-radio producer I appointed to succeed me as Series Editor when I became Story Editor. I think his name was something like John Yorke...

A Message

On a different subject entirely, I’m very grateful to have been invited back to the website as it gives me a chance to express a very big thank you to Walford Web and its members for their very generous response to my interview – and indeed, to the story about my stalker. I don’t in any way want to complain about public response to my time on EastEnders, as I still believe people have a perfect right to say what they like about a show they care about so passionately, but I can’t deny some of the more personal attacks (including death threats) have been hurtful. The very mature and understanding reception I have been given here has gone a long way to healing some old wounds, and I want to thank every single one of you for your kindness.

Sharongate might as well be the most successful slow-burning story they ever told...

Edited November 19, 201015 yr by Y&RWorldTurner

Sadly I don't think a show could tell a slow-burning story now.

I'm glad Berridge has found some peace from her time on the show. I feel like she was blamed for way too much...I wonder if the same is already happening to Kirkwood. Berridge's era was awful sometimes but had some great stuff too. Her care in Arthur's exit shows her love of history.

I think there was a very dark and nasty cloud, especially in regards to how she saw dominant male characters and gangsters that hovered around on the show in Berridge's era that took a long time for the show to get over (I don't know if it ever really did). Kind of like how a similar type cloud hovered around OLTL even after JFP left.

The stalker story about her is sad though. Crazy soap fans.

Edited November 19, 201015 yr by Y&RWorldTurner