I just skimmed through today's ep, but I did catch a good bit of Glenda's tirade. Good stuff! I like Heather, but "Where would I start?" was hilarious.

Janine is absolutely bonkers. Part of me loves it and thinks it's hilarious, but the rest of me thinks she's nuts and needs to fall hard.

I did a quick look-around in regards to Peter/TL, and it seems he's taking time off to do some work on the stage. A return in '11 is possible. I hope so because unless they botch him up real bad, he can be a solid younger leading male. Ian and Jane sans the kids would be awkward as hell and there'd be little reason for Jane to stick around.

I wish Kathy was still around and alive.

She would be great at dealing with Phil, Ben, and Ian.

Edited December 17, 201014 yr by Y&RWorldTurner

Lynne slapping the hell out of Janine towards the end of the scene. I really wish the scene of Lynne chasing Janine with the frying pan in the cafe was up.

And one of the beginning scenes with Pauline and Janine.

Pauline: What's up with you?!?!

Janine: I'm lookin' at you ::blunt expression::

:lol:

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I loved Janine's little line to Zoe too before her slap, "Yeah, well at least this little slapper got Jamie Mitchell! I mean YOU CAN'T EVEN PRIZE HIM AWAY FROM A LITTLE SADDO(?) LIKE SONIA!"

I miss Lynne too, I think the last time I enjoyed the atmosphere at the cafe was when she was there. She fits the place a lot better than Bianca, Ian, or Jane IMO. Kat should call her big sister to come back and be a barmaid at the Vic...

Edited December 17, 201014 yr by Y&RWorldTurner

I liked Lynne but they seemed to have her wallow in misery and some clunky stories -- I do wish they could bring her back for a while to try her out. I liked her relationship with Kat, and Charlie, although Charlie's leaving soon.

I normally don't like the uber-cynical, patronizing manner of people like Charlie Brooker but I did have a good laugh at his comments about Sonia/Jamie and Phil/Mel (which I agree with him on -- that tryst was one of the most horrific TV Christmas moments ever). I should warn that this is adult language...

When people talk about what offends them on Eastenders or what gets complaints from viewers, I usually think of that scene where Grant goes around smashing plates and terrorizing Sharon for days and days. Whereas with Trevor we knew he was a bad guy, Grant was written as some kind of long-suffering type, and his abusiveness towards women was never really addressed, so that type of scene upsets me, probably more than just about anything else ever on Eastenders.

Edited December 18, 201014 yr by CarlD2

If I'm going to post anything today, it's that I never ever want to see Lynn return, ever! I can't explain how much I detested that character. It didn't help that I never liked the actor either, so everything about Lynn sucked. She was miserable and dreary, with a droll vocal tone to match. She was truly one the worst character ever, on this show - IMO - I had hoped that the cardboard fair ground would've squashed her flat, but sadly it didn't. I'd happily take the Ferreiras and Shirley the Cat Lady over her any day. In fact, I'd compromise and except Sonia's recurring return, if it meant never seeing Lynn, again.

A clip from what I guess is the Stacey Revealed special with commentary from Jake Wood, Jo Joyner, Neil McDermott and Charlie Brooks:

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Low Quality Christmas 2010 Trailer:

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Edited December 18, 201014 yr by Y&RWorldTurner

New Phil/Ian/Glenda story:

http://www.digitalspy.com/soaps/s2/eastenders/news/a293892/heart-attack-shock-for-eastenders.html?sms_ss=twitter&at_xt=4d0c07b51e39baf3,0

New Phil/Ian/Glenda story:

http://www.digitalspy.com/soaps/s2/eastenders/news/a293892/heart-attack-shock-for-eastenders.html?sms_ss=twitter&at_xt=4d0c07b51e39baf3,0

The only time I like Ian is when he's giving it to Phil, so this makes me very happy.

Kara Tointon and Artem Chigvintsev won Strictly.

Great links and updates!

Kara's a good dancer, although she deserved a better partner. I wasn't a fan on Eastenders but I've liked her on Strictly. Congrats to her.

Kara wasn't good on EastEnders, she seemed like a girl who came from the tropical forest to live in the city, very... rough, crude, coarse, un-feminine, it was somehow a wrong role for her. And every time she was on, I felt like I was watching the annoying Keira Knightley (because of the physical appearance). It didn't help matters.

Simon Ashdown wrote the 25th December episode, followed by Daran Little, and Matt Evans the 30th December one.

Tony Jordan's adaptation of the story of Jesus's birth, The Nativity, goes out in four parts on BBC One starting at 7:00 pm on Monday 20th, Tuesday 21st and Wednesday 22 nd December.

I honestly think Stacey is a one of a kind soap character. She has the tartiness of Kat Slater and Tragedy Heroineness of all the younger teen characters only given more adult storylines. I think when Stacey leaves , it will leave what will start as a small hole but will increasingly get bigger if no character can fill it.

Watched Friday's episode.

I can see why people were saying most of Ryan's bed scenes looked like he was jerking off under the covers. Most of those scenes were really bad. I'm not sure if those scenes would work with anyone but I remember Matt Littler/Max from Hollyoaks doing a better job. On the other hand, Charlie Brooks was fantastic. She developed some bad habits over the last year or two but I think they've gone away in the last four or five months, and she has many strong little moments which convey what Janine is feeling without being a joke.

I wish they'd developed a relationship between Ronnie and Stacey months ago. Their scenes were great.

Stacey leaving the stroller in the middle of the road was ludicrous.

Was anyone else surprised at how fast Glenda was back in Walford, and in the middle of a whodunit? I thought more time would be taken to possibly have her life in danger. The pacing is so fast on some of these stories, like Janine poisoning Ryan in about a week. For me the best part of all that was Shirley's reaction to Phil accusing Jay. Moments like that are when Shirley is at her strongest.

Loved the Dot/Fatboy stuff.

The Ryan stuff was hilarious, and I guess it wasn't intentional. Neil looked like hell, that's for sure, and poor boy was trying, but there's not much you can do to make that kind of stuff work at all.

Stacey always leaves Lily's stroller just sitting around while she tends to her business. I mean, she was planning to push the stroller all the way to the airport from wherever it was she and Ryan screwed on top of Jim and Dot's car. She's a hideous mother.

I finally saw all of Glenda going off at Ben's party, and it was great. It felt kinda forced, though, because the only way Glenda would snipe at someone was if he or she actively intervened in her sniping at someone else, so you have random people like Billy and Heather stepping up even though they probably would have never invited that kind of attention. Hilarious nonetheless, though. I'm surprised Ben didn't just slap her when she called him the "party princess." Phil might have been impressed if he had just clocked her in the mouth.

Ian's gross, to be honest. I used to like him, but the more they push him as the bumbling hypocritical idiot, the less I do.

They need to give Carol something else to do. This turn in the story with Connor has been a big bust for me, and it's sorta depressing watching her go around bitching at Whitney all the time. Whitney needs it, but I need to see Carol in more positive scenes.

I'm gonna need them to do something more with Denise, too. I know she's still kinda fresh off of the Lucas madness, but Diane P. is too pretty and too good to just sit around. I'm loving her with Kim, but I want more. Speaking of Kim, her and Fatboy, of course, were gold.