EastEnders: Discussion Thread

[Ben]

And the irony of that story is: Rebekah at the time was promoting a campaign for victims of domestic violence, when news of her arrest for apparently assaulting her husband came out. She had to quickly drop said campaign.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

New Bryan Kirkwood interview:

Page 1: http://www.digitalspy.com/soaps/s2/eastenders/interviews/a330273/bryan-kirkwood-eastenders-executive-producer.html

Page 2: http://www.digitalspy.com/soaps/s2/eastenders/scoop/a330277/eastenders-character-teasers-from-exec-bryan-kirkwood.html

[DRW50]

Thanks for sharing this with us. I will credit the DS interviewer for trying to ask a lot of questions that needed to be asked, but not doing it in a harsh way. There are also other questions I wanted to hear, but realistically you aren't going to get all kind of big answers and if you do you are likely to annoy someone anyway (as Santer's comments often annoyed me).

This turned out to be not great timing, as

.

It also looks like Mickey Miller is returning for a few episodes, I guess tying in with Darren's exit. I'm glad he's not back for good, but Mickey was probably my favorite Miller, for whatever that's worth.

One thing that annoys me is when I hear people say "Christian is ruined under Kirkwood," or, "Tanya is ruined from Kirkwood." They are both the same selfish pigs I remember them being for years and years. If there is any difference, it's that they have less of those Joan Crawford moments where they occasionally make some sacrifice in-between the regular sessions of bitching and controlling.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Mandy Spoiler

and an old scene between Pat and Mandy where Pat lends her money:

<iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Hs4wTu1VkbQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Edited July 18, 2011 by Y&RWorldTurner

[Bright Eyes]

Can you post what it essentially says? The link isn't working for me.

Edited July 19, 2011 by Amello

[DRW50]

Try this.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2015676/EastEnders-spoilers-Nicola-Stapletons-fighting-return-Mandy-Salter.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

[DRW50]

According to some people who read the Mirror, Patsy Palmer is returning by Christmas.

Here it is.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/celebs/tv/2011/07/19/patsy-palmer-on-eastenders-return-bianca-will-have-a-softer-side-after-her-time-in-prison-115875-23281717/

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Daniella's found God.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2016403/Danniella-Westbrook-joins-evangelical-church-run-drug-addict-Jay-Haizlip.html

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I'm glad Janine made Pat beg her for the money to give to Ricky.

Both Pat and Ricky have been assholes to Janine since Lydia died and are first to condemn her with everything, yet when they need her help, they expect her to be giving? And Pat blames Janine for Ricky going to Dubai? What the hell?

And god I hate Maisie Smith's acting. I normally just excuse child actors since they don't have much experience, but this girl always grates my last nerve. Can Tiffany and her stage school antics go away?

They should do a two-hander between Janine and Pat before Pam St. Clement leaves at the end of the year.

[DRW50]

That photo with her husband is the closest I've ever seen her looking to her early 90's appearance. It's very easy to trade one addiction for another, but I hope she finds some peace. I also wish she'd return to Eastenders while Mandy is there.

I was reading about News of the World...I didn't realize they were the ones who unwittingly drove poor David Scarboro out of the mental hospital he was staying in, which helped lead to his 1988 suicide.

If you can find them, you should try to look for the Eastenders books that were written in the mid-80's. They're full of loving detail for every character, and generally the dialogue and the motivations are spot on. They will help you to care even more about the show's early years, which are some of the best drama ever produced for television.

The book which takes place about a year before the show began goes into detail about when Mark first began taking drugs. It really made me care about and understand early Mark in a way I never really did while watching his episodes.

[MichaelGL]

I'm a Janine fan, but I don't really blame Pat and Ricky for how they've been treating Janine, especially after she played them for fools in regards to Ryan and Stacey. And Janine could have been more...humble....in offering Ricky the money, and she could have offered it earlier too, but she didn't, and she's partly to blame for Ricky going to Dubai. Not entirely to blame, but that was Pat acting out on the hurt she was feeling.

I'm always amused by your dislike for Tiffany, as the posters on DS seem to adore her. You should have seen some of the posts on there after Janine revealed to Tiffany she had gotten her nothing, while getting Morgan and Liam gifts. There were a few posters up in arms about that. I really don't have a overall opinion of Tiffany, but the cutesy childish stuff they have her do, do get on my nerves. I was however liking it when they had Tiffany spend time with Lydia, and some of Lydia(and Janine) was rubbing off on Tiffany. However that side of Tiffany seems to have been forgotten.

As for Pat, there's a possible spoiler that states...

I do hope for a two-hander between Pat and Janine before Pam St. Clements leaves. This is where I hope Kirkwood's admiration for character of Janine comes into play and sees that there needs to be such a episode.

Edited July 20, 2011 by MichaelGL

[MichaelGL]

Finally.....

Spoilerish: EE's next coming out story.

[DRW50]

I think it's the wrong time to do this story and it's with the wrong character, a character many viewers can never take seriously, but oh well. It might be good.

[MichaelGL]

I see it as a chance for a soap (other than Hollyoaks, which really bungled the attempt) to finally have a gay villain,

Plus, I want to see what all the fuss is about the actor that plays Phil. I was never really impressed with him when I started watching, but I caught the end of the crack story, so this will be a make it or break for me where Steve McFadden is concerned.

Edited July 21, 2011 by MichaelGL

[DRW50]

I wouldn't expect anything more from McFadden than what you've seen. He tends to just sort of rasp through the days, and then he has some very good moments in pauses.

The problem with gay bad boys on soaps is that it always becomes "They just want to be loved! Poor them!" And there's no real way to do that with Ben because I don't think the actor is suited to that type of complex material and there isn't any type of family bond that would make for any type of good contrast. You're just basically going to get Phil drinking and angrily whispering and shouting, and Shirley hovering.

I also don't know if this will work with Ben because Santer conditioned viewers to see Ben as a bad joke, and as Phil's greatest burden. That is all he will ever be to many viewers. If he isn't doing drag balls by Christmas a lot of people will just say, "Bored now."

Edited July 21, 2011 by CarlD2