Just watched it and Linda Davidson looked adorable. It was a fun hour. Two good clip montages, even though June Brown's gorgeous "Yeah" before "Yeah, I will" when Jim proposed to Dot was not included.

Shane Richie told a fib when he claimed that Alfie wasn't intended for Kat. I know for a fact that Tony Jordan wrote in Alfie to be, amongst other things, Kat's love interest.

He told that story (not the Peggy part) on the Back to Ours special as well. Maybe someone told him otherwise?

Shane initially auditioned for the part of Tom the fireman (another ex of Sharon's that's dead).

I know the cougar story that was floated around for years about Peggy involved Dennis, but maybe it was initially Alfie? I know Barbara's sick leave in 2003 scrapped plans for several stories, so that could have been a casualty of her absence from the show, but who knows...

Though Peggy did forgive Alfie for stealing from her, so maybe that forgiveness was going to turn into sex.

Edited February 17, 201510 yr by BetterForgotten

Jake Wood wins weird crush award.

Nothing weird about having a crush on him...a world where it's weird to think he's hot but seen as the norm to want Droopy Dawg Dyer is not one I care for.

http://www.digitalspy.com/celebrity/news/a629256/eastenders-star-jake-wood-awarded-heats-weird-celebrity-crush-2015.html

I wonder how much moolah Mr. Wood pulls these days as the voice of the Geico gecko.

I keep forgetting he does that.

Anyway, the Danny Dyer thing is from this puff piece on why "posh girls" love Eastenders, listing him as some sort of totty. I always got the feeling that Dyer had been a back number in the UK for years for everyone, posh, girl, or no, but I guess he's a "name," and most of the hot guys on the show are either leaving or play rapists, so slim pickings.

(seriously - Masood is better looking than most of the male cast these days...not that he'll ever get on "posh girl" lists)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/eastenders/11410913/Why-posh-girls-love-EastEnders.html

Terrific episode tonight. Beautiful CGI high and wide shot of Albert Square with Canary Wharf glistening nearby. Gorgeous moment of Ian gazing across the bar of the pub to see Mick and Nancy horsing around. Great start to a crucial week. I could have done without John Partridge showing up looking like Christopher Walken's pimp character in Pennies From Heaven, though.

Terrific episode tonight. Beautiful CGI high and wide shot of Albert Square with Canary Wharf glistening nearby. Gorgeous moment of Ian gazing across the bar of the pub to see Mick and Nancy horsing around. Great start to a crucial week. I could have done without John Partridge showing up looking like Christopher Walken's pimp character in Pennies From Heaven, though.

I can do without Christian too. I never cared for him and I found him to be too whiny for my taste.

I think I posted here last month that when I was over in the UK at New Years someone connected to the show told me I shouldn't be surprised if Kathy is brought back sometime in 2015. Tonight there's rampant speculation that in the latest episode Phil was about to tell Ian that he had reason to believe Kathy was still alive. Well, now I won't be surprised if she's brought back.

It's funny you mention that, because some fans last week were upset that every thread they started on DS about Kathy still being alive was being locked.

Terrific episode tonight. Beautiful CGI high and wide shot of Albert Square with Canary Wharf glistening nearby. Gorgeous moment of Ian gazing across the bar of the pub to see Mick and Nancy horsing around. Great start to a crucial week. I could have done without John Partridge showing up looking like Christopher Walken's pimp character in Pennies From Heaven, though.

I enjoyed more of the episode than I thought I would - the only real bad moments for me were all the cuts to Linda's usual misery, Martin taking jabs at Sonia so we could see her doing yet more toothless sourfaces (it made them both look petty), and the Ronnie hospital scenes, which were hugely disappointing - this should have been a happy moment, and instead Charlie was (to me) clearly hoping his wife would die and was upset when she didn't. The idiocy of Roxy and Charlie talking about their tryst over her hospital bed (which I'm pretty sure she overheard) made my head hurt. Why? I just want to see more of Roxy's leather jacket.

Peggy coming back to go and berate Dot was odd, as was her quickly bonding with her and asking her to move to Portugal! I can imagine Grant or Courtney having a few things to say about that. I get that Peggy and Dot are both legends and the show needs these types of characters to share scenes for the anniversary, but it just seemed weird and random as hell.

On the other hand, Peggy meeting Mick worked much better than I'd expected, mostly because of how underplayed it was.

I really appreciated that we got to see so many moments of Ian being contemplative and vulnerable, instead of being a joke. Beyond his thinking of Lucy, I also loved his long talk with Sharon. We so rarely get to see that and it's so important to both characters and to the integrity of the show.

It was difficult to care about the Brannings, as it's been on a loop for days now and the way they write Abi doesn't work for me. I did like the last scene between Peter and Lauren.

I couldn't agree more about Charlie and Roxy discussing their "situation" in front of Ronnie, who was clearly close to waking up. That was pretty bad.

During Ian's sweet conversation with Sharon he mentioned feeling like he doesn't have anyone anymore who'll be proud of him. And he mentioned they were both orphans. Talk about foreshadowing...and I don't think it's just brcause we'll be meeting some of Sharon's bio family this year.

Edited February 18, 201510 yr by TimWil

Do you really think it's leading to a Kathy is alive storyline? I don't know, I have my doubts as numerous people at the show have said that she's dead and they have no intention of revising that (DTC himself included, I believe).

I do think it is. It sppears to be more than a coincidence that Taylforth did that well received Children in Neec sketch in November and a month later

came back to Hollyoaks for the sole purpose of them writing off her character for good. Sandy was sent to Canada! I think 2015 is the year that both Ian ans Sharon reconnect with biological family.

Edited February 18, 201510 yr by TimWil

I am going to wait and see, because it may just be a bait and switch. To be honest it's the locking of the Kathy threads at DS when other silly fanfic speculation threads stayed open that makes me most curious. It could just be that their mods are clamping down on that type of talk because it tends to lead to psychoville, but I don't know.

The scene where Phil found Ian and said they had to talk (cut...) is the one that most interested me, although that could be nothing.

I'm not going to buy into it too much because if I do I'll get angry if it doesn't happen, but let's just say I'm curious.

The part that confused me is when Peggy told Phil to leave the past in the past. Why would she say that if Kathy were alive? It made me think it had to do with Michelle (possibly about Mark Jr. being Grant's), but then, I can't see why Ian would need to be told right away.

Edited February 18, 201510 yr by Bright Eyes