22 minutes ago, Manny said:

Who are your all time favorite characters?

Ooh, that's a difficult question! I've pretty much watched all the characters now having seen the Drama repeats. My favourite character of all time is probably Janine Butcher. My top 3 are probably:

1 Janine Butcher
2 Ben Mitchell (Harry Reid version)
3 Carol Jackson 

I really enjoyed Janine's 1999-2004 stint, and she was also very troubled even as a little girl on screen. I wasn't so keen on her later stints. I also really liked the Harry Reid version of Ben Mitchell, but the recast to Max Bowden has pretty much destroyed the character for me, because he's now nothing like what Ben was supposed to be at all. I think Carol is a brilliant character, mainly because the actress was very good. I think Pat was a great character, and Peggy. I also feel like I appreciate Pauline more as a character now, having seen her entire stint. I'm also a big fan of Sam Mitchell (Kim Medcalf's version), and I really liked Chrissie Watts. 

Here are some of my favourite characters in action!

I wish I had some better clips of Harry's Ben.

Oh nice!! I love Janine, although I haven't seen her early stuff! But I still enjoyed her as a villain when I started watching. LOOVED her and I love the actress!! She is also one of my favorite characters. I wish I could watch all those old episodes.

I loved Pat too! Was so sad when she died

I loved young Ben too, played by Joshua Pascoe as well as Harry Reid (although I haven't seen his entire run). 

I know this is probably unpopular, but I LOVED Zainab  

I also loved the Brannings... obviously Dot.. ❤️ But I loved how messy Max and Tanya were. I loved Lauren and Abi and Bradley.. that whole family was so chaotic and dramatic

For example, I find Jack the most boring out of the Brannings, and yet he's basically the only one left (well now we have Lauren and Penny, although Penny has done nothing since she's been back lol)

I will have to watch those videos you posted here!! Thanks!

8 minutes ago, Manny said:

I know this is probably unpopular, but I LOVED Zainab  

I think Zainab was great too. 

8 minutes ago, Manny said:

I loved young Ben too, played by Joshua Pascoe as well as Harry Reid

I agree that Joshua Pascoe was good. I really don't like the Max Bowden version at all.

9 minutes ago, Manny said:

I also loved the Brannings... obviously Dot.. ❤️ But I loved how messy Max and Tanya were. I loved Lauren and Abi and Bradley.. that whole family was so chaotic and dramatic

I really like Lauren, so I'm glad they brought her back.

Pat and Frank's dynamic was really interesting.

I've made it to Whitney going into labour... and all I have to say it: that goodness that wig was taken off.

What is Letitia Dean hiding under that wig??

Edited May 26, 20241 yr by Liberty City

Wow.... that was kind of emotional, yet hopeful.

This was a great scene in the aftermath of Den's death.

20 hours ago, Skylover said:

This was a great scene in the aftermath of Den's death.

And oddly, Den’s final death is probably the best umbrella story EE has ever done, especially looking back at their lame attempts since. This Kat/Zoe thread leading to Zoe’s exit was also the last time EE genuinely believed in long-term story, as it was also the culmination of that 5 year arc as well. 

On 5/25/2024 at 9:41 PM, Manny said:

Oh nice!! I love Janine, although I haven't seen her early stuff! But I still enjoyed her as a villain when I started watching. LOOVED her and I love the actress!! She is also one of my favorite characters. I wish I could watch all those old episodes.

I loved Pat too! Was so sad when she died

I loved young Ben too, played by Joshua Pascoe as well as Harry Reid (although I haven't seen his entire run). 

I know this is probably unpopular, but I LOVED Zainab  

I also loved the Brannings... obviously Dot.. ❤️ But I loved how messy Max and Tanya were. I loved Lauren and Abi and Bradley.. that whole family was so chaotic and dramatic

For example, I find Jack the most boring out of the Brannings, and yet he's basically the only one left (well now we have Lauren and Penny, although Penny has done nothing since she's been back lol)

I will have to watch those videos you posted here!! Thanks!

It’s not unpopular.. Zainab had been a fan favorite tbh. 

1 hour ago, AMCOLTLLover said:

It’s not unpopular.. Zainab had been a fan favorite tbh. 

Yeah? Thats great then!  

But I just know back when she was on the show, I was also on some soap board and people didn't like her. That's why I thought this sentiment remained to this day  

1 hour ago, Manny said:

Yeah? Thats great then!  

But I just know back when she was on the show, I was also on some soap board and people didn't like her. That's why I thought this sentiment remained to this day  

It's probably the way the writers had her character acting, at least for me, under Bryan Kirkwood they did everything for the sake of keeping Masood and Zainab apart. Still had immense love for the character though, and to this very day I believe it was a huge mistake to write out the entire family unit. 

 

1 hour ago, MichaelGL said:

It's probably the way the writers had her character acting, at least for me, under Bryan Kirkwood they did everything for the sake of keeping Masood and Zainab apart. Still had immense love for the character though, and to this very day I believe it was a huge mistake to write out the entire family unit. 

 

Could be.. I don't remember anymore the context of those bad comments, it was a long time ago. 

But I fully agree with you, they should have kept the Masoods (or at least some of them) on the show!! I loved almost all of them. I was hoping Shabnam would come back with this Dean/Jade storyline, but now. They even mentioned Zainab being in Pakistan at one point, it would have been great to have them both come back. And I would not mind an update of Syed and Christian. 

Btw, how did Zainab, Masood and Tamwar get written off? I think back when I was watching, they were all still on? Or I just forgot their exits.. lol I know Masood was dating Jane at some point... Was not a fan of that pairing, although I loved Jane. 

Well so I guess Panesars are back to the forefront. Nish came back with some big news. I thought as well he was faking it, but the doctor confirmed it. So I wonder if someone else dies in order for Nish to get a heart in the coming months. 

I am happy they didn't go back to Zack and Lauren. And also, Lauren vs Cindy is fun lol

Edited June 2, 20241 yr by Manny

Probably the fairest analysis I've seen in terms of assessing Den's return. I wish this guy did more video analyses on the British soaps:

 

Ted, Harry and Barney Mitchell are due to be introduced, an extention of Billy Mitchell's side of the family  Would rather Ben, Courtney, Louise, or Mark jr were recast. Not introduced in more Billy.