I’m gonna preface my post by saying that I actually am enjoying the Wadey era for the most part so far. I like Kat and the Slaters running The Vic, Lauren as kind of the head Branning, Suki being played as the villain she is, everything with Avani, and while I hate the husband and step son I really enjoy Vicki too (I miss Sharon tho is Tish Dean okay???)

Its very noticeable to me though how the minorities minus maybe the Panesars (and even they have been rendered broke) went back to servicing the white characters stories as soon as Clenshaw left the building.

Feels like a lot of their airtime is less about them and more about how they impact and move story for the white characters and that annoys me a lot as somebody who loved the Clenshaw era because of how the black characters specifically were treated with importance and nuance that you just don’t typically see on soaps and tv period. The current stuff with Patrick, Yolande, Howie, Kojo, Gina, George etc feels more like fodder to give Max’s son/Lauren and Harry etc storylines as opposed to giving equal meaningful focus.

Wow, they did a real cinematic promo for Zoe’s return/reunion with Kat. Regardless of how many times the show has tried to rip off of it, that Kat/Zoe storyline is still so iconic. 
 

(I guess Sharon is also back as Letitia has a brief appearance in this promo) 

Also, September marks 25 years since the Slater’s arrived. I can’t believe it’s been that long - here is their arrival promo from 2000:

 

Edited August 15Aug 15 by BetterForgotten

@detroitpiston Luckily we have our answer for Sharon now. And you have a good point about the black cast at the moment. I do like Patrick's involvement in the mugging but the focus is more on Oscar.

@BetterForgotten Thanks for sharing the high quality version. 

I can't remember the last of these trailers but this is a great throwback. 

The way they film the opening with Kat putting her lippy on, cutting to Zoe in the rain, reminds me of late '90s/early '00s styles in movies or ads, which is a great tribute to the 25th anniversary for the Slaters. 

I love those types of moments for Kat in general. It would be cliche to call them Elsie Tanner moments but that's how I think of them.

I also like how unnerving the sunshine Walford is instead of just having a light and dark contrast.

Seeing Patrick there does make me wonder if Anthony will have a notable involvement in Zoe's return. 

With the abrupt ending, I was left wanting more, which is always a plus. 

Great song choice too. I've heard "Dedicated to the One I Love," a million times, but it never gets old. 

Edited August 15Aug 15 by DRW50

Boy, do I not miss Lynne.

8 minutes ago, Vee said:

Boy, do I not miss Lynne.

Lynne was my favorite of the sisters, along with Kat. I know she was a misery though.

3 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

Lynne was my favorite of the sisters, along with Kat. I know she was a misery though.

I feel like she often got the short end of the stick writing-wise - they seemed to really know what they wanted to with Kat and Little Mo in the beginning (and Zoe being tied to Kat heavily) whereas, Lynne was just left with a stupid relationship with Gary and whatever she had with Beppe of all people. Things never really seemed to get better after that for her, and she was very dour.

The MUVAH of all reunions is right!!

21 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

Lynne was my favorite of the sisters, along with Kat. I know she was a misery though.

It was Little Mo for me, but I assume she'll never be back.

3 minutes ago, Vee said:

It was Little Mo for me, but I assume she'll never be back.

I think if she didn't for Freddie she may never be. I am glad she didn't return for this as I didn't need to see another rape revisitation (and the show had two other rape stories going on at the same time in 2023). Little Mo was great those first few years but the second rape was a terrible choice, as Louise Berridge to her credit acknowledged.

14 minutes ago, BetterForgotten said:

I feel like she often got the short end of the stick writing-wise - they seemed to really know what they wanted to with Kat and Little Mo in the beginning (and Zoe being tied to Kat heavily) whereas, Lynne was just left with a stupid relationship with Gary and whatever she had with Beppe of all people. Things never really seemed to get better after that for her, and she was very dour.

You're right. I think I mostly liked Elaine Lordan and those dour EE can appeal to me. I liked Garry too, in those first years. The Beppe story (then given to her ex because the actor quit rather than finish out his plot) was going nowhere. Then that stillbirth story she had was so bleak, worsened by us knowing about all of Lordan's real life troubles that led her to be written out.

Another thing about that promo - Kat is wearing a red and black print, the same colour pallet to what she wore in the  “You Ain’t My Muvah” scene. Jessie’s hair right now is also quite similar to what was it like in late 2001. Kat also had a leather jacket on back then, and Zoe is wearing one in this promo. 

Jessie’s look at the end of the promo is chilling - when they give her the material, she can do so much with just her eyes alone. 

I wonder if they consulted with Tony Jordan at all about this return. Jessie being his muse and he’s talked about how much Kat is based on his wife. 

Edited August 16Aug 16 by BetterForgotten

I'm just amazed they reunited Kat and Alfie again after the hatchet job done to them a few years back. I don't know when it was when they had him come back for a stint while they were broken up and Kat just totally emasculated him in their scenes and unraveled how pathetic she found him, I thought there was no going back. Good for them, I guess.

On 8/16/2025 at 4:26 PM, Vee said:

I'm just amazed they reunited Kat and Alfie again after the hatchet job done to them a few years back. I don't know when it was when they had him come back for a stint while they were broken up and Kat just totally emasculated him in their scenes and unraveled how pathetic she found him, I thought there was no going back. Good for them, I guess.

Honestly Alfie still seems pretty pathetic to me, barely able to discipline Tommy and keeps leaving it to Kat, the weak partnership with Harvey, and now with how he just lied about his cancer coming back to hide the mess with Zoe. 🤦🏾‍♂️ I hope Kat dumps him soon tbh and really wanted them to pair Kat with George (but at least they slid Nicola his way).

On 8/16/2025 at 5:26 PM, Vee said:

I'm just amazed they reunited Kat and Alfie again after the hatchet job done to them a few years back. I don't know when it was when they had him come back for a stint while they were broken up and Kat just totally emasculated him in their scenes and unraveled how pathetic she found him, I thought there was no going back. Good for them, I guess.

Their reunion felt unearned as the story that should have been very powerful for Alfie (prostate cancer) was barely oncamera, and due to Jessie Wallace dealing with various issues, the story that was meant to be seismic for her (Tommy physically abusing her) was blatantly truncated, with Tommy living with Sharon's pointless (although I have grown to like him a little more over time) and perpetually brooding brother Zack offcamera for months as some kind of guardian/mentor. 

Jessie still does what she can - in a recent episode she flinched when Tommy was mad at her - but that was a whole lost period. I never wanted a story where Kat was abused by yet another man in her life, especially her son, so I'm not too sorry. 

https://x.com/JeevanBrar/status/1961456489866141915

Canadian #EastEnders fans: the British series is leaving One TV.

Last night was the final “new” ep (4 weeks behind UK). Last omnibus is scheduled for this Sunday.

Emmerdale will remain on schedule.@Britbox_CA rep says “no news” yet if they’ll make it available in Canada. pic.twitter.com/TVKbdlwlRZ

— Jeevan Brar (@JeevanBrar) August 29, 2025

 

https://www.thetvwatercooler.com/2025/08/eastenders-leaving-one-tv-in-canada/

Interesting as I know Jessie asked them to not recast Zoe and to only do a return story of Michelle Ryan came back (she didn’t feel there would be any impact otherwise). 

Fun fact, Jessie Wallace who plays Kat didn't actually know Michelle Ryan was coming back as Zoe, the crew kept Michelle's return a secret from her until the day of filming. Her reaction here is genuine. pic.twitter.com/KSE0VgULxH

— 𝑆𝐼𝐴𝑁 𝑇𝐻𝑌𝑀𝐸𝑆 🫧 (@SianThymes) September 1, 2025