Emmerdale: Discussion Thread

[DRW50]

Yeah - UK soaps had had some stunts before this (fires and tram crashes on Corrie) but this one did change things. And as you said, it had real after-effects. I remember those Collinson boosters going on about how Corrie's 2010 tram crash had long-term affects, but they amounted to a boring Peter/Carla affair that destroyed the characters and Kevin having a kid that did not become relevant to the plot until 2015, a whopping 5 years later.

Having them talk about war and actually naming terrorist groups is something else I doubt would happen today.

Notice that they also didn't allow anyone to camp it up, as you'd get on a soap now.

It was good to see so much of the more vulnerable side of Kim here. I think that's one of the reasons she was so popular - Claire King always played that, even as Kim later became a huge bitch.

I'm also reminded of what a loss Leah Bracknell's (Zoe) exit was to the show, even if she'd been played out by the time she went.

[NothinButAttitude]

I noticed that the one woman brought up was the village being attacked by enemies of war. That threw me off b/c it was so true to life. Too true to life.

And Kim did seem vulnerable from clips I've seen her in. It was nice to see her care for something [her horses] and get upset over something.

That scene with Archie was too much. Watching the gasoline fall from the sky and for him to be blown into bits. That's a bit much. My mouth just dropped. We'd never see that on a daytime soap.

And ick! You had to bring up the Corrie tram crash.

Good for the couple of days it was happening but yeah, there were no after affects. No one even mentions the characters that died around that time anymore. They are just after thoughts. With the plane crash, it still affects the village to this day. Even with Elizabeth, Eric's ex-wife who many believed he murdered, coming to torture Eric a few years back.

[DRW50]

Oh, that was probably the only camp part - "I need to find Elizabeth!" (ask Fred Sanford where she is) although he was hamming it up deliberately.

I was also shocked that they actually mentioned things like Lockerbie and Hillsborough. The Lockerbie one in particular, as some felt this was too soon after Lockerbie.

And "It's raining flowers." Sad.

It's also nice to see Viv before she became such a caricature (although I always liked her no matter what).

There are still traces of this Emmerdale today, but I'm wary of a lot of scenes of Val getting the vapors and saying, "You left me on me tod!" for a week as Eric cowers in the background.

Anyway, I finally watched the first of today's double. Not very well written, but Charlotte Bellamy just...so fearless. Laurel is a nightmare and she isn't trying to soften it at all. It's also borderline camp, but it's entertaining. I laughed when she asked if they were doing the "forgiveness thing" for Victoria. I needed that with Kelly Cramer on OLTL back when she killed Blair's baby.

Edited June 5, 2015 by DRW50

[BetterForgotten]

I think it had a profound impact on Emmerdale, but I wouldn't say it had an impact on how the other British soaps told stories. I think Corrie and EastEnders stayed true to their roots for most of the 90's, and I don't think either had stunts of this magnitude during that time period.

But with the plane crash, Emmerdale was able to carve out a unique identity and it would utilize that "disaster" format many times in the years to come.

Edited June 5, 2015 by BetterForgotten

[TimWil]

I think they did miss a beat by not, as far as I can recall, have any family members of the doomed Kurskov passenger jet victims come to the village to see where their relatives died. It seems to be a natural situation to occur ie Lockerbie and most recently with the Malaysian Air explosion over Ukraine last year.

[ThePrinceOfSunspear]

Despite the incident with Katie I thought he was a decent guy. Although maybe I should haven't given that he hired a hit man to take out Aaron's poor mother Chas. However that can be filed under a "crime of passion" perhaps. I just think this last week really exposed how ugly and petty Robert cant be/is. And its just very unattractive IMO.

Anyways I was more interested in the Emma storyline and her really moving scenes with FInn. I wish the boy had just let her confess. That would have been good for her soul and allowed her to get some help and support from her boys. Plus I think it would help repair the damage she's done to her relationship with my man Ross.

I did feel bad for Brenda today being so nice to Carly. I wish the show wouldn't make her out to be so slow sometimes. I didn't like the way Val was treating her. In fact I'm really not liking Val as a character overall. She can join Jai and have a few seats.

[DRW50]

Robert can be ugly and petty, but in this case it's mostly out of protecting his sister. And he was right - Adam made everything far worse. It's just he is terrible at communicating and presenting himself.

I think Robert can be a decent guy at times, but the show would rather use him as a plot device/plot mover, boo hiss, and all the rest. But I think in this case his heart is in the right place.

Val and Brenda have a bad history because Brenda dated Eric when Val and Eric were split up a few years back.

I like Brenda too but I sometimes wish they'd put her in another story.

[DRW50]

Spot the ED actor in the ad for The Practice.

[TimWil]

I thought I spotted Paula Tilbrook as a copper...no.

I love those cheesy ads, Carl, thanks. Walford Caravans! And Nanette Newman on those Fairy liquid ads. She really was beautiful.

[DRW50]

Who is Nanette?

It's Zak Dingle.

I watch far more of those than I probably should - the continuity and promo things interest me more than the basic ads, but even those have some surprises.

I also watch because of so many fascinating things that are alien over here, especially the on-air announcers and closedowns.

Mike Parr has some hilarious Instagram videos up where he scares the [!@#$%^&*] out of Adam Thomas (who has a good singing voice...). He screams loudly so you may want to turn your volume down.

https://instagram.com/mikeparr226/

[TimWil]

Nanette Newman was an actress who was married to director Bryan Forbes. He cast her in the film version of The Stepford Wives and she received very unkind reviews. She played Carol Van Sant, the one who wandered around the barbecue murmuring "I'll just DIE if I don't get that recipe." Her daughter is Emma Forbes, who became a very popular TV presenter. I think Nanette probably came up the same time as Joanna Lumley and it was Lumley who got the jobs.

Edited June 6, 2015 by TimWil

[DRW50]

Thanks. I'm glad this brought back a memory for you.

[DRW50]

These episodes have Seth's wake and funeral, mentioned by Betty in her final episodes. The wake is a powerful episode.

[DRW50]

Deleted scenes. Nothing all that great.

I swear they make so many errors in their listings. See if you catch the one here.

[Ben]

When I was a kid, I thought every country had continuity announcers and end credit voice-over commentary. Then I noticed how Americans were taken by the end credit commentary on Sunset Beach and, it clicked. I know that in the US you used to have a voice-over talking about what was up next, or what was on in prime-time, which was done in a serious, straight-up tone. Obviously, now you don't even have end credits. I also never realized that a lot of countries don't have channel idents the same way we do, so I can appreciate how these things are probably interesting to you - much like how I love watching promos and stuff from other countries to see how they do things differently, like the US, Australia and New Zealand.

I should have listened to you about the volume. Man, Adam Thomas' scream is high pitched! He could burst ear drums with that screech. LOL

Edited June 10, 2015 by Ben