Emmerdale: Discussion Thread

[I Am A Swede]

The entire show is so dark and depressing right now. It's very exhausting to watch.

[mikelyons]

Gerry's uncle Terry? 

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 Come on. Seriously?

 

[I Am A Swede]

Are we supposed to feel sorry for Debbie now that she's been shot? Because I don't.  

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It's just a pathetic attempt to make us pity her before she owned up to her part in the acid attack on Ross. I can't say that I'm surprised though.

I wonder what sorry stunt they will use to make Cain look better before his involvement is revealed.

And will Ross find out that Moira knew the truth and failed to tell him.....

[mikelyons]

This show is driving me absolutely batty. They ended May 28th's show the same way May 25th's show with Debbie crying in the hospital. I mean, come on! 

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It's endless exposition and nothing is happening that doesn't involve a Dingle. There are WAY TOO many Dingles cluttering up the show and now everyone is tied to them. This show is meant to be about a village, not one family.

As much as I like Debbie, I'm finding her current iteration unpalatable at every turn. Joe Tate is a dud and needs to go because Ned Porteous is a weak actor who can't hack it. (And, apparently, a very strong actor is leaving the show, but I won't spoil it.)

I like Chas, but she serves no purpose anymore and should leave the village with Paddy, Liv, and Aaron in tow. Aaron's one of my favorite characters, but everything, since the Gordon story ended, has made him a sanctimonious bore who frets over Liv and Robert at every instance.

And, for the love of soaps, can they give Rebecca her memory back and get Lachlan off the show?

The current Spencer "story" is an insult to the actors who have to play it every day. 

Victoria-freaking-Sugden needs a story!

Belle needs to be rescued from the story hell they've kept her in since Jermaine left the village.

As much as I loathe the Laurel & Bob pairing because of its sloppy execution, it's a nice jolt to the fabric of the show using existing characters with deep histories which should affect them well into the future. However, it feels as if the real ramifications aren't being played up in every scene because the writers seem to be going for "big moments" instead of the day-to-day minutiae which makes soaps tick and cause us to care about the characters. However, now that Arthur has exploded at Bob and Brenda has developed a backbone, this story could correct itself.

Emmerdale has veered so far off course, the only thing to do (in my opinion) is to start again. They should throw out the storylines and scripts for the next few months, hit "reset", and let new stories flow from character. Maybe Diane spots Charlie in Portugal while visiting Paul and she goes on a hunt for him which throws her relationship with Doug into crisis as Eric helps her along the way and their past is thrust to the fore. I dunno... Just do something. I guess I'll keep enjoying Hollyoaks (who would've guessed???) and watching Emmerdale out of habit. 

No, you're not. She should've been shot. It was a sloppy way to shoot her, but I'm glad they did it!

[NothinButAttitude]

@mikelyons, you can go ahead and spoil that my beloved Mike Parr is leaving the show. It's been all over the press this past week. 

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 It has been written on the wall for the longest too. This show has never figured out what to do with Ross since they killed off Donna and tossed him into Debbie's orbit. 

 

 

[mikelyons]

I didn't want to ruin it. I saw it on Mike Parr's Instagram page and was not thrilled to read it. He's been an asset to the show from the day he carjacked Laurel with Leo inside to us discovering he was Moira's nephew and all of the great stuff that has been Ross. But you're 100% right; they haven't known what to do with him since Donna died. When was the last time he had a scene with April? They had a nice little friendship post-Donna which hasn't been acknowledged in years. 

[DRW50]

 

To me Isobel Steele is a very strong actor so if we're going to get rid of actors based on talent I wouldn't write her out. I also think Danny Miller is a good actor - Aaron just has no purpose as a character and hasn't since Kate Oates destroyed him.

 

I don't think Ned Porteous is that great of an actor (although he's better than I thought he would be, and I don't think he's that far off of Mike Parr) but I actually think he has more chemistry with Charley Webb than many of her love interests (she and Ross were awful together; she and Andy made me sick). Not that it matters as this story is not likely to ever go anywhere interesting. I wouldn't write him out, especially since that means they would have to stick more people into Home Farm, where characters go to die. I would have him become friends with Robert instead of the feuding [!@#$%^&*] and have a few more Tates come to the village. Frank's son Liam's family, or Zoe's daughter Jean. Or Kim's son James. 

 

I don't really feel like the Dingles have as heavy a presence at the moment as they have in past years. There are still tons of them around, but most of them are in supporting roles. Even the bigger Dingles are mostly in supporting roles while Lachlan's story wraps up. You have the Debbie mess, and Charity's story (which for me is the best on the show), and Liv's story, and Chas and her baby, but the last two are mostly B-plots. There are, which is rare by Emmerdale standards of the last 5-10 years, multiple stories that don't involve the Dingles at all (Brenda/Bob/Laurel, the Spencers, Megan/Graham), although those stories aren't exactly great shakes. 

 

I think if the show just learned how to tell stories again it would improve. I generally like most of the cast and I don't think the show is as dead inside as Corrie is. I also don't think it's quite as wedded to vile thugs as Eastenders is with Phil. It's just the storytelling and pacing is completely off in almost every plot.

[I Am A Swede]

 

Whether Isobel Steele is a strong actor doesn't really matter to me. What does matter however is that Liv, a very recent character, gets story after story while legacy character Victoria Sugden languishes in the background. Same with Belle, she gets story after story after story. But at least she's more of a core character than Liv.

Liv's alcoholism story for instance could easily have been given to Victoria. After everything she's been through in her life it wouldn't have been at all unthinkable for her to turn to alcohol after she suffered yet another blow when Adam left the village. But no, let's give another story to Liv instead. I have no proof of course that her being related to a Dingle is the reason for that, but that's my belief.

 

And the Dingle's may not be as dominating as they have been, but they still get the major storylines on the show. If not all then at least the vast majority of the big stories on the show the last decade or so have involved a Dingle, usually Cain, Charity, Debbie or Aaron.

[mikelyons]

+1,000

 

@I Am A Swede You've pretty much nailed it as to why I want a story for Victoria versus endless stories for and about Liv. Victoria is a legacy character whose family is in the first episode of the show. Give her a story. Now.

I have no problems with Isobel Steele as an actress. She's done a remarkable job during her time on the show. I can't stand the character and wouldn't shed a single tear if Liv left tomorrow. 

 

The May 29th episode about Charity's baby was quite wonderful. I just wish Iain MacLeod spent more time on daily episodes as he does to his special and/or event episodes. McLeod should be in primetime, not on a daily soap. Have fun with him, Coronation Street viewers!

 

 

[NothinButAttitude]

@I Am A Swede, I totally agree. Victoria (IMO) should be the lead actress/character on this show TBH. She should constantly have story and driving story. 

 

It makes no sense that a Sugden is not front and center. 

[DRW50]

 

I would love to see more of Victoria. I guess I just don't blame Liv for that because we haven't really seen much of Victoria since 2009 or so. I tend to blame Gavin Blyth (RIP) as he sidelined her in favor of Hannah, Holly and Amy. That's how it has stayed. 

 

The show hasn't really cared about the Sugdens since the mid '90s. They have not treated them right or done anything to help them grow. It's like the Bauers on GL. I had hoped when Robert became popular they might build the family up, but it still didn't happen. I don't think it ever will.

[I Am A Swede]

^^

You're absolutely right. The Sugdens will never again be featured prominently on this show. It's sad but it's a fact that we all have to face.

It shouldn't be hard at all to come up with stories for Victoria and/or Robert. Both of them have been through enough turmoil over the years to provide stories for years. But for some inexplicable reason no writer or producer seem to be interested in giving them that kind of attention. Especially Victoria has been sidelined for years and years, when she should be a centerpiece on the show.

 

On to the current show: I know I shouldn't have been, but I was still surprised over Cain's behaviour towards Ross. He's pure and utter filth, just like his demon seed Debbie. They're both loathsome creatures and the mere sight of them is making me sick. I now wish that Joe had never come back instead of this. I feared it would end this way with him another victim of the Debbie Dingle curse.

If the little psycho Lachlan could bump off Cain and/or Debbie before his inevitable downfall then I would forgive him everything!

[mikelyons]

If the right producer came along, the Sugdens could move into the fore. Granted, killing a load of Dingles would cause an uproar, but allowing three to five of them to leave the village wouldn't be a loss to the show.

While I do not like or approve of the Bob/Laurel pairing, it will give us years of story especially as Arthur, Cathy, Heath, and Gabby (all legacy characters) come of age scared by Bob & Laurel and act out in turn. 

I just hope the next producer of Emmerdale gets rid of the needless exposition & repetitive scenes which is a hallmark of MacLeod's tenure. 

 

Sidenote: I thought that Scott Windsor could return to battle Bob for custody of Heath and Cathy, however, he was involved with Debbie, so...yeah...

[I Am A Swede]

Emmerdale won two awards at the British Soap Awards last night:

Best young actor: Isobel Steele (Liv Flaherty)

Greatest moment: Hotten bypass crash (2016)

 

I don't really understand the Greatest moment category. Surely it can't be greatest moment in soap history since all the nominated moments were post-2000. Maybe it was greatest soap moment of the 2000s. But even that seems wrong since there must be bigger moments than the ones nominated..... 

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ETA: Ok, so I just read that the category was for Greatest moment during the 20 years that the British Soap Awards have existed.....

 

All the winners can be found here: http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2018-06-02/british-soap-awards-2018-winners-in-full/

 

Edited June 3, 2018 by I Am A Swede

[BetterForgotten]

Some of the awards are fan-voted, which the two categories they won are. It was Greatest Moment of the last 20 years (as the BSAs celebrated 20 years this year).

 

That award should have gone to the Kat/Zoe reveal on EastEnders - by far the most iconic of the nominees, but because it was fan-voted, no wonder it went to something more recent.

Edited June 3, 2018 by BetterForgotten