Emmerdale: Discussion Thread

[DRW50]

I haven't watched a lot of Hollyoaks lately but some of their men are hot (I thought Mike Barnes, Malachy, Justin were hot, and Craig Dean, and Zak).

Emmerdale has more of a generic yet strangely complex variety of hot guys. Nathan is hot in that snotty preppy slightly dirty type of way, and he has a very nice butt. John is the rugged farmer type, but also looks like a catalogue model. Aaron is rough but cute. Cain is an older version of that. The Sharma brothers are both handsome in their own ways. Ryan is a bit bland but handsome, he has a very nice mouth. Carl is the one I feel most guilty about finding attractive, because the character is a nightmare, but he is filled out in the right places and has a certain charm. Jimmy's handsome too, in his own way. So was their brother Matthew, who was very dark and intense.

[Cat]

The guy who plays Ryan is a bit bland as a character but, like Carl said, that mouth. Damn.

Emmerdale does have a couple of hotties. Coronation Street looks somewhat impoverished in comparison.

[DRW50]

I forgot about David. He's beautiful, but they so rarely show him, it's easy to forget.

I think each soap has some hot guys, although they each have their weaknesses. Coronation Street mostly has Jason and that's about it. Hollyoaks has had an exodus. Eastenders, a few hot guys, but most of them look like they're on the verge of tears most of the time.

[Chris B]

I'm still in November. I try to watch an entire week in one sitting, but it's still tough catching up. I'm on November 13th right now. Of the young characters, I'm really taking to Layla and the rich guy whose taking advantage of her (whats his name?). This woman Sally seems a little crazy. She sat Lauren (is that her name??) on fire at the bonfire which was nice. Still not sure why there was such a lack of follow up with that. You'd think she fell or stubbed her toe. Shouldn't she have burns on her body? Also, is she pregnant on the show or in real life?

HATE most of the old people on this show. It seems all the women are rude and stroll around town making smart remarks to everyone. Do they ever do anything? Have storylines? Lives? One, Edna, really annoys me. The only older character I like is the old man who works with Layla. He reminds me of John Clarke from DAYS. Not an old woman, but I believe she's Aaron's mother and has dark hair....that woman has a painful voice to listen to. Not a cute accent on her. Reminds me of a witch.

Cain and Charity still rock my world, but it seems clear she's using him now that I see he has lots of money. Other than that I wish the Sharma brothers would actually DO something.

[DRW50]

Nathan Wylde was taking advantage of Layla.

Charlotte Bellamy, who plays Laurel, was pregnant in real life at this time.

Chas does have an annoying voice, but she's a great character when they write for her.

I don't think the current production team has a lot of interest in the older characters. When they get better writing, they are usually more tolerable. I do like Edna, I think she's a wonderful character who has a lot of layers when they make the effort. And she's played by the first Rose on Keeping Up Appearances.

The old man is Laurel's father, Douglas Potts. The actor who plays him spent a lot of years doing comedy with Victoria Wood.

[Chris B]

I do like Chas whenever she does anything (which is rare so far), but that voice! Oh and funny I said Sally was up to something, but I didn't expect it so soon. In the second part of the episode I was watching she set the church on fire with Laurel in it!

[DRW50]

There are some good clips of Chas and Carl here, going back about five years.

http://www.youtube.com/user/racgyg13

Chas has struggled with good story for several years now. I did think that some of her late 2008/2009 stuff, with finding Aaron again, getting together with Paddy for Aaron's sake, and then going back to Carl, was good, but after they got back together a lot of the spark of their relationship was not written for.

[Chris B]

Carl, the older man I like is Eric Pollard. I believe involved with Val and he runs a B&B. I figured it out because he was in the same scene as Laurel's dad and I got all confused.

[DRW50]

I like Eric too. He's been around for 25 years, he's the second longest running cast member. He used to be a wicked man, lying and scheming to con people out of their possessions and money. He was even suspected of killing his wife in 1993, and blaming it on a plane crash. He's been with Val about 5 years now, off and on. He ran an antiques business for ages, then a garment factory, which was burned down. He finally gave up on that for good last year. I hope eventually they will move him out of the comedy stories.

I also like his relationship with his son David.

Some of the characters who don't have a lot to do now were major characters for a long time, like Viv Hope. I do see where the show needed new blood (the producer said he wishes he'd given the new characters more to do last year, and hadn't spent so long trying to phase them in, so that may be why the Sharmas haven't had a lot of story), but some of the past characters work too.

I wish they could bring back some Sugdens.

What do you think of Diane and Val?

Edited January 27, 2010 by CarlD2

[Cat]

I really like Diane. She is a tentpole character and played by a really good actress. I love that she can have scenes with so many different people in different SLs and it feels utterly natural. Like just before Mark was killed, Maisie was having a meltdown at the boor and Diane took her into her apartment. She called Natasha over and both characters had a cool scene as she explained what had happened. Her scenes when Andy Sugden was having his breakdown were also good.

Val on the other hand is a cartoon. I can just about tolerate her in small doses. More than I can Viv and her godawful mullet-hair.

[DRW50]

Val was a much more complex and dark character early in her run (2004-2005). She became very ridiculous and overly cartoonish a few years ago. I don't know why they had to make that change.

[Chris B]

I haven't seen that sweet lady Sally in a while. I hope she returns soon. My homegirl Charity has gotten herself in a world of trouble. I can't wait to see how things develop for her character. She's the most fabulous schemer in the soap land. She's like the second coming of Jill Foster. My heart is breaking for her, Cain and Debbie. The acting and writing is on point with this story. I love how violent he was with her. It's all very explosive and they're milking it for all it's worth. Love that about a soap. Great build up, great confrontations and it keeps going and going!

The Wylde family is becoming more familiar to me. They are straight out of a US soap. In fact, Emmerdale as a whole feels very American. Loving Mark and his bitchy wife Natasha. Maisie and the evil son are great. Can't wait to see more of this family, especially whats coming with Faye and Ryan. Another character I'm enjoying is Moira. She was in the first episodes I watched and continues to delight me. She has a tough quality, but is very sexy as well. Just a no [!@#$%^&*]-taking woman. I wonder if she'll go through with this affair.

Now some spoiler questions (not too much detail please!) I just completeled November btw:

1. Does Moira have an affair with the cook? I think his name is Marlon.

2. Do either of the Sharma brothers get love interests?

3. Do Cain and Charity stay in town? Get back together maybe?

[DRW50]

No.

Not yet, but they might. Nikhil at least.

Yes.

[Dion]

Just got done watching the infamous Emmerdale Plane crash. As to be expected the special effects are a bit dated (though would hold up well against more recent special effects on US Daytime shows) but it was still a good storyline nonetheless.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hx5TtIwy01s

The disaster starts in part 2...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5V_R_H9Gt0

Edited February 5, 2010 by Dion

[DRW50]

I wish more of this era was available. The show went through such a huge upheaval around this time. I think Phil Redmond, who had done Brookside and went on to do Hollyoaks a few years later, was making a lot of decisions at this time. It was only less than a year later that Emmerdale had another violent storyline involving a hostage situation and the two events combined caused the show to basically be smacked down for too much violence. Then they moved more towards focusing on the Dingles, on superbitch Kim, etc.

I wish they hadn't killed off Joe's stepson, and that poor Archie, but then I guess it got viewers, so it worked.

The most moving scenes here are with Kim and her horses.

Edited February 5, 2010 by CarlD2