Debut Episode Air Dates For New Producers on the UK Soaps

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I don't think his last year was that bad, maybe a bit too uneven, even with Allan allegedly changing a lot of material when he left in December 2008. But really, the show didn't really collapse both creatively and ratings-wise until Lucy Allan got full credit. Kirkwood's installment of Hollyoaks Later in Fall 2009 was also quite good, better than Allan's first installment, IMO.

I suppose though, two great years is better than nothing, especially with the dreck many viewers have become accustomed to watching.

Time will only tell how successful Marquess, Kirkwood, and Collinson will be...

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Interesting...

I guess it goes with his and Emilia di Girolamo's prior Tweets about something major happening in August...

I'm very optimistic at the moment, hopefully, it will pay off...

[dannigold]

Dominic is currently writing the story documents for September, which is when Barbara Windsor will exit on screen.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I've also read some place that Daran Little will be writing Peggy's final episode.

I guess Peggy will leave town with this new love interest they're bringing in for her?

[Sylph]

So... Little is not on his way to replace Treadwell-Collins?

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Nope, Treadwell-Collins seems to have his job cemented at EastEnders...

[DRW50]

How long did Eileen leave before FA was canceled?

I'm not sure if the new teens are because of Kirkwood or not. Kirkwood did not heavily write for teens on Hollyoaks -- he did write for them, but that's because they were a major part of the show from the beginning. He actually wrote out a lot of characters who were in their teens/early 20s. The new teens seem like a BBC edict to me, to go along with E20. Santer had a lot of teens on Eastenders, and he went on about how teens were so important to him because of his early days watching Kelvin/Ian/Sharon/Michelle, it's just that the casting and writing for them was often incredibly one-dimensional, plot-driven, and full of incredibly wooden acting.

As for Kirkwood's time at HO, I think that after September 2007, which is when all his big stories ended, he never quite got back into the groove. Some stuff like Niall sounded very good on paper but was more plodding onscreen. John Paul/Kieron was supposed to be a lot more shocking than it turned out to be, in part because so much of the story happened offcamera. There was an increasingly strong sense of "let's get this over with," especially in that "sunset ending" thing, where you could almost see everyone looking at the clock. Louise's descent into booze was more campy than tragic and the stuff with Mandy/Warren never made a lot of sense to me. The baby story with Tina and Jacqui was a storytelling mistake, one of many Kirkwood made with Jacqui. Max's wedding and death were generally well done, and Steph was very moving in her grief. I do think that having this at the same time as Jack faking his death was too much and I think these stories and Newt's schizophrenia AND Jake's madness all in the same few months just about permanently destroyed that family. I thought Fletch/Sasha and their drug addiction was well-written but the girl who plays Sasha was poor, and then the story had a terrible non-ending, Fletch just leaving.

Some of this stuff was very good, or had some good moments, but when the stories were over, there was very little left on the canvas, everything was numbed and hollowed out, there was no heart to the show.

Hopefully that won't happen when he comes to Eastenders, because the show is already shockingly hollow and devoid of life, so he will, again hopefully, build things up, instead of tear them down.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I think the teens were basically forced on the show because of Santer and John Yonke's perception of how popular E20 is and how good those characters are.

If you look at Kirkwood's moves so far, with Kat and Alfie, and Zoe Lucker's new character, it doesn't appear he has that much interest in bringing in younger characters, at least not now.

[DRW50]

I do think that E20 was dumped on Santer...the intros for them have been AWFUL, especially Leon, who, for no apparent reason, beat up Peter! I know some people want to see Zsa Zsa as a great addition and talk about the potential she has, but most of her scenes have been basically dumping her in the middle of Shirley's living room, that's when she isn't doing her hardfaced "flirting" and dropping in and out of various accents. Fatboy, they made no effort to let viewers see anything of him beyond a bad joke/nightmare for a lot of viewers. It's odd because the E20 stuff went into more detail about Leon and Fatboy and why they are the way they are.

I definitely don't see Kirkwood overloading the show on teens. They are already there, sucking up oxygen, as it is, he will probably just work with what is there. He wrote for a lot of older characters at Corrie and at Hollyoaks, he's not really a teen producer.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I think the figured the people and audience they're going after, who watched E20, would already be acquainted with these characters.

I think Kirkwood will have to eventually phase some of these characters out after a while, especially if they can't be saved and continue to be a low point for the show. Then again, everyone seems to be under the impression that they're working.

It does seem from what we've heard Kirkwood is concentrating on older characters though. We'll see how well the transition goes.

Corrie has some deadwood too and the overall aimless direction the show has taken in recent years. Hopefully, Collinson will rectify many things too.

[DRW50]

I think Santer may have just not cared, since he was leaving anyway, but so few viewers have probably watched E20, which was only online, and seeing these people, especially Fatboy, dropped into the canvas, I can't imagine how jarring it would be. It didn't help that their first episode, the one with the party at Lucy's house, was so awful. I hear some fans say "Well, this is the youth of today, we just need to go along with this," but 30+ looking people are not the youth of today.

Definitely. It's all very confusing with Corrie because there's some obvious dead weight but others who are often classified in that category, like Ashley and Claire, I think add a lot to the show when they are given the material, especially Ashley, who has so many ties to the community. I think what they need to work on the most is the storytelling. I also really wish they would realize Kym Marsh is not one of their "stars" and write her out but I'm not counting on it.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I think BBC3 is re-aiing all of E20 soon, but still, most people probably won't care.

I find it hilarious how they try to build Zsa Zsa up as some hot thing with Leon, Fatboy, and now Darren talking about how "fit" she is. Have they seen the actress that plays her?

Kim Marsh is such a wannabe famewhore, she sucks an an actress and is even more unlikable as a person. I cringe whenever one of her columns gets a mention where she talks about or criticizes the other soaps.

[DRW50]

It's the same "hot" factor that told us what a stud Callum Monks was. That hard face and that Smurf hair are so jarring, especially when she tries to "flirt", like she's in bad porn.

These are the people I'd cut from Corrie:

Michelle

Ryan

Kirk

Molly

Sean

John

Fiz

Julie

Nick

I would have Chesney live with the Windass family. I'm also tempted to write Eddie out and just keep Anna and Gary.

[dannigold]

Dominic Treadwell will not leave EastEnders, because John Yorke has said that their is a shortage of storyliners in the UK, and when you get one, you hold onto them.

[Ben]

Eileen left in October-ish, when Sean O'Connor's eps début - so about 3 months. She did return for finale week, which was a huge welcome. Eileen had won the lotto, and was now gonna financially support the Costello's.

FYI: There are a lot of late teens that do look a lot older than what they are. Fatboy is no exception. Plus, his dialect is very common in many parts of London.

Who things the E20 lot are working? All I see and hear is negativity towards them. Maybe Zsa Zsa is an exception, as some seem to like her, but Leon and Fatboy have not made many friends.

Corrie does have a *lot* of deadwood, and indeed feels very direction-less. IMO, the Sophie/Sian story is the only one that really works, and maybe this is b/c its been researched, and Sian's character is based on a real life person (to an extent). It feels like it has direction, and isn't another storyline that's devoid of realism and plausibility. I also like how it's going to involve Sunita in a big way, which feels kinda random, yet intriguing.