Family Affairs

[Ben]

I think he felt like there was no way out for him. He shot at the police knowing they would shoot and kill him - suicide by cop. I don't remember his mental state at the time, but it was quite a sudden exit.

Eileen was a hot mess. But a fun mess at that. They brought her back b/c she was popular, and the character needed some kind of closure. Fans weren't happy when she left, and felt she should have stayed. No-one else was brought back at all, which may show how random the cancellation was.

[LondonScribe]

Ah, Pete's shooting. That was the week the show started to change stylistically. There was the inaugural use of sporadic background music/scores. I distinctly remember a haunting score used at the beginning of Monday's episode when the (at that time unidentified) body bag was being rolled out of the Swan to the 'ambulance/hearse'.

You see, Pete's exit played out over a week of episodes. After the aforementioned scene, the story went back a few hours and the build from a christening up to the siege began.

I remember it pretty well, as it was the first episodes EP'd by Johnathan Young with Sean O'Connor as Series Producer. (He was already producer under Paul Marquess after Alison Davis went to The Bill). O'Connor was previously series producer of Hollyoaks (with former EE writer Liza Mellody) for a cup of tea and the producer of the Footballers Wives Season 3. And he had grand plans to compete with Hollyoaks, some of the details have already been discussed. This week was seen as the true unveiling of SO'C vision of FA, which included changing the filming from filmic to 'natural' (like EE and CS).

I had my reservations about 'sexing up' the show, as it rang a bit shallow with me personally, but was still gutted when time was called.

Edited November 8, 2012 by UK LAW

[Ben]

Oh, UK Law, so good to see someone so knowledgeable fill in the blanks. I'm not so good with the finer details on things.

I remember the episode started with the body bag being removed from the Swan, and how it flashbacked to the earlier day, but I had completely forgotten that the whole week was used to tell the story leading up to Pete's death.

The sexing up of the show did feel hollow, but maybe over time that may have fixed itself, but we will never know. Now that you mention it, the show did focus on more younger characters, and people like Sadie were written out, which I thought was a shame. Do you know if David Easter wanted to leave, or was he let go by SO'C?

Do you have any idea what they would have renamed the show as?

Edited November 9, 2012 by Ben

[LondonScribe]

It never got to the stage of revealing the new name, because shortly afterwards (a week maybe?) the cancellation was announced. The interview with SO'C I believe said he wanted to:

-Make the show younger and sexier (as evidenced by the two student nurses, Perdy and Meridith, I think their names were, a younger doctor, as well as Daniel Hyde's character, Jason Wilding and his WAG-esq wife, who's official entrance I remember consisting of them speeding into Stanley Street in a sports car, accompanied by pop/rock music played over the scene).

-Make Stanley Street and Charnham into 'it's own character' by adding more colour and extending it. This also included burning down the Swan and re-building it as 'The Phoenix' (complete with mysterious new owner Rex Randall and quite creepy, almost incestuous sister, who the former murdered in the last episode).

He also said he and his story team (headed up Dominic Treadwell-Collins, whatever happened to him?) had started doing storylines and projections for up to 2 years.

The nature of the stories changed in the last few months from the considered storytelling of the Costellos and Denise Boulter's rape to more 'OMG' instances like Eileen flushing Pete's ashes down the toilet, her having the entire street turn against her, her blowing up the Swan, her exit. As well as the question of how Rex Randall's wife died (answered in the last 2 episodes), Cat's latest affair via community panto and who Yasmin would choose: the new vicar/priest or (the recasted and shorter) Marc MacKenzie.

As for David Easter's exit, it was reported as him wanting to leave but I was never sure about that. O'Connor, in his first couple of months, wrote out Dave, the Boulters, Lucy, Seb Castang's character and Sadie. My mind isn't clear on whether Dave, Lucy and SC's exits were O'Connor's or Alison Davis before going over to The Bill.

Edited November 11, 2012 by UK LAW

[DRW50]

1997 episode. The second part is at the channel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUfnMXib17U

[DRW50]

I can barely find episodes but I can find 40 minutes of outtakes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ip5QA-hpGW0

[Oakdale]

Loved Family Affairs, one of my all-time favourite shows. I wish there were more episodes online. Actually I wish I'd recorded them all at the time, seeing as how hard they are to come by.

Found this 1997 episode

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUfnMXib17U and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sx2-gGh0g_8

Watching it back, makes me wish they hadn't killed off the Harts. I loved Annie and Holly, and Jack and Elsa were great too. They could have just boosted the cast and featured the family less rather than losing such great characters. Good to see Maria and Claire again, and Idris Elba as Tim! Funny to think he's now in Hollywood. My favourite from that episode though has to be Pete Callan, what a legend. Classic soap bad guy, his volatile relationships with Maria, Siobhan and lastly, the wonderful Eileen have to go down in history. I also particularly liked his relationship with Sadie Hargreaves, how he treated her like his mother and was the one woman in his life he showed full respect. Was lost for words when he was dropped from the show, he had a great exit but it's sad that he didn't see it through to the end. I remember Eileen flushed his ashes down the toilet then torched the Swan! What a woman!

Favourite character of all was Yasmin, she was never short of a word or two, and was such a great comedy character. The actress has found moderate success now as a singer (under the name 'Ebony Bones'), but a shame she wasn't snapped up by another show like EastEnders. That said, I can imagine it would be less comedy and more drudgery over there! Same goes for David Easter who played Pete. He's a great actor, should be on television more, I last saw him in an episode of The Tudors in an extra's role!

I wonder if Channel 5 ever regret dropping FA, I mean they've never been able to find a good replacement for the timeslot or even come close to the ratings it got. But then I heard it cost them 10m a year to produce, guess that's the direction of TV now though. Less quality drama, more cheap throwaways, which are probably lucrative in repeat fees for the hundreds of lifestyle channels!

If anyone finds any more episodes, please post them! I'd be very grateful

[DRW50]

All that I've found, I've posted in this thread, but thank you for sharing your memories. I hope you have more to say.

[Ben]

I've found some more FA articles while sorting through my Neighbours stuff.

Some of these you'll see where they fit in with previous articles that I've posted.

[DRW50]

It's so hard to tell all Pete's women apart. If you already posted those articles, I'll go back and look, but what happened with Charlotte? They didn't sleep together, right?

I didn't know the woman who played Belinda was only 23. Wow.

Every time I read about that threesome it cracks me up.

Was Dave Matthews not popular in the UK? Weird seeing a character with his name, as I think he was still fairly popular in the US at this time.

[Ben]

I had to Google who is he! I've never heard of him, so no idea if he was popular over here.

Has any other soap ever had a threesome before? Bar Hollyoaks! It would be too taboo for a US soap.

I think this next one was the catalyst for the Münchhausen by Proxy Syndrome story. I don't remember any of this happening after it.

Edited March 26, 2013 by Ben

[Ben]

I'm just watching those bloopers that you posted, Carl, and some are pretty funny. I'd forgotten that Kate O'Mara guest starred as Chrissy's mum. 7:17 is a good example why actors shouldn't take "normal" mouthfuls of food. At 20:03 when the actors couldn't see a thing through all the smoke - Caleb: "I fell awkwardly". Denise:"I can't see [!@#$%^&*]!"

Edited March 26, 2013 by Ben

[soapgirluk]

I think Dave Matthews was fairly popular, might've just been with the people I know

Intresting to see Robert Davenport played by Brian Cowan as he now plays Murray in the soap River City.

The article about the character of Charlotte Day is good as it mentions her being a major new character. Which if I remember she wasn't really around for long or made that much impact.

[DRW50]

That guy who played Robert basically told people he was going to be acquitted. Not very subtle.

The first article only has half (I guess that's all there was to scan?).

Sean Steel was the one who was murdered? These types of "he's gay/bi cheating on her with a man" stories all start to bore me.

The heart attack story is different. I felt a little sorry for the actor having that unflattering heart attack face photo in the article.

[Ben]

The first article is incomplete. I found their characters dead boring, anyway. Justin was such a drip, Kelly was beautiful, and could have done much better.

Sean was the one who was murdered. I know what you mean, as those stories all follow the same pattern.