Thirteen UK/AUS Stories That Were Scrapped

[NothinButAttitude]

DigitalSpy revealed thirteen shocking stories that were supposed to occur on UK/AUS soaps that were scrapped. Gladly, all of them were b/c they all sounded absurd. 

 

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/soaps/s2/eastenders/feature/a664911/peggy-was-nearly-a-killer-in-eastenders-13-soap-storylines-that-were-scrapped-before-hitting-our-screens.html#~pmH1invFZN97mZ

[DRW50]

They missed out quite a few mostly from earlier soap years.

 

Eastenders has always had a ton - the alcoholic woman Phil had an affair with in 1997 or 1998 was supposed to be gang-raped (the actress quit the show rather than play the story). In 1990 a new producer was going to kill Pauline via a terminal illness and have an IRA bombing in the Square, killing Pete and leaving Wicksy paralyzed. The whole thing was scrapped and the producer sued the BBC.

 

In 1969, Corrie's ratings were sliding and a new producer was going to have a slew of ideas, including a new black family, I think a gay character, and Emily was going to have a baby out of wedlock. None of this happened - I think the closest they got was a hippie character living in Weatherfield.

[NothinButAttitude]

Wait a sec ... Phil was supposed to be involved in the gang-rape too? Even though I don't care for Phil, I don't see him doing something that heinous.  I do wonder how they would've handled it though. I think it would've been far more gritty than what OLTL did with Marty. 

 

And bombings in the Square?! 

 

Nice to know that even UK writers think up some absurd mess and it's not just US writers.

[DRW50]

No, he wasn't going to rape her - I guess a bunch of other men would have. 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorna_Cartwright

[NothinButAttitude]

Thanks. I'll gladly read up on that. 

 

But I am glad that many of these stories that EE was potentially green-light were scrapped. Had most of them hit the screen, I don't think EE would still be on today. Most of them were absurd. I do wish that they would've gone ahead with the Feirreras story. 

[DRW50]

There's an old rumor, probably not true, that if Barbara Windsor hadn't abruptly left EE for two years because of health problems, Peggy was going to have a fling with Dennis. 

 

There was also a rumor, I think, that Mark was supposed to have an affair with Nick. 

 

(with the ass John Altman had in those days I'm not all that surprised Nick was surrounding so many gay rumors...)

 

I think Mark was also supposed to become a racist and be involved in hate attacks, and I think maybe become a drug addict, but David Scarboro quit the show due to mental stress. 

 

 

Oh, and Julie Martin on Neighbours was supposed to kill herself. The actress played Julie as desperate and fraught in her final weeks, until suddenly, near the end, they told her she wasn't going to kill herself after all, she was going to be murdered. 

[Bright Eyes]

The person who wanted to kill Pauline is an absolute moron. And clearly an ego maniac if they sued the show.

[NothinButAttitude]

I didn't even realize that John Altman was an ass back then, but then again, he was young so it's reasonable. I did enjoy June Brown recollecting that Julia Smith swiftly fired his ass after he disputed her storyline choice. I wish writers nowadays still maintained that chutzpah. 

 

Peggy and Dennis.... Yuck! 

[DRW50]

No, I mean he had a nice ass. It was a joke, mostly.

 

I think there were also rumors about Peggy/Alfie.

[NothinButAttitude]

Eww. Peggy/Alfie would be vomit-worthy. 

[DRW50]

I got it mixed up a little. The producer didn't sue them - the guy who came up with the story did.

 

https://web.archive.org/web/20121103183045/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/scriptwriter-lost-job-after-giving-ira-a-role-in-soap-1555686.html

[Dion]

Yes that clearly was where Mark was heading before David Scarboro abruptly quit the show.

 

And in the end Julie's death wasn't even murder, it just turned out to be accidental. IIRC, Debbie found Julie in the murder mystery mansion tower contemplating suicide, Debbie managed to talk Julie out of it but Julie ended up slipping and falling by accident. Debbie was so traumatised she conveniently blocked it from her memory for several weeks while the police carried out a murder investigation.

I do think it would be interesting if the East Timorese adoption storyline was revisited, with a now grown up....err...(I can't remember the orphan's name...or gender for that matter!) coming to stay with Toadie and Sonya to study. The illegal adoption angle was clearly ridiculous, but as Ryan Maloney says, never mentioning it again is even worse.

As for axing the Claire tram crash plot and then resurrecting it five years later, I do think that ultimately it was better that the tram crash happened as a result of an explosion from the Joinery/Bistro causing the tram to crash into the street, and wasn't anything to do with Manchester Metrolink or Claire. I think Claire ended up being a bus driver for a while.

[LondonScribe]

I'm curious as to who that producer was in 1990.