The "foreign soaps" topic

[dannigold]

This is a quite shocking and violent preview from this Tuesday's Uk episode of EastEnders

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=dfucYIurDSA

[Sylph]

— Inspired by the success of Corrie’s Sean (whose baby storyline with Violet really heats up next week), EastEnders has announced a gay character will join the show in the new year. He will be Jane Beale’s brother and apparently “suave” rather than a screamer. Time to bring back Grant Mitchell for a little rough/smooth action.

[Andrew]

Hopes that Judy Cornwell returns to EE soon.........., she is a funny great characer actress......

[Andrew]

Hopes that Judy Cornwell returns to EE soon.........., she is a funny great characer actress......

[Sylph]

Cranford starts next Sunday. I'm extremely interested.

[Neville]

Hello, I'm new here and from Germany as well.

Pia and Tobias currently live in a hotel room ("Pension Maybach"). They will move back into the house soon into Paco and Lara's apartment. Paco already moved to his new love Franziska in the flat share community, and Lara will die on Friday, and Pia and Tobias move in shortly afterwards.

[dannigold]

This is an interview with EE exec Diederick Santer

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b332/das.../scan0002-2.jpg

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b332/das...es/scan0003.jpg

[Sylph]

Thank you, dannigold!

[dannigold]

I did not scan it, but what fascinated me was that he has scaled back the production process.

[dannigold]

Corrie and Emmerdale execs quit

ITV is bracing itself for a shakeup two of its most lucrative programmes after Coronation Street producer Steve Frost and Emmerdale series producer Kath Beedles both decided to leave their respective soaps.

Beedles is to leave her job at the end of the year while Frost will depart early next year, Media can reveal. Both have been in their roles for two years.

ITV confirmed the duo's departures and said that they will be staying within ITV in new but unspecified roles.

"Producers normally work on successful dramas like Coronation Street and Emmerdale for two to three years so their departures are perfectly in keeping with the way soaps work," said a spokeswoman.

Frost has been in his current job for two years and oversaw storylines including the imprisonment of Tracy Barlow who battered boyfriend Charlie Stubbs to death and the chaotic Fred-Bev-Audrey love triangle.

In June 2006, Frost suspended actor Craig Charles after pictures emerged in the press of the former Red Dwarf star smoking crack cocaine in the back of a taxi cab.

It is thought that Frost will leave after overseeing the exit from the soap of Vera Duckworth, played by Liz Dawn, who is expected to be killed off in January after 34 years on the soap.

Beedles began her career on Emmerdale as the soap's story editor before she took over the producer's chair vacated by Frost when he moved to Coronation Street.

News of her departure follows last month's 35th anniversary episode that featured a dramatic hour-long episode that involved the Sudgen family trapped in a house fire.

Beedles also hired former Page 3 model Linda Lusardi as Carrie Nicholls and supervised the storyline involving the death of patriarch Tom King.

ITV would not confirm whether Beedles was moving on within ITV to develop the drama idea she currently has in development with the network.

[dannigold]

Tony Jordan returns to write for EE

EastEnders’ former chief scriptwriter Tony Jordan has returned to work on the soap less than a year after quitting to set up his own production company.

Jordan has written a special episode to be screened in January and it is understood he is keen to work on more stories for the soap in the near future.

BBC controller of drama production John Yorke told The Stage: “He has come back to write another episode. I can’t say too much but it is really exciting. We had an idea and we went to him and he said, ‘Wow, I have to do that’. He has come back because he could not resist. It is in his blood. He loves it.”

Jordan, who was the soap’s series consultant as well as chief scriptwriter and who is credited with creating the Slater family, left EastEnders after 18 years in February to work on the BBC1 police show HolbyBlue, which is made though his production company Red Planet Pictures.

The show has recently been commissioned for a second series, which will open with an episode that sees the world of HolbyBlue merge with the long running hospital soap Holby City.

Yorke said there would be a “major incident” in the hospital which would lead to police officers from HolbyBlue coming in to investigate. Characters from Holby City will then be seen in HolbyBlue, when they are taken down to the police station for interviews.

Yorke explained: “Loads of questions are asked in the Holby City episode that are answered in the HolbyBlue episode. That is exciting. It is something the Americans have done for years with shows like CSI and I really like it. You really believe it’s a world.”

The Holby City/HolbyBlue cross-over episodes are being written by Tony McHale and Tony Jordan, who last worked together as writers on EastEnders.

[dannigold]

New corrie and emmerdale executives named

ITV today appointed Kim Crowther to the top job on Coronation Street, while Anita Turner will take the helm at Emmerdale, Media can reveal.

Crowther, who has been working on Coronation Street for more than six years and is currently number two on the soap, will take the top post of producer in the new year to allow a handover period with current producer Steve Frost.

Frost will bow out at the end of March after two and a half years. Kieran Roberts, controller of drama for ITV in Manchester, will continue his role as executive producer.

Meanwhile at Emmerdale, Anita Turner, the soap's series editor for the past three years, will take over from series producer Kath Beedles in January and be based in Leeds.

Both Frost and Beedles will remain with ITV Productions taking on what the network calls "important new roles in the drama department".

One of Beedles' first projects will be an Emmerdale related spin-off, which she hopes to produce during 2008.

The controller of drama for ITV in Leeds, Keith Richardson, continues his role as Emmerdale's executive producer.

Crowther, who joined Coronation Street as script editor in 2001 and quickly progressed to the role of series editor, said: "From my time as series editor while Richard Hillman gripped the nation, through to the current meltdown of David Platt, Corrie has proved it does things differently, having the ability to move, amuse and excite its audience all at the same time.

"I'm looking forward to building on the show's recent successes while creating must-see storylines for 2008 and beyond."

Turner has worked in television for 20 years, during which she has worked as script editor on Emmerdale and Coronation Street. She has also script edited Holby City.

Most recently, Turner was the development editor and script editor on a new drama, Apparitions, produced by Liverpool-based indie Lime Pictures.

"Thirty-five years and Emmerdale is still fantastic. Being given the chance to help it go from strength to strength is such an honour - I can't wait," she said.

The director of ITV Productions, John Whiston, said: "It's a time of change for the soaps. In the last couple of years under Steve and Kath and their teams, both soaps have defied gravity and held on to their massive audiences while all around were losing theirs

"Both Steve and Kath are a terribly tough act to follow. That's why we are all thrilled that we've got Kim and Anita to step into their shoes. These jobs require passion, judgment, diplomacy, invention and above all superhuman stamina.

"I'm also just as excited that we've persuaded Steve and Kath to stay within the company. We will be unleashing them soon into the wider drama arena where I know they will deliver great new shows for ITV Productions."

[dannigold]

EXCLUSIVE: Enders' Dot for soap's first single-hander

EastEnders is to pioneer soap's first single-hander episode featuring only Walford legend June Brown.

The special script sees June's character Dot Branning reflecting on her life as she records an audio tape of memories for her beloved husband, Jim (John Bardon).

In the moving 30-minute script written by Tony Jordan, the character speaks about life through the war, those she has lost, those she's loved and how much Jim means to her.

An EastEnders source told Digital: "June is a much-loved actress and a brilliant performer.

"It'll be a treat for EastEnders viewers to watch one of Albert Square's longest-serving and most cared about characters reminisce about her past. It's a sure bet that the names of her husband Charlie and son Nick will crop up!"

They added: "The script is fantastic and we have no doubt June will make it one of the soap's best ever episodes."

EastEnders' first ever double-hander came in October 1986 when Den (Leslie Grantham) revealed to his stunned wife Angie (Anita Dobson) that he was filing for divorce.

Since then, there have been various other uses of the concept, the most notable over the years occurring in July 1987 between Dot and Ethel (played by the late Gretchen Franklin) and in October 2001 when Kat Slater revealed that she was, in fact, Zoe's (Michelle Ryan) mother, and not her sister. This episode drew a massive audience of 16.9 million.

The special Dot single-hander is due to be filmed and broadcast early next year.

Last month, EastEnders won the National Television Award for 'Best Serial Drama'.

[dannigold]

Deleted

[dannigold]

You have to watch the Eastenders cast perform a Beatles tribute for BBC children in need. It is brilliant.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=zheSXBZ0s1I