The "foreign soaps" topic

[Sylph]

It was looong ago. The Max/Stacy affair had been discovered.

[Ben]

OK, that is a *long* time ago.

Sean/Tanya/Max/Stacy/Bradley:

After the affair had been revealed, Bradley decided to leave town. Stacy was beside herself. She took up drinking to blot out the pain, which culminated in her taking GHB, collapsing and being rushed to hospital. One month later, and Stacy's tracked Bradley down. She takes him to a Dr. Who convention, in the hope of a reconciliation. But Bradley ends up asking for a divorce in Saint Paul's Cathedral. Meanwhile, Tanya chucked Max out, and set about filing for divorce, but Max contested it - he doesn't want to lose the kids, or Tanya. Sean declared his love for Tanya, and the two got together, until Stacy revealed that Sean knew about the affair. Feeling betrayed, Tanya dumped him. Sean, later confessed to Tanya that he killed his father. He hated being lied to as a child about his mother's mental illness, and during a heated argument, he lashed out, hitting his father with a mental pipe (his father didn't seem like a nice guy, anyway). Abi, who want's her parents back together, destroyed the DVD of Max & Stacy's affair. Max was pleased, but unbeknown to him, she had a copy. Witnessing Tanya handing it to her lawyer, he paid off the lawyer's P.A. into handing him the DVD. When the trail started, and without the evidence, things were looking bleak. Max played dirty by tauting Tanya, into attacking him. After the trial, Max proposed that they forget about the divorce, but Tanya rebuffed his advances. Feeling lonely, she turned to drink - and Sean. She's now planning a birthday party, to get one over on Max.

Minty/Hazel/Garry:

Hazel discovered she was pregnant - Minty was over the moon. Garry was far from pleased. Minty explained to Phil how important having a baby was to him, which changed Garry's mind. He's finally supporting their relationship. Hazel visited the doctors, and discovered she wasn't pregnant, but going through the menopause. She 'fessed up to Minty, who assured her he was fine. Talking to Garry, Minty explained that having a baby was his dream, but he loves Hazel enough for it not to be a problem. Hazel, however, had only overheard part of that conversation (you can guess which part), and decided the best thing to do would be to leave town. She told Garry she loved Minty, but was setting him free, and left. In order to keep their place in the wedding competition, Heather pretended to be Hazel. She, Phil, and Shirley convinced Minty to track down Hazel and explain. And that's exactly what he intends to do.

Ian & Jane:

Jane received an invitation to her gay brother's wedding. She throw it out, and Ian found it, calling Christian (the brother) and inviting him to dinner. After some convincing, Jane agreed to attend. It transpired that the two had not been in contact for four years, because Christian had upstaged her wedding to now-deceased-husband, David, by announcing that he was gay. After one to many drinks, Christian revealed that he was in love with David, and that no one would ever come close, including his now boyfriend, who after hearing this, called off the wedding. Christian moved in with Ian & Jane, much to his and Steven's chagrin. Being slightly homophobic, Ian and Steven both proved easy targets for the family's pranks. Seeing £ signs flash before his eyes, Ian decided to go into business with Christian, by setting up a catering company for gay themed events. A wealthy man, named Edward was interested in their services, including Ian's who he had taken a shine to. Not wanting to lose out on the lucrative investment, Ian agreed to dinner with Edward. Edward revealed that he was going to meet the Queen, as he was being granted an MBE, and wanted Ian to be his date - he excepted!

Jack & Ronnie:

Jack had secrets, that Ronnie was determined to find out. The Mitchell's weren't happy about the romance, but agreed to give things a go for Ronnie's sake. Jack's ex-wife Selina showed up, with news that she was leaving the country, and taking their daughter Poppy with her. Ronnie managed to a range a secret meeting with Selina, where she meet Poppy, who' confined to a wheel chair. During the days of when Jack was a cop (I'm a little sketchy on the details) Poppy was shot, after getting caught in the cross-fire. Jack wasn't happy that Ronnie went behind his back. Selina and Jack had an argument, which lead to them sleeping together, in his office at R&R. Roxy stumbled upon them, and threatened to tell Ronnie - which she eventually did. Ronnie prominently, and publicly terminated their romance. Jack's flat has recently been trashed - he thinks it's Phil, but really it was Roxy - she did it to make her sister proud. When Jack finds out, he'll be bundling her off in the back of his car.

Kevin's death; Deano's return:

Denise sold Yolande a cut 'n' shut car, which Kevin stole in order to get rid of. Shirley caught him, and invited herself a long. While driving, the two managed to sort of clear the air, but the breaks failed, and the car crashed. Kevin was pinned by a mental pipe. He didn't want to die alone, and gave Shirley a kiss to pass on to Denise. For a brief minute, Shirley thought he still loved her, but he didn't. She was crushed. Kevin died in her arms. Denise was beside herself with grief. She and Carly decided to leave the country, so they could scatter Kevin's ashes. Chelsea returned none to happy about her mother's plans, but later managed to put her own selfish needs to one side, as she gave Denise her blessing. Carly and Shirley parted on bitter terms. Darren wanted to get revenge on Phil, so teamed up with Jack. He secretly taped Phil admitting to the stolen cars, which Jack used to blackmail him into signing over the Car Lot. A month later, and Deano's back, a changed man. He has Shirley pay for a call girl, before taking all her money. Sean's after payback, but Deano gets in their first, by head butting him. Deano shows Chelsea the scars he sustained in jail, and alludes to being made someone's bitch (not in those words). He leaves the Square after violently telling Shirley a few home truths.

Elsewhere:

- Jay started hanging out with Tegs and his gang, due to Jase's neglect (he's dating Dawn and putting her first). Tegs' gang are terrorizing Dot. Jay steals her keys and trashes her house. He's left behind, when Dot catches him. Later, Teg's is about to throw a brick throw her window, but Jay stops him, and stands up to him by quitting the gang. Tegs later lured him into a false sense of security, and stabbed him. Yolande realized that Dot was living in fear, and persuaded her to confront her fears. Dot confronted Jay, and convinced him to testify against Tegs.

- Dot had an entire episode to herself, where she decided to send Jim to a nursing home.

- Zainab was in serious debt, which forced Shabnam to postpone her traveling plans, by giving her mother the much need cash to help her out. Masood rushed off to India, after learning his father is seriously sick.

- Clare Bates returned (last seen sometime in the 90's) being thrown from a car. She's residing with Dot, and plotting to snare Ian, so she can get her hands on his cash. She clashed with Chelsea at Booty, when Chelsea (who doesn't like her) advertised a half price deal, and blaming it on Clare. The salon was flooded with people expecting free treatment. Clare took revenge by setting Chelsea up to look like a thief. She saved Chelsea from getting fired by taking the rap. (FYI: I don't like her character. I don't really see the point in her.)

Phew, that was loooong. I think that's everything. Took some remembering though.

[Sylph]

Wow!! Thank you so much, Ben, for this very detailed reply!!!

[KSlater]

Thank you Ben for the scoop on EE. I'm shocked by Tanya!

[CassieFan]

I agree that the promo is excellent, but "Forbidden Love" is not treated nicely The show began in 2004, and now, in 2008, we only have 5 original cast members. The good side of the soap is that almost everyone have some kind of storylines, no backburners.

[Errol]

Ah, so soap stars are treated the same universally, lol. Still liked the promo though. Wish we could get that type of thing for new seasons of our soaps.

[CassieFan]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74lZ_2tYw9M

Here is the opening, so you can see it The storys are quite good. There are some bad ones, that's true, but every soap has bad stories so

[Huntress]

The German soap Gute Zeiten, Schlechte Zeiten will celebrate its 4000th episode in June and there's a major shake-up going on behind the scenes. So far three contract cast members have announced their exits and there are rumours that even more could follow. Since 2002, the show has gradually lost a huge part of its audience.

The departing cast members are:

Arne Stephan, Maike von Bremen and Jasmin Weber. Arne Stephan joined the cast in March 2006 as Marc Hansen. For several months, he also played Marc's evil twin brother Viktor who eventually committed suicide after kidnapping Sandra. Maike von Bremen joined the cast in August 2002 as Sandra Ergün, née Lemke, a role which had previously been played by Anna Frenzel-Röhl from 2000 to 2002. After a rough start Maike soon became a fan favourite. However, since Sandra has endured many tragedies including the deaths of her first husband Deniz, her mother Senta and her uncle Hannes as well as two miscarriages, the character became a crybaby. Jasmin Weber joined the cast in October 2005 as Franzi Reuter. At first the character was supposed to be only short-term, but because of her popularity she was placed on contract as of June 2006. In 2007, Franzi and her close friend Paula fell in with love each other, although Paula was married to John, the brother of Franzi's boyfriend Philip.

The remaining cast members:

The Gerner family

Wolfgang Bahro as Dr. Jo Gerner (1993-), Ulrike Frank as Katrin Flemming Gerner (2002-2003, 2004-), Raul Richter as Dominik Gundlach aka Felix Gerner (2007-), Janina Uhse as Jasmin Nowak, Katrin's half sister (2008-)

The Cöster family

Nik Breidenbach as Alexander Cöster (2007-), Kristin Meyer as Iris Cöster (2007-), Alexander Becht as Lenny Cöster (2007-), Sarah Tkotsch as Lucy Cöster (2007-), Pete Dwojak as Henrik Beck, Iris' boyfriend (2005-), Hans Christiani as A.R. Daniel, Alexander's half-brother (original cast member)

The Bachmann family

Felix von Jascheroff as John Bachmann (2001-), Josephine Schmidt as Paula Rapf Bachmann, John's wife (2002-), Jörn Schlönvoigt as Philip Höfer (2004-), Anne Menden as Emily Höfer (2004-)

Philip and Emily are twins and John's half-sibilings. Their father Hannes and their aunt Senta died last year. Sandra is John's cousin. John's elder siblings Ben and Lena as well as his mother Patrizia are no longer on the show.

The Richter family

Frank-Thomas Mende as Clemens Richter (original cast member), Oliver Bender as Tim Böcking, Clemens' illegitimate son (2004-), Jessica Ginkel as Caroline Neustädter, Tim's girlfriend (2006-), Lisa Riecken as Elisabeth Meinhart, lives with Clemens, she's barely used these days (original cast member)

The others

Daniel Fehlow as Leon Moreno, the resident macho (1996-), Susan Sideropoulos as Verena Koch, Sandra's best friend (2001, 2002-)

[dannigold]

John Bardon's return planned

Mon 10 Mar 2008

John Bardon has been recovering after suffering a stroke in June last year. Now he's keen to get back to Walford to reprise his role as loveable rogue Jim Branning.

Jim's absence from the Square has also been attributed to a stroke, with Dot making regular visits to see him in hospital, and later in a nursing home.

EastEnders company manager Carolyn Weinstein said of John's return: "John is absolutely delighted to be coming back. We know that his return will be fantastic, for our viewers as well as for all of us who work with John and love him dearly."

Health permitting, John will return to EastEnders in the summer.

The Millers move on

Mon 25 Feb 2008

Joe Swash (Mickey Miller) and David Spinx (Keith Miller) are both set to leave EastEnders this year.

Wheeler-dealer Mickey Miller first appeared in the show in April 2003, when he flogged a load of cheap Easter eggs to Spencer Moon.

Mickey soon became a regular, working on the market and trying his luck with the local ladies.

The rest of the Miller family arrived in Walford in 2004, including Mickey's mum Rosie and super-slob step-dad Keith. Rosie finally tired of Keith's lazy ways, and moved to the Cotswolds, leaving Keith with his trusty TV and mangy mutt Genghis for company.

Lamb to join Mitchell clan

Mon 10 Mar 2008

Archie Mitchell's on his way to Walford. He'll be played by Larry Lamb.

You may remember hearing Ronnie and Roxy arguing about their dad, Archie. Well, we'll soon meet the man who sets the Mitchell sisters bickering, as he's set to show up this summer.

Archie is an archetypal Mitchell, and his arrival is sure to stir up trouble with the rest of the clan.

Larry Lamb, who has recently appeared in Gavin and Stacey, will be playing the part of Archie Mitchell. He said: "I'm absolutely delighted to be joining the Mitchell clan and working with the one and only Barbara Windsor and my new found daughters Ronnie and Roxy. I can't wait to step into Archie's shoes - frankly, it's a badge of honour to join EastEnders ."

EastEnders Executive Producer Diederick Santer said of the signing: "Larry Lamb is an immensely talented, experienced and charismatic actor. His arrival as Archie will set the cat amongst the Mitchell pigeons - not only is he Ronnie and Roxy's father, he's also the younger brother of Peggy's late husband Eric. Archie is a Mitchell through and through, possessing the unique moral code which that legendary name implies.

"Barbara, Rita, Sam and I are very excited to be working with Larry, and we can promise the audience stacks of excitement and drama on his arrival. The complex and darkly-veiled Mitchell world is about to be blown apart."

Look out for Archie Mitchell's arrival in July.

[dannigold]

Here is a video interview with Diederick Santer, Eastenders exec producer

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4pjn4_de...l-on_shortfilms

[dannigold]

I have just watched a brilliant new promo, for the return of Rick any Bianca to Eastenders. I wish NBC and Cbs made promos like this.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=7xXBA-L2itc

[Sylph]

Corrie April Spoilers:

ITV.com today gives us a tantalising glimpse of what to expect on Corrie in April. Highlights include:

• Gail discovering who pushed her down the stairs. Plus it's Gail's 50th birthday! She doesn't look a day over 49...
• Heartbreaking news and a tough ordeal for Maria (oh no - not the baybeh!).
• New love for Kirk.
• A blast from the past for Audrey.
• The aftermath of the Valandro's fire.

[KSlater]

Thanks for the link. This looks fabulous!!! I've never seen Bianca but have heard a lot about her. Can't wait 'til it airs here.

[Paul Raven]

Home and Away star Kate Ritchie has filmed her final scenes in Summer Bay.

The actress, who has played Sally Fletcher for 20 years, bid an emotional farewell to the cast and crew on Wednesday night.

She began working for the soap when she was eight years old and went on to hold the record for the longest continuous role in an Australian drama series.

Ritchie has signed a contract to work for the radio station Nova next year, but said she would have to adjust to life without her alter-ego. "It's a new beginning for me. I don't know myself without Sally Fletcher," she said.

The 29-year-old revealed that she has experienced a variety of feelings since announcing her departure in September, saying: "I've been trying to gather my thoughts and reflect on a few things. I feel such an intense, deep sadness.

"It's so hard to explain because on the other hand, there is this overwhelming sense of excitement as well. A lot of people are joking about whether I will enjoy retirement, but I really feel like it's the beginning of something."

Ritchie was the guest of honour at a party thrown by the show's cast and crew last night, and will enjoy a small dinner with her family tonight.

She claimed that she would miss playing Sally during an interview before her final day on the show.

[dannigold]

BBC: 'Enders burial scenes "not glorified"

The BBC has apologised to viewers who "did not enjoy" recent EastEnders episodes depicting one of the soap's main characters being buried alive.

The episodes, which aired on Friday 21 and Monday 24 March at 8pm and 7.30pm respectively, saw Tanya Branning (Jo Joyner) finally exact her revenge on her promiscuous husband Max (Jake Wood) by subjecting him to his childhood nightmare of being buried six feet under in a coffin.

Friday's episode sparked 167 complaints.

A statement on the corporation's complaints website read: "Regular viewers will be aware that for some weeks now Tanya has been plotting her revenge against Max for his affair with Stacey, whilst at the same time lulling Max into a false sense of security, and convincing him that she has put the affair behind them.

"We believe the audience will have been expecting the culmination of these past few weeks to bring something particularly dramatic. Having been outsmarted by Max when she tried to deal with his adultery through the divorce courts, Tanya feels she has no option but to exact her own revenge."

It continued: "Given the story so far, Tanya's mode of revenge is entirely apposite; in an episode which transmitted last year, we saw Max confide in Tanya that when he was a child Jim had punished him for hanging around with some boys he disapproved of by shutting him alive in a coffin. It's an experience that clearly scarred him, and therefore - in Tanya's mind - an ideal way to wreak revenge on her husband.

"Whilst we appreciate that these episodes were dramatic, they were carefully filmed and edited in order that Max's ordeal was in the main implicit, rather than explicit, whilst still retaining their powerfulness.

"The burial is in no way glamorised or glorified, rather we see that when pushed to the edge, Tanya's behaviour becomes out of character, and indeed that it's Tanya herself who ultimately suffers because of her actions. Once again we are sorry that you did not enjoy these episodes."

It added: "We took great care to signal the nature of the content to the audience through pre-programme announcements, billings and programme publicity in order to prepare viewers for what to expect."

In January, the Walford soap received nearly 200 complaints over the stabbing of young teen Jay Brown (Jamie Borthwick), while in November, the BBC was forced to apologise for a reference in a script to the Hillsborough disaster of 1989. Back in June, meanwhile, 183 viewers lodged complaints at the climax of the soap's 'Mad May' storyline arc.