The EastEnders Thread

[Alex]

Me too. I find it a ridiculous show, it seems to be more and more depressing than ever, and for me there's not one character I like in it anymore.

I think it normally gets about 7-8 million, but I could be wrong about this.

[Jonno]

Yeah, still the highest rated BBC1 show, and usually 2nd to Corrie.

I have to admit that I'm going through another of those phases where it's on but I'm only semi-paying attention to it, usually while I'm on online or reading or something.

5 nights a week would be disastrous, I still advocate going back to 3!

[Si Hunt]

I agree, they really don't need the quality dip from an extra episode - the storylines at the moment are tired and uninteresting: the Max/Stacie thing has dragged on for ages and is basically just ANOTHER dull infidelity plot. We don't like that brat that is staying with Yolande and the Phil/Stella business is also annoying because the little kid is, again, horrid and unlikeable. The only decent new character they have is Deano and Carly's Mum and unfortunately that family are now so full of trauma it's becoming like watching "Trisha" to see who's going to be screaming at who next.

IMO, Eastenders fails to show human optimism and resiliance. Everyone just seems to want to be crushed by whatever life throws at them. The Wicks kids found out that their "Dad", for example, was not actually their Dad but had brought them up as his own. Instead of, heavens above, THANKING HIM for giving up his life to raise kids that wern't even his, everyone just screamed that they hated him for the lies. No-one actually considered that he was, in every respect bar the biological, still their Dad and that's what mattered. Just lots of opportunities for smashing things, sweeping china off sideboards, and threatening to torch car lots. Again.

Corrie seems, on the other hand, to display the ability of people to rise above their problems with a smile - people forgive, and bounce back, and joke about things far more. You very rarely get characters sinking to considering suicide.

Si.

[Milky Tears]

Burn Gorman guests in an hour-long special (due to Comic Relief) on March 9th:

LINK CONTAINS PLOT SPOILERS!
http://www.metro.co.uk/fame/article....7&in_a_source=

[Milky Tears]

The Sun is full of comeback news today:

EASTENDERS Dr Legg is coming out of retirement. The GP played by Leonard Fenton, 80, between 1985 and 1997 could return later this year, show boss Diederick Santer revealed. He said: Dr Legg was well-loved. I hope to get him back for at least one episode.

He could explain how he managed to miss Pauline's funeral!

[Si Hunt]

Desperate.

I've long since given up on this humourless, contrived program. The storylines with Dawn/thingy/neurotic doctor wife woman and Stacey/Max/the other one have been going on for a million years.

Eastenders is rubbish.

Si.

[Wayne]

Let me know when Shilpa signs up.

[Si Hunt]

This is how "Eastenders" would look after a year with me in charge:

Phil decides to leave Walford with his irritating son Ben, so Peggy calls up her sister Aunt Sal (Anna Karen) to run the Vic with her. Bradley also leaves the square, so Stacey cheers up and buys a big hat - just as her Aunt Glad (Linda Robson) arrives to sort out her love life. Peter Beale returns, played by Andrew Haydn-Smith, and begins to lure Deano into a heated gay affair - in one memorable scene, Dot finds them cavorting naked in the Queen Vic after hours.

Nick Cotton returns, and begins a feud with Micky Miller - eventually setting light to the Miller household and unfortunately killing the entire family. Meanwhile, Yolande gets big hair and Pat tracks down Frank and brings him back to Walford. Honey and Minty elope together and are never seen again.

Meanwhile a big hatted stranger arrives in the Caff - it's Reeny, an old friend of Kathy's come to track her down (Lesley Joseph). It's not long before she's bought the cafe, brightened it up a bit, and turned it into a strip club, to the outrage of local residents... with the exception, naturally, of the new manager Shilpa Shetty.

And is Angie (Anita Dobson) back from the dead? Or is it merely her twin sister, Lynette, who Sharon has brought back from Brazil?

It'd be a ratings hit.

Si.

[Dirk Gently]

I'd watch...maybe.



And that's saying something.

[Jonno]

Peter Beale returns, played by Andrew Haydn-Smith, and begins to lure Deano into a heated gay affair

I'm assuming you mean Steven Beale, Si - the one that went off to New Zealand. Younger brother Peter is about 13, isn't he?!

All sounds good fun though!

[Simon R]

Deano's mum is a step in the right direction and there's bound to be some hair pulling when Lynda with a Y finds out about Stacey and Max who surely must be the ugliest sex symbol in TV history. It was quite funny when Sean called him Tintin's uncle or some such.

[Si Hunt]

Younger brother Peter is about 13, isn't he?!

Jonno, you're forgetting the soap law that awkward young teenagers always dissapear abroad aged 13 to return 2 years later aged 26 and with biceps the size of Bournemouth.

Si.

[Pip Madeley]

Burn Gorman guests in an hour-long special (due to Comic Relief) on March 9th:

LINK CONTAINS PLOT SPOILERS!
http://www.metro.co.uk/fame/article....7&in_a_source=

Just seen him and wondered what he was doing in Eastenders

I'm expecting lots of dark aerial shots of Albert Square every minute.

[Milky Tears]

Some more casting news from The Sun/Digital Spy:

Sylvia Syms to appear in 'EastEnders'
Monday, March 12 2007, 12:15 GMT

By Nick Levine, Entertainment Reporter

Veteran actress Sylvia Syms is to appear in EastEnders next month.

The 73-year-old, who recently portrayed the Queen Mother alongside Dame Helen Mirren in The Queen, plays a mystery character who rushes to the aid of Peggy Mitchell (Barbara Windsor).

An insider told The Sun: Sylvia's already filmed her episodes. She plays a woman called Olive who is not related to any of the other characters. But she and Peggy have a secret connection which is part of a much bigger storyline.

Syms will first appear in the popular soap in April and the EastEnders scriptwriters are lining her up for several special episodes later in the year.

Syms has recently appeared in Judge John Deed and Family Affairs. Her film career dates from the 1950s and includes a part in award-winning romantic comedy Shirley Valentine.

[Milky Tears]

The BBC are undertaking a "feasibility test to assess the impact on the production schedule" a fifth episode of EastEnders would have, according to Broadcast.

[Dirk Gently]

We need an extra episode of EE like we need Ian Levine.

[Perry Vale]

I think we need an extra Ian Levine, some more missing episodes may turn up that way.

[Si Hunt]

Why don't they make the fifth episode a "feelgood" one, whereby the following things are banned:

- Anyone shouting
- Anyone sweeping picture frames off tables or chucking things at mirrors
- Anyone throwing a drink over anyone else
- Grimy wallpaper

Si.

[Perry Vale]

The "fifth" episode each week should always be set/filmed in the toilets in the Queen Vic.

[Martin Penny]

There dragging out that storyline with Stacy and that other bloke a bit aren't they? And isn't she about 15 and he's about 50? It's absurd!
Not that I really bother watching it anymore, but if I do catch it, it just seems to be that storyline over and over again. That or somebody with a dart in their arse.

[Si Hunt]

He's the most unlikely heart throb in history. I'd rather go celibate for life than go near a beast like him. And I'm not even an attractive young woman in a mini skirt.

Si.

[Perry Vale]

That storyline is going for the world record, isn't it? I reckon it'll carry on for another 20 years, so that they can get a new generation involved in it. Stacey's brother will have a daughter that will have a fling with Max in the future & ultimately bring this current affair to an end. Maybe.

[Si Hunt]

Corrie have done a murder trial in about two weeks, and the verdict's tonight. See that's how you do it.

Si.

[Alex]

This might make me watch it occasionally now...

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/showbiz/...-implants.html

[Si Hunt]

Do "show insiders" really say things like "Her new busty figure will have Ian Beale’s eyes popping out of his head.". They'd be easy to spot and root out if they did wouldn't they.

Si.