Yesterday's EastEnders

The guy who plays scary Warren. Where do I know him from?

Will Mellor - Jambo in Hollyoaks, failed pop star, Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps, that thing about posties with Dean Lennox Kelly in it. Some other stuff.

Somewhere there is a job where I get paid for knowing all this shite.

Will Mellor, oh yes.

Ailsa, you're a marvel.

Ha, my mum spends large amounts of her time phoning/texting me to ask me where she'd seen so-and-so before. This is why that kid off Doctor Who is annoying me so much, because I usually just *know* this stuff.

Eastenders is working up to the 'angry radicalised Muslim' storyline isn't it? Oh god.

I get angry and radicalised if I accidentally see any of Eastenders.

does anyone still watch this? not yesterday's but tonight's:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7907262.stm?lss

EastEnders is to air the first episode featuring an entirely black cast for the first time in its 23-year history.
Tonight's programme will focus entirely on characters Patrick Trueman, Denise Wicks, fiance Lucas, and her daughters Chelsea and Libby.

altho i'm sure there was an episode many years ago which was at least 90% Traverniers.

so as not to dilute the corrie thread with filthy eastend shenanigans like i did last time...

it's all kicking off this week. bbc trailers point to peggy's last hurrah and something happening to a certain pub.

soaps are clearly the most important thing in my life at the moment.

the last time I saw it Phil was in the depths of crack addiction but tonight I half-watched and heard people casually talking about him as if everything is normal. Did he recover in five minutes?

no, last we saw of him he was pissed off with peggy and everyone and everything, and said something about having "a plan" whilst looking at the queen vic.

Probably. I saw about ten minutes of it at the weekend and can't remember anything about it.

xpost

I was clearly on some mindbenders up there in this thread when I claimed Sean was a good character in Corrie and that Stacey was a bad character in EastEnders. Or, more likely, this was quite early on in each character's screen life, and they hadn't developed them at all (Stacey - much much better, Sean - mostly no)

becca's persuaded stacey to come off her meds and is trying to turn her against her mum. lacey turner was so good in that live ep.

said something about having "a plan" whilst looking at the queen vic.

he's going to eat the pub

totally going to eat the pub.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wq8L7ADA7Pk&feature=related

I actually have an answer to this question from years ago on this thread:

slightly disappointing that eastenders uses "the bloke off of desmonds", "another bloke off of desmonds" and "bloke off of fresh prince" as seemingly the only three black actors over 50...

I read somewhere that this is because there are too few roles for black actors, so people drop out of acting early on and go and do other jobs, which means that there are genuinely far fewer non-white actors over 50 to choose from when you're trying to cast something.

I can't believe they burned out the Vic and didn't kill anyone. As someone on the Guardian comments section pointed out, this is the cleansing fire before the HD cameras move into a revamped set.

I can't believe they burned out the Vic and didn't kill anyone.

yeah, although I admire the audacity of having Phil be a crack-fuelled superman who seemed pretty much alright after wandering through raging fire, thick smoke, and the odd massive explosion, and getting crushed by half of the ceiling.

Just watching this now. How come Dot's allowed to smoke in the pub? And no-one has a mobile? Really? (Masood has just told Dot to go home and call the fire brigade)

Also, Barbara Windsor is a fucking terrible actress, good riddance.

I assumed Masood was partly doing that to get her out of there so there'd be one less person hanging around to deal with. I didn't notice that Dot was smoking in the pub, interesting. Maybe because it was a private party?

lol at phil on crack

Where did Peggy get all her costume changes from after the Vic burned down?

I think that gear had been at the dry cleaners. Billy handed it to her wrapped in plastic and on hangers. How she managed to keep her white jacket white while sitting in a sooty pub is beyond me, though.

New Lauren Branning is rubbish.

gave up on this ages ago, even the pub burning down was boring

Cosign on Lauren. EastEnders' ongoing attempts to engage with the Skins audience isn't getting any less cringeworthy, even if there is comic mileage in the Fatboy-Dot Cotton double act.

Oh ffs, really, another Moon cousin. With a SECRET (secret = he's shagged Kat, obv)

The last pair of Moon brothers were totally underused IMO, especially the psycho perv one who got shot in the head.

Aye, they just started getting good round about the time they were written out. This one is going to be terrible though, I can tell. And also, he's thingy from This Life that used to go out with Kira. Except grown up.

Really like Fat Boy.

I keep forgetting that New Lauren is Lauren, if that makes sense.

She actually looks a lot like the old Lauren, except about a foot taller and with a totally different voice and personality. I can see why they replaced her, it's a bit difficult to do proper teen stories with an actress who still looks like she's about 12.

I really liked that old Lauren was a bit quiet and sensitive - not every teenage girl has to be a Rosie Webster minx waiting to happen.

Supposed to be a new Ben and a new Lucy on the way too I think. Can't wait for New Ben.

I sort of appreciate that they didn't even change the actress when Rosie Webster underwent a complete personality transplant. But I wish sometimes they would just let soap kids grow up and give them storylines appropriate to their development (see Sophie Webster for perfect example of doing this properly).

I realise sometimes they do this because the kids don't want to be in the soaps any more, but when they axe them to bring in sexier older actors to change the character, just fuck off already. Get better writers.

(secret = he's shagged Kat, obv)

The look they gave each other suggested to me that he's the baby daddy.

Supposed to be a new Ben and a new Lucy on the way too I think.

Aw, I liked Ben. I suppose in keeping with the new BBC aesthetic (to be seen across not just Stenders, but Strictly too, he'll be some stubbly hunk with chesticles like rocks, even if he is only twelve or something.

I suppose all my cutting remarks about Lucy reminding me of Jimmy Carr are probably getting to them.

I thought I was dead clever and observant when I noticed Lucy = Jimmy Carr, but a quick google showed the entire internet had noticed before I did.

I really liked that old Lauren was a bit quiet and sensitive - not every teenage girl has to be a Rosie Webster minx waiting to happen.

She tried to kill her own father by running him down with a car. I think coherent character development went out of the window after that.

c&p'd from the Corrie thread I posted this in by mistake:

can we talk about Eastenders' Glenda turning into an uber-GILF and shagging her nephew, the ever-unnattractive Phil Mitchell, after letting Ian Beale think he was going to get his? She is fast becoming my current favourite soap character by a long way - between this and her leaving weed out for Carol Jackson to get stoned on, she is holding the show together. Not even Janine locking Ryan in a fridge, or Rosie Webster generally being amazing, is coming close.

Yeah, Glenda's pretty good really. Her character has changed a bit from when she first appeared.

I really liked the plot development of Carol having an affair with her son's friend Connor. It's a shame they've broken up already.

I'm a bit puzzled who owns the Queen Vic now? Wasn't it left to Roxy, so she could potentially sell it to solve her cash flow problems. But Alfie is paying rent for it to Phil?

I really liked the plot development of Carol having an affair with her son's friend Connor. It's a shame they've broken up already

Have they? That is a shame. I like Connor. And by "like" I mean "would objectify in the worst way".

No it was 'like' as in I thought it was a bold and interesting plot-line to have a devastated 40-something female sleeping with a much younger man - and interesting opportunity to play with other characters reactions to that.

Oh - I see I misread you - sorry.

Roxy signed it over to Peggy who then signed it over to Phil.

XP: I also liked the Carol/Connor relationship in the way you describe. Interesting to see Carol becoming so protective of one of Billy's friends, and of course it's always good to have the older woman/younger man relationship, just to remind people that it does happen.

Does Glenda actually like Phil or is she just trying to find out what's happening to Roxy's money?

Tamwar calling Stacey "babe" recently in an incredibly random, awkward tone was great acting/writing. I love little things like that. And Lauren's wtf giggles when she heard Billie had died.

I love Tamwar. I'm excited (within the context of Stenders, obviously) for a new Masood family storyline. Mas is my very favourite character, Tamwar a close second.

Great Glenda episode tonight...Party at Phil's new gaff with Glenda making both Phil and Ian uncomfortable as she's sleeping with both of them, getting drunk and speaking a few home truths.

Good clip of Glenda relaxing at home listening to Fleetwood Mac. Could just picture her rolling a few doobies and getting stoned to the Mac.