AIBU for snapping at my friend over endless EastEnders talk?

"Whoah - Spoiler ! I might've wanted to watch that"

Knowing that you won't .

She sounds draining and I say that as an Eastenders fan myself. I never discuss it with anyone ( only on the mumsnet threads , but that is different)
I can understand why you feel like you do.

You weren't out of order at all. You have tried to hint and she has ignored, so you had to be blunt. She is talking at you not with you. That's an energy drain worthy of Colin the Vampire in What We Do In the Shadows.

YANBU. This would wind me up too. I had a friend who was so involved with soap story lines they started to cross into real life. One day I said to her “Are you ok you seem a bit down” and she said “I am a bit I can’t help thinking about Cathy’s diagnosis” (or whatever the name was). And I asked “who’s Cathy?” Thinking she meant a friend… turned out to be a soap story line!

I zone out when friends start talking about people I don’t know, let alone a soap!
If I asked someone if they’ve watched a programme and they said no then that’s the end of that conversation unless I am recommending it to them.
I agree with others, she’s either lonely, old (my MIL did this re Eastenders a lot), or ND (special interest).

You were not unreasonable, I'd have felt the same. If you want the friendship to recover and continue though, you might have to eat humble pie and apologise. Tell her that you love seeing her and enjoy when you have 2-way conversations that you can both contribute to. Remind her that it's her you're interested in, not fictional characters out of a tv programme you don't watch. Offer another coffee meet up and see if she's willing to forgive and forget.

A guy at my gym talks about tv program plots in quite a long winded way. He’s a kind soul and it’s not all the time, so I don’t mind too much but he won’t for example just give a brief overview of what he liked about a new series he has started watching, he’ll tell me the whole premise of the first episode and I nod along and go “ahhh…I see….a good watch then was it? I’ll add it to my list” but he won’t take the hint to move conversation on and will say “and there’s more” and will tell me the whole plot of an episode. Like he can’t finish the conversation without getting it out. I try and avoid asking him about tv now and I do enjoy the other things we talk about.

He also writes children’s stories in his spare time for his nieces and instead of just telling me that, he tells me in detail the plot of the whole story he’s written. A common theme with him.

You were not wrong and I dont care the reason anyone going on about any topic yes even their children or wedding or new weight loss gadget constantly need to be told to stop it is rude and there is only some much one sided understanding people can take

I knew someone like this - she would talk and talk and talk about her special interest, she was unstoppable. I gave her a wide berth. Years later I learned about autism and realised she was probably on the spectrum. This may be the case with your friend.

F

YANBU. She's gone quiet because she's embarrassed, that doesn't mean you were wrong to tell her. Just give her some space.

If you wanted to "catch up", you'd bloody watch it!

Gosh my Mum did this .

"D'you watch Home&Away"

"No , I;m not in at that time"
So she'd give me the run down of characters I didn't know , care about or follow .

"Bloody Hell Amber , you've rattled on longer than the actual programme lasts . Saves me having to watch it though "

I know it’s ND bingo but I have a friend with autism and she does this about a really niche sport that no one else is interested in. If you get onto the topic you are stuck there, she doesn’t understand subtle attempts at moving the conversation on, saying stuff like ‘Oh I don’t know anything about it, it’s not my thing, etc.’ It can be very difficult especially as I get the brunt of it in group settings because I foolishly let her know at the start of her friendship that I had a passable knowledge of said activity (from about 15 years ago) and she sees me as a kindred spirit. I won’t meet her one on one as it will just turn into a monologue about this sport, but in a group setting you can kind of call for help and someone will steer conversation away.

She would be incredibly hurt if I was as honest as I would need to be stop her.

Now you know how to get them to leave without asking… just start talking relentlessly about eastenders with as much detail as possible 😆.

The first thought I had reading the OP was what an excellent way it would be to get someone to leave who had outstayed their welcome!

I've had this before. I did the same and tried to appear interested. 10 mins is about my limit then if I can't change the script I just leave. Good luck and hopefully your friend realises for next time. It's probably just that they don't have anything else interesting in their life.

Once you said i don't want to talk about soaps what did you suggest you talk about?
Normally the conversation would be i don't have any interest in that, tell me about your job/family/hobby/stamp collection.

Shutting a conversation down without opening another stream is rude.

Just txt and apologise and say you arent interested in soaps, and feel you dont get to hear about what's going on in her life at the moment.

My mum does this too even though she knows I don’t watch it. Honestly I think it’s because she doesn’t have much else to say

If she wants to blather on about the soaps to her hearts content then she should go over to Digital Spy. Don't get me wrong, I love EE and Corrie but save any 'Ooh, Ravi got his shirt off last night' conversations for fellow viewers. I get bored listening to others talk about shows I don't watch and I'm sure everyone else feels the same. YANBU.

I’m crying. This is so funny.

I can totally imagine snapping over this.
I’ve done a similar thing and snapped when people have overstayed their welcome when visiting my house. I had to message and apologise, but I was honest and said it stresses me out when people stay for hours.

Some people just don’t get hints, even when they’re obvious! I think I would message and apologise for the outburst, although I’m not sure how you’re going to say ‘I’m sorry. I’m just sick of you talking about Eastenders’.

Nd bingo...

What do you have in common?

Is she ND because this isnt really normal behaviour.

Of course YANBU!

You've told her you don't watch it and she's incredibly rude to bang on about it!

WTF is the matter with her?

Let her mull it over. If the friendship is over because of this it was a rubbish one anyway.