EastEnders: the SPOILERS thread!

[Southeastdweller]

Welcome to the EastEnders spoilers thread, where we post and talk about any EE spoilers we've read about, including those in early release episodes on iPlayer.

Link below to watch episodes on BBC iPlayer - these are usually dropped at 6am on broadcast days - and you can read brief synopses of upcoming episodes:

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006m86d

At least it'll be in I player next week.

Nice of Jack to not go and see if his nieces were ok ! It came up on Facebook today and I thought oh yes. He didn't seem too bothered

Did anyone else feel like the Kathy attacking Cindy reveal fell very flat? Almost like it wasn't true. Very odd given how much they built it up beforehand.

Completely. It just didn’t make any sense for several reasons.

1. she’s just got through the guilt and anxiety of the keanu situation.. why on Earth would she try and kill someone straight after all that?
2. She’s been so brazen the last few weeks talking about how she thought Cindy deserved it / she’d have finished the job if she’d done it etc

Really weird call by the writers. Almost like they hadn’t decided who had hit cindy at the time it happened.

For anyone who has EE cravings I really enjoyed Lacey Turner interviewing Anita Dobson about her life and role as Angie. It was really interesting to hear all of her stories. And hour well spent!

I've got that on my podcast list, along with her interview with Jessie W.

I didn't like it because I think they forgot they were on a podcast and kept talking over each other.

I thought she works in the minute mart?

Admittedly I have very little social media but from what I have seen, there's very few who agree with Martins death. It has upset alot of people. Loads are saying Sonia should have died, which does sound mean but I feel the same. Her character was ruined a while back, it's all quite sad

Loads of people didn't want him to die but I'm the opposite 😭

He's a loss, yeah, but I always thought he belonged away from the square, travelling

I don't really feel that sad 🤭, I was sadder when it seemed like Sonia would die

I feel like pauline was right in the end - his choices in women were poor 😕 and led to his death

Yes so odd I agree - unless something else will come out now like she saw Peter clobbering her and decided to take the rap. Let's hope it isn't just terrible writing 😥

@the80sweregreat

Expanding on EE not being kind to children, you mentioned Amy losing her mum, Chantelle Atkins kids, no mum after their dad murdered her, Denis Rickman jnr, killed on the Thames on board a boat, and Raymond losing both his adoptive parents in a car crash, and Lexie. And then there are loving parents like Kat and Alfie, even though Alfie is not Tommy's natural father, he took responsibility for him, and the kid is a real bully, he may turn out like nasty Nick.

Ok apologies for what might quite possibly be fever/medication induced bilge here, but whilst suffering in my sick bed about why Eastenders of old felt more compelling viewing. I think it's because they used a more sociological style of storytelling, with people deeply rooted in a place and time with 'world building' that doesn't happen now. Detailed family conversations about a turkey, or about changes in the wholesale price of fruit and veg, or whatever humdrum family or individual lives were focused on. This had the effect of making you invest more as you wanted to go into that world and 'meet" the people you liked, loved, hated, or judged of an evening.

This approach also invested more into character development because the everyday banalities are what life is. For example an episode I just watched devoted a big chunk of the episode to building up a picture of Sharon and (brother) Dennis's relationship- he made her a delicious Christmas breakfast and she went on and on about how horrible it tasted. You've given me food poisoning Dennis! Look, the salmon was out of date. Then going to A&E and her complaining about Dennis to reception then refusing to let him sit next to her. OK this was part of a plot line building towards her pregnancy but I feel like modern EE would have covered it in one min flat, first with her saying she had food poisoning and needing to go to A&E and then her being given her results, losing out on the character development of their bickering and world building and minutiae of drunk man knocking over the Christmas tree and reminding us all of the times we've had to wait in A&E and what a nightmare it is.

That's also I think why the Phil storyline has been so excellent, because the writers have invested proper time in showing us a man with spiralling depression, often in benign moments like him walking out of social engagements, until the deep focus of the last couple of weeks on his state of mind.

As a PP said soaps are about the mundane bits of life as well as thw dramatic, so I'd like to see EE invest more in character development than just having interactions be about moving on a plot line or the odd comedic moment.

Here endeth the treatise.

You're bang on

Give us people, real characters that we know and grow to love

Don't just give us headline grabbing storylines 🙄

OK I agree his eyes are quite nice, I'm probably showing my age but I'd take Jack over him any day!

Yeah I mean quite frankly I wouldn't choose either of them, Ravi isn't the right fit for her and Jack is a boring wooden unreliable man who I wish would just be killed off.

I watched the weeks worth on Thursday ( we always do this ) so watched the Live episode on catch up too .

Cindy has got such a nasty sneerey face when she spits her bile .
I was waiting to see if Kathy was going to lift the Fire extinguisher and cave Cindy's head in ( while making it look like a terrible accident )

The wooden debris they were moving and breaking up was so flimsy (I know I know Not Real ) How many rooms were they all moving through ?

When Martin and Stacey were having their house in the country with chickens talk and "Everything will be alright" he was writing his own death warrant .

Reiss skulking about round corners
Soap births are so over acted . And the baby ? Surely a soap like EE could've done better with the baby ( doll obviously) when she was born, there are very realistic baby dolls out there . No idea what that was .

Stacey and Martin were brilliant , it must be hard to keep up the tension live , I am sure a couple of times Lacey was this close >< to laughing but she held it together .

Great to see Angie ( and Anita Dobson looks great . So jealous that she is married to the lovely Sir Dr Brian May )

I wondered whether they mislaid the baby doll prop, and because it was live they couldn’t stop and look for it!

I watched that episode with Denny junior and Sharon when I came across it on a drama channel and ( mentioned below) and the hospital looked real and she had to wait for the results and I agree it was all much more realistic especially as she didn't think she could have children naturally at that time etc. I doubt it would be done the same these days.
Maybe they do need to stop with the big dramatic stories. Phil's one was well done these past weeks, but they rarely show the more hum drum parts of life and things happen a lot faster than they would in real life ( anything to do with hospitals or the authorities for example)

I agree, as soon as he decided to stay and confess his feelings in a burning, collapsing building I thought him not being the death would be a cop out. I thought he was a nice character but very passive and should have stood up to Stacey/Ruby/Sonia a bit more. He was constantly being manipulated, even by Reiss. I don’t even know that Stacey and Ruby even really loved him or just saw him as a trophy in their rivalry.

Martin was lukewarm about both women really. He was probably embarrassed about liking Ruby because of what she did to Stacey , but finding out Roman was his made him forgive all that and at least he was able to help his son before his demise.
I won't miss Ruby when she leaves though
They messed up her character ages ago.

I agree, the live episode was brilliantly acted but unbelievable - they just seem like mates more than anything

Agree, stacey and Ruby are the focal point of that storyline imo

@Tiredofallthis101 I agree with everything you wrote. The quality of writing, plot and character development has declined significantly. Listening to the dialogues in episodes from the 1980s/90s, it’s like a completely different soap. I sometimes think Julia must be turning in her grave as EE is so far removed from its original premise at times.

Agree that Sonia should have been the one to die, she would not have been missed! But poor baby Julia would then have to be raised by Aunty Bianca in MK unless Carol steps up.

Not sure if I imagined it but Ravi seemed to smile/look relieved when he realised Denise had chosen Jack?!

I’m sad about Martin but I didn’t find his last scenes with Stacey moving at all. There was nothing appealing about the future life together she described to him. Stuck on the sofa with an unfaithful feckless ex and a house full of kids that are not even his. She treated him like crap and only wanted him because Ruby did and as he said himself, she just wanted to keep him on a leash. She has now directly caused the death of two husbands but will be sure to make this tragedy all about her and airbrush Ruby and Roman out of the picture. No idea how they’ll write her out but I wouldn’t be surprised if she returns with a new man!

Hope is Martin's child, but I agree that Stacey saw him as a ' safe bet ' really , Mr reliable
I was more upset that they killed off Ronnie and Roxy that time , I liked Roxy !

Gosh I completely forgot about poor invisible Hope! The last true Fowler standing.

Yep, it all hinges on Hope now !