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

Young Phil is just Phil isn’t he!
Even his voice is the same too. Amazing casting there.

Phil and Sharon belong together don’t they!
If Sharon returns she should go for it.

I can’t see Fill & Joo-leh (Foolie? 😆) being a thing. Although the writers are trying to convince us that Zack & Vic are a prospect, so who knows?

Sharon & Phil definitely belong together.

Phil never mentions Albie, though. And as much of a rock-solid friend as he’s been to Nigel, he doesn’t have much interest in looking after Raymond, visiting Ben since his (extremely unlikely) transfer to a British prison, or keeping in touch with Lou & Peggy. Not exactly Dad of the year!

Ben had been away for ages.
I agree that Phil is never seen interacting with Raymond or ringing up Albie or speaking to any of his children.
He did go and visit Louise a while ago, but not for long
He isn’t father of the year ! He has always been complex.
Ben has been away for ages , I know we saw briefly, but I thought he was coming back for good ?

I actually cannot bear Lexi, I wish she had gone with Jay. She is just so annoying.

And I could not bear original Chelsea.

@SandSpike I'm hoping Lexi's acting will get better as she gets older! If she could just say her lines in a normal way it would help. You always feel she's making the most of them, rather than trying to say them as she would in normal life!

I always thought Sharon was one of Phil's most believable partners, together with Shirley. I never liked him with Kat, and think she is best with Alfie.

I wasn't expecting the hallucinations of Pat, Barry and Debbie to be shot 'normally', I thought they would be rather like Angie was shown in the 40th episode, sort of like a ghost. Pat and Debbie are dead but I don't remember if Barry is so maybe that is the reason.

Barry is dead.
Janine pushed him off a cliff!

EE won’t be the same this Christmas without Sharon.

But it’ll still be the best Christmas ever!

Yes I know what you mean about Lexi .
I'm sure the young actress is a perfectly lovely young girl and it's her acting skills that portray Lexi as she is ( very petulant ) but it would have been nice to see her grow up to be very pleasant , but sadly she isn't .

That should have been a whole episode in the vic with Nigel and his memories. The cutting back and forward to the community centre/cafe really spoiled the intensity for me. They missed a trick with Kathy, and perhaps Ian - they could have been on the vic scenes too but with Ian being older and Kathy being younger, as muddled as that would be, it would be accurate.

It’s been nice seeing some past characters return this year and it was good that the Angie one was kept a secret.
It’s been an uneven year , some stories have dragged , some have been harrowing ( Martin dying and Joel being like he was) Sonia and Bianca going off , Stacey off to Brazil! I feel that Sharon being off for so long may have changed the Jasmine story a bit ( they may have kept it that was Dennis’s daughter ?) but overall it’s had some good stories and Phil Kat and Nigel have been brilliant. Just a shame that the new producer is obsessed with Zoe and Antnee! I just hope it’s wrapped up soon and doesn’t drag on too much after Christmas. Still may be a few surprises, but who knows?

@the80sweregreat

Yes, the actor playing young Phil was superb with his gravelly voice and facial expressions. What an emotional episode, very sensitively done.

Young Phil is brilliant.
But I hated it. None of it made sense even on its own terms. Phil and Grant are 25, and Debbie Pat and Barry have aged way beyond a point that Nigel ever knew them. People with dementia remember people as they were many years ago (my mother didn’t believe I was her daughter because I was much too old.) They needed to recast Debbie/Pat/Barry as younger versions but the producer wanted the hype of bringing back the original actors. It was a dreadful mess.

Emmerdale did a far better similar type episode with Ashley’s dementia.

Kat left Tommy to lock up the Vic with all the issues about Zoe being stalked. Yeh right.

And that nice care home is going to take Nigel who is having violent episodes? Not going to happen. The type of care home which would take him would not be the type Julie has in mind. I didn’t even find it sad, it was so wide of the mark and could have been so much better.

I have to agree that both young Phil and young Grant are brilliantly cast as they sound and behave exactly the same as old Phil and old Grant! Their voices are so similar it's uncanny!

Also agree it was quite emotional, but didn't like all the jumping around with Debbie etc. If it wasn't for the sound of the train that kept passing in the background, I don't think I could have followed which era we were in kind of thing 😐

People with dementia remember people as they were many years ago

@Shellingbynight you’ve articulated what I also didn’t like about it, even seeing Debbie, one of the few people in that episode Nigel had a strong connection with. We’re supposed to have seen Pat and the others through Nigel’s eyes but it just felt so jarring seeing them all now as they are, rather than how Nigel would see them.

Anyway - onwards and upwards so here’s hoping the terrible Anthony/Jasmine/Zoe story gets resolved this week (or at least he goes on a break).

How could I forget this, of course he's dead 🤣.

Cried my eyes out 😢😢

Yes exactly @Southeastdweller . Nigel would imagine people like Debbie and Pat being stuck in a timewarp when he knew them 25 years ago. He would never 'imagine' them as old now.

It is also unlikely that Nigel would accept Phil can't look after him, he would be unaware of the challenges he presents. It's a shame that even this initially good storyline has gone the way of all the others.

Just another one jumping on to say young Phil is amazing!

Who was that at the end of today's episode? Mel?

Oooooooooh! 😮
A Christmas cracker of an episode!!!!

SPOILER ALERT >>>>>>>>>
Don't read any further if you want a surprise!
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... Chrissie's back!!! 🙌🥳

So the current boss has finally pulled a big surprise out of the bag 🥳

Glad that one wasn’t revealed in the media!