What would you do to improve EastEnders?
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I think there's a lot to like about EastEnders at the moment, but still a lot of areas that could be improved.
Personally, I still think a lot of cast should be written out. I think they made a good decision to write out Rainie and Stuart, but for me, a lot of characters still aren't working. Mick's leaving, but the rest of the Carters should go too, including Shirley and Linda. All Shirley's done for years is bark at everyone, and Linda's been a poor character since she was introduced. I think the Taylors are quite weak too, so I'd potentially write them out too. An alternate option is to kill off Karen who is the weakest link. Stacey and Jean Slater should go. Ben has never been the same character since the new actor took on the role, so I'd write out him and Callum. Honey, Billy and the kids should go - I'm sure no explanation is needed for this. Jay too should go.
Some characters should be pushed more to the forefront. Sam, Kathy, Denise, Bobby, Dotty, Chelsea, Whitney, Kim, and Rocky. I would do this by exploring Sam and Kathy's years away from the square - and also Janine's time away. Their years away are basically blank canvases. They could introduce one of Kathy's friends from her time abroad. An ex boyfriend of Sam's (I think they might be doing this already).
I would take Dotty on a path like younger Janine, let her really go off the rails. The actress can pull it off.
The potential is there for lots of drama between Jack, Sam and Denise.
I would recast Ben back to someone a bit less macho, or maybe even bring back Harry Reid. I'd also recast Peter again. I'd introduce some family for Janine, perhaps her half brother Danny Butcher who was born in 1995 from a fling Frank had in Manchester. So he'd be 26 or 27 by now. I'd bring back Jada because the actress was good and there was more potential with the character.
I'd introduce a totally new family, possibly a mixed race family with a Chinese mum and caucasian dad. We've never had many Asian characters in the Square.
I'd bring back Lauren Branning.
I'd split up Phil and Kat (I wonder if this will be happening now Alfie's returned?).
I'd focus on building up a friendship group among the younger characters (Dotty, Bobby, Bernie etc).
Can't think what else, does anyone have any suggestions?
Personally, I still think a lot of cast should be written out. I think they made a good decision to write out Rainie and Stuart, but for me, a lot of characters still aren't working. Mick's leaving, but the rest of the Carters should go too, including Shirley and Linda. All Shirley's done for years is bark at everyone, and Linda's been a poor character since she was introduced. I think the Taylors are quite weak too, so I'd potentially write them out too. An alternate option is to kill off Karen who is the weakest link. Stacey and Jean Slater should go. Ben has never been the same character since the new actor took on the role, so I'd write out him and Callum. Honey, Billy and the kids should go - I'm sure no explanation is needed for this. Jay too should go.
Some characters should be pushed more to the forefront. Sam, Kathy, Denise, Bobby, Dotty, Chelsea, Whitney, Kim, and Rocky. I would do this by exploring Sam and Kathy's years away from the square - and also Janine's time away. Their years away are basically blank canvases. They could introduce one of Kathy's friends from her time abroad. An ex boyfriend of Sam's (I think they might be doing this already).
I would take Dotty on a path like younger Janine, let her really go off the rails. The actress can pull it off.
The potential is there for lots of drama between Jack, Sam and Denise.
I would recast Ben back to someone a bit less macho, or maybe even bring back Harry Reid. I'd also recast Peter again. I'd introduce some family for Janine, perhaps her half brother Danny Butcher who was born in 1995 from a fling Frank had in Manchester. So he'd be 26 or 27 by now. I'd bring back Jada because the actress was good and there was more potential with the character.
I'd introduce a totally new family, possibly a mixed race family with a Chinese mum and caucasian dad. We've never had many Asian characters in the Square.
I'd bring back Lauren Branning.
I'd split up Phil and Kat (I wonder if this will be happening now Alfie's returned?).
I'd focus on building up a friendship group among the younger characters (Dotty, Bobby, Bernie etc).
Can't think what else, does anyone have any suggestions?
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Comments
You can't just axe half the cast, it would be unworkable
Linda is a fantastic character on her own right, and it will be great to see her develop when Mick leaves
Lacey Turner is arguably one of the best actresses in soap, so loosing Stacey would be a massive loss to the show
Im not actually sure what id do to improve the show, as I think its been excellent lately, id probably have a long running story, on par with Who Killed Lucy, which integates the whole square
Not a fan of either Nugget or Denzel tho
You can do it gradually. The ratings aren't exactly on fire so radical changes need to happen.
Her gurning and screeching begs to differ. She used to be good, but the character is well past her use by date now.
I disagree, Lacey is still as fantastic as she always has been, she was hilarious last night
Even axing half the cast gradually isn't the answer, ultimately nothing would improve the ratings substantially as its the genre thats declining, Corrie and Emmerdale are now showing that decline as well
You say it's quite good.
Then criticise half the cast and come up with some half baked daft ideas.
Good job you aren't a scriptwriter.
EE's is very good at the moment.
The cast is awful. The show is on the verge of getting axed.
Yh Right not a chance dude
It will definitely be the first UK soap axed, apart from maybe Hollyoaks.
I respect your opinion but Kellie Bright is up there in at least the top 3 actresses at the moment and Linda shines without Mick.
how is it on the verge of getting axed? its nowhere near lol
On both counts, it isn’t. Don’t be so dramatic 🙄
Still banging that drum I see. They’ve got loads and in fact they’ve not introduced a single character this year that doesn’t fit that description!
I'd axe Janine, Billy, Kat, Alfie, Mitch, Bailey and Jean.
It would be great to see some new characters who haven't got some heinous secret behind them but rather things like bad anxiety, phobias, or other common yet never-seen-in-soaps mental health issues instead of the usual schizophrenia/bipolar/suicidal depression. For example, Jamie Borthwick suffers from emetophobia in real life (as do I), and that would be a great issue to cover as so many sufferers deal with it in silence.
And yeah, bring in some different kind of foreigners! How about a Japanese family or an American businesswoman? Or perhaps a Greek Orthodox family, or two brothers practising satanism? Walford surely has the room for more religions than christianity, islam and sikhism 😇
Side note - lacey is such a natural brilliant actress - I believe she is that character completely
Fantastic actress
Banging that drum? Am I not allowed to have an opinion that EE should have more BAME characters? They got rid of as many as they have introduced come off it mate.
To be fair they have added 4 BAME characters in the last few months
I'm getting a little bored with the multiple branches of the Panesars, would like to see some focus elsewhere... I mean, who out there is really a big fan of Nugget...?
I'd like to see something happen for some recently underused characters - perhaps Martin, or maybe it's time Jay really had something happen again - apart from on/off dating with Honey he's not had a decent storyline in ages. I'm sure they could bring in a blast from Kathy's past to shake things up - from all that time she was 'dead'
An explosive return with a really good storyline for Max or even eventually Ian could liven things up a bit - don't have to be long term returns. Personally I'd love to see the loose ends with Jane tied up. Once Max was found out, why didn't she contact Ian...?
I wouldn't axe all those characters you listed personally. Jean is a wonderful character! And while Stacey hasn't had too much to go at in the last few weeks, she's a talented actress, the right storyline will show her off again I'm sure. Unless he ends up with Jean again, I'm not sure there's a huge amount of point in Harvey as a character without either of his kids. We'll see - they must have kept him for a reason, when they axed Dana...
However when Mick leaves I think a new family in the Vic would be great!
For me it’s now about fleshing out some of the newcomers who have potential. Zack, Eve and Felix all now need to get their own stories, and more screen time. Nugget is the only one of the new characters I’m
not a fan of.
And let’s get the Lola story started that could be a heartbreaker provided it’s not rushed.
You can have that opinion sure, but you’d still be wrong.
Apart from Jada, which of those who’ve left have really lit up the screen? You can’t keep poor characters because of their skin colour.
The show has a predominantly white cast because it did in the past. You will only change that if you begin to abandon heritage characters and families, which is a sure fire way to lose viewers.
It’s not the current show’s fault that in the past they failed to invest in families like the Taverniers, Carpenters and Kapoors, resigning them all to history while the likes of the Jacksons continued to grow. You should be happy with the positive steps taken since. The Masoods were a triumph, the Foxes are mainstays, and the Panesars are all strong leads. We don’t need to lose Phil and Sonia to keep moving in that direction.
They've got rid of the same amount if not more though. Keegan, Iqra, Mila, Mila's sister, Jada, Ash until they did a U-turn, I can't remember there name off the top of my head but Patrick's sister and her son. They also axed Mitch brother after only a few weeks didn't they, The net amount of BAME characters have decreased and also I'd argue that the BAME characters they have are not on the same.prominance as those they got rid of for example Keegan had potential to be one of soaps biggest characters these new ones all have a shelf life from what I can see.
Not this again!!
I don't get the obsession? EastEnders has the most varied ethnic cast out of all the soaps, and most of the time always does..
It's.not an issue AT ALL for this show..
Guys playing Mitch and kheeret
Actresses playing Ash and Karen