Has Kate Oates lost the Emmerdale plot?
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These past few months, pretty much the entire 2014 season, so far, have seen a definite decline in story production/story lining quality on Emmerdale. The good news is that the core writing team is still delivering, but something somewhere has gone wrong with the overall feel and structure of current episodes and storylines.
It is such a shame. when Kate Oates took over at the beginning of last year, she and the then superb former Doctors story chief, Ella Kelly, delivered an amazing ten months of gritty storylines, culminating with Cameron's demise.
But by recruiting the 'Collinson-ite' former Corrie story chief, Mark Bickerton, in November last year, she indicated that Edale may be about to take a less gritty, more 'pantomime' route. Indeed it has.
The episode almost entirely given over to the pointless pap of Kerry and Jimmy holed up in the office, and the adjacent dire 'salon' storyline was a perfect sign that it may be time for a major production shake-up, with the removal of Bickerton and, if she cannot get her act together then, yes, Kate Oates too.
I would favour bringing someone like talented former Corrie and Hollyoaks Line Producer, Gareth Phillips in, as I feel that he would be similar to the late Gavin Blyth, really concentrating on the harder hitting, character rich story lining and issue focusing that Emmerdale can do so well, with the right attitude to begin with.
It is such a shame. when Kate Oates took over at the beginning of last year, she and the then superb former Doctors story chief, Ella Kelly, delivered an amazing ten months of gritty storylines, culminating with Cameron's demise.
But by recruiting the 'Collinson-ite' former Corrie story chief, Mark Bickerton, in November last year, she indicated that Edale may be about to take a less gritty, more 'pantomime' route. Indeed it has.
The episode almost entirely given over to the pointless pap of Kerry and Jimmy holed up in the office, and the adjacent dire 'salon' storyline was a perfect sign that it may be time for a major production shake-up, with the removal of Bickerton and, if she cannot get her act together then, yes, Kate Oates too.
I would favour bringing someone like talented former Corrie and Hollyoaks Line Producer, Gareth Phillips in, as I feel that he would be similar to the late Gavin Blyth, really concentrating on the harder hitting, character rich story lining and issue focusing that Emmerdale can do so well, with the right attitude to begin with.
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I really hate the HIV storyline though, that seems really silly and OTT with Val sleeping with as many men as possible (doesn't seem to matter who they are!) and Eric watching on with them puppy dog eyes - arghhh! just get them back together!
The Cameron climax was almost too amazing for words, so it was always going to be difficult. It just feels as though we have a lot of middling stories at the moment - romance and money success and illness and paternity tests. Its watchable, but it needs a dark edge. It needs a new villain.
A very well thought out post, blackcountryboy, which I entirely agree with.
Claire King
Kim Tate
Yes, bringing back the original a and still THE best ED superbitch would be a big and eye catching statement. I am sure that Claire could be persuaded to reprise her role, even if only for a punchy, shorter two or three month story, to help with getting the show back on track.
A Charity/Kim face off would be great.
The drama feels far too fake, staged and generally 'miserable'
People say Eastenders is miserable but I don't think it is. Not in the same way
Eastenders has a dramatic feel to it but you feel all the characters generally want to keep fighting and have a goal in mind
Emmerdale, you litterally feel like each character couldn't care less about life or anyone else in it
Modern soaps need gritty characters and gritty, issue rich story lining.
If you wish to watch a sitcom, then try UK GOLD.:D
Whereas in Eastenders you will see a character and think oh yeah forgot about this story as they rest it for a couple weeks or whatever so you have genuine interest when it comes back... Emmerdale gets a story and rams it down your throat 24/7... Time for the lady at the top to give up the ghost I think and let someone who knows a thing or two take charge.....
I'm all for gritty!!
I can't get enough of gritty feel stories on EE etc. Amazing stuff
What I'm not for is characters like Jai and Declan and Ali Spencer walking around like they couldn't give a stuff about their lives
Miserable, depressing characters. And that goes for ... Most, characters on Emmerdale
There's a huge difference between gritty drama and miserable depressing people
Makes me watch thinking, if you don't give a stuff about what happens, why should I?
I fully expect when Aaron returns he will be straight and everything before that forgotten about like Jackson and Ed and the self harming as well as him being on bail and skipping the country.
Regards Declan, he used to be depressing, when he was bankrupt and desperate. Then he rose from the fire like a Phoenix as a Massive Bastard, and since then he's been striding round being evil and tossing Charity onto the bed like he was born to it. I find him hilarious.
There's a few things lacking.
1) A big juicy gritty storyline to drive it all forwards (they should focus more on Declan's guilt). Though Donna is very moving.
2) A bit more balance. This week we had the Great Bread Riots followed by the Wet Money Scandal. Both were played for broad comedy, and it was a bit much. The Bread Riots really made me laugh. The Wet Money made me slip into a coma. But then I can't stand the David/Alicia/Leyla stuff. We all have our preferences.
I know what you mean I really can't warm to David and Alicia at all. Looking back I don't think I minded David and Leyla when they were together.
This ^^ :cool: I haven't got the energy to battle against the hysteria either.
I'm not bothered if i miss any episodes now and i can't remember the last time i was like that with the show.
I was complaining about Katie hardly being in it anymore:( She's one of the few characters with a sunny disposition:) but i'm actually thinking it's almost a blessing in disguise for her not being involved at the moment.
I do think It's still a bit too early to write of Kate! But she does need to up her game in the coming months!:)
I hope next weeks wedding episodes are the start of better times ahead.:)
Yip, ain't nobody got time for that!
I honestly think it was a big mistake to kill Gennie off. Debbie can't ever really recover, and I miss Gennie herself a lot. And Nikhil, especially - although it's good that Priya now gets more to do, I miss him a lot. Plus, Brenda's had way too much tragedy for one person to cope with, all at once. It's such a shame that as soon as the characters blossomed, they left. Carl is a big loss too.
I don't think soaps should kill off really good characters (and yes, I know that not everyone liked Gennie, but I really liked her). It's very short-sighted and can sometimes damage the balance of the programme.
bib: Me too!:(:(
Katie is too quiet and normal and doesn't do the hilarious face twitching gurning panto stuff so not really suitable for KO's Emmerdale. You are wrong about it being too early to write off KO. 5.3 million and dire share means the fat lady is about to stand up. A crisis meeting should be held this very weekend and she should be told to stop this childish pantomime crap or she will be axed.
Not only great....fantastic!!
I`d love to see that.