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Eastenders: Your favourite era
ChuckyBlackhart
Posts: 2,468 Forum Member
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What is your favourite era of Eastenders? (No matter how short lived)
My favourite era is the era when Den Watts returns, Andy the gangster, Phil Mitchel, Paul Truman, Dennis Rickman, Jake and Danny Moon and (later on) Johnny Allen where in it all at once.
When Andy Hunter first came in to the programme he was a bit of a joke-completely non threatening. But he became charismatic and cool.
I remember him finding out Paul Truman had grassed, Andy found out but pretended not to care. Paul says "I thought I was a dead man" Andy grabs him, shoves him against the wall and says "Yeah, well maybe you are" I'll admit to being quite taken aback by the agression he suddenly showed.
And the classic moment of Andy locking Sam out her own house on christmas day, while he smiles, eating cake! And I liked the idea of a gangster suffering from unrequited love. (althought it was for Kat!:eek:)
This era was full of brilliant moments, such as Danny Moon pushing Andy Hunter over and Andy calling him "a psycho", despite the fact that Andy was, himself a gangster!
Andy tried to screw over Johnny Allen and leave Danny Moon to take the blame. When Andy's side kick has a concience about it, Andy says "Danny Moon was never gonna find the cure for cancer was he"
And Den Watts set up Phil, resulting in Phil being chased by the cops and punching 2 or 3 cops in a row!
And I remember Danny Moon lighting newspaper and stuffing it through Johnny Allens letter box!
All these men where constantly schemeing against each other. In fact Eastenders was so full of "bad boys" scheming against one another that it kind of turned in to a soap for men. These characters where threatening each other and forging secret aliences. You got the feeling anything could happen.
In the run up to Den and Andy's death the episodes where so packed with tension you got the feeling a riot could erupt in the square. The episode in which Den and Andy where both killed was a bit of an anti climax but it was still quite good. I got the feeling the producers where limited by Eastenders timeslot. If only Eastenders was on after 10 it could be the programme it so clearly wanted to be.
It's ironic Den and Andy where both killed by other people because the programme was setting them up to kill each other. I think I would have prefered to at least see a fight between Den and Andy before they where both killed off.
This era went out with a wimper rather than a bang, with Andy Hunter, Den Watts, Dennis Rickman, Paul Truman, Danny Moon and Johnny Allen all dead, The last remaining one, Jake Moon (willingly!:rolleyes:) got in to a car with gangsters who where going to kill him, never to be seen again...
Still, this era was Eastenders at it's darkest best
I miss it being like that. I doubt it will ever be as dark or as brave again.
My favourite era is the era when Den Watts returns, Andy the gangster, Phil Mitchel, Paul Truman, Dennis Rickman, Jake and Danny Moon and (later on) Johnny Allen where in it all at once.
When Andy Hunter first came in to the programme he was a bit of a joke-completely non threatening. But he became charismatic and cool.
I remember him finding out Paul Truman had grassed, Andy found out but pretended not to care. Paul says "I thought I was a dead man" Andy grabs him, shoves him against the wall and says "Yeah, well maybe you are" I'll admit to being quite taken aback by the agression he suddenly showed.
And the classic moment of Andy locking Sam out her own house on christmas day, while he smiles, eating cake! And I liked the idea of a gangster suffering from unrequited love. (althought it was for Kat!:eek:)
This era was full of brilliant moments, such as Danny Moon pushing Andy Hunter over and Andy calling him "a psycho", despite the fact that Andy was, himself a gangster!
Andy tried to screw over Johnny Allen and leave Danny Moon to take the blame. When Andy's side kick has a concience about it, Andy says "Danny Moon was never gonna find the cure for cancer was he"
And Den Watts set up Phil, resulting in Phil being chased by the cops and punching 2 or 3 cops in a row!
And I remember Danny Moon lighting newspaper and stuffing it through Johnny Allens letter box!
All these men where constantly schemeing against each other. In fact Eastenders was so full of "bad boys" scheming against one another that it kind of turned in to a soap for men. These characters where threatening each other and forging secret aliences. You got the feeling anything could happen.
In the run up to Den and Andy's death the episodes where so packed with tension you got the feeling a riot could erupt in the square. The episode in which Den and Andy where both killed was a bit of an anti climax but it was still quite good. I got the feeling the producers where limited by Eastenders timeslot. If only Eastenders was on after 10 it could be the programme it so clearly wanted to be.
It's ironic Den and Andy where both killed by other people because the programme was setting them up to kill each other. I think I would have prefered to at least see a fight between Den and Andy before they where both killed off.
This era went out with a wimper rather than a bang, with Andy Hunter, Den Watts, Dennis Rickman, Paul Truman, Danny Moon and Johnny Allen all dead, The last remaining one, Jake Moon (willingly!:rolleyes:) got in to a car with gangsters who where going to kill him, never to be seen again...
Still, this era was Eastenders at it's darkest best
I miss it being like that. I doubt it will ever be as dark or as brave again.
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Sharongate, in 1994, is, in my opinion, the best storyline of the Nineties.
nowdays its utter cack... ridiculous storylines, horrible cast, over hyped, (everyones talking about it... NO WE AINT!) . i cannot fathom why its so popular, but i suppose in the age of hype and hysteria that follows 'britains got talent' and 'the x factor' all the whooping kids cheer benaly at this rubbish.
But I like EastEnders. It goes through it's good and bad patches, but I enjoy it - most of the time. My favourite period would be 1993 - 2000 when the arrival of the over exposed Slaters nearly destroyed it.
Shame 2004 went so badly
Good 2005 although it heavily relied on Den's murder
Awful 2006
Ah yes... Don't forget punky Mary and poor old Lofty who was jilted at the altar (sniff...) I remember the cot death story with Sue and Ali. Truly dramatic gripping stuff...
Lauren, what was so bad about 2004 and 2006? I don't know story lines by year.
2006 Was a bad year because at the end of 2005 the likes of Zoe, Den, Alfie, Kat, Chrissie, Sam, Dennis, Sharon had all left and they were the ones who the past few years had evolved around. 2006 therefore relied on characters who were fairly new such as the wickes (Kevin, Carly, Deano) and Denise etc. The only storylines I remember from the year were Ben hurting Freddie and Lil Mo getting acussed of it and Paulines death, Sonia's lesbian storyline & pat/patricks affair :eek:
2004 wasn't the worst year but wasn't exactly good. There was the Kat & Alfie on/off over Andy. The storyline about the real Walford football team, a heavy focus on the Millers, the fairground disaster, the start of Mo & Alfie (at the end of the year :eek:) Despite this it was an okay year for the Watt's as Chrissie arrived and Sharon & Dennis developed.
Hope that helps slightly, I'm probably missing a fair bit and some people may have enjoyed 2004 but I watched alot of it again recently and found myself skipping most of it to be honest
Yeah, I didn't like it as much after Den, Dennis, Andy etc had gone. Personally I found Kevin, Carly and Denise Quite awful.
Again, I liked Andy, but Kat and Alfie's on/off relationship was tedious and repetitive in the extreme! And the fairground disaster was a bit of a disaster!
How do you remember all this? Do you have it all on tape?
I had a fair bit of time on my hands earlier this year where i was supposed to be revising for some important uni exams but instead spent hours reliving my fave ee moments hehe
I managed to get hold of alot of EE on my computer from 2000 - 2008. I've actually uploaded ALOT of it onti youtube if you ever wanted to watch
www.youtube.com/eeclipz
I also liked the side stories like Nana Moon and Alfie
Ruby and Sean (what an odd couple)
also Ruby and Jules
The return of Grant, also the arrival of the millers
I still want Mickey back he is the epitomy of eastend jack the lad
1996-mid 1999. The show was the pants then. Falling ratings, poor characters. The mitchells had become tired and overused and the di Marcos were no replacement. The jacksons were never in the same league as the show's great families. The fowlers and beales kept the show going with Pauline, mark, Cindy, Kathy. However the show was fixed by Matthew Robinson and picked up well by the time he left.
2006-early 2009. Didn't like this period. Pretty dreadful characters about. The brannings were good at the start but in 2008 went downhill fast and have never really recovered. The showdisnt feel like EE and still doesn't some days.
Most favourite eras:
den and Angie years, 81-89. Enough said. Probably the best period in the show's history.
1991-95. Only time when the mitchells were bareable... Great stuff with Pauline. Arthur, Michelle, Kathy, Ian, the kapoors. But I don't think it is coincidence that the show went downhill when Sharon left. Tiffany was not even remotely as great a character.
2001-2005. If one could cut out the ferrerrias then this would be a great period; with them in it tends to be more 2001-2003, 2005. The return of the watts was fantastic an they carried the show during it's darkest days. Without them it may have gone under. 2001 and 2005 were the nest years of the 00s by far.
I think sharongate is the best storyline in the show's history let alone the 90s.
If I had to do a ranking of top 5 storylines it would be:
1. Sharongate
2. Den and Angie drama
3. Zoe/kat storyline
4. Den's death
5. Who shot phil/ michelle's baby
I think they are the biggest by far.
as for the OP I think that era gets a bit too much flack for being dire to be honest.However while all that mafioso stuff was entertaining can you really name anything else notworthy at the time? in that era It was one big s/l (with all the major players) and anyone else that wasnt in their orbit was reduced to an extra even ian beale..
No, i can't but all the characters i mentioned in my original post where the ones that i enjoyed. So i don't really care about any of the other stuff from that era.
Even Ian became part of the storyline in the end when he tried to get control of the pub from Chrissie.
I cannot think of any storyline in EE's history which included so many great, classic, iconic characters as that one did:
Pauline, Den, Chrissie, Sharon, Dennis, Kat, Little Mo, Stacey, Zoe, Sam, Peggy, Pat, Phil, Grant, Billy (argh!), Alfie, Ian, Jane plus less great/iconic characters like Andy, Johnny, Jake, etc.
The only iconic characters missing from that storyline were Angie, Kathy, Cindy, Mark, Michelle, and oddly enough, Dot. Quite phenomenal really.
2004 is a very peculiar years in many respects. Some good things were beginnings of Andy and Pat's relationship; marriage between Any and Sam; Den helping with the reopening of Angie's Den; arrival of Chrissie; Ian and Jane's budding romance.
But there were a lot of bad things: Ferrerria's; the fairground disaster, which I think was a good idea, but executed poorly. The repetition of Shannis.
But things picked up again towards the end of the year - although it got some slack, Den's affair with Kate was quite good, if for nothing else that it ended with the best catfight in the show's history between Chrissie and Kate. The Watts definately saved this year, with Den and Chrissie scamming Sam out of the Mitchell empire and Xmas 2004.
it didnt start until 85
Sorry - I was typing from my iphone.
Plague?