I actually didn't mind his stint on EastEnders, I do think people just make it out to be something really awful when a lot of it's bad points were cancelled out by it's good points. His work on Hollyosks the first time around was amazing and he was responsible for some of the best moments in the soap's history, but I truly think he's putting no effort into the show anymore. I think, honestly, that he's trying to see how far he can push it but eventually the heaps upon heaps of awful stories and high cast turnover will mean the soap will decline in ratings and that's when the soap gets into trouble. I don't think, unless Channel 4 step in and stop what's happening to the show, Hollyoaks has a future beyond Bryan Kirkwood's reign of terror. If he stays it'll just get worse, if he goes ratings may suffer and then the axe could be weilded. I think this is the first time an awful producer has gotten good ratings.
Some of Kirkwood's EE stories were passable but the majority were shit. Despite the introduction of Eddie Moon and his ghastly sons, 2011 is marginally better than 2012 which was consumed by the awful Kat story on which Kirkwood got the ball rolling.
The Queen Vic fire would have been better if someone had died in it.
Would that have made a huge difference to the episode? Its ultimate goal was to give Peggy a wake up call; killing off random characters would probably have distracted from that.
I won't dispute the majority of your points but Santer killed EastEnders' momentum with the 25th anniversary episode. Revealing the killer live then removing her from the action meant the show ground to a halt. Kirkwood didn't help but, for me, the starting point of EastEnders' decline lies with Santer.
Although the show did pick up again for a bit June-November 2010 and that would have been largely plotted by Santer.
I actually didn't mind his stint on EastEnders, I do think people just make it out to be something really awful when a lot of it's bad points were cancelled out by it's good points. His work on Hollyosks the first time around was amazing and he was responsible for some of the best moments in the soap's history, but I truly think he's putting no effort into the show anymore. I think, honestly, that he's trying to see how far he can push it but eventually the heaps upon heaps of awful stories and high cast turnover will mean the soap will decline in ratings and that's when the soap gets into trouble. I don't think, unless Channel 4 step in and stop what's happening to the show, Hollyoaks has a future beyond Bryan Kirkwood's reign of terror. If he stays it'll just get worse, if he goes ratings may suffer and then the axe could be weilded. I think this is the first time an awful producer has gotten good ratings.
He did come up with a good story every now and then on EE, but I disagree that he had enough of them to cancel out all the bad ones.
BK occasionally coming up with a good idea might explain why EE lost its audience gradually, though, whereas Corrie's decline under the relentlessly dire SB has been more rapid.
Are the ratings for HO that good? Some of the C4 eps don't even make 1m.
He was awful as EP in EE which is when the quality started to decrease heavily and his second stint in Hollyoaks has been absolutely horrendous to the point where I have given up watching because it's become a shadow of it's former self in the most ludicrous way.
I can't believe this pile of shit is coming from the same person who did a really cracking job with Hollyoaks on his first stint. You have to wonder what the hell happened. Such a nosedive in quality. It's pitiful and very shameful.
He's right up there as one of the worst along with Paul Marquess.
Phil Redmond must be spitting tacks at the mess BK has made of his creation!
Can you imagine a soap nightmare team consisting of Bryan Kirkwood, Lucy Allen, Emma Smithwick, Stuart Blackburn, Lorraine Newman and Louise Berridge all working together on the one soap. :eek:
Don't forget alongside Paul Marquess working alongside them too, at the front and centre of a show's dream team, in production :-)
He brought Eastenders - BBC1's flagship programme - to its knees. It's still barely recovered.
He's turned Hollyoaks from a soap about young people, into something you can honestly only point and laugh at. The storylines are laughable, the writing's cringeworthy, characters are just totally different people to who they were, all of them hateful, and bad "6th form panto" acting has spread through the cast like a bacteria. Occasionally he'll lard an episode with sentiment so whoever is still watching it can feel like they've watched something "meaningful." Next day, it's forgotten.
If any of the actual main soaps go the same way, and drop character and storytelling completely for sensation and the occasional vomit-inducing fest of sentiment, then soaps really are finished.
I think the problem BK has is that there was no breathing room t get creative again. He literally finished Hollyoaks, went to Eastenders, finished Eastenders, went to Hollyoaks.
It's very hard to keep a constant creative flow for 9 years on the trot and it would seem it's had a knock on effect in the last year.
Because BK relies solely on shock, he shoots himself in the foot because everyone knows the spoilers anyway and their recounting of them is inevitably better than the idea itself. It's not simply him though- the episodes are so badly written, as if the writers had never actually met a human before.
I still marvel at how easily all the characters got over the incest reveal. What was the point in that story if the characters all shrugged their shoulders?
I think the problem BK has is that there was no breathing room t get creative again. He literally finished Hollyoaks, went to Eastenders, finished Eastenders, went to Hollyoaks.
It's very hard to keep a constant creative flow for 9 years on the trot and it would seem it's had a knock on effect in the last year.
I don't think that's quite true. He finished Hollyoaks at the end of 2008/early 2009. All he did in 2009 was Hollyoaks Later. He started on Eastenders at the end of 2009, the baby swap fiasco was 2011, and he left April 2012, though he was probably sidelined before that. He started his campaign of destruction on Hollyoaks in summer 2012, but didn't fully take over until late autumn.
The problem isn't lack of creative ideas - he has plenty of storyliners to come up with those, and still insists on repeating what's already been done. The problem was really exposed on the screen at Eastenders. He writes characterisation on the back of a **** packet, casts "hunks" for their looks and not their acting ability, and his storylines lurch from tacky sensation to sensation, with no aftermath and making literally not a lick of sense.
Like I said, I just really hope it doesn't spread to the main soaps, which are still just about hanging on to a feel for everyday life - by their fingernails sometimes.
His currently run at HO is absolutely dire. He is ruining the show with OTT storylines EVERY WEEK, no storylines are concluded, pointless characters, no focus, the f*cking hospital etc...
What are the man's qualifications for being at the helm of 2 flagship shows?
He was a storyliner at Corrie. Then his first stint at Hollyoaks was very successful. Eastenders appointed him off the back of that, presumably hoping he'd sex it up a bit and appeal to younger audiences. It was a total disaster and the rest is history. I guess he went back to Lime/Hollyoaks because he had contacts there.
He was a storyliner at Corrie. Then his first stint at Hollyoaks was very successful. Eastenders appointed him off the back of that, presumably hoping he'd sex it up a bit and appeal to younger audiences. It was a total disaster and the rest is history. I guess he went back to Lime/Hollyoaks because he had contacts there.
Thanks cyrilandshirley. Storyliner under what producer/era I wonder?
He was a storyliner at Corrie. Then his first stint at Hollyoaks was very successful. Eastenders appointed him off the back of that, presumably hoping he'd sex it up a bit and appeal to younger audiences. It was a total disaster and the rest is history. I guess he went back to Lime/Hollyoaks because he had contacts there.
He did sex up Ee if there's loads of hunks though from what another poster said
He did sex up Ee if there's loads of hunks though from what another poster said
2 storyline imo were great:
Billie's death and Whitney's sexploitation s/ls
The acting of the baby swap was undeniably of high quality but should have left it as a cot death not swap or stuck to their guns and completed the s/ls despite the pressure.
Kirkwood was very hit-and-miss during his EastEnders stint. His second stint of Hollyoaks is all just miss.
I never thought he could ruin another soap the way he did EastEnders, but he went ahead and proved me wrong !
I could literally cry at what he has done to Hollyoaks! And the man is so arrogant and dismissive of any negative opinions (judging by his DS interview) that it will never change.
He is completely deranged.
And for that reason I have had to stop watching hollyoaks , though I will still catch the odd episode, for example the one last night with dodger and sienna which was just ludacrus.
I have no idea what audience he is trying to appeal to now. 12 year olds with a short attention span?
Channel 4 have humoured this crap for far too long now.
The show is now a complete joke more than ever, regularly being mocked wherever its mentioned ie 'this morning' and the other day on 'the wright stuff'.
But even of he left/got the boot, how on earth can any producer pick up the pieces of his mess?
They would have to reboot the show!
He did sex up Ee if there's loads of hunks though from what another poster said
Oh sure. He sexed it up, and at the same time, dumbed it down. And viewers switched off in droves.
The whole thing was basically a disaster - the EE bosses obviously fancied a bit of shiny new sexy appeal, but they appointed someone who couldn't deliver on character and storyline, and who relied too heavily on sensation to cover it up. EE viewers spotted the problems right from the beginning. It was completely the wrong way to go.
I think to say he is the worst thing to happen to soap is a bit of an understatement. I have watched Hollyoaks since the very beginning and even though his first stint was OK, I have switched off for good until he is gone. Like Eastenders under his reign, he has managed to lose some of Oaks most iconic characters, Brendan, Cheryl, Mitzeee, Jacqui, Carmel, Mercedes. The storylines don't seem to get resolved and go around in circles, getting more and more far fetched by the minute.
I do miss the Oaks though, but cannot watch him ruin something I love lol.
Was he in charge of the Esther bullying plot and Sienna and Nancy plot?They were both great gripping storylines imo.
However it is now a complete mess..I can't even kep track.
The Mcqueens are ruined.
Splitting Nancy and Darren and now Nancy is a drug addict who sleeps with teenagers(ROBBIE of all people)
Sinead and Tony?????
Dodger has forgotten about the love of his life Texas and now has what three children??(One with his TWIN SISTER!!)
ANOTHER teenage pregnancy with Peri and Tom and the fact her mother is her SISTER seems to be forgotten.
Sienna has been turned from a damaged but still somewhat likable character to an OTT panto psycho villian who want's to marry her twin brother
The ENDLESS DEATHS!
Comments
Would that have made a huge difference to the episode? Its ultimate goal was to give Peggy a wake up call; killing off random characters would probably have distracted from that.
Although the show did pick up again for a bit June-November 2010 and that would have been largely plotted by Santer.
Possibly the FM might be referring to the Queen Vic fire, as one example of such, one which surely can't be faulted IMO :-)
BK occasionally coming up with a good idea might explain why EE lost its audience gradually, though, whereas Corrie's decline under the relentlessly dire SB has been more rapid.
Are the ratings for HO that good? Some of the C4 eps don't even make 1m.
He was awful as EP in EE which is when the quality started to decrease heavily and his second stint in Hollyoaks has been absolutely horrendous to the point where I have given up watching because it's become a shadow of it's former self in the most ludicrous way.
I can't believe this pile of shit is coming from the same person who did a really cracking job with Hollyoaks on his first stint. You have to wonder what the hell happened. Such a nosedive in quality. It's pitiful and very shameful.
He's right up there as one of the worst along with Paul Marquess.
Don't forget alongside Paul Marquess working alongside them too, at the front and centre of a show's dream team, in production :-)
He brought Eastenders - BBC1's flagship programme - to its knees. It's still barely recovered.
He's turned Hollyoaks from a soap about young people, into something you can honestly only point and laugh at. The storylines are laughable, the writing's cringeworthy, characters are just totally different people to who they were, all of them hateful, and bad "6th form panto" acting has spread through the cast like a bacteria. Occasionally he'll lard an episode with sentiment so whoever is still watching it can feel like they've watched something "meaningful." Next day, it's forgotten.
If any of the actual main soaps go the same way, and drop character and storytelling completely for sensation and the occasional vomit-inducing fest of sentiment, then soaps really are finished.
It's very hard to keep a constant creative flow for 9 years on the trot and it would seem it's had a knock on effect in the last year.
I still marvel at how easily all the characters got over the incest reveal. What was the point in that story if the characters all shrugged their shoulders?
I don't think that's quite true. He finished Hollyoaks at the end of 2008/early 2009. All he did in 2009 was Hollyoaks Later. He started on Eastenders at the end of 2009, the baby swap fiasco was 2011, and he left April 2012, though he was probably sidelined before that. He started his campaign of destruction on Hollyoaks in summer 2012, but didn't fully take over until late autumn.
The problem isn't lack of creative ideas - he has plenty of storyliners to come up with those, and still insists on repeating what's already been done. The problem was really exposed on the screen at Eastenders. He writes characterisation on the back of a **** packet, casts "hunks" for their looks and not their acting ability, and his storylines lurch from tacky sensation to sensation, with no aftermath and making literally not a lick of sense.
Like I said, I just really hope it doesn't spread to the main soaps, which are still just about hanging on to a feel for everyday life - by their fingernails sometimes.
Oliver Kent is doing a bit of a rubbish job at the moment too with Holby City and Casualty :-(
He was a storyliner at Corrie. Then his first stint at Hollyoaks was very successful. Eastenders appointed him off the back of that, presumably hoping he'd sex it up a bit and appeal to younger audiences. It was a total disaster and the rest is history. I guess he went back to Lime/Hollyoaks because he had contacts there.
Thanks cyrilandshirley. Storyliner under what producer/era I wonder?
2 storyline imo were great:
Billie's death and Whitney's sexploitation s/ls
The acting of the baby swap was undeniably of high quality but should have left it as a cot death not swap or stuck to their guns and completed the s/ls despite the pressure.
I never thought he could ruin another soap the way he did EastEnders, but he went ahead and proved me wrong !
I could literally cry at what he has done to Hollyoaks! And the man is so arrogant and dismissive of any negative opinions (judging by his DS interview) that it will never change.
He is completely deranged.
And for that reason I have had to stop watching hollyoaks , though I will still catch the odd episode, for example the one last night with dodger and sienna which was just ludacrus.
I have no idea what audience he is trying to appeal to now. 12 year olds with a short attention span?
Channel 4 have humoured this crap for far too long now.
The show is now a complete joke more than ever, regularly being mocked wherever its mentioned ie 'this morning' and the other day on 'the wright stuff'.
But even of he left/got the boot, how on earth can any producer pick up the pieces of his mess?
They would have to reboot the show!
Richard Hillman.
Well that's interesting. He learnt his trade at the height of Corrie's modern era. Was that Kim Crowther?
edit- no
Oh sure. He sexed it up, and at the same time, dumbed it down. And viewers switched off in droves.
The whole thing was basically a disaster - the EE bosses obviously fancied a bit of shiny new sexy appeal, but they appointed someone who couldn't deliver on character and storyline, and who relied too heavily on sensation to cover it up. EE viewers spotted the problems right from the beginning. It was completely the wrong way to go.
I do miss the Oaks though, but cannot watch him ruin something I love lol.
However it is now a complete mess..I can't even kep track.
The Mcqueens are ruined.
Splitting Nancy and Darren and now Nancy is a drug addict who sleeps with teenagers(ROBBIE of all people)
Sinead and Tony?????
Dodger has forgotten about the love of his life Texas and now has what three children??(One with his TWIN SISTER!!)
ANOTHER teenage pregnancy with Peri and Tom and the fact her mother is her SISTER seems to be forgotten.
Sienna has been turned from a damaged but still somewhat likable character to an OTT panto psycho villian who want's to marry her twin brother
The ENDLESS DEATHS!