EastEnders 2015 - how good a year has it been so far?

fawltytowers93fawltytowers93 Posts: 1,872
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We're over a quarter of the way through 2015 now. How do you feel it has been for the show so far? Has the quality been strong? How do you compare it to previous years for the show? Which episodes/storylines since January 1st have stood out for you?
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  • GeekInfectedGeekInfected Posts: 6,372
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    Highlights for me have been New Years Day, live week and a few episodes here and there namely the Andrew Sachs episode, Stan's death episode, the drag queen episode and a couple others.

    The rest has been an utter disgrace.
  • bass55bass55 Posts: 18,319
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    New Years Day was great, and I really enjoyed the Cottons, Mitchells and Beales being front and centre during January and February. Live week was great, but it's been awful since then. Really awful.
  • Ell_RenEll_Ren Posts: 9,911
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    I thought Stan's death the other week was a highlight. Very well done episode.
  • Adrian_Ward1Adrian_Ward1 Posts: 13,119
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    Some great powerful stuff this year so far. Hopefully it picks up again
  • Joey15811Joey15811 Posts: 15,410
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    Good until live week the it was a ok few quiet weeks but now it's back to awful Carter screenhoggong and the rest just having black storytelling.
  • SandsssSandsss Posts: 3,119
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    Highlights for me

    New Years Day - That was the best episode I'd seen for a long time
    22/01 - Shirley reveals the truth
    Live week
    27/03 Sarah Phelps episode
    31/03 - Phil's back
    04/04 - Kat's suicide attempt
  • lou_123lou_123 Posts: 12,706
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    New Year's Day and the 30th anniversary were outstanding. The weeks in between those 2 were also fantastic. March onwards has been absolutely horrendous (bar the odd episode), and not really any better than the tripe we were served up by Kirkwood/Newman.
  • NoughtiesMusicNoughtiesMusic Posts: 15,914
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    Everything from NYD to the live week were amazing. The whole of January was just on point. They let Ronnie and Emma take centre stage at the start. Between that was Ladies' Night at The Vic, Mick and Linda's return. Then the month ended with Shabnam's big revelation to Stacey.

    It dipped a lot during those quieter weeks, although they managed to develop Kush, Donna and new Martin.

    Last few weeks have generally been decent IMO, despite hurting Charlie and Roxy's characters. In hindsight there has been less Carter overkill than I expected. Development of Sharon's father storyline and Jim's death have been interesting. Haven't cared for Max's current feud with Phil and Karin Smart is just pointless.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 1,488
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    Agree with everyone else. January-February were brilliant. March-April have been shocking compared to the previous 14 months or so which were really good for the most part. A shame because the 30th anniversary week brought in a lot of extra viewers who may have stuck around if the following weeks hadn't been so poor.
  • Ell_RenEll_Ren Posts: 9,911
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    Sandsss wrote: »
    Highlights for me

    New Years Day - That was the best episode I'd seen for a long time
    22/01 - Shirley reveals the truth
    Live week
    27/03 Sarah Phelps episode
    31/03 - Phil's back
    04/04 - Kat's suicide attempt

    BIB: Those were two episodes I really enjoyed this year.
  • CherryRoseCherryRose Posts: 13,190
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    Its been ok

    Stan's death was fantastically played out
    New Years day was amazing
    Kat and Alfie were ok rather than crap
    The who killed Lucy build up was brilliant (shame about the killer)
    Kathy been alive was WOW
    Deadly Dotty was like WTF?
    Shabs and Deans secret daughter has been the biggest shocker for me
    Charlie and Roxy is one of the biggest turn offs ever
    Dot being in prison is boring
    Carter rape feud is appalling
    Martin's downfall is flat and unbelievable
    Max Phil feud is YAWN

    Its had its ups and downs

    Looking forward to

    Kathy's return
    Sharons biological father reveal
    Shabs and Deans secret baby reveal


    Wish DTC would give Stacey a story
  • NoughtiesMusicNoughtiesMusic Posts: 15,914
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    There are 8 or so months left of 2015. Things could get better in the next couple of months IMO. The live week set the bar so high that DTC has sometimes struggled to deliver, but I'm hopeful it'll improve.
  • VIP101VIP101 Posts: 1,587
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    NYD episode was a brilliant episode. However, everything else has been Shit with a capital S. Even live week was a load of Shit.
  • lou_123lou_123 Posts: 12,706
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    Lulz77 wrote: »
    Agree with everyone else. January-February were brilliant. March-April have been shocking compared to the previous 14 months or so which were really good for the most part. A shame because the 30th anniversary week brought in a lot of extra viewers who may have stuck around if the following weeks hadn't been so poor.

    Exactly this. EastEnders are absolutely TERRIBLE at keeping any sort of momentum.
  • lou_123lou_123 Posts: 12,706
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    There are 8 or so months left of 2015. Things could get better in the next couple of months IMO. The live week set the bar so high that DTC has sometimes struggled to deliver, but I'm hopeful it'll improve.

    EastEnders always goes to sleep in the summer though:(.
  • Louise_HartLouise_Hart Posts: 3,421
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    CherryRose wrote: »
    Its been ok

    Stan's death was fantastically played out
    New Years day was amazing
    Kat and Alfie were ok rather than crap
    The who killed Lucy build up was brilliant (shame about the killer)
    Kathy been alive was WOW
    Deadly Dotty was like WTF?
    Shabs and Deans secret daughter has been the biggest shocker for me
    Charlie and Roxy is one of the biggest turn offs ever
    Dot being in prison is boring
    Carter rape feud is appalling
    Martin's downfall is flat and unbelievable
    Max Phil feud is YAWN

    Its had its ups and downs

    Looking forward to

    Kathy's return
    Sharons biological father reveal
    Shabs and Deans secret baby reveal




    Stan's death was fantastically played out, very moving
    New Years day was amazing, loved it
    Kat and Alfie were ok rather than crap loved it
    The who killed Lucy build up was brilliant (shame about the killer) loved it
    Kathy been alive was WOW far fetched
    Deadly Dotty was like WTF? WTF indeed
    Shabs and Deans secret daughter has been the biggest shocker for me hated it
    Charlie and Roxy is one of the biggest turn offs ever hate it
    Dot being in prison is boring I agree
    Carter rape feud is appalling
    Martin's downfall is flat and unbelievable I agree
    Max Phil feud is YAWN agree any feud with Phil is boring
  • srhgtssrhgts Posts: 8,939
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    Almost everything since January has been total shit. Oddly enough the highlights have been Carter episodes; there was one that I think was an hour long a few weeks back that centred around Stan, Babe, Sylvie and Shirley, that was stunning. Stan's death episode was good as well.
  • SonicmfcSonicmfc Posts: 2,170
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    When it's been good it's been brilliant. However this rarely happens now (Live week was the strongest point for the show). The show has completely collapsed under the huge amount of Carters so much so that DTC hasn't a clue what to do with the other characters (hence why we're getting the awful Max plot and the equally awful Ronnie/Charlie plot. Really disappointed in Dominic and the falling ratings show it.
  • valdvald Posts: 46,057
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    The Mitchells just go in circles..Phil 'owning' his son and Max. Roxy cheating with Ronnie's man.

    The Beales have been soiled and depleted further.

    The Carters are still bogged down with misery.

    Kat is picking up.

    Liked:

    Car crash
    Nick's death
    Linda reporting the rape
    The arrival of Buster
    Kim's return
    Most of live week
    Stan's last days
    Kat's suicide attempt
    Tam/Nancy
    and I've actually liked seeing Shirley out of the Vic, living at the B&B and working at Blades.
  • SandsssSandsss Posts: 3,119
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    CherryRose wrote: »
    Its been ok

    Stan's death was fantastically played out
    New Years day was amazing
    Kat and Alfie were ok rather than crap
    The who killed Lucy build up was brilliant (shame about the killer)
    Kathy been alive was WOW
    Deadly Dotty was like WTF?
    Shabs and Deans secret daughter has been the biggest shocker for me
    Charlie and Roxy is one of the biggest turn offs ever
    Dot being in prison is boring
    Carter rape feud is appalling
    Martin's downfall is flat and unbelievable
    Max Phil feud is YAWN

    Its had its ups and downs

    Looking forward to

    Kathy's return
    Sharons biological father reveal
    Shabs and Deans secret baby reveal


    Wish DTC would give Stacey a story

    I think Stacey's storyline could be kicking off on May 1st - the James Payne episode as the episode mentions Stacey learns a surprising truth.

    Lacey and Jessie have both recently had new publicity photos taken.
  • lordo350lordo350 Posts: 3,633
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    The New Year's episode and aftermath was brilliant. I think all of January and February were really enjoyable because we had the rape and Ronnie accident aftermath, plus it was all leading up Live Week.

    Live Week was absolutely brilliant TV, very entertaining and gripping from start to finish. The show felt like it was firing on all cylinders, bringing characters back, introducing new ones, raising loads of questions and starting new storylines. After watching those episodes, you just could not wait to see what the show had in store.

    Which is why it's frankly appalling how awful the show has been since Live Week. Storylines are going so freaking slowly, which wouldn't matter, except what's happening is just not that interesting. It was like, "oh, you liked Kathy being alive? Tune in in 6 months time to have any development on that. In the mean time, here's a fortnight of Shabnam and Kush." The only half decent thing was Stan's death, and that was an overly long depressing group of episodes that was more about the merry-go-round that is Mick and Shirley. It sounds bad, but I don't care about Kat, so I didn't care when she tried to kill herself. As a character, she's done for me.

    The Live Week should have started a momentum that kept going, not stopped dead with promises to re-surface months from now. We're heading into summer nights soon, and soaps are notoriously quiet round this time. That is the time when filler crap like Shabnam and Kush should take centre stage, not literally one week after the biggest week the show has ever had.

    And the Carters... talk about overusing a good thing! When they first came into it, I loved them. They really were a breath of fresh air. But they have thrown everything, literally everything, at this family, and now it just all feels stale. Think about it. We've had a gay son coming out. A secret son. A rape. A long lost father. Domestic abuse. Epilepsy. Army PTSD. Euthanasia. Alzheimer's. In the space of 15 months. Any of these storylines would be welcome in EE. But not all to the same family. Not all in one year. It's just too much.

    So no. The last few months have been Newman style filler, and I'm not even joking. Please God let's hope it improves soon.
  • 0...00...0 Posts: 21,111
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    Great NYD and Jan. Great live week, dubious about the reveal, loved the Phelps episode
    Stan's death was good, Nick's too. Shirley/Mick/Dean etc has become very boring. Kat and Sharon developments ok but underwritten and unfair to their characters. Roxy briefly flourished but reverted to type. Buster is a camp wannabe Bond villain. Surprised how downhill Charlie has gone.
  • attitude99attitude99 Posts: 14,848
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    From New Years Day - Full Live Episode was brilliant for me.
    Others since then have been:

    The girls in the Vic,
    Drag queen episode,
    Kat Suicide attempt episode,
    Stans Death,
    The four handler between Linda, Mick, Shirley & Dean,
    The hour long with Stan, Cora & Babe,
    Sharon & Ian episode,

    The rest has been meh really.
  • Ell_RenEll_Ren Posts: 9,911
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    srhgts wrote: »
    Oddly enough the highlights have been Carter episodes; there was one that I think was an hour long a few weeks back that centred around Stan, Babe, Sylvie and Shirley, that was stunning. Stan's death episode was good as well.

    This year hasn't been perfect by any means and the majority of episodes have been quite flat however I do agree about those two episodes you have mentioned. The episode where Shirley revealed all to Mick in the Vic with Stan, Babe, Sylvie and Tina was brilliant, and Stan's death provided some of the most touching, emotionally charged scenes in a long while.

    I think the episodes throughout the year have had good scenes and bad scenes, it depends what you like and what you take from the show though, imo.
  • RetroMusicFanRetroMusicFan Posts: 6,673
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    Highlights for me are:

    Kat and Alfie - I loved their scenes prior to and during Kat's suicide attempt, both actors played a blinder!

    NYD - a good bit of drama that lived up to the hype for a change, very welcome after the over-hyped and dire Christmas eps.

    Live week - rather up and down, Bobby being revealed as Lucy's killer was rather a let down considering the story had dragged on for months, the killer should have been Denise. I did chuckle at Jo Joyner asking 'How's Adam' and Jake Wood also fluffing up. Other best bits of live week included Kat shoving Sonia head first into the wedding cake and Alfie dancing and singing along to 'You Spin Me Round'!

    Dot and Nick - their last conversation was really poignant and she should not be in jail.
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