I've been thinking (dangerous for me) about the problem with the Ferreira's (which one? I hear you ask!)
I think the problem is that they haven't been integrated enough with the other characters.
Think about it;
Ash works as a lecturer - no-one in EE studies
Adi and Kareena have the market stall - but they never seem to be involved with the other market traders, apart from the early feud with Zoe & Kelly which has now ended.
Ronny - DJ, occasionally seen in Angie's Den, and he briefly went out with Kelly and then Zoe - but so do a lot of people!
Tariq - follows Ronny around, went out with his half-sister.
I know EE was trying to getr them together to just focus on them as a family at the start, but they never seem to be involved with anyone outside the family. All their problems are internal, and not related to anyone else. Ronny gets stabbed - Tariq saves him, Tariq and Kareena go out, Ash - went out with Shirley - but then so did Dan.
they haven't minxed with the other characters enough, or got involved with anything in EE, and I think that's the problem (well, one of them!).

Personally I think that the Ferreira's main problem is that the family has no real personality. They have no catch-line. For example the Slaters are gobby, the Mitchells were the local hardened bullies etc.. Combine that with the fact that they haven't had any major bust ups with any other residents and altogether they're hopelessly dry. For me the only ray of hope for the family was back when they attended a relative's wedding and in traditional EE fashion it ran less than smoothly. Apart from that they haven't done anything to make me actually care whether they lose their house or not, whether Dan turns up again or whether Ash returns to his gambling. They just seem plain irrelevant in the greater scheme of things.

The lot of them just dont 'gel' :sleep:

I think the producers must know that and will soon axe them just like they did with dimarcos

They are indeed the Di Marcos Mark II and will no doubt be off to live in some relative's spare room in a random city in the Midlands, just like that family, very soon.

I did think Leicester was beckoning for the Ferreiras, but I now get the idea they are being kept on for a while (some of them at least... maybe they'll leave one by one like the Dimarcos).

Lifeisacookie is right that they have not been integrated -- they barely even talk to anyone who isn't a Ferreira, all they do is argue amongst themselves. I noticed there was a 'ferreira special' on bbc3 last night, so obviously EE are trying to get us to love them, although it's a case of too little too late. The damage was done with the ridiculous kidney storyline which was excruciating to watch (BOTH their parents have disappeared? Seems just a teeny bit unlikely, but hey scriptwriters, don't bother to construct any reasoning behind this...)

I think they could work well if they got some decent scripts and storylines, but that is asking a bit much of EE at the moment.

i had a very bizarre dream the other night, that i was at the Ferreiras' house at a kind of sleep-over. i was trying to get it on with Ash but my best friend from primary school turned up and snogged him instead. Given that i haven't seen her in 19 years, i was a little pissed off!
i kind of hope the Ferreiras stick around for a bit now. They are growing on me since Adi stopped being quite such a twit over his dad.

What did happen to Dan? I'm guessing he won't be coming back. To be honest despite all the fuss the BBC made saying they had worked for 2 years on this family they just don't work. I can see this time next year just Ash or Kareena being around.

Good question. I always wondered why no explanation was offered for Dan's sudden departure. In all the TV guides the ferreira cleanout has been referred to as "putting Dan's ghost to rest." That almost implies that he's dead. I mean if they intended to write him out the family could have benefited from a good death story or a dramatic exit of a sort.

I know he left unexpectedly because his visa expired, but the writers could have actually made something interesting out of his disappearance, rather than this strange anticlimactic business that's going on now about the mortgage. And as for their mum disappearing ... they made one phone call to try to find her then forgot about her. Er, maybe she'd gone to the shops? Hopeless plotting.

Oh! His Visa expired? I must've fallen asleep for that lil Ferreira family incident..

Yeah, did nobody think it important enough for the mother to hear about Ronnie's attack, Tariq being a new addition to the family or the financial difficulties to attempt to contact her more than once? Furthermore the disappearance of both parents left an opportunity for some sort of connected plot. Anything would be more dramatic than skipping town with funds stolen from a mortgage fund..

Te he, the actor's visa, not the character's. The actor had to leave the country. This left the character in limbo, with EE seemingly unable to decide whether to try to get him back again (I think it became obvious he was so loathed they gave it a miss!). Don't know why they didn't just kill him off and have done with it. For neither parent to turn up during all that drama was as you say ludicrous.

Lmao.. I should really have thought that comment through a little.. I guess it's too late to say I was being sarcastic or something heh..

The problem is simple...they are crap. Poor acting.
Thankfully, the worst one, (the guy that played Dan) has been sent back from whence he came: I'd like to think that it was for his poor acting, but he was deported for not having a valid visa to stay in the country.
The whole family and their storyline is so boring and miserable (and for Eastenders, that IS saying something). Get rid of them. Write 'em out or send them on an extended holiday.

Well at this point at least we know it's likely that they'll be evicted, and since the whole lot of them are unlikely to be able to fit in the BnB it could bring us a step closer to seeing them get booted from the square.

Kareena's going to transmogrify into a sex kitten though, so we're not seeing the last of her. Wouldn't mind if she and Ash stayed, if they got something more lighthearted to do it could work (oops, this is EE so that's not likely!) -- but the others are just too dull. I don't blame the actors though -- whoever invented and storylined the characters should carry the can.

The problem with the Ferriera's imo is that they are simply a dull and boring family! The acting is bad, especially from dan and Adi, and like many of you have said, they don't really integrate with anyone else outside of the family! The whole kidney saga bored the hell out of me, i couldn't believe EE were letting the Ferriera's take up most of every episode for a few weeks!

I think EE are sticking with them in the hope that the public will warm to them. Fat chance of that, as others have said they just don't work. It would make more sense to have introduced them slowly, and then developed their characters over time like the slaters instead of just throwing them in at the deep end when no one could give a shit about them

I see ee hasn't had a surprise party for anybody this week
guess it musn't be a surprise anymore---wellards getting his nails clipped lets get everybody together at the vic
eastenders is a sham...didn't used to be...bring back the old days

In soaps first impressions are usually vital to the future of new characters. Their entrance has to set the scene for the rest of their stay on the street/square etc. If the Ferreiras had impressed everyone to begin with, like Alfie did, then maybe people would have welcomed them more readily in the first instance. I mean having some aged fanatic come out to greet the world in an Elvis costume is trying way too hard for a cheap laugh.

eastenders has lost the plot ----OFFICIAL
Still no washing machines
still no sky tv
still don't drink anywhere outside of walford(ie corrie manchester)
nobody works
the clothes stall which is run by 2 familys seems to support the whole of walford
they are allowing dean gaffney back
sonias makeover
No good looking birds in the whole of london obviously
a nightclub called angies den.....
a nightclub that has 3 people in it tops...
Absolutely ruining Alfie MOOns character
The arches has disappeared
The oldies are in some wayward sea town for the week..riveting
gay derek who is 102 years old official
Mark fowlers demise...1 year later who gives a damn
Minty-the ferriars-gus and his brother .....why
Where did gavin and that bird from the bookies go...
Bring back the old days
All I am saying is Grant and Phil David wicks, Steve Owen, Cindy
Makes you want to cry

Lmao.. Oh yeah, as for Gavin.. he left because the ferreiras did somthing almost-interesting by bullying him outta there for Shirley, who went off to see her children someplace. At least that was one small considerate move the EE people made for their viewers.

obviously louise berridge couldn't or wouldn't tempt madhur jaffrey to appear for a few episodes,ridiculous that the ferriras mum(pushpa?)never came to see ronny or phoned.

i think maybe they are keeping Dan's disappearance open ended as it could be a useful storyline later. Presumably he's gone to India and something could have happened to him, but he could come back with more family members (arrrgh!) or he could have murdered their Mum who he hates (who they have been trying to contact btw, but she's missing too), or he could be having another affair and bring back more kids that he's secretly spawned, or he could call for the whole family to join him if the public doesn't warm to them soon... or maybe just Kareena to meet her future husband! Maybe he's skipped the country with the mortgage money and has spent it all on surgery to make him look like Elvis.

The possibilities are endless.

They arent looking hard enough for their mum. As we've all said it's ridiculious for BOTH parents to vanish, and don't they have any other family at all??

Lol, well I'm guessing that they're family outcasts after the wedding disaster. See, even their fictitious relatives hate them. It's not surprising the viewers have rejected them!