This is all very true.

People praise The Wylde's as the best newish Home Farm family, personally I thought they were terrible apart from Nathan who carried the whole set-up.

People call SB out for apparent plot-devices, yet what about Con-Man Charlie who was a plot device to get Chas in the Wool Pack. Who has sucked all life out of it since.

Aaron was likeable during the whole coming out to Paddy scenes, which were amazing, but after that he was miserable and put a real dampener on the show, people were counting down until he left.

Killing off Shadrach was worse than killing off Viv and Terry, all of which were GB's fault. None of which wanted to leave the show. Andy Devine was very disappointed to find that he was being killed off, when all he asked for was to cut his hours down. Shocking decision, was one of my favourite characters on the show.

GB was idolised, SB is crucified, go figure.

blackburn taking over was not gavin's fault.

What does that mean.

sorry i meant the poster before you lol edited it

I'm glad people are talking about Gavin Blythe here..
I always felt he didn't do the show justice
I completely respect the man but what he did for the show just didn't do it good in my opinion


Stories still dragged on for ages going over the same point in different ways .. It was all words, no action, everything was just said and about the same thing all the time without reaching a conclusion for months, this still happens.

I remember my mum and me watching and admitting it was quite embarrassing

Look back to the episodes like the one where Victoria fell through the ice at Christmas..

If you watch it you'll see a massive sense of subtly to many things, a huge community feel, comedy and drama equally paced and a definite direction
I feel Emmerdale is on for the sake of it.. Each episode generally feels like they've created it for the sake of it with no point whatsoever and there's no reason to roote for the characters and they show no remorse or happiness when their current situation even ends..

If there's no light at the end of the tunnel, why should we care what the outcome will be?

completely disagree about aaron, he was a terrific and very likeable character, but i did get abit tired of him blubbing lol.

the wylde family were no worse then any other family that ed introduces to us randomly over the years, but nathan made them the best (?), i like the bartons but no so much the girls... but they were just girls, their ordinaryness made them believable as characters.

why was shadrach axed? did he want to leave? was his time up? or had they just run out of use for him... same with viv, she had been absent for a while before returning to be written out, i assumed it was deana payne who was ready to leave (pity, she was great comedic value at her best).

blyth didnt create the misery, blyth didnt split zack and caine, ashley and laurel, ashley and sandy, zack and lisa, chas/debbie/cameron, eric/val, john/moira, paddy/marlon, carity/edna, james/carl, many of those long standing strong relationships, all of those were down to blackburn and for that he will be remembered as the bloke who created miserydale.

disagree about ruby and dan, both are as dull as ditchwater, they totally fail to involke any warmth towards them from me.

but i agree that blackburn isnt the worst ever producer, why? because as i pointed out earlier up this thread, to make such a sweeping statement, youd have to have watched ALL the output over the last 40 years to decide, or have an informed oppinion on, who really was emmerdales worst ever producer.

Agreed.

He's made some good choices as well as some bad ones.

I thought Gavin Blyth did an excellent job turning the show around (it was in a pretty poor shape throughout 2007-08), and personally I'll always rate the Wylde storyline as one of the best ever in Emmerdale (though I know others may disagree...). Stuart Blackburn was always going to have a tough act to follow - the Jackson storyline dragged on a bit, but the denouement paid off and the aftermath was extremely well handled (involving and polarizing the entire village - very clever).

The Chas/Cameron/Carl/Dan storyline also dragged, but again an excellent pay-off.

His only major faux pas in my opinion is putting the Maceys in charge at Home Farm - they're just too dull to cut it as Emmy's leading family.

Overall, the anniversary week was pretty good. The festival the previous week didn't really work somehow - but the live episode was a triumph.

I couldn't agree more, especially about the Spencers, but also can't stand the introduction of Robbie who seems completely pointless now.

BIB #1 - Not necessarily. During Paddy's recent community service scenes, there were signs of a thaw between Marlon and Paddy. They are true friends and will end up back together, I'm sure. Every friendship needs a test to stay fresh, and involving the parentage of Leo - ideal considering Rhona has at one time or another been girlfriend to both - was a compelling test, if anything not milked enough. Rhona could have been explored more but she still seems prickly and unknowable.

BIB #2 - Debbie and particularly Gennie's births in the live ep were the key background stories of that episode. Both pregnancies were under very different circumstances and largely separate. Although I agree Rachel's pregnancy is one too far, but this is part of a wider problem in that there are just too damn many kids in Emmerdale!

BIB #3 - Come on, it's more like 2 years!

All true - GB also seemed to want to separate the Dingle family - during his tenure we didn't seem to get any of their full family scenes. I got the sense he didn't like their domination of the show and was gradually splitting them up. I hated that. So I certainly didn't idolise him.



Yep - GB started the repetition of lines as far as I can remember. SB has carried on where he left off.


True, there does appear to be a thaw between Paddy & Marlon.

Too many kids. Agreed.

Is is really 2 years? Blimey.

I just hate how so many couples/double acts seem to have been wrenched apart.

I have watched the show since it began.
Like many viewers and DS members.

It is only now that we have internet forums and there are loads of soap magazines, spoilers, press releases and tv coverage gossiping about soaps etc that it has become such a big talking point.
So it is only within the last few years that we even find out about a change of Producer.
We never commented before about such things because the information wasn't out there.


And as for Imonfire who quoted one of my posts and said my argument was one sided because it only pointed out the negative things SB has done, well, yes, guilty as charged.
I did only point out negatives.

I'm still deciding what things he's done that I like.

1) He sacked the Barton girls. Good decision. I didn't think either could act. [Shame this good thing is tainted by him not sacking their brother too! ]
2) Made Bob and Dan a comedy double act.
3) ......I'll give it some more thought.

I was a massive fan of Gavin Blyth's work. IMO he was one of the best ever soap producers, because he modernised Emmerdale without making it unrealistic and he kept its main roots.

The story arc of the Wyldes that he had planned out from start to finish was amazing. The way they entered to every twist and turn, it was fantastic to watch. It never got repetitive as the story kept going in a different direction every week. They were a cut above the rest which made them perfect for Home Farm. And they interacted with other villagers who enjoyed to gossip about them and it brought the villagers together, similarly to the Kings & Tates. Take note here Blackburn, that the Maceys aren't a big talking point in Emmerdale. They are just another plain family. I would be able to take their storylines much more if they lived in the village. They just suck the life out of Home Farm.

Charlie the conman was certainly not a plot device. If they had wanted Chas to take over the pub, they could have gone a much easier way about it. Charlie was a fascinating character and he brought Diane's character back to life. And I thought it was great how the storyline divided the viewers as some people genuinely believed he was dying.

I also thought the axing of Shadrach was a fantastic move. He was a good character, but where else could you go with him? He was turning very panto, and Blyth was trying to cut out this element of ED (hence the splitting up of the Dingles). The Dingles needed bringing back to their core family unit of Sam, Belle, Zak & Lisa and killing off Shadrach provided some shocking and moving scenes, His final plot was a stroke of genius as Shadrach was primarily a comedy character. His final episode remains one of my all time favourites of ED, as it mixed with Diane finding out the truth about Charlie.

One of Gavin's weaknesses was sidelining the more established cast in favour of the Wyldes, Bartons & Aaron, but I forgave this as he gave Shadrach & Diane fantastic plots.

Admittedly Gavin's biggest mistake was axing Viv. This was a shocking move IMO and the obvious aim was to replace Viv with a more modern version in Brenda, but this hasn't worked. Yes, the character lived in the past, but she was a classic ED character who I felt needed to be kept. As now we have lost that big gossip element in the show, due to Viv dying and people like Betty reducing their hours. Terry's axing however was long called for. Ever since Chris Tate died his character just seemed to be there doing nothing.

Interestingly I was reading an article earlier and the saviour sibling storyline was planned for before Charley Webb (Debbie) went on maternity leave, and I think that was 2010, but they had to postpone it till she returned. I personally think under Gavin the storyline would have been handled much better as he was great providing the audience with twists and turns. It wouldn't have become a subplot for cheating, affairs and couples breaking up.

Blyth did ultimately back Jackson's character into a corner, and this in turn ruined Aaron's character, and I do wonder how he would have handled the aftermath and Jackson's exit, because storylines like this, the saviour sibling and Lisa's rape were all his idea. Also interestingly he said he had a couple of big things on the way for the Thomases. I do wonder if Blackburn changed this? Maybe an original story was for Sally to return?

Frankly yes, a portion of the blame can be placed on storyliners/writers for things but he gets the overall decision so the blame must rest with him.
That new family are awful, just awful, there so common its dull, he turned Ashley into a violent nasty man, he paired Laurel and Marlon together, he split up Paddy and Marlons bromance, there have been so many affairs and almost all storyline revolve around sex which is tiresome.
The thing that clinches it for me is the fact he deludes himself and doesn't listen to what fans want and he seems to live in a fantasy world, saying people love Maurel as a couple, no they don't, saying nobody knew who was going to be murdered, please everyones known for months.

All she did was bully some kid. She makes Blackburn look good.

I would've said killing off Viv was a bad decision if she had not been ruined years before.

The whole Dr. Viv/Viv has twins/Viv in prison era really destroyed the credibility of the character.

Breaking up Marlon and Paddy was a disaster! They were comedic genius sometimes and now it's all miserable stares , fights and Maurel (eurghhhhhh)
Gennie's pregnancy story was one of the only things keeping me interested, but as for the other two baby storylines.... The Rachel one is ridiculous and I'm fed up of them making her the 'victim' because she is not in the slightest and I don't feel sorry for her whatsoever. Jai and charity were my fave couple... Debbie's saviour sibling story could have been good as its not really explored, but it ended up as an excuse for the affair with chas and cam which did the original story (Sarah's illness) no justice at all.
Killing Carl. ... Well I'm thinking what everyone else is saying. Disaster. Especially the attempted rape. Chas and Carl were always made for each other and I can't be the only one who wanted a reunion... The 'old Carl' would never have dreamed of raping her. Character assassination.
The Spencer's - yes I like dan but I can't stand the rest of them.
So IMO SB has done ED barely any favours.

A few characters may have left just before Stuart took over, in which case he was silly to axe any more characters. A few I remember leaving in 2011 were:

Maisie and Will
Viv and Terry
Faye and Ryan
Scarlett and Eve
Roz

And Declan's dad, Ella and Mia after I had stopped watching.

but who were axed (against their will)?
whos contract was up? (new characters have a fixed term contract that might be extended)
and who wanted to leave, having other things to do?

father jack went of his own accord... i believe eve did too, dunno about others.

While I agree that there was a truly awful period of Emmerdale around summer 2008 under Anita Turner, where bad comedy storylines like Doug's crabs and Gennie trashing the vets dominated, I also found some parts of Turner's reign (particularly the second half from autumn 2008 to early 2009) quite brilliant. Turner got the comedy all wrong, but there were some fantastic dramatic storyline arcs during her time on the show - such as the Shane Doyle murder - which involved a large number of characters and upheld the community feel of the show. The handling of Jack Sugden's death was done sensitively and tastefully with the emergence of a new Sugden family unit in the immediate aftermath (sadly subsequently undone by Gavin Blyth). The Kings similarly were condensed into the realistic unit of Jimmy, Nicola, Carl, Lexi and Scarlett - which had lots of storyline potential.

In terms of irrevocable damage to the show, Stuart Blackburn has been far more damaging than Anita Turner ever was. Under Blackburn, we got:

- The destruction of the Aaron and Hazel characters. Both had been good under the previous producer but were ruined through overkill and the nonsensical AS plot.

- The destruction of Ashley - once a good vicar, husband, father, pillar of the community, the voice of reason - Ashley has been trashed to the point that no future producer will be able to completely redeem him - he will never be able to be a part of the church again for example, as no effort was made to realistically rehabilitate him through that channel. He can't be put back with Laurel either without seriously compromising him - since she's become so utterly vile and unreasonable towards him.

- The destruction of Laurel - popular character played by a fantastic actress, who had developed enormously through a range of gripping plots over the years, ruined not by the unlikely pairing with Marlon, but by the completely out-of-character way she's acted towards Ashley in the aftermath of the breakdown of their marriage. Viewers will never forgive her this - even those who once loved her.

- The killing of Carl King - unnecessary stunt death, hastily thought-up and plotted as a way of bolstering the live episode, denying viewers forever of a satisfactory resolution to the Tom King murder secret and Chas/Carl on-off love story. It also weakens Jimmy's character.

- The offscreen death of Mia Macey - this may not seem important to everyone, but the Mia character was effectively the daughter of two male leads and a link between two family units - the Maceys and the Sharmas - as the biological daughter of Jai and presumed daughter of Declan. It was unnecessary to kill her off offscreen when she'd already been written out - which denied a future producer the chance of bringing her back at a later date to cause havoc for these two families.

Other decisions such as weakening patriarch Zak, breaking up the Paddy/Marlon friendship, Val and Eric pandering after Amy and the horriblification of Rhona have all been damaging but in theory could be reversed in the future.

The only real irrevocable damage I can think of from Anita Turner was turning Andy into a wife-beater - though I'm not sure if that wasn't plotted by Kathleen Beddles.

Turner's introduction of the Gennie character was unfortunate and sloppy, but Gennie has gone on to become a decent character and good addition to the cast. Doug's crabs was one of the most embarassing moments in the show's history - but it didn't ruin the Doug character - and it was lack of material under GB and SB that pushed that actor out of the show rather than AT's dodgy plot.

My humble point of view as a viewer is that SB IS the worst Emmerdale producer ever - simply because he's the only one who pushed me to tune off completely. I'm sure there have been bad'uns further away in the past, whose faults we now remember less well due to the passing of time (Morag Bain springs to mind), but personally I have found the deliberate eradication of the show's unique identity under SB shocking. Roll on the replacement - and let's hope he doesn't make any more irrevocable decisions before he goes.

Agree.

I detest the Maurel storyline and that is one thing I don't like about Stuart Blackburn to me he does not across as slight pompous. Its almost like how care you not like what I have done.

Well I don't and will be glad to see the back of him and I can only hope that the new producer will be better.

another example of babies ruining things.

I actually think he has been a good producer. Yes there are some storylines that i really dont like (such as the marlon/laurel relationship) but no one is ever going to like every single storyline.

The 40th anniversary stuff has been fantastic and gripping. I've read some comments about him getting rid of Carl being a mistake, and to be honest, it was predictible, I'm really gutted to see him ago, & i would have liked his relationship with Chas tied up differently. But really, before the build up to his departure, Carl had become a bit of a 'loose part', he didnt have a story of his own so he was a good character to lose. If it would have been Alan or Betty or someone like that who died, 'everyone' would have been moanin about the anti climax. For is to be a sensational killing off & for it to impact, it needs to be a 'main' character, so in that respect well done to Emmerdale.

I like how the Spencers have been developed, they've not really had any of their own storylines but they have developed as characters, which is a nice change in soap. Although the Rachel pregnancy is a bit blah and repetitive, I'm looking forward to Charity finding out. Could this be a way of getting her back with Cain? Given they have become very close of late (due to Debbie's storylines).

I also praise the story with Ashley and Sandy. It did have a negative impact on the character and his relationship with Laurel, but it was great to see it develop and for the viewer to see a different side of the character. Many other producers/writers would have had Ashley hit the bottle, but he went in a different direction completely, and it was beliveable.

I'm disappointed they have split up Paddy and Marlon but they is quite good how they have got viewers divided on sides. Plus it's good to see that side of Paddy too. In true soap style i'm sure they'll be best mates this time next year haha

May be a controversial view, but killing Carl is probably the only thing he has got right.
It's credit to Tom lister that he made Carl so convincingly tw*ttish but he had to get his comeuppance and it was getting boring him being him.
Everything else, the saviour sibling storyline that became all about Debbie, the hideous abortion of a couple that is maurel, the chavs, jai and Rachel, all poorly written, badly executed, not particularly well acted at times and frequently ridiculous.
During his time it seems to have become The eastenders of the north which is precisely the opposite of what many of us like emmerdale for. The whole gritty misery of walford is out of place in the dales and i really hope when blackburn goes he takes it with him.

I don't agree at all. The live episode was full of humour and even tonight's very dark and gritty episode, was offset by the humour of Gennie and the Sharmas. If anything SB has bought some humour BACK to Emmerdale - when Blyth was around there was none at all.