What I think...
EastEnders and Coronation Street similar soaps? Not in my eyes. EastEnders is meant to be about gritty drama in the mains. Coronation Street is dramatic in a kind of camp way mainly, with some grit.
Obviously the show needs good scripts and storylines.
The storylines need to be hard, real, eventful, character driven and gritty. They need to be original and not stupid too, do not recycle storylines and use them as main ones. My ideas for storylines would be late coming out (a man with grown children (maybe teens or young adults) has an affair with someone he had in his childhood briefly, reason for not coming out is because his father killed a man for being gay and made him watch him do it (back story part)), child leukaemia (I know it’s really sad, maybe too sad for EE, but it’s gritty and original), a very gritty spectacular stunt (try and beat Emmerdale stunt standards, it well be hard as the square isn’t as dangerous as the village).
If I was exec, over the next 2 years, my 6 main storylines would be a big affair (the late coming out one, no stupid little affairs like now, a break from affairs is need to so I'd have that in the second year), a big stunt, a whodunit (something gritty and original, make the whodunit Broadchurch standard, which would also be hard to beat) and the rest issue based.
The writing team needs a big revamp; it is dreadful at the moment. Obviously keep Mr Ashdown. The team needs 2 new writers that are Tony Jordan/Simon Ashdown (and maybe Sarah Phelps) standard too, in addition to the revamp.
Also, humour should not be shown in a way that interrupts dramatic scenes, like in the Vic fire with Peggy’s “Get out everyone get out pub’s on fire!!” line. In day to day episodes and stuff like that, it’s fine. EE humour from the good old days needs to be understood well too, like the bitchy scenes with fabulous one liners.
Do your research – the researching of the EE team is really bad. The team needs to research better, or get a better research team! This will stop the show getting complaints for insulting people’s intelligence (baby swap being a big example).
SAVE ALL CHARACTERS – that desperately needs to be done, they need to be written as they know and how they are liked (in a way that fits in with what they would be like now, i.e. their age and after what they went through etc). Sharon especially.
A few more teens need to be axed too (especially considering that Mick and Linda’s children could be their age if they come in), Fatboy and Tamwar would be 2 on my list. Fatboy is likable, but no storylines left for him. Bring a few oldies in that are Patrick/Cora/Dot’s age, maybe the Carter’s mother or father? Ada Fox? (assuming they are not dead). The show has had enough returns imo, though I wouldn’t say no to Grant Mitchell returning; as long as he is written well again after his fail of a return last time. A big villain or two needs to be brought in to, sure Janine’s more bitchy side again (keep her inner side too). Cast number should be kept to 50 or below. Good actors only too.
Don’t chicken out! Push the boundaries more!! Obviously I wouldn’t want them to do that so people’s intelligence are insulted, but make things more grim, violent etc; as long as it doesn’t break the pre-watershed rules of course. Casualty gets away with it (even though it’s sometimes after 9), so do the same with EE!
Not only EastEnders needs to be put back on form again, it also needs to be taken into 2013 more. Make what the show is known for to be expressed more, and taken into a slightly new 2013 direction. Make it really big again. The most talked about dramas these days are shows like Broadchurch and Breaking Bad, EastEnders needs to try and be put back into that status maybe using some of those techniques (haven't really seen Breaking Bad so I can't really tell if they should use techniques from that), but kept in the EastEnders spirit.
EastEnders and Coronation Street similar soaps? Not in my eyes. EastEnders is meant to be about gritty drama in the mains. Coronation Street is dramatic in a kind of camp way mainly, with some grit.
Obviously the show needs good scripts and storylines.
The storylines need to be hard, real, eventful, character driven and gritty. They need to be original and not stupid too, do not recycle storylines and use them as main ones. My ideas for storylines would be late coming out (a man with grown children (maybe teens or young adults) has an affair with someone he had in his childhood briefly, reason for not coming out is because his father killed a man for being gay and made him watch him do it (back story part)), child leukaemia (I know it’s really sad, maybe too sad for EE, but it’s gritty and original), a very gritty spectacular stunt (try and beat Emmerdale stunt standards, it well be hard as the square isn’t as dangerous as the village).
If I was exec, over the next 2 years, my 6 main storylines would be a big affair (the late coming out one, no stupid little affairs like now, a break from affairs is need to so I'd have that in the second year), a big stunt, a whodunit (something gritty and original, make the whodunit Broadchurch standard, which would also be hard to beat) and the rest issue based.
The writing team needs a big revamp; it is dreadful at the moment. Obviously keep Mr Ashdown. The team needs 2 new writers that are Tony Jordan/Simon Ashdown (and maybe Sarah Phelps) standard too, in addition to the revamp.
Also, humour should not be shown in a way that interrupts dramatic scenes, like in the Vic fire with Peggy’s “Get out everyone get out pub’s on fire!!” line. In day to day episodes and stuff like that, it’s fine. EE humour from the good old days needs to be understood well too, like the bitchy scenes with fabulous one liners.
Do your research – the researching of the EE team is really bad. The team needs to research better, or get a better research team! This will stop the show getting complaints for insulting people’s intelligence (baby swap being a big example).
SAVE ALL CHARACTERS – that desperately needs to be done, they need to be written as they know and how they are liked (in a way that fits in with what they would be like now, i.e. their age and after what they went through etc). Sharon especially.
A few more teens need to be axed too (especially considering that Mick and Linda’s children could be their age if they come in), Fatboy and Tamwar would be 2 on my list. Fatboy is likable, but no storylines left for him. Bring a few oldies in that are Patrick/Cora/Dot’s age, maybe the Carter’s mother or father? Ada Fox? (assuming they are not dead). The show has had enough returns imo, though I wouldn’t say no to Grant Mitchell returning; as long as he is written well again after his fail of a return last time. A big villain or two needs to be brought in to, sure Janine’s more bitchy side again (keep her inner side too). Cast number should be kept to 50 or below. Good actors only too.
Don’t chicken out! Push the boundaries more!! Obviously I wouldn’t want them to do that so people’s intelligence are insulted, but make things more grim, violent etc; as long as it doesn’t break the pre-watershed rules of course. Casualty gets away with it (even though it’s sometimes after 9), so do the same with EE!
Not only EastEnders needs to be put back on form again, it also needs to be taken into 2013 more. Make what the show is known for to be expressed more, and taken into a slightly new 2013 direction. Make it really big again. The most talked about dramas these days are shows like Broadchurch and Breaking Bad, EastEnders needs to try and be put back into that status maybe using some of those techniques (haven't really seen Breaking Bad so I can't really tell if they should use techniques from that), but kept in the EastEnders spirit.
