And I completely disagree...

Carters everywhere and a handful of secondary characters, who disappear for weeks on end, is not their best cast ever.

Thoughts?

http://m.digitalspy.co.uk/soaps/s2/e...-off-show.html

The cast is fantastic. It's the use of them that's the problem.

That's such a DTC thing to say. He's like a cat trying to climb up a slide, but in this scenario the slide is DTC's arse.

If he thinks the cast is so amazing, then why doesn't he make use of half of them?

It's a very good cast, but I completely agree and have said this many times. They're not used in the right way at all. They disappear for weeks on end and it's so tedious. Kat is slotted whenever/wherever, and I care a lot more for the long serving characters, than all of the characters DTC has introduced. Also, Stacey is a shadow of her former self. I do think the cast is great now, but it's definitely not the best they've ever had.

Grant, Peggy, Pat, Pauline, Janine, Bianca, Ricky, Frank, etc... Were all on the show together before (I think anyway), and that's when the cast was at it's absolute peak IMO.

I agree. However the cast itself is by and large an impressive one as regards acting.

The secondary characters are used in such a dull way. They'll appear for a few episodes with a weak storyline and we're expected to care, then they'll bore off again for a few weeks or more. The secondary characters back a few years ago (Minty, Gary, Heather, etc...) were always a joy to watch and a lot of the time provided a bit of banter. They fit in really well with the community and blended in very well. Now compare them to Les & Pam. They've been in the show for about a year and have received pretty much no development, yet we're expected to care when we find out Les is having an affair with anther character (Who has also disappeared).

I agree with this. The show is full with great actors and actress's, but characterisation wise, the cast are not a delight to watch, like they once were, which is a shame. A lot of characters are going round in circles. Kat gets pissed every other week, Roxy's shagging Ronnie's fella again, and Sharon is telling Phil to be careful, again. Where's this strong and feisty Sharon DTC promised us? Sharon has been improved, but she's still Phil's little puppet.

It's an extremely strong cast, possibly the strongest since about 2005. They're just being badly used...that's why the cast is appearing weaker than it actually is

We have Ian, Kathy, Phil, Dot, Sharon, Martin, Sonia, Carol, Kat, Alfie, Stacey, Shirley, Ronnie, Roxy, Jane, Max, Patrick etc.

However, a great number of these characters are being sacrificed for the sake of the precious Carters

As a collective it's strong. We have Mitchells, Fowlers, Beales, Wickes, Jacksons, Slaters, Brannings, Moons, Cottons, Masoods and carters - essentially the majority of the big families from the last 30 years.

There are big characters from the 89s, 90s and 00s all representing different eras of the show.

It's definitely the strongest cast in about 10 years.

They are a great cast, but the trouble is he has made nearly everyone unlikable.... the Beales, Charlie, Roxy, Alfie, most of the Carters and Max. I won't include the Mitchells and Carol because they've stayed pretty much the same, that is, mostly miserable.

I think sharon is ok and although Roxy is being a cow, she isn't acting out of character.

I think Kathy will reunite with phil and perhaps grant will return for sharon.

Exactly. There is a good representation of the 80s, 90s and 00s in the current cast, but they are being horribly underused due to the obsession with the Carters. Nobody will look back at this era and think "I wish we'd seen more of the Carters"; they will be wondering why the rest of the excellent cast wasn't exploited to its full potential.

Female cast is strong with Laila being the only weak link

The male big cast are awful and all the good ones (lee, Ben, jay, Liam) are secondary characters. Dean and Charlie are the only decent ones features a lot actor wise but Dean is on a shelf life and I think Charlie is going the same way now.

Mick is awful and he is the main star these days. He's turning it into the mock Carter show and Shirley and Linda get a lot of screentime as a result. Their characters get ruined as a result. I think his obsession with his late father and mock is going to far and ruining ee. I feel bad his dad does and the learning to swim was a good storyline but the character is shoehorned everywhere and is awful and has had a personality swap to from boring from repetive scenes and overexpoure to blood boiling, dull, tiring and unbearable character.

I'd agree that the cast is very strong and the characters they have are particularly good ones for the most part. There's very little dead weight at the moment. I disagree that the Carters are to be blamed for every ill on the show, but I would agree that several characters are underused and/or are going around in circles.

I agree to some excent, imo, EE have the best characters/actors in soap.

I don't agree. I think the cast of Emmerdale are much better actors.

I think it was stronger a year ago when we had David Wicks, Bianca, Peter, Johnny, Lucy and Lauren. Timothy West was also only settling into his full time role.

Now they've all gone. Kalfie and Cora are going on breaks and Kathy hasn't returned yet.

Weakest it's been in years with the Carter domination and more of it to come.

Ratings are dreadful as well

I agree. Bianca and Lucy especially were great additions to the cast. Lucy would've been a nice replacement for Janine if she hadn't have been killed off.

If he has axed Ann Mitchell then I will have to disagree.

Then again, you're bias. I don't think the cast will fall apart just because Cora has left.

Everyone here is biased though. Some people think the Carters are dragging the show down others do not. Some think Phil always winning is ruining the show others disagree etc etc.

I actually think they have a very strong cast. Just need to use them better.

I agree about David, Bianca (and Stan) are a big loss. but I do like having Martin back, still hope they can develop Charlie and, as you say, Kathy is on her way.

Of course if Janine, Zainab and Jean were to return the show would improve no end...IMO.

Cora leaving would leave a casting gap - with Dot inside and Stan dead, that only really leaves Patrick and Les/ Pam in the 'older' section of the cast, which is a shame, as the regeneration of the older cast is something I applaud DTC for doing!