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Best and Worst EE Producers


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Old 25-05-2015, 03:10
Austin_Pearce
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In your opinion, who was the worst EastEnders producer and who was the best? My favorites are Louise Berridge and John Yorke. My worst would be Lorraine "Love and Warmth" Newman and Bryan "HollyEnders" Kirkwood. Be sure to put your favorite and least favorite characters that were introduced by any of these producers.
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Old 25-05-2015, 09:21
Louise_Hart
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Best, John York, Mathew Robinson and Deitrick Santa

Worst, Lorrane Newman and Brian Kirkwood
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Old 25-05-2015, 09:26
Sandsss
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Best - John Yorke, Diederick Santer, Matthew Robinson, DTC

Worst - Lorraine Newman, Bryan Kirkwood
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Old 25-05-2015, 09:30
lionkingonstage
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The worst for me was Kate Harwood. Look how she treated the Fowler family. Never forgive her for how she shoved off my favourite character!
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Old 25-05-2015, 09:44
D. Morgan
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Best - Julia Smith, Matthew Robinson, John Yorke and Diederick Santer

Worst - Bryan Kirkwood, Kathleen Hutchinson, Louise Berridge, Lorraine Newman
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Old 25-05-2015, 09:44
Mormon Girl
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The worst for me was Kate Harwood. Look how she treated the Fowler family. Never forgive her for how she shoved off my favourite character!
You don't hate Kate Harwood do you?
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Old 25-05-2015, 09:48
bass55
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Best: Julia Smith, Michael Ferguson, Matthew Robinson, John Yorke.

Worst: Kirkwood by a mile.

Louise Berridge really wasn't that bad.
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Old 25-05-2015, 09:59
NoughtiesMusic
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The ultimate worst had to be Bryan Kirkwood and Lorraine Newman. Not one questionable EP came close to those two and the mess the left on EE.

Honourable mention goes to Kate Harwood for making 2006 a really crappy year, despite introducing characters ended up being really good - Denise, Tanya, Max, Sean to name a few.

I'll defend Louise Berridge until my face turns blue!! She was the victim of bad circumstances. The only real duffers she made were the Ferreiras, axing Mark Fowler, Barry and Roy Evans. Think about these factors:

1. Various characters had to be written out due to personal issues, thus forcing scripts to be altered.
2. The crew struggled with the transition to four episodes per week.
3. Berridge herself was the subject of a stalker making things even doubly difficult.

Her heart was in the right place and she started off really well. And don't forget the excellent characters that were introduced during her tenure, not least Stacey Slater. She would've had a brilliant EE run had it not been for all those circumstances.
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Old 25-05-2015, 10:04
lionkingonstage
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You don't hate Kate Harwood do you?
Yes I do.
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Old 25-05-2015, 10:06
Adrian_Ward1
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Lorraine Newman worse
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Old 25-05-2015, 10:09
dazza89
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One Exec Producer who was in charge in the early 90s was Michael Ferguson he picked Eastenders up after it had a bit of a lull after the Juila Smith era ended, he was responsible for creating the Mitchell brothers and was behind story lines like the Eddie Royle murder, Nick poisoning Dot, Mark's HIV and Diane Butcher's homelessness. Obviously he is from a long time ago but he certainly doesn't get the credit he deserves, his legacy still lives on today with the Mitchell family and the story line involving Nick poisoning Dot has been mentioned a few times during the last few months and is considered the finest Dot/Nick moment by many fans and he was behind the soaps first ever HIV character. A great Producer for Eastenders that is often overlooked!

Jane Harris is another who done a great job, she brought back Frank and Dot and was behind stories like Phil's alcoholism, Ricky and Bianca's wedding, Joe's Schizophrenia and Cindy trying to kill Ian and running away with the kids. She was also behind those famous Ireland episodes but her era was on the whole brilliant.
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Old 25-05-2015, 10:53
Mormon Girl
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You shouldn't hate her at all you don't even know her so how can you hate her? She may be a really nice person. Hate is a strong word so you shouldn't hate her. Kate arwood bought Grant back twice and she did the Normandy episodes with Nana and Alfie Moon and she introduced Bradley, Sean, Tanya, Max, Lauren and Abi.
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Old 25-05-2015, 10:55
0...0
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The ultimate worst had to be Bryan Kirkwood and Lorraine Newman. Not one questionable EP came close to those two and the mess the left on EE.

Honourable mention goes to Kate Harwood for making 2006 a really crappy year, despite introducing characters ended up being really good - Denise, Tanya, Max, Sean to name a few.

I'll defend Louise Berridge until my face turns blue!! She was the victim of bad circumstances. The only real duffers she made were the Ferreiras, axing Mark Fowler, Barry and Roy Evans. Think about these factors:

1. Various characters had to be written out due to personal issues, thus forcing scripts to be altered.
2. The crew struggled with the transition to four episodes per week.
3. Berridge herself was the subject of a stalker making things even doubly difficult.

Her heart was in the right place and she started off really well. And don't forget the excellent characters that were introduced during her tenure, not least Stacey Slater. She would've had a brilliant EE run had it not been for all those circumstances.
I agree with you and especially 're LB. Her era started really strong and under different circumstances we could have been hailing the great Ferreira Dad under concrete plot and the revival of Den Watts.

Amazing what damage a revoked visa and a webcam can do! Chaos Theory in action.

Also v good point from Dazza.
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Old 25-05-2015, 10:57
lou_123
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Best - Julia Smith, John Yorke & Deirderek Santer (I've watched since 2007 regularly and his era was so consistent & enjoyable IMO).

Worst - Bryan Kirkwood, Loraine Newman.
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Old 25-05-2015, 12:23
NoughtiesMusic
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Jane Harris and Matthew Robinson IMO are under appreciated. Glad that some of the comments above credit them, but they get forgotten amidst the John Yorkes and Diedrick Santers.

I started watching EE while Harris was the EP, circa 1996 the Blackpool episodes. The mid to late 90s were thoroughly enjoyable. In that time, Tiffany Raymond/Mitchell became my all time favourites Easties character. Just an icon was our Tiff. Plus Joe Wicks was an excellent young character who should've stuck around longer. His schizophrenia storyline was a good 12-13 years before Stacey Slater's bipolar storyline and they tackled the issue really well. Paul Nicholls has had a fairly decent post-EE acting career and was recently in the brilliant C-Word with Sheridan Smith. Michael French shouldn't have left last year, as it could've been a reason to possibly bring back Joe. Ian is his uncle so there is at least one family connection.

Robinson oversaw that brilliant Steve Owen/Matthew Rose/Saskia Duncan storyline. That remains one of the all-time best EE plots. I liked a number of the characters during that time. Personally thought the Di Marcos were underrated and quite gutted when John Yorke axed them.
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Old 25-05-2015, 13:24
Mr Patrick
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Best: Santer, DTC Can't really remember after that as I was child back then

Worst Bryan Kirkwood and Lorraine newman
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Old 25-05-2015, 13:26
boddism
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What happened to the guy who played Matthew Rose?? Thought he was great on EE.
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Old 25-05-2015, 13:37
lionkingonstage
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You shouldn't hate her at all you don't even know her so how can you hate her? She may be a really nice person. Hate is a strong word so you shouldn't hate her. Kate arwood bought Grant back twice and she did the Normandy episodes with Nana and Alfie Moon and she introduced Bradley, Sean, Tanya, Max, Lauren and Abi.
I'll say what I like thanks. Do I tell you not to preach about Jo Joyner on every thread?
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Old 25-05-2015, 13:42
KieranDS
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Best - Matthew Robinson.
Worst - Brian Kirkwood.
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Old 25-05-2015, 13:54
NoughtiesMusic
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What happened to the guy who played Matthew Rose?? Thought he was great on EE.
Joe Absolom is still acting. He has been a regular on ITV's Doc Martin for years and has appeared on various other shows. He's done a number of mini-series and one off dramas. I remember seeing him in an excellent one off called Unconditional Love in early 2003. He was most recently in episodes of Midsomer Murders and Death in Paradise.

Here's a recent interview with him. He said he's skint but doesn't seem to be too fazed:

http://www.whatsontv.co.uk/tv-news/n...e-was-worth-it
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Old 25-05-2015, 13:56
attitude99
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Best: DTC, Kathleen Hutchison, Lorraine Newman, Louise Berridge, Matthew Robinson, John Yorke, Diedrick Santer

Worst: Bryan Kirkwood,
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Old 25-05-2015, 13:57
NoughtiesMusic
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Barbara Emile was behind Sharongate, wasn't she?
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Old 25-05-2015, 13:58
attitude99
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Barbara Emile was behind Sharongate, wasn't she?
Yes, she was
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Old 25-05-2015, 14:01
Ross_W
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Dominic Treadwell-Collins is nowhere near good enough to be the best, and believe it or not, Julia Smith was not the best either.

The best? Matthew Robinson.

The worst? Lorraine Newman. Yep, that's right. Bryan Kirkwood made some massive mistakes, but on the whole, he delivered us a handful of fantastic moments. Don't forget that Billie's death and Janine's fantastic 2011 (the first time we had seen the real Janine since she returned in 2008) were thanks to Kirkwood (and this is coming from somebody that cannot abide Berkwood!). Newman quite literally brought nothing to the show.
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Old 25-05-2015, 14:06
NoughtiesMusic
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Wasn't Billie's death, while a good storyline, apparently due to Kirkwood not being a fan of Devon Anderson? They worked together on HO when Devon was the original Sonny Valentine.
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