Jenna was acting before ED and did numerous other roles after leaving ED before she nade it big in DR Who. It is therefore nonsense to suggest she is an ED product.
I like Jenna and pleased she's doing well. She's surprised me because i didn't think she was all that good in ED. By the time i saw her in Waterloo Road she had improved a lot and I was sure she'd go on to better roles.

If Michael Parr leaves ED and walks straight into a good role that is of a higher standard than a soap then I would say ED played a part in his success because that is where he made it. He will be seen as an ED product.
Sammy Winward has got off to an encouraging start. If she gets more good roles after Prey, then that will be a feather in the ED hat as she is most definately a product of the show .

Was she?

Started off in a theatre company.

I'm confused. Why is ED where Michael made it but not where Jenna made it?


Ok. But that's how she got Emmerdale and then Emmerdale is how she got her other roles. Are you saying she'd have walked into DW without making a name for herself first?

(I know quoting myself but it's too late to edit)

In addition to this, if I went to see a play in a theatre and said someone put in an excellent performance, would you then criticize my opinion and tell me that they are not good enough to be in movies?

No, because it is quite obvious I am talking about a theatre performance and not a movie or drama one.

Plenty of fans state they have players good enough to play at a higher level. Plenty of fans irrationally take a dislike to world class players, so not sure how football fans can be held as an example of realism.

Besides, does it really matter if people get carried away about soap actors? Does every comment or statement on a forum require critical thinking and analysis? Because that would just strip the fun and joy out of everything.

If you look at Jenna's IMDB site emmerdale is prominent in her BIO, no disclaimers at all So admit it spunger whether you like it or not she learned her craft working on a soap and experience has improved that. The same would happen with anyone that left emmerdale and then worked in other shows

Ironically Karl Davies was axed by ED but he can be counted as an ED success story. But he is a supporting actor not a leading man and I asked where are the stars produced by ED in the last 40 + years? They should have produced one by now considering it is filled with amazingly brilliant actors.

She did not finish on ED and move onto higher quality roles. She moved sideways for years before moving up a level to Dr Who. Yes ED was a part of her training but she is no more a product of ED than she is of Waterloo Road or her theatre company.

Ireland have a pretty small tv industry but many of our most successful actors have been in soaps or continuing dramas. Australia is the same

I think tbh the English media type cast English soap actors to the extent where it's difficult to get other work especially if you stay too long.

Yes Gabriel Byrne was in a soap as was Colin Farrell, to name just 2 who went on from soap to become leading actors

Nothing major is given away but the video previews for next week are here: http://www.itv.com/emmerdale

The atmosphere is electric, I'm not getting good vibes for Valerie and we have three confirmed survivors it seems.

The timeline between ED and making her name in DR Who is too big. Sarah Lancashire and Surrane Jones went straight from Corrie and on to a higher level of show. So they are both products of Corrie. If Michael Parr leaves ED and goes into sonething like Holby then onto another soapie level show and years later then makes it big, that wont be straight off the back of being in ED so he couldn't be classed as an ED product

The acting in Dr Who is worse than that of a soap so why is Dr Who regarded as being higher quality than a soap?

Not to mention the budget appears to be much less.

Is this a joke post?
Dr Who attracts quality well respected actors for guest roles and the budge is way above that of a soap. The writers are also very highly respected.
I'm not even a fan of Dr Who. Give me Z Nation every day of the week.

Dr Who nowadays is complete crap. Do people really still watch it?

*Counts to ten*

I agree. Christopher Eccleston and David tenant in particular are fantastic actors.

Sorry, but this is just tosh. You basically just make up rules to suit yourself. "Oh, nobody's ever come out of ED!" "What about this person, and this person and this person?" "Oh they don't count".

Let's get back to talking about and enjoying ED. if you don't or can't or can't be bothered, don't talk down to all those of us who do.

Ex soap actors have to go to auditions as do 99.9% of all actors.
The ones who get the roles are the ones who give the best audition and closest to what tge production company are looking for. A quality and successful production company would be shooting themselves in the foot if they didn't give a role to an actor who was what they were looking for just because that actor used to be in a soap. Too much is at stake to start messing about and taking second best

Nevermind this actor and that actor. Not one fm has come up with one single ED actor who left ED and became a star/leading actor straight off the back of being in ED. Some even try to claim Jason Merelles as an ED product.:blush
But you are right enough of this in here. This is what the deceased Past and Presant thread was for.

Since the gorgeous Karen Gillain left. Amy Pond was so quirky and adorable.
But the show is still a big earner worldwide for the BBC.

In your opinion - I found her very irritating and the continual gurning was awful - I was delighted when she finally left as for me she ruined many scenes she appeared in.

The only 2 good things about the Amy period were the young girl who played Amelia and Rory - in my opinion of course.

Anyway back on topic I hope that Emmerdale will be able to sustain decent storylines etc in the event aftermath - sometimes they concentrate on the big event so much that the immediate episodes suffer.

It's this kind of logic that genuinely makes me wonder what you're even doing on a soap forum? I think it's very narrow minded of you to think that soap actors aren't able to deliver performances that match up to the performances of actors in other fields. They're not lesser actors just because they're on a soap.... this is something that I feel quite passionate about and it is a myth that I was hoping was starting to be dispelled.

Agreed. What exactly is so bad about being in a soap? Why would it be considered a lesser job? Especially if it's ED? I'll tell you something, I would love a job on my favourite soap! I would pinch myself over how lucky I'd got and be so damned grateful to have had such an opportunity. Being a well known character on a top soap, on first name terms with all the characters I've watched and admired for years and a megabucks paycheque which even for one year is more than I'll ever see in my entire life, yes it's a really unenviable job isn't it? I seriously couldn't care less if I never went on to anything 'bigger', or indeed anything else full stop, the fact I'd actually been lucky enough to work in my favourite show would be more than enough for me. And if I could work on any soap? ED would be my one and only choice every time, I don't care how much 'bigger' the others are or make you, bigger doesn't mean better.