It's great to see two of Walford's only original stars left still in key scenes.....tonight with the Lucy Beale sage, Letitia Dean and Adam Woodyatt work so well together and it's great to see the writers remember their key friendship with old references to the past! Can't wait to see them in scenes with another of Walford's originals.....Kathy!!

Kathy Comes Home soon can't wait to see Ian and Sharon's faces.

I enjoyed it too. Beautifully written as well.

Agreed, they were fantastic tonight.

I enjoyed their scenes tonight. Ian and Sharon are best mates but when Kathy comes back, Ian may be torn between Kathy and Sharon (obviously he will side with Kathy).

Not so sure Kathy has abandoned Ian and Ben.

Ian and Sharon are great together

Based on how they're writing Sharon, when Kathy comes home Sharon'll be nowhere to be seen and simply turn up a few episodes later after being filled in off screen.

Wonderful scenes. Shazza isn't fully back to her best but she has improved immeasurably this calendar year, hopefully the best is still to come with the arrival of Gavin.

Sharon has actually been back for nearly three years now!

Let's face it the first two were a write off. I wish they'd held her return back until they actually knew what to do with her. I sometimes get the feeling they still haven't a clue.

I actually didn't like the writing for Sharon tonight.

August 2012 to last year she was awful.

Why H? Was it the slightly incongruous lines about Ben and Ev?

We need some big Sharon v Kathy scenes.

A Soap Queen walking through the Valley of the Shadow of Death! I hope one day we get full strength Shazz back but I have kinda given up on it after getting my hopes up last year.

I liked the scene apart from the retcon that Sharon was around when Ben came back from SA.

She never said she was. Doesn't mean Ian didn't speak to her and tell her 'what he was like'.

I think Sharon said "you know more than I do about what Ben was like he came back from SA". I don't think it was a retcon; that line implied she wasn't there (which she wasn't).

I think she came across a bit self absorbed, OK understandably Phil has not told her everything and she probably panicking but her going off at Ian, just the tone of some of the lines didn't make her look good.

Ah fair enough.

I have a sad feeling that 'fully-charged Shaz' is probably a thing of the past, although I prefer 'power-down Shaz' to most other characters.

Why doesn't she work quite as well as before? I think Letitia Dean has had a professional wobble in confidence because the storylining has been nowhere near as iconic as her first stints (Sharongate, Shannis and, oh yeah, Angie n' Den mania in the 80's). Also, maybe the character doesn't work as a middle aged woman? She was initially built as a little princess after all. However, Julie Goodyear managed to dramatise Bet's descent into the depths of menopausal camp tragedy, so you'd have thought they'd go down the same route with Sharon.

Me too SG!

I spent most of 2014 bemoaning the crap writing for Sharon so I will try to keep this short.

I think as a historic character with so much back story, six years away and a huge unexploded sizzler of a story with Phil about Dennis there was great potential for Shazz to morph into a cross between a Blanche DuBois type character and a vengeful widow.

Sadly she came back at the worst possible time when one incompetent producer was leaving and another one was starting. A lot of damage was done then. Then the competent producer came along but he had his hands full with his own creations and the big anniversary story. That's 3 different producers jerking the character 3 different ways. Other characters suffered, eg Kat, but she suffered most as the important period of reintegration never happened.

I would have preferred her come in for a decently plotted explosive couple of years, then go off again to be honest. But cest la vie. She still keeps me watching.

It's the direction and material they're giving her. She's a bit player because she had absolutely no one else she can bounce off on the square. She's a part of everyone else's storylines and desperately lacking her own.

They have flirted with a few storylines over the last three years that could have been brilliant - drug addict Sharon, Deny's decent into a little thug, ripping off Phil - but they stopped after an episode or two!

Sharon used to be the Queen Bee of the square and I do wonder if that had something to do with The Vic. In there she could rule. Away from it and she has nothing. I suppose it was the characters safety net, her stage.

Personally I think when she returned in 2012 she should have come back as stepmother to a whole bunch of teenagers. A reads made family is exactly what Sharon needed. She kind of works as a Mitchell, but Phil doesn't respect her enough to let her rule the troops, and in turn the troops don't seem to have much respect for Sharon.

I hate affair storylines but by god Sharon needs to have one. It's just there's no one I can see her going off with! Plus it was a huge mistake making her so financially vulnerable.

Sharon works best when she's plotting revenge, taking the upper hand and throwing bitchy one liners. One upon a time she was Mitchell top dog, able to rule both Grant and Phil with the bat of an eyelid. They loved her and knew not to mess with her, and Peggy hated her for having so much power over her boys. This is the Sharon I remember, and the one Phil needs to be reminded of.

No one messes with Sharon Watts!

Sharon will be clashing with Kathy.