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EastEnders 20th Anniversary episode/drama Vs 30th Anniversary episode /drama |
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#1 |
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Join Date: Feb 2005
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EastEnders 20th Anniversary episode/drama Vs 30th Anniversary episode /drama
Lately I've been dipping into the vintage episodes of EE when the show was at its peak courtesy of YouTube. Some of you may feel the quality of drama today is still very much tantalising and there hasn't been a decline in the writing and saga. I personally gave up on the show altogether when Ronnie's daughter Danielle died, along with Archie Mitchell and Bradley Branning. This is when altercations and showdowns were portrayed in such a manner that it made you crave for more episodes and you couldn't bring yourself to switching the TV off.
Having indulged in the 30th Anniversary episode in February 2015, I felt the build-up to the revelation of Lucy's murder (who BTW was a poor and insignificant character to begin with so to have her at the heart of such a milestone was beyond pathetic given the fact shewwasn't ever given much air-time) was watchable but it all changed in those final moments when it came to light that little Bobby bumped-off his sister. Dirty Den being killed by Chrissie with Sam/Zoe in tow was a million times better because there was a backdrop of other characters storyline coming to a head, such as Johnny Allen throwing Andy Hunter off the bridge. The dialogue was spectacular as i LOVED Chrissie finding her hubby's archilies heal by bringing Sharon back and using that to her advantage to bring him down.. The overall cast worked better all round cos you had Kat in her prime (the last 2 times she's returned with Alfie just hasn't been the same as she's lost her confrontational edge in showing people what she's made of) the lovely Nanna Moon, Pat, Pauline, Peggy, Sharon wasn't boring, the dishy Dennis Rickman and Jake Moon. Stacey and Ruby were slowly coming into their own and a majority of episodes back in the hayday tended to end on brilliant Duff-duff cliffhanger moments. Plus I loved Kim Medcalfe as Sam Mitchell. Please share your thoughts... |
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#2 |
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Join Date: Jul 2011
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I think the Lucy Beale story will be remembered more fondly as time goes on. It certainly leaves it mark.
The Den stuff was at the time the show was going down the toilet.. I think it might have been a better story, especially with characters like Chrissie Watts involved but in terms of production, the 30th was handled better. The aftermath, not so much. |
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#3 |
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Join Date: Oct 2011
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The latter doesn't even deserve to be mentioned in the same breadth as the epic storyline that was Den's murder. There's no competition.
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#4 |
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Join Date: Dec 2015
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Quote:
I think the Lucy Beale story will be remembered more fondly as time goes on. It certainly leaves it mark.
The Den stuff was at the time the show was going down the toilet.. I think it might have been a better story, especially with characters like Chrissie Watts involved but in terms of production, the 30th was handled better. The aftermath, not so much. |
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#5 |
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Quote:
True the show was awful between 2004-06.
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#6 |
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Twice as many people were watching EastEnders back then and 2005 is generally regarded as a very good year for the show, hence why it won more awards than any year since the millennium, inc. 2001.
Ratings don't always reflect quality, either. Corrie is generally regarded as being in a dreadful state at the moment and pretty much always rates better than EE. |
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#7 |
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Join Date: Dec 2015
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Quote:
Twice as many people were watching EastEnders back then and 2005 is generally regarded as a very good year for the show, hence why it won more awards than any year since the millennium, inc. 2001.
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#8 |
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Join Date: Dec 2015
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I don't think you can really compare ratings today to ratings then. iPlayer wasn't even online until 2007, and Netflix etc. didn't exist.
Ratings don't always reflect quality, either. Corrie is generally regarded as being in a dreadful state at the moment and pretty much always rates better than EE. |
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#9 |
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Quote:
I don't think you can really compare ratings today to ratings then. iPlayer wasn't even online until 2007, and Netflix etc. didn't exist.
Ratings don't always reflect quality, either. Corrie is generally regarded as being in a dreadful state at the moment and pretty much always rates better than EE. The 11 million who watched the live week last February were what average episodes got in 2005 (and was even considered quite low at the time) so whatever stories aired back then would've made more of an impact, not least because more were watching at the time. Not that you can compare figures now to over a decade ago, I wasn't even attempting to do that. |
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#10 |
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Okay 2005 was good but 04 and 06 was rubbish, 2005 was only saved by the den watts murder plot and only got good in the ending of that year.
Janine kills Barry, Chrissie/Kate, Paul's gruesome end, Den/Dot, Dot's cancer, Christmas, Laura's death, and Shannis are at the top of my head and more than I can say for the whole of last year. |
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#11 |
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Join Date: Aug 2011
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The 30th had more surprises then the 20th.
(the 20th just had the three witches of walford after Den) (The 30th had returns...Tanya and Peggy and of course the biggest JAW shocker of Kathy BEALE being alive) The reason Lucy was chosen because they wanted to put the Beales in front of the frontline for it since Ian has been the longest serving member which I agree it should be a Beales frontline instead of the CARTERS hogging it all. Lucy - It had to be Lucy, Bobby was just a child and can you see the complaints of who killed Bobby with just being a child. Peter only just returned and Lucy was in the show for a while and Lucy has been more of a character that had stories in EE rather then Peter. Lucy had the cancer story with Ian lying to mel She set up Christian and Syed Exposed lies She was a pain in the arse to Ian which resulted to Steven returning She left by aborting her child and cheating on her exams She returned to stop Ian marrying Mandy with tricks etc She took care of Bobby and the businesses while Ian had a breakdown whilst Derek tried to lure himself by meddling on a vunrable girl. She was the catalyst of Lauren and Joey being together. She slept with Lee due to Whitney hated She slept with Max and set up a business with Lauren which went wrong... whereas Peter only just returned Before he left he was chasing Lauren and Whitney And he was accused of pushing Glenda downstairs once he returned He got with Lola Had a secret in Devon which was boring OBVIOUSLY He did a great job with the Lucy aftermath which is why he left He got with Lauren, left together and had a baby. See Lucy was more of a recognised choice. |
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#12 |
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Join Date: Sep 2011
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I wouldn't say Lucy was the heart of the storyline, I'd say it was Ian. The storyline gave him the limelight for the 30th anniversary which he totally deserved.
The 20th was good, Den's demise was a great s/l throughout the rest of 2005. However I felt more effort went into the 30th with more twists, turns and shocks than the 20th. The fact it was 'EE Live week' made it great too. It'll always be remembered. |
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#13 |
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Join Date: Mar 2008
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As much as I was underwhelmed for parts of the 'whodunnit?' phase of the storyline, and have pretty much hated much of the storyline since I think the 30th was a superb week of event television. Superior to the 20th Anniversary in that respect. However the aftermath of the 20th didn't see a whole host of classic characters becoming immoral perjurers sooo....
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#14 |
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Join Date: Dec 2015
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I agree re. 2006 but 2004, Ferrairas aside, wasn't that bad a year, particularly the first half.
Janine kills Barry, Chrissie/Kate, Paul's gruesome end, Den/Dot, Dot's cancer, Christmas, Laura's death, and Shannis are at the top of my head and more than I can say for the whole of last year. |
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