How have the writers got Kathy's character so wrong this time?

The whole faking her death thing was done terribly. Her reasons for going along with it were never really explained, all we got was her controlling husband Gavin bullied her into it. The Kathy we knew would never have done that to her family unless she saw absolutely no other way to protect them. It should have been mentioned that Ian and Ben's lives were threatened by the men Gavin owed money to and the only possible way out they saw was to fake their deaths in order to save the lives of her family. That's the only explanation I would have accepted for Kathy agreeing to go along with it.

Since returning to the square she hasn't really felt like Kathy - the old Kathy was the kindest, friendliest, most caring character on the show always looking out for other people. That role seem to be filled by Pam and Honey these days we haven't really seen much of Kathy doing her agony aunt bit. She's also done very little in the way of making it up to her sons for the years of abandonment and barely even acknowledges Ben at all.

And now we have her cheating with Buster behind her mate Shirley's back. The old Kathy in all her years on the show never cheated on or with anyone.

that's what you get for trying to be sensasionalist without putting any actual real thought into it.

turns out dtc's fan fiction is just as bad as some of the stuff posted here


bringing her back and then trying to cobble a story together just has not worked at all.

dead kathy should have been left in her grave

BIB. I couldn't agree more. She adds nothing to the show.

Lol that's quite possible as I've heard various rumours that the EE story lining team and researchers read these forums regularly and have been known to post stuff too...

Kathy is a whore! Poor Shirley

I don't mind her back but never believed it was worth jumping the shark for. The return storyline was awful and dragged EE down for weeks.

Shirley will punch her one on e she fines out.

Maybe Kathy is the new Pat.

Kathy needs a toy boy, not a granddaddy! A nice dress and she's a cougar in the making that one.

I think you need to remember its the characters that do the opposite otherwise its boring.

Back in the day - it was Kat and Andy - Alfie whooing for her
More recent - It was Alfie and Roxy - Kat whooing for Alfie

Grant/Sharon - Phil was whooing for her
Sharon/Phil - even though hes divorced her it will be Grant trying to whoo Sharon

Bianca/Ricky - Bianca cheated with Dan - back in the day
Rick/Bianca - it was Ricky who cheated with Mandy - 2012

Kathy never cheated your right but its giving her character something different to play something she's not done before. History repeats itself with it either being a twist or the opposite.

Her comeback has been nothing but a disaster. It didn't work on paper and hasn't worked on screen either.

DTC bringing her back showed his arrogance it was a two fingered salute up to the viewers. Making that decision showed he thought he was bigger than the show.

I dis-agree

Everybody wanted her back! look at how many threads there was of ways, even previous EP wanted her back but couldn't find a way.

The only way it could work was DTC way. Insurance scam. DTC and team would never green light it, if it wasn't sensible or realistic

it wasn't sensible and it hasn't been realistic and not everyone wanted her back

plus the decision to bring her back was made first and storyline put in place after, the fact that what we got is all they could come up with is very telling of the capabilities of the creative team at EE.

I can't remember the exact quote but something like that was mentioned in the plane episode.

Everything with Gavin has been a stop/start mess. In fact several stories have lacked fluidity under DTC and this one has more so than others due to I presume Paul Nicholas's limited availability. The last time Gavin was there they decided to tie him into the Hubbard s**t even though his storyline with Kathy and Sharon remains unresolved.


Kathy kissed Grant when he was with Tiffany. She also rubbed her one night stand with Grant in Phil's face when he wanted a reconciliation but in London. I like Kathy and she's got more morals than most in the show, but she isn't and never was perfect. It was intimated during Valentines week that she is lonely, this is the longest Kathy's ever been on her own and after years in a marriage she didn't want to be in I don't find that kiss all that out of character for her. But a full on affair would be.

IMO if a soap icon isn't working the writers owe it to them and the fans to pull their socks up and resolve the situation. I don't believe ditching them is the answer, particularly in a show that doesn't have heaps of old timers to fall back on. The dialogue they give Kathy is mostly fine, but she is underused and sometimes used incorrectly (not being around at important moments for Ben). Episodes like the one where she was nervous about his birthday is what we should be getting with them more often, I also liked her chipping in with advice about Abi/Paul but it's inconsistent. Her best scenes have been with Martin. That's where we've really seen Kathy's warm motherly side. She works better with him than she does with Ian who's in limbo due to the Bobby situation.

There was millions of threads, She turned down BK offer because it wouldn't work

DTC had an idea and asked his team to think of the best plausible way to bring her back and they did and they approached her.

I think shes needed because shes an original character.

Kathy coming back has been wonderful. We need to remember that Kathy knew next to no one on the square. They've had to do their best to bring her back in with a remotely plausible storyline and they've had to really work at rebuilding her up - and that takes time.

What's important is that she is back and works with the current batch of characters. She's had to remain a fairly quiet background character because she couldn't just come in all guns blazing saying what she wanted and judging people - who on earth would she have been to criticise anyone? So even then, they've had to work at her building up her friendships and respect for who she is, so they could forget what she's done.

That all said, it was just a kiss. I can't see a full on affair happening. I mean it's Buster....

agred

thats not what happened. he approached her to come back for the live. but it was that hush hush only a handfull of people knew and so no storylines or anything were planned until after the live aired.

peoples fan fiction and views on this forum do not represent everyone. the forum is also full of people saying she shouldnt have been brought back

Very true. Plus she had to quit Hollyoaks first! I believe the first thing they did after live week was go into an emergency story conference because literally no one knew.

Who is this everybody you speak of? Certainly plenty on here didn't want her back or weren't at all fussed. One of the major mistakes of DTC era is his messing with EE history. It's got worse as time has gone on. There is no need to re write history/back stories just to drive plot lines. Viewers generally don't give a toss about convoluted stories linked to stuff that happened years ago or off screen. There's no emotional engagement to it.

Are you speaking for everyone?

You missed out the next word 'generally'. Fail. Must try harder. 😆

the poster was generalising!!! hence it saying viewers generally, the poster didn't state every viewer

Because generalising viewers as one whole is loads better, and not at all biased towards your belief at all is it? Fairly conceited, to think viewers generally think as you do.

Sorry, I just hate opinions dressed up as a fact in order to justify an individual's opinion to others, particularly as you're pulling up someone for speaking on everyone's behalf!

Plus I disagree. As a long term fan I'm interested in a back story, because it helps us to know more about the characters involved. It's like saying we should not have been interested in Kat and Zoe because it happened years ago off screen.

They are not hard to follow - this forum just over thinks... a lot.

there is a difference between a decent backstory and a ret-conned mess to ensure all the families are connected, it is not in the slightest bit realistic.

for those viewers who have watched from the year dot, changing characters backstories to fit this Gavin and Kathy crap is beyond ridic and as a long term fan who invests in a show why would you want the history of the show being changed. can't remember anyone being positive about the made up nonsense of everyone being eachs other best friend but not having mentioned it in the last 30yrs