Unless I've heard it incorrectly but how does Danniella not have any scenes with Ross? Surely they'd be at the funeral together?

Ross wasn't on the shots released.

It seems Grant is only in tonights episode and then that is it until he films another 3 weeks at a date which hasn't been disclosed yet.

Yes, grants not at the funeral

Grant isn't at the funeral. He's already been in two of the three episodes he was returning for, however brief his appearances in those episodes were.

He's back in a few months time but that's it.

The whole saga has come across as rushed and poorly scheduled.

It does feel odd that after years of drawn out storylines, we're getting one that seems to be over in a week. Which is strange. And as much as I hate to speculate, I do wonder if Barbara herself stipulated that she wanted things to be quick.

It wasn't in the script!

I find it baffling that they couldn't persuade Ross Kemp to film scenes for the funeral, even if out of sync with the rest of the cast, as it will be highly unusual for Grant not to turn up for his mum's funeral when he's been filming on set for scenes before the funeral. Unless it all gets explained tonight why Grant doesn't appear. Perhaps he storms off in a strop after a confrontation with Phil and being rejected again by one of his ex's (as he has a brief fling with someone apparently).

Still would have been good to see perhaps a scene on the funeral with Grant sitting on a bench outside the church and for Sharon to walk over and talk to him but he refuses to enter the church because he couldn't handle it or something like that. Something like this could have been filmed out of sync as would have only involved 2 characters Grant and Sharon (or someone else). But to completely not have Grant at the funeral at all is very much out of character for Grant I think.

Danniella, one assumes, would have done as many weeks as she could, and it does seem strange that she wasn't involved in the death lead-up. Anyone get the feeling that Babs and Ross didn't want her involved? Because that's the way it comes across.

Oh I think this is Babs dictated. Fair enough as she is an old lady and is only her coming back to bring the character of Peggy to an end. Otherwise it would be a phone call when Babs sadly dies. That could be years and the character even less relevant than she is today. Contrast with June who has kept Dot very relevant to current EE.

I can't wait to see what the excuse is for the delayed funeral, unless we're gonna get another couple of weeks worth of episodes set on the same day.

Yeah maybe. Ive got the feeling over the years that Babs has never been overly keen on Danniella. In an interview once when asked about Danniella Babs didn't go much into detail about her and just called her a 'funny girl'. Not funny ha ha, funny as in peculiar. Which I thought was rather mean.

He probably can't stand her no one would blame him.

The problem is who are they to dictate who is in what scene with them? No one is bigger than any show.

It's gonna be strange not seeing grant at the funeral if that is the case. Since Peggy dies tonight. What if its not the cancer that kills her, maybe grant and Phil are fighting and she has heart attack. Reason im wondering this because now grant is there would he go along with her plan to end her life.

I wouldnt be surprised if this happened again.

Funerals are often almost a fortnight after death. I've commented many a time that soaps manage to get it all organised so quickly. Add on fact that undoubtedly with wedding and basher Bobby on the rampage a significant number episodes are going to cover a few days.

Looks like from Thursday to next Friday are all one day. The week after that might be the same, only the following day just spread out over the 4 episodes.

It's worth remembering that Danniella left the show before Barbara started playing Peggy. She came back for a few brief stints but Danniella's main stories were with Phil, Grant, Ricky and later Bianca. Barbara actually had more to do with Kim Medcalf's Sam than she did with Danniella's. It was Peggy who fetched Kim's Sam from Spain, it was Kim's Sam who Peggy came back to Walford for twice (once for her wedding to Andy Hunter) and it was Kim's Sam who Peggy fought to get released from prison when Chrissie framed her.

I don't know what Barbara's relationship with Danniella is currently like but based on Danniella's well documented behaviour in the 90's it probably wasn't great when they crossed paths since Barbara is known to be extremely professional. She fell out with Jessie Wallace over her bad behaviour in the early 2000's.

I do think it's strange the original Mitchell trio of Sam, Phil and Grant won't apparently be reunited on screen nor will the great Mitchell reunion of the 4 main Mitchells come to pass but it could be down to scheduling issues with the actors. Too bad DTC didn't plan the whole thing better considering he's had months to arrange everyhing.