isn't she getting a bit too glamourous for the square. Remember last night (Thursday) next to Jane, who looked very .... well, like something even the cat wouldn't drag home - and she - if real life - must have felt even worse next to Kathy. I like Jane, but what I saw last night was nearly wicked. Kathy looks more like someone coming out of a Hampstead Waitrose.

I would hardly say glamorous. But Kathy does present herself very well. Which is nice.

Gillian is stunning and I find it hard to believe she's 61 years old because she looks like she's in her forties. She is very glamorous but I don't have a problem with it. I think Laurie is very attractive but Jane is supposed to be 'dowdy' and I don't think Jane cares about how she looks right now.

well, next to Jane last nite she did look out of place. If the Eastend was really like Walford, would you find a Kathy there? doubt it - but you would find Shirleys all over the place.

Like in the film Death Becomes Her?

I think Kathy's always looked good, back in the 80s and 90s she was quite a looker. So not a surprise that they've kept that aspect of her character. Gillian Taylforth looks stunning for her age!

Naughty

Three of the cane for you

Well considering Kathy did live a rather lavish lifestyle over the last 15 years with the once "well to do" husband Gavin I think its perfectly acceptable and understandable for Kathy to be alot more glamorous than she was originally - I think it ties in perfectly with the character, plus as others have mentioned Gillian is an absolutely stunning looking woman for 60 so its great to Gillian (and of course Kathy) looking so well

She aged really well

I've been disappointed with Kathy

Yes Kathy did look glamorous next to Jane but considering Jane is not very well at the moment & isn't able to do anything for herself, hence the carers, she's not going to look her best at the moment! But yes Jane has always been a bit dowdy & Kathy was always quite glamourous. I remember a few months ago they were going on a night out to the Vic or something & Kathy practically said to Jane 'is that what you're wearing?' In other words 'aren't you gonna make a bit more effort than that?' Lol.

Kathy was always a looker and dressed very well, back in the 80s she always looked far more glamorous than the likes of Pauline who she was a similar age to.

Then in the 90s she continued to look far younger than she was. It was hard to believe she was meant to be 11 years older than husband Phil and only 8 years younger than mother-in-law Peggy. She barely looked any older than son Ian and daughter-in-law Cindy.

So its no suprise now that she looks younger and more glamorous than Jane. Jane has always been quite frumpy and dowdy and Kathy has always been very well preserved and glamorous. So its in-character for both of them to look the way they do.

Exactly, she is in character plus at the moment she is involved in a secret romance so will always want to look her best,

To be fair Mcbeales personal hygeine has gone out of the window since bobby played hockey with her head. I mean have you seen the state of her hair? It is that greasy that it is stuck to her head. If Ian has an oil shortage in the chip shop he can just scrape it off Mcbeales head.

That being said dead Kathy does look a bit perky and nice for someone who has been dead 10 years. Shirley in comparison has been looking a bit rough and I think that is intentional so we root for buster pursuing his necrophilia hobby

She looks good for her age but her clothes are drab. She's far from alone through, the wardrobe dept are dreadful.

Maybe her clothes are an attempt to make her look older - it isn't working though!

I was going to mention what about Kathy next to Shirley You can tell Shirley has had a very hard East End life All that drinking and smoking has really taken effect.

As for character wise Kathy seems stuck in the past here too. She really doesn't seem to have grown much which is a pity.

Never mind comparing Kathy to Jane, what about Shirley, who was looking particularly skanky and rough last night. Does she ever wash her hair?
Also, I can't believe Kathy would be interested in Buster with his fish stall

I agree I find it hard to believe Kathy would be interested in Buster, in the past she always went for men who had money and were successful. First husband Pete, although like Buster he ran a market stall, him and Kathy were reasonably well off when the show started. They had more money than most other characters - to the envy of their relatives Arthur and Pauline. And when Kathy first started dating Phil he was a landlord of a few flats, owned his own home, a share in the Vic and the Arches. Not to mention he was 11 years her junior (and not a nasty bully or alcoholic at the this point either) so would have been considered quite a catch. Other characters she dated pub landlord Eddie Royle and market inspector Richard Cole both had money and third husband Gavin seemed to be the wealthiest of the lot. Having always previously been involved with men with money and power I find it hard to see what attracts her to Buster - a penniless ex-con with no prospects.

I think Kathy fell for Buster because he was simply a kind guy who looked at her as more than just the woman who works on the market stall. Look what happened to her with Gavin. She was a victim of mental abuse for over 10 years. She now knows that men with money, a nice suit and a smarmy smile means sod all. She then meets this really nice genuine guy and she fell at her knees. Kathy deserves it. She's EE original tragic heroine after all.

Going off the topic of Kathy for a minute, as you say Buster was a penniless ex-con, but did I hear right last night that he had given Dean enough money to set him up in a new life abroad?
Where did he get this money? If he's been so well off, why is he selling fish off a stall in a poky market? I always though Shirley and him were on the bones of their arse

Jane has never been particularly glamorous so it wouldn't be difficult to look better than her. But I agree Kathy is stunning. Off topic but last night's episode was the first time she really came across like the old Kathy to me. I hope she stays in the caff. It's just meant to be.

I don't understand EE's take on East London fashion. Kathy would fit in perfectly in East London today. She's really well dressed, and that's how women who have standards dress. (I don't mean in that specific way, but women in East London who make the effort into looking like they have standards do look like they have standards, contrary to popular belief.) She's out of place in Walford because whoever dictates the square's fashion seems to think that everyone in East London buys all their clothes from the same chavvy market stall or from H&M/New Look/Forever 21/Select (all carbon copies of each other) only. In fact most women in East London dress like Roxy, Lauren, Whitney, Ronnie but less frumpy, Stacey but less frumpy, Denise and even Sharon to extent, but Sharon's idea of casual is a pencil skirt and 6" heels. I don't think anyone in the world dresses like Sharon on a normal day. I mean I'm catching up on episodes from weeks back where she just came back after Ben went missing and she's meant to be jet lagged (or have the writers forgotten this is a thing?) yet she's walking around in 6" heels and a pencil skirt. After such a long flight she should be taking fashion tips from Jane!

I don't know what Kathy was like in the past but the way she dresses doesn't seem so out of place to me. East London isn't all broke chavs who buy the first thing they see in the market. What I want to know is where is Kathy getting money from to fund her wardrobe and manicures. Is Ian the one funding it all?

he said it was there emergency fund and enough to get him out there. he didnt say it was enough to start a new life abroad

Same.

She's not the Kathy I remember.