For a few brief moments I thought this soap had something (the siege, declan drama). Unfortunately it's become an absolute chore to sit through ever since. The writing is either ridiculously over the top or painstakingly dull. How these writers expect us to 'feel' any emotion towards these awful actors is beyond me.

I've been watchin ever since the siege but its always felt distinctly below average. Soaps in general are not the same but the big 2 are at least a bit more watchable. I don't want to give up on ED because i've been watchin for a couple years now, I just wish it had the all round quality that was befitting of its set..

I think ED is by far the best Soap there is atm, and I think it's in great form.

So below average you have been watching consistently for 3 years?

and what is average ???????

Do not let the likes of Simon Cowell distort our language.

If you think it's poor, just say so

agree apart from tonights ep. tho sure it will be fine tomorrow

I think to say the OP ave been watching for not so many years, the OP does not really understand what the average is for ED. Myself have been watching since I was a little kid most days as it was always on in my house, along with the other soaps since around 2002.
I think the average was 2010 which I found boring, the best was the Kings 2004-2008, and the poor point i honestly don't know as I find if ED have a bad year,it is no where near as visible as the other soaps, like when EE got slammed in 2004, ED has never had that sort of
" rub it in your face poor", in the years I have watched.

I have yet to see it lea, I will have to pass judgement in about 30 mins, so watch this space😂😂

Examples!?

Ummm i guess opinions....but to me it's the most consistent best well thought out script and storyline soap out there, for a good while now.
And it does seem to me that last year and this year Emmerdale seemed to be highly rated by a lot of the "soap experts"...

The siege drew me in & I actually thought that was as good as anythin EE or Corrie has ever produced. Since then though i've not found it very engaging tbh apart from the odd moment. The declan stuff & some of the barton drama was great as well but nothing has come close.

When there's a highly emotional scene now I just roll my eyes & think FFS. It's 1 ridiculous, over the top plot after another with piss poor acting for the most part. Some of the latter drama was well written & it felt grounded. Now it's like they're throwing 1 sensationalist story after another at us. The reason I'm still watchin is because it's become part of my routine alongside Corrie & Eastenders & it's hard to just let go of a habit.

Apart from the David and Tracy partnership, I am enjoying the show. The Original Poster is entitled to their opinion though.

Don't think I'd say it's below average, but "average" for soaps these days is pretty low.

ED is pretty daft now. I get what the OP is saying, but I think I've just realised that the whole Cameron saga, the live episode, and then the Declan stuff, were a very very high watermark for the show, and raised expectations that they can't really match up to. It's one of those special times that comes along once in a while on a soap, but it's over.

They still have the occasional cracking episode (the one where Cain tried to seduce Charity was good), the Ashley and Lawrence stories have been quite good, and they still have some good characters, but I don't expect much of it, so I don't get too fed up when it has a stupid night.

I think it's better now than it's been for ages.

I can only echo the majority here, I think It's in good shape at the moment, can't really compare it to the others as the only other one I watch Is Corrie. Obviously like all soaps there are good episodes and not so good ones, and Monday's ep I think was an example of the latter. I haven't seen Tuesday's hour long yet so when I do I will comment further.

It just sounds to me like Emmerdale is not really want you are looking for. The moments you've mentioned that you enjoyed can't happen too often or it loses its strength and purpose like Home and Away for example. The difference with Emmerdale is its more character driven but tends to offer more of a mix, the tone is different. Sounds to me like you should stick with EastEnders I think it's more in line with what your looking for

bib - I agree with this, you can't expect events like the Woolpack Seige & flood to happen everyday. It sounds like the op is a fan of the sensationalism stuff and not so much the character driven drama, which Is fine, each to their own, but like I said you can't expect stuff like that too often in any soap or It will become a joke.

Nonsense. The siege was the climax of a really long, well-built up storyline that was completely driven by Cameron's implosion and the effects it had on the people around him. It wasn't just crappy sensationalism - like, for example, the fires/shootings/car crashes ED now serves up on a weekly basis.

The idea that there was no character-driven drama then, but there is now, is just nuts.

To clarify, I meant character driven drama without a sensationalist element to it, as In on It's own. Of course the Declan saga was the climactic point of a huge storyline, and so the sensasionalism was as a result of a character driven storyline, I didn't say It was "crappy" It was a dramatic conclusion to a gripping storyline. My point was that you can't have that sort of "finale" too often at the end of storylines or It will become ridiculous.

Emmerdale is kicking some major booty at the moment. It's been my number 1 soap for pretty much the last three years anyway. Only thing I can bitch about is my growing dislike for David.

I think it's the most enjoyable soap at the moment. I only started to become a regular viewer in May, so maybe I am watching through new glasses, but I look forward to it more than any other soap right now.

I've watched pretty much from day one, it's changed over the years got better and worse in equal amounts and different ways. Lately isn't the best it's been but certainly not the worst. I think these long running soaps you either stick with them for the gems or walk away. Gems became too far apart in corrie so I stopped watching that a few years ago. Emmy still has enough to keep me watching.

True, you can't have that level of intensity all the time - it worked then because there had been a long slow build-up that was practically exploding.

But you can't say ED isn't sensationalist now, it is. We've had a pretty much constant diet recently of prison breaks, fires, guns and whatnot. You can enjoy it as daft fun, but it's hardly character-driven over sensation.

I know everyone is entitled to their opinion but I fail to see how ED is below average! It is the most consistent soap there is.The drama is consistent, it IS character led in most cases, a lot of the characters are likable and it always keeps me interested even when there is a quiet period.

I don't watch the other soaps so I can't really compare, but I adore ED and I've always thought it had an advantage over the other soaps because of it's outdoor set, which is lovely, but so underused.

According to interviews being given by the Vanessa actress, the idea for Tracey and Vanessa to be sisters was the idea of the two actresses involved. For me, that's a worrying turn of events.

Of course, we all have different perspectives, but I'm not sure how anyone could have watched that fight in the pub yesterday and considered that to be acceptable for transmission. It was embarassing. My husband watched it and said he'd seen better fights acted and directed on Grange Hill 30 years ago.

I don't rate this EP at all, but I live in hope that things will pick up.

I took that scene as a comedic one - also everyone's reaction in the pub, it was slapstick. The sister "reveal" has comedy element to it, it's not a heart wrenching storyline.

I didn't mind the scene last night, I laughed at it, I've seen much worse "slapstick" in Corrie.