Ben and Phil had an argument and Ben said something like "who will I have when you die, Dad? Grant and Louise?" Have the writers forgotten Kathy is his mum? I want Kathy and Ben's forming a mum and son relationship! Kathy and Ben don't spend time with each other. What a joke!

The writers would rather focus on tired Mitchell clichés with Ben than explore his relationship with Kathy.

It's very silly considering Ben is half of the reason Kathy returned. It was ridiculous when she was practically ignored when he went missing.

Its so full of bad writing at present and yet SOC has his name on the credits. Surely not a good way to start your tenure as the new boss. At the very least he could be tweaking the dialogue somewhat, I'm sure he must have some say in matters even if this is early on in his role.

To dismiss Kathy the way they have done is almost as if they regret bringing her back from the grave. I wonder if she'll be written out again, I cant see how they can have her play a big part in Bens life given he's barely shared any screen time with her this past 6 months.

Poor Ben Abi might have him back??

His mother Kathy is dead.

He doesn't have a mother, even with this poor zombie version. Why would he have a relationship with her and rely on her when she ditched him in a foreign country and left him to be dragged up a mitchell.

Generally your kids need you when they are small and incapable of looking after themselves. kathy chose to give up her motherly duties

Kathy abandoned him. He might not be so ready to count on her.

Their lack of scenes is ridiculous

Someone could at least have said to him "you've got your mum" even if he came back with a comment like "yeah but she abandoned me when I was 10 so I can't exactly rely on her can I" at least that would have acknowledged her! It felt like to me she was forgotten about because this is a Mitchell centred storyline & she only seems to be involved in Beale storylines & getting off with Buster!

I'd like to see Kathy & Ben in more scenes together, a lot more. Even if they are arguing in these scenes, but I would like to see it develop into a much better relationship over time.

What the hell are they doing with Kathy at the moment?! They are ruining her! I hope SOC sorts this out & I don't mean by axing her! I mean by making her a great character again.

We've gone through three ben mitchells and its still the same bloody sl with his relationship with Phil. How many more Bens do we have to go through before EE stop with the 'I'm a Mitchell.. I want my dad to be proud of me' there's no progress.

The writers don't seem that interested in Kathy/Ben they would rather keep showing us the love/hate relationship between Phil and Ben.

Makes you wonder why they brought her back. Everyone ignores her and she's barely more than a background character.

Kathy might as well not exist. I don't know what the writers are playing at by giving Ben and Kathy such little screen time. Even after Paul died and Ben was clearly in a state, Kathy virtually shrugged her shoulders and walked away.

You would think since they brought her back from the dead they would have some clear plans for her. Everything so far involving Kathy has been an epic fail.

Kathy is so getting axed. Her return has been a pointless waste of time.

He went for years not knowing that she existed.

Agreed
DTC never thought this through at all, and it shows by the lack of direction with the character.

The shock factor to pull random viewers into live episode has done real damage to show. These randoms were never going to stick around on a regular basis. Kathy appearing out of taxi to what and for what? If it was going to be done at all it had to be about Ian and Ben which is what Kathy said at time. Instead any emotional reaction / questioning / rejection was done and dusted within minutes. Kathy straight into the other mess from Live the Bobby cover up.

Yes, given what we know about SOC so far I'd say she's at risk. Whose decision was it to bring her back and pair her up with Buster? FFS

What a waste.

Kathy is a bit like Bet Lynch from Corrie in the sense that she was a character of her time but the show had long moved on from them in their long absence for a return to work well. She has the disadvantage of not being in the show for that long like Pauline, Sharon, Dot and Pat.

Yes, it's the same reason Sharon struggled to fit back in when she came back in 2012. The show was virtually unrecognisable from when she was last there, and she was only gone six years. Kathy was out of the show for more than 15 years - even longer than Den's 1989-2003 absence.

I still think there's a place for Kathy in the show but they need to rebuild her relationship with Ben urgently.

She's hardly done much

Her return has been so disappointing and poorly written.

She has literally looked after Jane more than Ben since her return - how does that work??

Gillian Taylforth herself looks thoroughly bored and is probably thinking: "Why on earth did I leave Hollyoaks to come back to this?"