Thinking back over receant history we have had

Pauls Killers EE - Or the boy and as some have said ....
Callum's Gang CS- Camp Callum a pensioner and petty villain with loud mouth Gemma hardly intimidating
Liam Butchers Gang EE- Seriously shepherds pie
Gavin Sullivan - Care Bare
Andy Hunter - Got dropped from a motorway bridge

The list could go on. So two questions mainly why do soaps struggle with these types of characters and what are your best and most cringeworthy?

Could it be because they're on before the watershed and they can't show real gangster villainy?

They werent supposed to be big villains they were just a bunch of lads who wanna act hard. (As explained in tonight's episode)

Ok maybe the first was a poor example b camp Callum and his gang? Liam's gang I eastenders Evan Jodie Latham as Rob the pimp didn't quite cut it.

As for Gavin.....

I don't get why ppl thought Callum was crap. He was never meant to be a gangster anyway he was just a wannabe. He thought he was a big man til Tony beat the shit out of him and he shit himself. He was just a drug dealing lowlife piece of scum and a coward. Sean Ward played that well

Macca looks like a granddad your right

And I think Kylie and Gemma just got swept along. Kylie was his girlfriend so they did whatever. But Kylie and Gemma proved they're good ppl really

Gangsters showing up is usually the sign of a show that has lost the plot.

It's so annoying. Maybe I've just got a nostalgic view of the past, but in the 90s/00s the villains seemed to leave so much more of an impression, for example: Johnny Allen, Steve Owen, Richard Hillman, Trevor Morgan, Chrissie Watts.

I think they're doing well with Janet.

I cannot talk about the other soaps but Eastenders rush it too much and also seem to build characters (the villen, gangsters or hardmen) from fantasy rather than a bit of knowledge or real research or something that is not stereotypical.

I don't think Watershed should have anything to do with it, it's about the writers and producers putting out someting thats not pants.

Those are all characters they had chances to work on, most the bad ones of late have been part characters that are barely on screen for more than 2 months (if not 3 episodes).
I wish that they gave these "hardmen, gangsters" a introduction from 6 months before hand to get their motivation and reasoning that is not rushed.

One reason OP.

The Philth.

No credible villain can come along until he is finally brown bread.