I don't like him already he seems to be getting rid of too many good characters he is either very very stupid or he has and idea for a new family that he thinks/hopes would be a massive hit but I was gutted he got rid of Pam and Les they were refreshing to the show reminded me a bit of Terry and Irene and now Claudette is going.

There are no new characters as of yet from SOC he just seems to like culling characters and not thinking of anything new.

Claudette had so much more to do what a stupid thing to do and there is no old people anymore.

If he gets rid of aunt Babe I'm done with him

He needs to get rid of the current cast before bringing in new characters. Personally I agree with every departure so far. Some apparently left on their own accord though.

It does leave him with a very small cast, plus we're approaching Panto season and that will make the cast even smaller. So I think we may get some rushed new additions and that won't be a good thing.

However, as SOC has worked on other soaps before such as Family Affairs and The Archers he may have some new actors already in mind.

Blame DTC for ruining Claudette. He should have just focussed on her being a foster mum with her kids coming and going. Instead we had one of his convoluted back stories involving the Mitchell's that exposed her as a killer. He ruined any potential she had just for a load of sensational rubbish that made little or no sense.
Babe is another one who's ruined. I can't stand the sight of her now after all the terrible things she's done to the innocent. I want her gone.
Pam and Les only had one decent story and that was Christine. I don't think they could top that.

I agree. The baby stealing plot was ludicrous and I cannot take Babe seriously after that. It damaged the Carters too. Any time Mick tries to preach about being good backfires as he forgave Babe so easily.

I think people need to chill out in regards to new characters, would you rather they were rushed and poorly cast, or well developed and casted?

I'm sure SOC will be introducing new people soon. Give the new team time to properly storyline them.

DTC has done a hell of a lot of damage to the show, unfortunately the new producer was always going to have to shake things up.

Think of it like this, in 2 years time EE could feel completely different; does that excite you or worry you? It excites me. It's been really poor since live week.

I think O'Connor is getting rid of some of the 'minor' characters and many of the characters he axed aren't big/major characters except Ronnie and Roxy. I love Pam and Les and they easily became two of my favourite current characters and while I disagree with the decision to axe them, I don't know what else they could do with them. vald is correct that they couldn't top the Christine storyline and I'm not sure what else they could do with Pam and Les. I'm sorry to see them leave EastEnders and I will miss them a lot but it is better for them to leave on a high, otherwise, they would become stale, in my opinion. Paul's tragic death has given Lin and Roger some challenging material and I have been particularly impressed with Lin's powerhouse performances as the grieving grandmother and I'm going to miss Pam/Lin in EastEnders. I hope the actors get some work after EastEnders.

Ronnie used to be one of my favourites and I loved the tragic heroine Ronnie in '07-11' but I lost interest in her since her return. Ronnie's characterisation since '13 has always been a mess and the writers always changed their mind about her. Ronnie went from 'normal' to 'Darth Ronnie' and reverted back to 'normal' and became 'Darth Ronnie' again. I wish Samantha all the best for the future and she'll get other work. The news about Roxy was a surprise but I think it's the rigaht decision for her to leave EastEnders.

Other characters O'Connor has axed hasn't impressed me much and they weren't given high-profile storylines. I think O'Connor is bringing in a new family and he needs to trim the cast to save some money and get some decent actors. I hope O'Connor's new characters have long-term storylines.

The problem with dtc was he kept thinking I want xxx character for this storyline or to tick this box or for shock (kathy) but then not actually putting any thought into making them a round character, without actually putting development and planning 12-18 months worth of story arcs to develop a direction for the characters

so I hope SOCK stays silent and does all those things so that when we do get new characters they will work

He clearly has his own vision for the show which doesn't involve DTC's flop characters (Buster, Kyle, the Cokers, Lee) or Santer era has-beens (Ronnie, Roxy, Masood).

This is the most radical shake up EastEnders has had in a while, and my god does it need it. I'm looking forward to seeing what he has lined up.

Aunt Babe Smith is one of my favourite characters, I agree Annette Badland must go nowhere. There are others to go before she does.