Where do I begin. I mean I don't want to get ahead of myself like I did that abomination DTC or the two before him. But the quality of the show has vastly improved and stabilisedo since SOC has taken over.

The balance between the cast is back and working so well. It gives the show this energy and full of life vibe.

The focus on the everyday quality has improved vastly.

Characters have improved greatly as well with motives in-Character.

The writing has improved with all the little details kitchen sink like.

Sharon getting a fright at Whitney screaming on the spot Dennis died was brilliant and not contrived.

Was nice to see Ryan back with Whitney.

So many good little character moments.

A big shout out to the writer Casey Andrews. Very good from start to finish.

I look forward to watching the episodes again.

The most positive thread I have seen from you

Apart from Janes apparent personality transplant it was a good episode

And then get rid of most of the characters being written for, fabulous idea

I think SOC has so far gotten off to very respectable start. He seems to be very good at paying attention to little details as well as dialogue. Him and his writers managed to give Sonia some of her best material in years, which really says a lot.

If he doesn't follow DTC's block storytelling I think things will become very interesting and well rounded. So many good characters were harmed by their plots being kept off screen for weeks. Looking forward to new character introductions and perhaps a few returns. With Louise around, definitely think a comeback for Lisa could be really good. Would love to see her share scenes with Sharon (again), Kathy and Shirley.

And two years down the line those showering him with praise will once again turn on him like they have with DTC who went from messiah to pariah in two years.

O'Connor is far more experienced than DTC in the arena that he is working in.

Don't forget we had the awful Kirkwood and the equally dreadful Newman prior to DTC.

DTC started well but in the end he has left too many characters suffering from a lack of development with lazy plotlines and a lack of character development which is due to poor writing.

Shakill's birthday was a horrible though.

I thought it was good. He is a teenager not a middle aged man or a serial killer. It isn't going to be that dramatic.

Well tonight was alright but I've already forgotten the last 2 weeks they were that boring.

I guess you can't please all the viewers all the time as different people want different things, I think it's heading for a slump myself but il reserve judgement and see what happens

It was the worst episode I ever saw.

I thought it was an OK episode and certainly the best for a good couple of weeks, but I am still annoyed we haven't heard anything from Sean O'Connor yet. I appreciate he may not like spoilers or anything like that, but by giving an interview/speech and vision, and telling us who is going to take centre stage, he isn't exactly giving that much away.

It's concerning, because Coronation Street which has been awful for almost three years has got itself a new producer, who seems very passionate about the show and has big stuff planned for it, such as the rebuilding of the Barlow's, the upcoming October stunt and returns from huge characters such as Peter Barlow and Toyah Battersby. I'm just not seeing that love for EastEnders at the moment.

Just a very long list of departures and no news on any returns or new characters.

Maybe he is planning things out before giving interviews. DTC said all sorts in interviews and nothing ever happened.

Good point and I hope you are right.

DTC was all talk at times, and I suppose that can be even more annoying than a producer not saying much at all.

I think it would be wise to do so though. Especially as soaps like Hollyoaks and Corrie look set to be on the up once again.

I don't think you blame the shift. The amount of history DTC ruined for no other purpose than self promotion was insane. As people have said it was like watching fan fiction, really bad fan fiction.

This. Some people are in denial about the damage DTC caused.

I think there is some real potential going on. The episodes have a very lovely tone to them and he appears to have made the characters nicer and kinder to one another. Shakil's cookie to Bex was very sweet and Tina (who I've always thought could be great as the actress is fabulous) seems to be more mature. Martin is pretty much brilliant in any scene he is in at the moment. It just feels more relaxed and natural. All of this will make the drama / bad stuff more impactful as we will care more.

Eastenders for me has always been about bad things happening to good people, but a very moral tale too. DTC lost all of that.

Only a quarter of the cast has gone.

I still blame Dom, he destroyed some of those characters by not developing them.

Not to mention the sensationalist storylines that burned bright and then left a trail of destruction behind them, and the dreadful retconning. It all seemed to be just pandering to his ego which is an understanable thing (I'm the EP I can do what I want) but ultimately just damages the show, sometimes irreparably as in the case of killing Pat Butcher and imo Lucy Beale.

I tend to agree.

Ds is notoriously fickle

DTC had a brilliant first year though which I think 99% of people would agree on. The problems set in when he started rewriting history to suit his own vision of what the show should be. I bet Julia Smith is turning in her grave at some of the things he did.

Agreed.

Agreed. People have high hopes when a new EP joins because they want the show to improve. Of course we all have different ideas about how that will happen

Over time they become disillusioned as things go pear shaped. All EPs run out of steam and make bad decisions in the end, some more than others. There is usually a general consensus among the fans about what the most obvious problem is.

I think DTC's ego got the better of him and he started writing his version of the show without really thinking through what the long-term implications would be. Case in point - killing Lucy. Yes, it was a ratings winner at the time but look at the mess it caused. The Beales decimated, long term characters destroyed and Lucy, who had so much potential as a long term character, gone forever. It was a chronically bad decision imho.

I would split DTC's era into two clear parts: Before Live Week and After Live Week. It seemed to me that everything he had planned when he came in ran up to that reveal, and after that the show steadily decreased in quality until it was unrecognisable from the strong start he made in 2014.

As for SOC, I think it's far too early to judge but I have really enjoyed the last few episodes, and last night's was the best I've seen in some time. And unlike other brilliant episodes this year - for example, Peggy's death and Pam and Les finding out about Paul's death - last night wasn't really an 'event' episode (for example, Sonia's exit and Ryan's reapperance weren't trumped up beyond all importance), it was just a normal, everyday meandering look at the square. Very much a filler episode but it felt real, and the scene with Les and Pam at the end was absolutely incredible.

That's absolutely fair

I personally enjoyed more of DTC than I didn't although the last year ended up being ridiculous. There were some excellent individual little gem storylines though under him