Well I ain't coming back just yet.

Great post although I always disagreed with killing off Lucy right from the get go. Even if DTC didn't like Hetti all he had to do was axe her and then recast in a couple of years. Killing off Cindy and Ian's daughter was just too short sighted and it should have been the first warning sign that DTC was all about short term gains without a thought for the long term.

Then you factor in how he changed the back story of the Watts and the Mitchells to suit a plot which was so shite it wouldn't have been out of place on Byker Grove. For me though his biggest insult was giving Kat a secret son and Zoe a twin. It remains to be seen whether Red Water delivers but I would love to hear John Yorke and Tony Jordan's opinion on what DTC did to their greatest creation.

Great post, even though Lucy's murder was an excellent whodunit, after it was revealed during Live week it went belly up and got silly and stupid. Dragging so many characters into it who were willing to cover for Bobby and letting an innocent man go to prison damaged the likes of Sharon, Jane and Ian, especially Sharon, who wouldn't have done that at all.

BIB: Regarding the Kat/Zoe story, it was SOC who storylined that story, so I'd be interested to hear what his opinion is also. I thought the secret twin reveal was quite good when it was first revealed, much like Shirley being Mick's mum, but now I'm not so sure. Hopefully Redwater will be good though.

When DTC started his work was good and the show was looking up, although there were some rough patches - but after Live Week, the show's quality went downhill fast. They only planned until the revelation and had no idea what to do with any of the stories - we had endless loops of Mick trying to attack Dean and Linda calming him down, making her a bit part in her own rape storyline, we had really rubbish episodes and we had the past being constantly rewritten - the existence of the Carters was acceptable but the existence of the Hubbards and their whole backstory was laughable.

I started watching the show because of DTC and the Carters (specifically Johnny), but I'm not blind and can see that the show went through/is going through a rough patch that has lasted most of 2015 and 2016

Linda and Johnny being sandwiched into the Cokers storyline just shows how little there is going on for them as characters at the moment. They have run out of steam with all the Carters from overuse and they are now as dull as ditchwater.

The Carters desperately need to interact with other people on the square as they have become so insular. There is nothing wrong with showing them interacting with other characters. I do find it a curious sort of complaint on here that whenever a character plays a part in a storyline that isn't to do with their family, a romantic relationship or a close friendship (although even then there can still be criticism), they're accused of being 'shoehorned' in. If characters were never allowed to function outside of their usual units then there would never be any real sense of community or growth.

IMO most of the characters at this point have run out of steam and I welcome some new interactions between characters that have previously not had much to do with each other. It keeps things fresh. I can understand the concern if it's a character that's overused and is turning up in every storyline, but I don't think that's been the case with the two examples you've given here of Linda and Johnny.

The Who Killed Lucy plot was a story of two halves. Up to the reveal it was so incredibly human. I thought that the storyline justified the death of Lucy as we got to see the Beales grieve and we saw how a family dealt with the loss of their daughter/ sister. It was a character that we had seen grow up on screen, which is why it was so effective and I applauded such a bold move.

But was it worth it for what came after the reveal? Bobby is in an institution, Jane is guilty of lying and moving the body, Ian is guilty of lying, as is Sharon, Lauren, Phil and Kathy. That is too many major players to be tarnished by such immorality.

I take your point about them needing to interact more but Johnny's scenes in particular have been so random it's like they don't have a clue what to do with him anymore.

At least there was some merit to Linda's interaction with Les.

Until SOC tells us his vision for the show and all the current characters are being axed have gone, its hard to really bother getting into the show right now.

It all feels like its coasting right now. No real stories of any worth, just mainly filler from week to week. I find it very hard to believe anyone can truly say that EE is back right now based on just over a weeks worth of actual SOC episodes.

For me, it was clear why they used Johnny for a small role in the aftermath to Paul's death. He was able to imagine the horror of being killed simply for holding hands with another man in public and it affected him on a personal level. I thought that was a simple and powerful message for EE to send, that even though you might not know someone closely, their death can still horrify you because it's so relatable. And Johnny DOES have a history with Ben, even if it's been patchy and badly written. So I didn't find his involvement there random at all.

I agree that Johnny's other appearances, other than that week and his first week, have been pretty pointless and that may suggest they don't know what to do with him anymore, but my feeling is more that they just brought him back without any sort of plan for his character, simply because DTC was eager to get him back before he himself left. It's not like they've tried anything with him since his return. There's plenty they can do with him, they just haven't bothered. You could use the same criticism on Belinda, too; what actually has been the point of her since moving to the square? Another character DTC wanted back with no plan or imagination behind, and who is then 'shoehorned' (in this forum's definition of the word) into storylines like comforting Pam, and acting as a mediator between Bex and Sonia.

Hopefully SOC's stripping back of the cast means that all the current cast are actually used as more than simply the local chorus.

Why the f..K do folk need a vision. It's a soap it's been running for 30 years. It needs to be decent drama that's all. The producers and writers need to concentrate on the product not keeping a core of internet fans happy. DTC got too engaged in the fandom. He loved the stroking of his ego. Listened far too much to their diatribes which meant that the second part of his tenure was poorly delivered fan fiction.

People quite often dedicate a lot of their time to watch these soaps, they take up 2-8 hours worth of peoples lives a week. That is a lot of time to devote to something and I feel its only right that if people are to give their time they at least deserve to know some ideas of where the show is heading.

DTC may have gone the wrong way about it but it helped get people talking about the show. If the show carries on coasting and all we hear about are departures and nothing about new characters or ideas, people quite rightly are going to wonder what is the point in taking interest in characters who are not going to be hear in 2-3 months time!

we haven't even seen his work yet

http://www.digitalspy.com/soaps/east...-sean-oconnor/

His work has started.

That's a good little article that nicely sums up why the last few episodes have had such a positive reaction.

Love how that article talks about characters coming first. You can defo feel the difference in recent episodes. SOC is going to be really good imho.

Ditto there has been subtle but noticeable difference in the way things are flowing.

I read on Facebook that the very first thing SOC did was change the ending to the Mark/Grant stuff so I wonder how DTC had it planned? I hope SOC touches on this in his first interview as I still think Mark will be a character he brings back.

I quite liked the 'bin gate' stuff, as silly as it sounds, because it feels like the show and characters are living in the same world and country as us - which is what was lacking during the DTC Sensationalist Era.

I also like the subtle change to more character driven drama. Was it Elly above who wonderfully pointed out that the impact of a storyline is more affective if we see the human side to the characters before-hand?

So many of DTC's stories felt rushed and not taken seriously. Remember Ian's suicide attempt? It came out of no-where and wasn't really mentioned again, so why should we really care about it? Maybe if we had some build up into it and the story has proper time dedicated to it, it would've been better.

Also when Gavin killed his sister, rushed in a 30 minute episode never to be spoken about again. It would have been affective it both Buster and Sharon were really shaken-up (as real people would've been...) about it. Instead it was like a bad sitcom. They both just carried on with life like nothing happened. Just bizarre.

More down-to-earth Enders like this please, SOC.

Hopefully SOC defused those "little bombs" DTC wanted to "set-off" in the square. Eurgh.

I was fine with DTC until he did two things:

1. Rewrite history to insert Gavin and Claudette into the show's history as well as all of a sudden having Eric Mitchell knowing Den and co. Complete logic bypass.

2. Having Max wrongly convicted whilst a number of Square residents sat back and let it happen.

I also agree about the fan fiction comment. I found the self gratification of DTC rather distasteful and the man couldn't get through an interview without mentioning how he and cast members would have a cry over a plot they were writing. It all felt rather strange.

It wasn't me, as far as I can remember . But it's a comment I entirely agree with. I think that's what has felt missing in recent months, a real lack of basic empathy for the characters due to them feeling like hollow plot devices. If SOC is trying to turn that around then I welcome it, though to be fair to DTC, he also got it right in his first year. It's when the honeymoon period is over that the real work begins.

It's frustrating not knowing what his plans are but I am guessing there is a reason for his silence. He and his team must be having meetings with cast members, contacting agents of potential new Actors who he wants for the show etc, I am sure there is lots going on behind the scenes that is still at planning stage.

I still think think he needs to axe a few more characters however.

BIB: That's always been the case though. I remember when there were no spoilers, no internet, no social media, no interviews with producers, no producers giving their 'vision' of what they were going to do etc. We just had to wait and see. I think the problem is so many people today have to want/know everything now, they don't have the patience to wait and see.

I think when everyone else is doing it, if you don't you get left behind.

If EE didn't release spoilers, if they have a period where the show is struggling it will lose viewers forever. Spoilers and giving information of future storylines actually gains viewers. We live in an information world now, communication with your audience or customers is vital.

I use spoilers to inform me when to give the show a miss. Fortunately I didn't have to suffer Peggy Mitchell or most of Gavin's latter stuff.

Besides he could tell me how amazing the show is going to be and I wouldn't believe him after the last EP.