I'm really enjoying Dot's storyline. June was neglected under the previous producer. I bet she has appeared more these past two months than she did under DTC.

Also really liking how Whitney is now firmly at the A List in terms of characters. She is so much better than Lauren and Shona is a much stronger actress than Jac Jossa so this has been a long time coming. I wonder if in a few years Whitney will be landlady material. She reminds me of how Sharon was behind the bar in the 80s.

There was negative feedback on there during DTC's era too.

Its too slow pace, why the characterisation has improved its getting to the point where nothing is happening and feels very newman ish.

Well I stopped watching for a while after they ruined Den and Sharon's relationship with the retconning. As someone said that was unforgivable.

I turned back in for Charlie Slater's death only to then be confronted with this bizarre notion Kat gave birth to a son at the same time she had Zoe. Who ever decided to rape one of the best EE storylines of all time in this manner deserves to never work again and as for Peggy's death. Letdown doesn't even come into it. I'm gutted there was no showdown between her and Kathy. Of all the things that needed to happen while Peggy was back this was probably one of them.

Destruction of Sharon's character seems to be an ongoing thing since 2012

I'm really disappointed in tonight's episode. Surely more exciting stuff should happen in Halloween. This producer is ruining the show!

The quality of the writing is such a massive step up from DTC era (although I did like his stuff up until the 30th). The plot is slowly coming from the characters rather than the characters suiting whatever OTT sensationalist plot Lamb and his team have come up with. Compare the writing and characterisation now to the Gavin mansion eps and the abysmal Grant/Ben kidnap stuff from just a few months ago! Even the Sharon/Phil will subplot tonight was a great little storyline and much more interesting than a frail looking old man playing hide and seek with Kathy around a mansion.

The whole story with Lee and Whitney has been fantastically plotted in my opinion and really looks to be leading somewhere big. And when they climax comes it will really feel like it has been earned through the writing. I believe the key to great writing is making the small stuff big (bins, Stacey and Martin moving house) and the big stuff small (Lee's depression, Dot's eyesight and isolation). I would agree that maybe we need a couple more storylines to start brewing but I expect that to start happening in the next few weeks.

Lets not forget we are still very much at the start of SOC's reign and so far he has done an absolutely remarkable job of making the characters interesting again. I am especially excited to see him introduce some characters of his own as I fully expect them to be really thought out complex characters with a solid plan of what stories to tell with them which is something DTC really struggled with IMO.

And rightly so.

The "EE is boring!" threads are becoming tedious.

If you don't like it, don't watch it. I stopped watching during DTC final few weeks (especially after the laughable 'Claudette being buried alive' and the comedy 'Gavin kills Marge' stuff), but didn't need to constantly tell everyone about it.

Since SOC has come in, I loved it. The new approach has been fantastic. Unless there's murders and explosions every week, some people will never be happy though. I remember a time when producers used to treat their audience with a bit of intelligence.

I havent watched yet the Lauren abi stuff was two years and the Michael moon stuff the year before we're both decent

Can't remember what happened last year

Gavin stalked Kathy and revealed to Sharon that he's her father.

Oh god don't remind me. That sodding match over the fireworks with me shouting "just bloody blow it out" at the TV.

The characterisation and interaction has improved fair enough, but come on man that was the halloween episode and what happened a few kegs got nicked! im worried because jamie bothwick was saying christmas will be low key as well, it feels like nothing is happening, and also why the fcuk is shaqil gettting so much screen time i cant stand him and who really cares if he gets his hole off becks?

It's people like this that caused DTC's era to end up so derailed. Fans constantly pushing for certain characters to get more screen time with all these weird plots. Shakil is a character you have a right to an opinion but it annoys me when people say why does "blah blah blah" get so much screen time. He is a character playing a story-line every deserves to get screen-time. Also "who really cares" fair enough you might not care but others might. Sorry if I sound rude but I am getting really fed up now of some of these comments. This wasn't just directed at you by the way.

People keep saying this and its utter nonsense! were not asking for murders every week but literally nothing has happened for i cant remember how long, we've been getting subjected to shaqil trying to his hole off becks ffs! i enjoy the characters interacting for thats been good, but come on its far to slow and doesn't feel like its going anywhere.

So what was Whitney's miscarriage then? Does that not count?

I liked Tonight Dot's Storyline, The Lee and Whitney stuff . Maybe not be gripping but i liked it

I suspect we're starting to see the end of Masood as well. Does anyone else think Belinda is going to use him to get to his money? Her eyes lit up when he mentioned the equity in his house.

Doesn't feel like going anywhere despite every character having a storyline building up to something?

I'm enjoying the show a lot.

I was thinking the same thing earlier. Pretty much every character has something going on at the moment, even if it's just a supporting role to someone else.

ok, im not sure anyone reads what i say on here as never seem to get into conversation, but actually i kind of got what people have been saying about the hints in the background, with the skeleton and lee to start and the black cat, i really enjoyed it,

however it all has to lead somewhere, there subtle hints and theirs just chugging along, i enjoyed the ep tonight, and loved dot as always, but the lee Whitney stuff better be leading somewhere big, and not just him coming clean and going off to live with his nan, put it this way i think he should kill himself, its a story often touched upon, but suicide is a massive issue and soaps seem to have veiled attempts (often involving half a dozen hayfever tablets and a cup of tea) and then nothing, a climax on Friday of him dieing would highlight issues, give everyone the drama they want, explain why Linda has to go away for awhile, give mick a better story line maybe an affair because hes lonely and been left to cope, and so on and so on.

This is an interesting point - let's compare and contrast The Fall with The Walking Dead. Both fab shows, both with hotly anticipated episodes last week.

Both had violent elements that were equally shocking - BUT the violence in The Fall was nowhere near the degree it was in The Walking Dead.

TWD has relied heavily on violence, and while I loved it, to elicit the reaction it did, it needed to do something VERY gruesome.

The Fall had a tension simmering along that just suddenly boiled over in that interview room.

People become desensitised to constant violence and sensationalism - at least I do, it's why I stopped watching Hollyoaks.

I'm enjoying EastEnders at the moment, the characterisation is good (I would have said spot on before those bizarre Sharon/Phil scenes tonight), and the writers have actually managed to make me care about Whitney and her latest doomed relationship, which no one has ever done before.

Having said that... it does need to be leading somewhere a little bit bigger. It doesn't need to be bigger all the time, but the intrigue is one of the things keeping it going for me at the moment, and if it never boils over, it'll become flat.

I agree with you actually. The build up has been good, but I hope it does lead to something with a big climax.

I think we'll be a little dissapointed as Hatchard is still filming.

oh is he?

it is disappointing as this could have been a really great exit, im afraid its just going to be a case of a black cab now