I don't think anyone can say some of SOC decisions have been a bit baffling and left field at times, axing are part and parcel of the job but we're months into his tenure and we have a stripped back show with a lot of exits, smaller cast and no new in-comings.

With Eastenders being on the BBC their budget was never going to be extravagant but is the show starting to feel the pinch or is it just some master plan?

Thoughts?

I get the feeling the show is in desperate trouble sadly

I'm starting to think so too, I'm all for SOC new vision but there clearly some big areas lacking and why it may just be him keeping his cards close, from outside point of view it doesn't look like all is well.

Let Phil Mitchell die and send Ian across to Michelle. That will free up cash for a new family.

I fail to see how it could be in 'desperate trouble'. It's one of the BBC's biggest shows and while they've obviously been making some savings on it, they're not going to absolutely drain its budget. It may be that with the set rebuild, they've had to cut back on the cast temporarily in order to manage cash flow, or it may simply be that SOC wanted to get a new storyliner in place before thinking about new characters. It's too soon to tell either way but saying it's in 'desperate trouble' implies that the Beeb have no money anymore to deliver their most popular shows, and that's very unlikely indeed.

It's ridiculous that Belinda has bee axed

It is far better value than anything that would replace it.

And replace them with characters who fans will probably dislike and want axed?

Phil and Ian may be past it but they're part of the shows furniture.

It would explain a lot.

Unless they bring back Albion Market or Eldorado. Quality shows.

Or create a new show called Sex Factor. Which has couples having sex in front of four judges who mark their technique.

Agreed - although knowing the BBC it would be the 10004848th news bulletin of the day or a show about Brexit.

I'd rather he fixed the mess that the previous producer made and ties off his stories whilst laying the groundwork for characters and fully fledged stories to be built up and come in.

He is already laying the groundwork on a number of stories so all good there.
He is just about to undo the damage done to zainab offscreen and for no reason (hopeful Mas and Zainab will return down the line)


There is absolutely no point giving cast new contracts and keeping them on the show when they have no future, so if. The cast slims down for a while so be it.

In regards to new characters, I don't want to see any rush jobs, I want him to put thought into the development, casting and characterisation and potential storylines before they rock up on screen.

You only have to look at the likes of Dead Kathy, Kyle Slater and Paul Coker for examples of how not do develop and cast well rounded characters that can actually act well and have the ability to be more than one dimensional.

So no, I don't think they are cash strapped I think the producer is just getting on with his job

I get that feeling as well, i think were heading for a crisis.

The show in "big trouble" despite things like the ratings rising to their highest since April and a Ronnie and Roxy departure storyline the press haven't stopped talking about since August.

The show is fine. The BBC will be happy.

Still no words from the man himself.

The crisis was earlier this year. It was people being buried alive, being crushed in car boots, falling off balconies, retcons, fan-fiction etc etc. We're recovering from that phase now. It takes time to rebuild and make characters 'real' again and there's no point in bringing in a load of new characters before you've sorted out the existing ones.

People claim that SOC is a failure and is 'ruining' EastEnders but ratings haven't fallen, the cast haven't walked out en masse, the number of episodes hasn't been cut and SOC hasn't been sacked.

So by what possible measure is he failing? I know I've asked this before but I haven't had an answer yet.

I think the BBC are trying to kill it off by making it less popular and therefore they will be able to justify axing it...

The only new characters are boring returnees like Libby.

Derek and Geraldine are just guests.

Are we actually going to see any new characters at all?

Wouldn't put it past them, they can shove their tv license up their arse

I think it's likely that EE has to be more budget conscious because in 2015 the Chancellor announced that the "costs" of free TV licenses for the over 75s would be switched from the government to the BBC in 2018 and the TV licence fee has been frozen since 2010 but other costs have increased. This was the second round of budget cuts imposed on the BBC in the last 5 years.

My suspicion is that in the past EE has nearly always gone over their annual budget, just slightly, and now the production team is being told that if they go over for 2016, the ecess will come out of 2017's budget ie the annual budget is supposed to be £500k and it looks like 2016 will come in at £505k, so the budget for 2017 is £495k meaning £10k of savings have to be found without losing quality.

It could also explain some of the cast cuts - newer characters get short contracts initially, so come up for renewal sooner and the BBC doesn't have to pay if they choose not to renew a contract.

Looks like it


They could have easily bankrolled Belind's salon

It may well be cash strapped but do we really need new characters right now? It's only been a couple of years since DTC brought in a whole host of new characters and returnees. Let the current cast breathe for a bit.

I must admit I've grown indifferent to new characters. They breeze in, do little and end up on the scrap heap by the time the next EP rocks up. At least most of the current cast has been around long enough to be fleshed out into characters I either love or hate.

Why would they build a huge multi-million pound new set for it if that were true?

No room for that kind of logic on Ds James