Best Peggy Mitchell. Worst Johnny Carter.

Best
Sam Mitchell (to Kim Metcalfe) and I'd say one of the worst was the return of Westbrook, eliminating all of Metcalfe's character development
Lucy Beale (I much preferred Hetti to the over the top eye rolling of Melissa)

Ones I didn't like
Shabnam Masood (I preferred cool Shabnam to buttoned up devout Shabnam that replaced her)
Victoria Sugden (I still haven't gotten over soft spoken Victoria being replaced by the motormouth that one day appeared)
Peter Beale (I didn't like Ben Hardy in the role compared to Thomas Law, if he does return they'll have to recast anyway so hope Thomas could return).

Pointless
Johnny Carter (why even bother bringing him back, his character has done nothing)

Brookside, Dallas, Dynasty and Sunset Beach are no longer airing.

The only soaps I watch every episode are EastEnders and Days of our Lives (and occasionally Emmerdale)

I gave up on Corrie, Neighbours and Home and Away a long time ago and no longer have access to General Hospital.

So I currently only watch two soaps but do watch a lot of TV including The Royals (which is a trashy, campy American series about a fictional British Royal Family - a bit like Dynasty but with a Sexually Deviant King, Bitchy Queen, Playboy Prince, Drugged-up, Messed-up Princssess and a back from the dead Prince-soon-to-be-King

Peter was played by David Lonsdale for 2 or 3 episodes - before 1986 he had been a teenager in the late 70's.....of course Chris is Peter - he's the only adult Peter

Blanche worked because Patrcia Cutts killed herself after 2 episodes. Maggie is Blanche

Again, Vicky was played by Helen for 1 or 2 episodes of a horse....Chloe is Vicky

Tracy is a rare example of a adult recast working for me.....Kate pLayed her as Dawn Acton might - as Dawn was mostly absent from 93-99 - Kate was/is believable..... Now she is the ONLY Tracy.....especially since she worked with Anne Kirkbride for over 10 years

The fact you prefer Lynsey to Tina as Sarah - to me is so ridiculous it cancels out your opinion

You seriously believe that Todd Carty & Barbara Windsor DIDN'T work???!!!!

I agree with the rest of your post though!

As VoodoChic said above, ArthurJBear also prefers the previous actress who played Sarah-Louise in Corrie to the current actress, Tina O'Brien.

I would like to add what memorable storylines did the previous actress have when she was a child that makes her superior to Tina's version who has been in the role since the character was 13?

I only watch ED. TBH all the recasts I can think off have been pretty good. Granted the biggest changes I've seen have been the children actors for gabby, Victoria and Robert. But then the children that left did not have the acting talent of the one that replaced them.

The best one I've seen is the new Robert. Although he's grown about a foot, and gone blonde, I actually think he's better than the previous actor.

I really like James Bye as Martin Fowler. I couldn't stand the character before, but quite like him now.

Todd although good for me wasn't Mark David was a better actor and brought a more brooding quality to Mark as for Barbara's interpretation of Peggy I never liked it the character did nothing for me and I for one am glad they killed her off. The same with Tin O'Brien as Sarah Lou another poor actress who, IMO , gets more praise than she deserves.

The worst Re-Cast for me was Kim Medcalf back to Daniella. It was not believable in the slightest and it has made the character a bit of a joke because no one knows who she is anymore. No one takes the character seriously and even the writers don't even know who she is anymore. When Kim Medcalf took over the role yes she might have been different but it was a bit more realistic as the character had been away for a while and had 'grown up' in some shape or form. The problem is that Kim was a big part of the show when she was in it (It doesn't matter if it was only because she was the only Mitchell in the square) she had a big storyline which some would argue was the characters biggest/most iconic storyline, she made the character her own (Even won an NTA award). They took Sam in a different direction instead of making her a Danniella copy and it worked really well imo and they ruined all of that just to pair her up with Ricky and make her fight with Bianca for a few weeks. It's not even the fact that Kim Medcalf didn't return it was more to do with the fact that it didn't feel like the character had any continuity.

Agree, in order to recreate some petty teenage drama with Ricky and Bianca they set Sam back nearly 20 years. No way would Kim's Sam start fighting with Bianca for gormless Ricky and then go and get knocked up by Jack Branning.

They've ruined Sam beyond repair now and I hope she never returns.

EE:
Kim Medcalf to Daniella Westbrook (Sam Mitchell) didn't work

ED:
Hannah Midgeley to Isobel Hodgins (Victoria Barton) did work
Karl Davies to Ryan Hawley (Robert Sugden) also worked
Gabby Thomas (can't remember the previous actress' name) has worked. I don't think the previous one would have done well with the dementia story.

CS:
Adam Rickett to Ben Price (Nick Tilsley) has worked

NB:
Libby Kennedy (Kym Valentine to Michaela Banas) did not work

EE: Shabnam worked, don't think Nu-Martin or Nu-Michelle works or will work as the originals are very much ingrained and I much preferred them. Nu-Lauren has improved over time, not keen on the Ben recasts preferred the original.
H&A: VJ didn't
ED: Nu Robert works

I still feel on the fence about this one. Yes, he's a good actor, possibly better than previous Robert and he's played everything he's given very well. But he still doesn't feel like Robert Sugden to me, its more like he's an entirely new character but using an old name. Maybe because of the lack of scenes with Andy, Victoria, Diane...they haven't really brought him into the family enough or re-established the 'Sugden' part of him, so I never feel much of an on screen connection between him and the other Sugdens.

Home and Away
Irene - good
VJ - bad (the character himself is alright, just the ridiculous recasting that was bad, he aged by about 10 years and shot up another 2 foot!)

EE
Martin - good (think he is one of the best characters on the square now and I like his pairing with Stacey, hope they don't ruin them)

They could have kept VJ (he was a good actor, and had been in the show for years) and introduced Matt as a new character.
I think Georgie Parker could have been introduced as a new character too. The Roo of today has no links to the old Roo apart from one brief story when she first returned about money for Martha