I really don't understand why no one's remembering the very first interviews / press about the R&R exit.

Both actresses felt they had come to the end of their characters and had exhausted their explorations of R and R without much room for potential future storyline. Both actresses had felt they had a good 10 years on the show nd wanted to move forward with pursuing other projects.

This wasn't a SOC decision to purely kill them off for ego or sensational value, it was judging and determining (as all exec producers do) the life span of characters. I am probably one of the Biggest Ronnie and Roxy fans ever, they are in my opinion one of the greatest EE duos and iconic parternships, probably the best after Den and Ange - they're perfect opposition of fiery heat vs introverted cold alongside the Incredible chemistry Sam an Rota have just made them perfect. And I genuinely believe, with all both actresses want to do in the future and the limited potential of the characters, killing them was the best decision.

Fair enough, specific details such as why were they killed outside of Walford or why was accidental drowning their way of death can be debated as I'm not the EP but generally, even Pam St. Clement has agreed in hindsight killing Pat off at that time was the best thing. It meant her character didn't grow stale, the character remained iconic, she was able to pursue other things without the worry of coming back and it was a new chapter for her. Same reason why Barbara Windsor came back for the final storyline, it was time to say goodbye and move on.

It's always good for characters to go when they're still cherished and loved instead of when they're becoming boring and repetitive which Ronnie and Roxy were at the real danger of becoming if they stayed on. Killing them will be a great dramatic shift for the Mitchells, Branding, across the square as a whole and with new characters inevitably coming in due to several cast departures, I'm sure EE will be moving in a new direction. A strong and effective direction

Then why didn't they leave on their own at the end of their contracts? Why not until a new producer in the midst of a cast cull? This mutual exit thing is garbage.

Barbara Windsor is knocking 80. Realistically they had to kill her off at some point unless she wanted to come back full time, which she clearly didn't. With R&R they already had a storyline where they were leaving and moving to Ongar. In the mind of the viewer they were all set to leave, so even in that sense their death, dramatic as the scenes were, isn't really a seismic shift as to what the viewer was expecting anyway e.g them leaving.

Allowing that to happen and leaving the possibility of a future EP bringing one or both back in the future and focusing the NYD storyline on Mick confronting Lee about the burglary, would have been preferable IMHO.

When you kill two characters off who have so much backstory, and so much potential for their deaths to involve others and spin into so many other future storylines, by way of a freak accident it just seems a terribly waste and very poor creatively.

Like ending the Lee depression storyline by having him randomly struck by lightening for no reason. It'd be shocking (literally ) but also hardly the work of a thought out storyboard plan.

Everyone is upset, mortified, disturbed and angry about how the Mitchell sisters died, and rightly so, it was difficult to watch and was something more akin to a snuff film. The aftermath too was haunting and upsetting, so it makes sense to question the sense in all of this.

However........THAT IS LITERALLY THE WHOLE POINT OF IT.

You're suppose to be upset, mortified, disturbed and angry about how they died. Now you get to understand and reciprocate the emotions the survivors of this incident (Jack mainly) will have. Them dying is not the pay off, how you feel for the likes of Jack and maybe even Phil is what the pay off will be.

And yes, they played the characters for a long time but seriously, Eastenders survived on air without them for 20 or so years and guess what, it will probably last another 20 or so years without them too.

And if you don't care about Jack or Phil?

I did say "the likes of", there are going to be plenty of people hurt by this, they are the first two that came to mind.

Imagine what poor little Ricky will think, another mother figure has disappeared from his life.

But then again you could not care at all because you don't want to admit that the aftermath of this tragedy could be really good viewing.

Ricky is a child. Unless they're pulling a Ben MItchell and recasting him with an actor 6 years older, that isn't really going anywhere.

When people hope a high profile death(s) in a premier soap is going to have continuing consequences the expectation is for a bit more than Dot being upset. They had the potential to involve Max, explore Roxy's burgeoning drug storyline, maybe bring Ronnie's demons to the fore again. Something interesting and clever and interconnected with other characters leading to a future reveal/shock down the line.

But instead we just got an accident and short surviving of characters having a bit of a boohoo....that's it.

Maybe Charlie will return briefly to collect Matthew and Declan Bennett can wear a fetching hat and make it all worth while.

Then maybe the storyline just isn't to your interests? That's fine, not everyone will enjoy every single storyline put out by the soaps. It's not realistic to expect that to happen. But there are those of us who have enjoyed R&R's exit and we're looking forward for the aftermath. There will be storylines that you like that we might disagree with. Soaps have a variety going on so that there's something for everyone to be interested in.

Take Holly's death in Emmerdale for example, she died of an overdose without anyone knowing why she did it. That was it, no twists to involve another character being blamed for her death. Some people could argue that it was pointless because she could have left to go back to living with her sister if the actress was leaving, but there are those of us who like that the death was simple, no complications. Sometimes it gets a bit overkill having whodunnits and murders so often. In real life people just tragically die and it's nice to see that reflected in soaps.

I'm assuming Roxy had a Whitney Houston moment and the mix of alcohol and drugs gave her a head rush when she jumped into the water and she blacked out. Seeing Ronnie then slowly suffocate and get weighed down by her own dress was very macabre.

"Everyone will stop watching EastEnders because of the new EP!"

How many times have we heard that before?!

The anti-current EP threads get funnier that's for sure.

The hysterical over reactions on here are hilarious


Yep. Great post.

This thread is just the same butthurt we've seen for months. It's quite amazing that some people have taken personal offence to what SOC is doing with a fictional television show. Ronnie and Roxy weren't even that good.

As a long time viewer of EastEnders I have to say that I think Executive Producer Sean O'Connor has done an excellent job of taking the show back to its roots, making it less sensationalist and more grounded and character led. He has spent his first few months laying down the groundwork and stripping the show right back down almost to its DNA. He has now had his first festive period and I have been thrilled with the results, Christmas Day was low key yet pleasant to watch with a real sense of Christmas and community spirit, the last episode of 2016 was just terrific EE at its ultimate best.... Truly heartbreaking. And New Year's Day was a real treat.... Cinematic and gothic and so artistic. Killing off iconic characters like Ronnie and Roxy is very brave but I honestly do feel like it was needed as the sisters had reached their sell by date's and there was nowhere else for them to go as they'd already been through so much!

Sean has set up 2017 brilliantly and there is so much to look forward to with the likes of Michelle, Max and The Mitchell's.

Sean knows EastEnders. As a viewer I care more for the drama when I care about the characters. This is what Sean is doing for the show,making it about the characters.

Nobody's taken personal offence, just pointed out the exit was ill thought out and rubbish.

They might as well have been randomly hit by a bus or struck by lightening for no reason. There's absolutely no going legacy to this other than the fact they're dead. When you're building up to a big new years day storyline and death of character or characters its not unreasonable to expect something better than just meaningless 'draw-out-of-a-hat' freak accident with nobody else involved.

While I'm glad Ronnie has been killed off it was very dissatisfying. She never found out she killed Fatboy and many people hate her and should have seeked revenge like Charlie or the Whites. Infact the Whites killing her would have made the perfect death for her.

Roxy should have not have been killed off. Ronnie dying would have given her the chance tk grow to her own character without the "ma sistaaa" nonsence. Ronnie always brought hwe down and never gave her a chance to grow up.

Exactly and even if you ignore those loose ends why not involve Max in the death of his sister in law or ramp up the drug addiction and maybe have Jay involved (he rats out Roxy's location to a dealer threatening him or something), maybe Vincent's connections with the criminal underworld are darker than we thought and that grudge against the Mitchells never really went away...

...give us SOMETHING to get our teeth into going forward at least.

Other than the fact the pool scene was very dramatic and well shot, they may as well have died off screen on the car journey to Ongar.

Have you seen the ratings for last night? Two big character exits on NYD and it couldn't even hit 6m.

THIS. The actresses themselves felt it was time to go and nowhere else to explore their characters.

Sean is doing a great job of rooting the drama in character development and not doing sensationalist for sensationalist purposes like BK and DTC did. Agreeably, without DTC the show would not be where it is now but Sean is really bringing the show back to its roots and this year the show will be moving in the right direction

Ronnie and Roxy were bigger than Lucy. Lucy was never allowed to become iconic via her own right, she was only something due her family.


The thing is......Millions turned off after Berkwood so it's actually a potential issue.

Maybe because the number of killers and low lives walking around the square unpunished is ridiculous.....we don't need one more.

there's been no obvious signs or conversations but what could make this death better is by finding out in an episode or two that max was dealing cocaine to roxy. In a postmortem of the body they find high levels of cocaine in Roxys body and use this to explain why she drowned so easily. Could even have max being there for jack for a couple of episodes to make the reveal of max dealing the drugs even harder for Jack.

Jack will find out and could then say max effectively killed roxy and Ronnie because if roxy didn't take cocaine then she wouldn't have drowned and Ronnie wouldn't have gone after her.

However I do think it was a good episode, it's been good deaths. The above might have improved it

Then don't kill them.

Send them off to Ongar as planned anyway. If the number of low lives around the Square who goes unpunished is ridiculous, then how ridiculous are the number of deaths that coincidentally happen on Xmas/New Years day?

Focus the storyline on something else.

If Ronnie went up a ladder to clean the upstairs window and she fell on top of Roxy killing them both it would have had the exact same ongoing impact to the series - none.

Or you could argue that no one is that invested in the Mitchell sisters so it was the correct decision to kill them

Or not, as the reaction in newspapers and online has proven.

my issue is that some ppl are so blinkered that they will praise soc for last nights episode whereas had the exact same episode aired with dtc they would have slammed him for being an egomaniac.