Eastenders - How To Improve

[Bryan]

Even diehard Eastenders fan have got to admit that it's not on top form at the moment. Take a long hard look at the show, where is the potential? It's stale. It needs some new life brought into the show, writers who can write, actors who can act and characters/storylines that we actually care about.

Rather than making this the usual bitch about Eastenders thread, I thought we could just chip in suggestions about what could be done to improve it.

What characters would you keep no matter what, and what storylines would you give them?

Who would you axe now, why? How you would get rid of them?

What does the show need in terms of characters/storylines to return it to it's glory days?

[Bryan]

They need a complete gut out of characters.

The Millers - what is their point? Really? Finish off their Dawn storyline then get them out, they appear in about 12 episodes a year, and are frankly just ridiculous, why did they get rid of Rosie and Demi? The only half two decent characters from that family.

The Slaters - They used to be on screen all the time, I like Chalire and Big Mo, but they are never used now, it's time for them to go. Stacey takes up too much screen time, shes overated. Sean is just a carbon copy of Grant/Denis, all this built up for him, then nothing.

The Brannings - Jim & Dot shine on screen, one of the shows strengths. The Brannings have potential, but the producers just aren't using them!

The Truemans - Same for the Truemans, they are good, use them, I liked how they tried to connect them with the Foxes, but since then they just haven't been seen!

The Mitchells - What has happened to the Mitchells!? They use to be everyone's favourites, I loved them, now hate them. Get rid of them if you cant give them the sensational storylines that we had in 90s/early 00s.

The Wicks/Foxes - I actually care for this family, and this current storyline with Shirley is the show's only strength. I like her and Pat, and the others are ok, use them well!

The Beales - I've never liked Ian, but if you're going to keep him in for nostaligia's sake at least give him some decent storylines. Ian used to be entertaining and at the centre of the action with his many wives.

They need to integrate the characters more, there aren't many connections in the show these days, they have their storylines and that's it. There's not much sense of community spirit, every character should be connected to every character, it gives them much more potential in terms of future storylines. I don't like Naomi, but why is she being axed? Becuase she only had conncetions to Sonia, Minty, Gary.

They favour a character/couple Kalfie/Shannis/Bracey, and focus all the storylines on them. They neglect other characters and should give everyone a fair chance, other characters are very rarley used, what's happened to Patrick/Yolande/Gus etc? If you're going to have them, use them, if not, axe them!

Dont bring characters in for the sake of it! Bring in actors who cant act and make the characters ones we care for, build them up and give them good storylines, don't just leave them in limbo, for the actor to want to quit two years down the line.

A bit of a rant, but when you see a good show go down hill you just feel like saying something!

[Katy]

Bry, i have to agree with you epsecially the bit about the way they favour acharacters. Its as if they wait to see how the public react and then go into Dennis overload or Mitchell overlaod. I would have more individual stories running along the same time with more use of tall the characters, Indrocing new cast slowly so we geta feel for them. I think that the Wicks had the right idea, introduce Deano, then the rest of them. It works better as then the public can build a relationship with the cast. I would also not have little bitty storys running with major ones as sometimes you can tell what is the major one and then stupid ones we dont care about. There should be more stories around the older cast members, like Corrie do, use The Truemans and Dot and Jim, they are good characters, yet are a bit like extras with a few lines.

Oh and finally id blow up the Vic with all the mitchells inside, so theres no way the could ever come back. Especially Ben. Oh another thing, Childactors who can act, not just "look" good. In fact the same for the whole cast, get directors who go on ability not attractivness.

[diamond1]

I do think your 100% right about the screen time they favour certain characters when the storyline calls for it and forgets about everyone else!

I dont think its called for for anybody to be given the axe at the moment.eastenders cant really afford to lose any more cast members no matter how Dire they seem.2007 has been very good so far in my opinon there have been several huge storylines already and has won its way back into tv I want to watch!

biggest mistake they have made was losing martin and sonia-both characters have shone since the year began-a storyline for the pair that have been right for the characters and right for the actors the storylines about lesbian,stalkers and mortgage prices was never made for these two from the start!

I think life has been brought into eastenders in regards to shirley coming into the wicks life -fantastic acting by all.Not only this I feel Deano has come along leaps and bounds as a characters which I felt a month ago was impossible to do so!I feel sympathy for all the characters in the family and their individual situations.

They can make big things to come in regards to the stacey/max affair imagine the climax to this they can make everything come out at once the abortion,the affair maybe add a few things in like abi catching max and stacey at it and stacey threating her to keep her mouth shut -things like that can make a brigther future for eastenders!

[DaVeyWaVey]

I am being completely honest here, i haven't watched Eastenders for the past week and i really can't be bothered with it right now. I am too much into Hollyoaks these days, and nothing is really happening and attracting to me to watch it. So many improvements have to be made.

First of all, the characters. There is no sense of community in Eastenders anymore. One problem is that no characters socialise with other characters unless they're involved in the same storyline as them or if they're family. We hardly ever see a scene where say for example, Keith goes in the pub and starts chatting to Max over a pint or something...the characters need to interact more, all the characters need to make friends. We need to see more realistic scenes between families..for instance, watching the Brannings or Wickses chatting over dinner and explaining how their day was etc just to add that more realistic element into it.

We also need more comical storylines just to be used as filler scenes, to balance out with the more serious storylines that the Square has to offer. EE need to get gritty i think and balance it out with comedy. They need to build up on characters and develop them all, give them serious gritty storylines that will get the viewers talking. EE need to get more controversial so the advert "EE- Everyone's Talking About It" can come back.

They need to axe pointless characters such as The Millers and stop bringing back past characters and concentrate on bringing in fresh new actors, and developing on new fresh characters.

[Chris_2k11]

To be honest I don't think it will get any better than it is now. This is today's EastEnders, take it or leave it, the best days have gone. It's not just EastEnders though, ALL the soaps are nowhere near as good as they used to be IMO. EastEnders just seems to be worst off.

[Chloe O'brien]

Firstly it would be nice if they were to bring in actors that could act notjust for eye candy. They don't need to be well known actors and actresses. Secondly if they are to bring in characters to be evil then keep them evil don't turn them into pussy cats. As much as I hate Mr beetroot Phil Mitchell, when him and Grant were first in EE I enjoyed watching it. Thirdly they need to inject more comedy into the programme everyone is so bloody misreable on that show. They have got a wonderful double act in Dot & Jim the writers should stop giving them serious stories and let them entertain us with Dot nagging Jim all the time and his answering "yes Dorothy". Finally they need to have a mass cull of characters The ones I would keep would be Dot & Jim, The Truemans, Pat. Mo Harris & Charlie Slater, The beales, The fox/wicks, deno's mum and Tanya because they are new to the show but the actors have proved they can act in other shows so they deserve a chance and some decent storylines. As for the others the mitchells are past their sell by date, Phil is too old to be the square bully he needs to take his mother to live in Spain with her daughter. As for Stacey and Sean Slater they are just trying to be like Kat Slater and Nick Cotton but they are failing. Gary and Minty are wasted on that show Gary should have left when Lynn did. Heaven knows why the Millers are still there but getrid of them.

[Pinkbanana]

I dont think its called for for anybody to be given the axe at the moment.eastenders cant really afford to lose any more cast members no matter how Dire they seem.
!

I agree with several points you made....

Firstly, I dont think they should get rid of anyone else at the mo as quite a few have just left (Sonia, Martin, Pauline, Joe), and also last year they brought in a lot of new characters. These characters need building up and given storylines which will endear they to the viewers more...glad they have finally given Deanooooo a decent storyline, rather than have him walking around the market with a demented grin on his face or dispensing duff advice on women to Bradders. I'll never be his greatest fan, but do agree his character/acting has improved over the last few weeks.

And a part from the terrible toe curling mad Max and Stace affair, Enders isnt too bad at the mo.

[Richie_lecturer]

To be honest I don't think it will get any better than it is now. This is today's EastEnders, take it or leave it, the best days have gone. It's not just EastEnders though, ALL the soaps are nowhere near as good as they used to be IMO. EastEnders just seems to be worst off.

Yeah I'd agree with all that Chris. I have been waiting five years for improvements to EE, and I pretty much gave up nearly a year ago. I'm stopping watching again after the end of today's omnibus.

What I'd do:
Make more use of Pat - get rid of the Mitchells and put Pat back behind the bar.

[callummc]

have to agree with chris and ritchie watched todays omnibus and i thought it was never gonna end,it was totaly boring,good job rally cos now i wont be tempted to turn over from football to watch the last opart