chance
06-11-2005, 11:19
From Garry Bushell:
IS EastEnders cursed? No matter how hot the action gets on screen, the cast’s real lives always upstage it. Lap-top sex, dogging, hard-men hilariously beaten up by girlies… How can TV’s biggest tough-nuts call the cops when they’re (allegedly) assaulted by women? It’s a joke. The ultimate farce in fact. But there’s no truth in the rumours that Ross Kemp is seeking sanctuary at Deepcut Barracks. Or that he uses Viagra eye-drops to look hard.
On screen though, the Mitchells have given EastEnders a real kick in the pants. From Grant’s first “Hello, mum” the soap has been back on blinding form. Grant and Phil, looking like two cheeks of the same hideous bum, have dominated the Square with their ‘ead-cracking presence. Highlights? Grunt slinging Dennis all over the Vic (Dennis: “I don’t want to have to hurt you”; Grunt: “Well that’s hardly likely is it?”), Sharon wavering, Dennis joining forces with “the Chuckle brothers”.
Suddenly the soap is as unmissable as Lyn Slater after a crate of Albanian Chardonnay.
The agg with Johnny Allen has been superb, with Billy Murray oozing menace. BBC1 are nuts to lose this character. He was pure evil jamming Peggy’s fingers in the front door (imagine if he did that to Billy Mitchell’s head, he’d do a lot of damage…to the door). Just two things don’t ring true: Grant’s calm reaction when Sharon told him she’d aborted his child . And Phil being described as “the one with the brains.” Eh? Isn’t this the same Phil Mitchell who married a Rumanian bag lady, fell for an undercover cop and killed a man by torching his own car lot? Still, the soap has one big problem: what happens after they go? Walford’s storylines have been wobblier than the Slaters’ banisters all year. There’s a real danger that it’ll it sink back into the same old mind-numbing morass. Enders is fighting Corrie on an uneven battlefield: they have a smaller cast, fewer writers and a shortage of major characters to carry the big plots. They need 1) new blood to replace departing favourites. 2) Major adultery between people we care about. 3) Cockney humour, coming naturally from character (like Alfie at the start). 4) To get real and stay real.
http://www.garry-bushell.co.uk/box/index.asp
IS EastEnders cursed? No matter how hot the action gets on screen, the cast’s real lives always upstage it. Lap-top sex, dogging, hard-men hilariously beaten up by girlies… How can TV’s biggest tough-nuts call the cops when they’re (allegedly) assaulted by women? It’s a joke. The ultimate farce in fact. But there’s no truth in the rumours that Ross Kemp is seeking sanctuary at Deepcut Barracks. Or that he uses Viagra eye-drops to look hard.
On screen though, the Mitchells have given EastEnders a real kick in the pants. From Grant’s first “Hello, mum” the soap has been back on blinding form. Grant and Phil, looking like two cheeks of the same hideous bum, have dominated the Square with their ‘ead-cracking presence. Highlights? Grunt slinging Dennis all over the Vic (Dennis: “I don’t want to have to hurt you”; Grunt: “Well that’s hardly likely is it?”), Sharon wavering, Dennis joining forces with “the Chuckle brothers”.
Suddenly the soap is as unmissable as Lyn Slater after a crate of Albanian Chardonnay.
The agg with Johnny Allen has been superb, with Billy Murray oozing menace. BBC1 are nuts to lose this character. He was pure evil jamming Peggy’s fingers in the front door (imagine if he did that to Billy Mitchell’s head, he’d do a lot of damage…to the door). Just two things don’t ring true: Grant’s calm reaction when Sharon told him she’d aborted his child . And Phil being described as “the one with the brains.” Eh? Isn’t this the same Phil Mitchell who married a Rumanian bag lady, fell for an undercover cop and killed a man by torching his own car lot? Still, the soap has one big problem: what happens after they go? Walford’s storylines have been wobblier than the Slaters’ banisters all year. There’s a real danger that it’ll it sink back into the same old mind-numbing morass. Enders is fighting Corrie on an uneven battlefield: they have a smaller cast, fewer writers and a shortage of major characters to carry the big plots. They need 1) new blood to replace departing favourites. 2) Major adultery between people we care about. 3) Cockney humour, coming naturally from character (like Alfie at the start). 4) To get real and stay real.
http://www.garry-bushell.co.uk/box/index.asp