Dominic Treadwell-Collins

steps down as executive producer as he is leaving

Speaking of his decision to leave, Dominic said: “My love for EastEnders is no secret and so the decision to leave Walford has not been one I have taken lightly. When I commit to something, I always give it my all – and after two and a half years of giving my blood to Walford, it is time for me to move on to other things – and keep EastEnders creatively refreshed, something that it has to do to stay at the top of its game. I made the decision to leave back in the summer but decided to stay longer for two reasons.

“Firstly, to oversee Peggy’s last episodes, which will air in May. When Dame Barbara comes to you to produce her final episodes, you cannot say no. I left EastEnders with Peggy last time when she burnt down her Vic and it feels fitting that we will now leave permanently together. Secondly, I needed to find the right person to take over from me. This is an incredible all-consuming show and in Sean, I know that we have found someone who already has Albert Square in his bones and who adores EastEnders as much as I do.

“It’s going to be gut-wrenching to tear myself away from everyone at EastEnders. It’s an utterly unique place to work, with everyone working so hard and with such passion – and I am so so proud to have led that brilliant team over the past couple of years. I know that EastEnders will continue to thrive under Sean and I’m looking forward to watching the show as a viewer again.”

I don't know how to feel about DTC leaving.

I loved his work at first but that soon turned to loathing during the time that despicable Dean was never off our screens and was treated like the star of the show. Thankfully that didn't last and things improved from thereon in, but some of the storylines (the worst of which was the cover-up of Lucy's murder) rightly became a laughing stock and damaged lots of characters in the process.

EastEnders has improved again recently and I'm categorically enjoying it again for the first time in ages, so it feels like a strange time for DTC to leave. Plus, for all his protestations of love for EastEnders, he hasn't stayed long. I wonder what's really behind his decision to leave. :hmm:

He will be back again :p

On the whole, I think I'm pleased he's going. Like Dazzle, I feel he's had his good and bad points but, on the whole, I think his two biggest stories (up to the Kus/Shabs/Stacey/Martin story) I think were handled very badly. Lucy's murder and the most ridiculous cover up in the whole history of cover-ups and the Dean rape story.

It doesn't give me much faith that any future big stories would be handled well by DTC. So, on the whole, I'm glad he's going and it's time to hand over the reins.

Further thoughts.....Given that DTC has always said he's in EE for the long haul and has now packed it in after not really very long at all, it occurred to me that perhaps he can't see any way out of the Bobby story without landing half the cast in jail so he's decided to hand the problem over to someone else......

Just a thought! :ninja:

On balance and all things considered I am also glad he is going, but I don't believe for one minute he has been pushed. He is well in with every one at EE, the cast adore him, everybody and his dog want to return or get a part in the show and the BBC seem to like him also. The 30th Anniversary week will go down in history. What annoys me most about DTC is, his tenure could have been amazing if he had been reigned in a bit. I thought he was the best thing since sliced bread in his first year, then it went down hill. He should have rejected many of Alex Lambs ideas.

He made some decisions that really got my goat (don't like resurrections) and played about with the history of the show too much for my liking. At times I could have strangled him. Too many things happened off screen. At one point I was so annoyed, he made me stop watching the show for about a month. I think younger fans in general thought DTC was the new messiah and older fans of the show who had watched from day one were pretty outraged by retcon after retcon. EE became retcon city.

As for DTC's successor, Sean O'Connor is a good choice and speaking as an Archers fan, what I can tell you for sure is that Sean O'Connor has done wonders for this soap on Radio 4 and as any fan will tell you, storylines like that of Helen and Rob have made The Archers unmissable and the best soap in the UK by a country mile. EE are lucky to have the likes of him on their flag ship drama. :)

Now the big three will have new producers, it will be interesting to see what happens. That's a duff duff in its own right.

No, I agree DTC wasn't pushed, not after securing a golden handcuffs deal. I just wonder why he's tired of EE already? Maybe he (quite understandably) can't hack the constant intense scrutiny and criticism that goes with the job and is burnt out?

I'm an older fan of the show (since the first episode) but it wasn't the retcons that annoyed me the most (probably because my memory for historical details is hazy). It was the sensationalism and ludicrously over-the-top and dragged-out storylines that I hated. I agree EE would have been right at the top of its game if DTC had just been reigned in a bit more. The times when great care was obviously taken over storylines (such as the 30th anniversary week, Shabnam's stillbirth, Stacey's post-partum psychosis and Les Coker's cross-dressing) stand up with the best of EE in my opinion.

It's reassuring to hear you have such a high opinion of Sean O'Connor! :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dazzle

No, I agree DTC wasn't pushed, not after securing a golden handcuffs deal. I just wonder why he's tired of EE already? Maybe he (quite understandably) can't hack the constant intense scrutiny and criticism that goes with the job and is burnt out?

I'm an older fan of the show (since the first episode) but it wasn't the retcons that annoyed me the most (probably because my memory for historical details is hazy). It was the sensationalism and ludicrously over-the-top and dragged-out storylines that I hated. I agree EE would have been right at the top of its game if DTC had just been reigned in a bit more. The times when great care was obviously taken over storylines (such as the 30th anniversary week, Shabnam's stillbirth, Stacey's post-partum psychosis and Les Coker's cross-dressing) stand up with the best of EE in my opinion.

It's reassuring to hear you have such a high opinion of Sean O'Connor! :)

---

I dont much abt S O'C - but a relative who
reads a lot of Archers blogs says hes known
for turning that prog into "Eastenders in a field"
Not sure what to think?!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by maidmarian

I dont much abt S O'C - but a relative who
reads a lot of Archers blogs says hes known
for turning that prog into "Eastenders in a field"
Not sure what to think?!

---

Oh dear! :hmm:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by parkerman

Further thoughts.....Given that DTC has always said he's in EE for the long haul and has now packed it in after not really very long at all, it occurred to me that perhaps he can't see any way out of the Bobby story without landing half the cast in jail so he's decided to hand the problem over to someone else......

Just a thought! :ninja:

---

Well quite. It's a very destructive storyline that has no good ending if you play it all real. Short of Lucy waking up in the shower I suspect there's not a realistic sensible way out.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by parkerman

Further thoughts.....Given that DTC has always said he's in EE for the long haul and has now packed it in after not really very long at all, it occurred to me that perhaps he can't see any way out of the Bobby story without landing half the cast in jail so he's decided to hand the problem over to someone else......

Just a thought! :ninja:

---

Well quite. It's a very destructive storyline that has no good ending if you play it all real. Short of Lucy waking up in the shower I suspect there's not a realistic sensible way out.

My wife has been a keen fan of the Archers for more years than she would care to remember, so I asked her about Sean O'Connor. She said he might be good for Eastenders because, in her opinion, he's ruined the Archers by trying to turn it into Eastenders!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by maidmarian

I dont much abt S O'C - but a relative who
reads a lot of Archers blogs says hes known
for turning that prog into "Eastenders in a field"
Not sure what to think?!

---

Some older fans may have harked for the old days, but for me ( we have always had the Archers on in our household) and it is better than ever. SOC has been dubbed as turning the Archers into 'EastEnders in a field' which is an absurd, cheap, silly statement by who ever thought it up. The Archers manages to do what Emmerdale failed to do when it went from a Farm to Dynasty in Wellies, by keeping true to its roots, the traditional, farming, Lynda Snell's Christmas shows, Church services, the Grundy's and then the new younger generation of Archers, characters like the Fairbrothers and mix hard hitting storylines like Helens mental abuse by her husband Rob and David and Ruth getting rid of the cows at Brookfield.

The problem with the internet is, it is full of know it all's like myself who have an opinion. :)

Well guys must confess to having a tear in the eyes from reading your posts , not about DTC departure ( went past his sell by date months ago imo.) but about the Archers. Brought back so many memories ,all the family sat around the radio waiting for the next episode to start . Remember vividly the famed Grace Archer death in the fire at Grey Gables in 1955 . Just looked on wiki , 20 million listeners, the BBC switchboard jammed for 48 hrs with shocked listeners. Strangely also recall Doris Archer explaining to Dan how to cook sausages . What would the producers now give to have half of that number of viewers. Anyway sorry for going off topic .:)

My grandparents used to listen to it on their huge radio when I was very little. I don't know why but I remember singing 'the big fat hen' to the tune.
I also used to listen sometimes but haven't for a long time.

My grandparents used to listen to it on their huge radio when I was very little. I don't know why but I remember singing 'the big fat hen' to the tune.
I also used to listen sometimes but haven't for a long time.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Rear window

My grandparents used to listen to it on their huge radio when I was very little. I don't know why but I remember singing 'the big fat hen' to the tune.
I also used to listen sometimes but haven't for a long time.

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The radio would take about 10 mins for the valves to warm up before any sound. I too haven't listened to it for years . The signature tune must be one of the most recognised. Billy Connoly thought it should replace the National Anthem.

EastEnders boss Dominic Treadwell-Collins has that revealed people still complain about the show's gay storylines.

Speaking as part of Huffington Post UK's Loud & Proud series, the producer explained that nothing has really changed compared to 10 years ago when he was first at the BBC soap.

"Each day we get the Duty Log where people write in to say what they think about the programme," he outlined. "The Duty Log responses have not changed now to how they were 10 years ago when people said, 'I threw up my dinner, I had to sit my 7-year-old down and explain to them that this was wrong'.

"I think a lot of the kids growing up, they don't have any of these preconceptions, it's the parents. They're the people going, 'This is wrong'."

Treadwell-Collins noted that as a gay producer, he doesn't have a "gay agenda" but rather a "kindness agenda", and that it's his job to be inclusive and try to make the world a kinder place.

"For me, when I took over EastEnders, I said, 'Right I want a girl in a hijab who ends up having a stillborn baby' and we did that story," he recalled. "No-one mentioned the fact she was wearing a hijab - it was a mother with a baby, and that was important."

He also cited the storyline that saw Johnny Carter (then played by Sam Strike) come out to his dad Mick, played by Danny Dyer.

"He put his arm around his son and said, 'I love you, you're my boy, I don't care'. And that was as much for little boys watching at home - the Colin and Barry effect - but also for men like Danny Dyer, who hold Danny Dyer up on a pedestal, thinking, 'If he did it, so can I'."

http://digitalspyuk.cdnds.net/14/01/...e-is-gay-2.jpg
Johnny breaks down in Mick's arms
© BBC
(Johnny comes out to Mick)

Colin and Barry were EastEnders' first gay pairing back in the 1980s.

Treadwell-Collins was keen to point out that it isn't just complaints when it comes to the soap's gay storylines.

He noted that during the romance between Syed Masood and Christian, even his grandma asked him if they were going to be "happy".

"That's the job of these shows, is they're people like us, they're not gay, no-one thinks about their colour, they're just people, and that is the strength of a show like EastEnders," the producer said.

Digital Spy

​EastEnders boss Dominic Treadwell-Collins has revealed that this week will be his last on the soap.

The showrunner announced he was leaving the BBC series in February, although he's still at the helm for Barbara Windsor's final ever scenes and the return of Ross Kemp.

Writing on Twitter, Treadwell-Collins said: "My last week in Walford and my last #SoapAwards. Please vote for everything #EastEnders and we will love you forever."

Treadwell-Collins will be fondly remembered by fans after masterminding the debut of Danny Dyer and Kellie Bright as the Carter family, as well as last year's 30th anniversary live week.

He'll be replaced by Sean O'Connor, who has been a producer and editor on long-running radio drama The Archers on and off since the late '90s.

Meanwhile, ​EastEnders and Hollyoaks have topped the shortlist for the British Soap Awards 2016.

Both shows picked up 14 nominations and led the field thanks to multiple nominees in the viewer-voted categories of Best Actor and Best Actress.


Digital Spy

Dominic Treadwell-Collins left EastEnders last week and has now revealed that he missed out on one of his goals as the head of the show.

The executive producer told the Radio Times that he would have loved to have brought back Michelle Fowler, who was played by Susan Tully between 1985 and 1995.

"And I did try. Sue Tully and I emailed back and forth, but she's a director now.

"I briefly considered a recast, but it just didn't sit right. And you never know, maybe someone else can woo Sue Tully to come back."

Michelle left Walford to go to America... and she had just told her brother Mark that she was carrying Grant Mitchell's child.


"Michelle carries the one unexploded secret - the child," Treadwell-Collins added. "But there are ways around that!

"So, yes, it was one of my original ideas - bringing Michelle in and the secrets she brings. I love secrets.

"I've laid a lot of bombs, but [new exec producer] Sean might choose not to explode them or take things in a different direction. But there will be lots of twists and turns to come."

Before starring in EastEnders, Tully played Suzanne Ross in school drama Grange Hill.

She went on to direct episodes of EastEnders, as well as other shows including Getting On, Secret Diary of a Call Girl, The Bill and Lark Rise to Candleford, among others.


Digital Spy