Eastenders - Current Episode Discussion - VIII

[maidmarian]

dtc and his writers should have done extensive research on cf for the storyline

The Cystic Fibrosis Trust have said they are
working with the BBC on the storyline- but
that may mean the diagnosis development
& treatnent of the disease- rather than
genetic causes!

[maidmarian]

dtc and his writers should have done extensive research on cf for the storyline

The Cystic Fibrosis Trust have said they are
working with the BBC on the storyline- but
that may mean the diagnosis development
& treatnent of the disease- rather than
genetic causes!

[Kim]

Thankyou very much for this interesting
and informative post.
Also for info about the retconning. I wasn't
able to watch EE very much at the time of
Jimbobs illness so that Shirleys behaviour
tho not surprising - was news to me!

There are theories that your blood group
can make you more prone to certain
illnesses. Do.you know if this applies to
Cystic Fibrosis?

I still.wonder why they made Dean blood type
AB which is very rare if it was to have no
significance . They could have established
that Mick was Olivers father without Dean
having a rare group.

I did wonder if it might play a part in Deans
own paternity. Perhaps another retcon on the
way !!

Jimbo was never a character that appeared on screen. He died in the backstory, I think in 2001. When Kevin died, he gave Shirley a message that Jimbo had wanted to give her while he was on his deathbed. Shirley first appeared when she decided to track down Carly and Dean. This producer has done quite a few retcons where Shirley is concerned. When Shirley found the kids, they didn't realise who she was as they had no memory of her because she'd walked out when they were so little. All of a sudden this producer changes the ages and Dean was about 7 when she walked. There was also a story that Kevin and Shirley used to take Mick drinking when he was a teenager, but I doubt they'd have done so as they'd have had a sick Jimbo to contend with by this time. I always go by the original versions where there is a retcon. This was all established in 2006/7. Carly and Dean thought that they were Kevin's children until Shirley dropped the bombshell because Kevin wanted her to leave Walford.

I have not heard this theory, but if true, I would doubt it has anything to do with CF as CF is determined by the inheritance of a single gene from each parent.

I doubt Dean's parentage will come up again. Although technically not a retcon, this producer has already got creative with it in making Dean Buster's son. When Carly and Dean discovered that Kevin wasn't their biological father, Carly asked who was. Shirley told her that her father's name was Daniel. Dean said something else, to which Shirley replied that he wasn't Dean's dad and it was implied that Shirley didn't know who was. Now we've had the Mick twist, it does work that Shirley would not have named Buster at that time for fear that Dean would track him down and discover the truth about Mick (remember that Buster knew he was Mick's dad but didn't know about Dean.)

Dean was given the rare blood group AB as it was the only group he could have had that would have 100% ruled him out as Ollie's father. I'm still surprised they went this way rather than dragging it out to a DNA test. With the blood types, we inherit one allele from each parent. This combination decides what blood group we are. The only alleles are A, B and O. O is recessive (both parents have to give an O to produce a Type O child.) A and B are both dominant, so when a person inherits both of these as in Dean's case, they're AB and we know their makeup also. Had they made Dean an A or a B, it wouldn't have been case closed as we wouldn't have known whether his alleles were AA, AO, BB or BO. All of these combinations are just known as Type A or Type B (since the A or B dominates over the O) but unless Dean was AB, he could therefore have had an O to give, despite not being Type O himself.

[Kim]

The Cystic Fibrosis Trust have said they are
working with the BBC on the storyline- but
that may mean the diagnosis development
& treatnent of the disease- rather than
genetic causes!

The line of dialogue would have been down to an individual writer. I doubt any writers would have been working with the charity to know how it is inherited, since so many of them will be writing episodes during the course of the storyline. Someone higher up or even DTC himself should have noticed the error, or the fact that Shirley wasn't around when Jimbo died to get any tests done on the surviving children (and if they wanted the tests to have been done, at least acknowledge that it was Kevin who would have got them done.) Odd pieces of dialogue like this slip through these days (I think soaps used to have dedicated continuity staff, but now don't to save money) - just look at Corrie last week. That was much more glaring than this.

We hear quite often that they're working with xyz charity, but I have to wonder how much notice they actually take and how happy the charities are with how the storylines concerned eventually play out. They worked with a charity during Kat's storyline, but it was then rushed, done with no depiction of Kat actually giving a statement or meeting any other victims; and included no mention of Kat blaming herself for the abuse of these other children because she didn't report her abuse to the authorities at the time. I'd have thought many people in her situation would feel at least partially responsible. They also had various impossibilities in that storyline, including Kat saying that the other victims were going to court. This is wrong as it doesn't go to court when the accused is dead, it's all done through the Criminal Injuries Board.

[Perdita]

I sure don't want to excuse sloppy research/writing of storylines but I can imagine that a lot of impacts events have on people in real life and their reactions might get watered down for soaps in order to minimise upset for viewers affected by the storyline and also legal issues ... ??

[lizann]

did mick and his family get tested especially now baby ollie

[Dazzle]

I've just had a look at the episode where Shirley finds Dean's blood tests and all she says is "You had a load of tests done after Jimbo died" (see here at about 7.55). It was probably kept very vague deliberately so the writers didn't paint themselves into a corner.

I don't mind the subtle retconning of Shirley's backstory. It was invented when she was a one-dimensional villain brought in to stir up the Wicks family. There was no way to know what a successful character she'd become, or that a future producer would want to thoroughly delve into her backstory. The changes add to the character and to the story in my opinion.

I'm sure giving Jade CF is being done at least partially to redeem Shirley for abandoning Jimbo when he was dying - which I'm not against at all. I always liked Shirley as a character up until the rape storyline. She was thoroughly nasty at times but Linda Henry's talents as an actress meant there was always more to Shirley than was written in the script.

[Kim]

I've just had a look at the episode where Shirley finds Dean's blood tests and all she says is \\"You had a load of tests done after Jimbo died\\" (see here at about 7.55). It was probably kept very vague deliberately so the writers didn't paint themselves into a corner.

I don't mind the subtle retconning of Shirley's backstory. It was invented when she was a one-dimensional villain brought in to stir up the Wicks family. There was no way to know what a successful character she'd become, or that a future producer would want to thoroughly delve into her backstory. The changes add to the character and to the story in my opinion.

I'm sure giving Jade CF is being done at least partially to redeem Shirley for abandoning Jimbo when he was dying - which I'm not against at all. I always liked Shirley as a character up until the rape storyline. She was thoroughly nasty at times but Linda Henry's talents as an actress meant there was always more to Shirley than was written in the script.

I agree, the redeeming of Shirley was the first thing I thought of. I think it could be really good viewing in the future if Shabnam and Kush got to talking about children and Shabnam wouldn't commit until he got tested (it's a 25% risk if he is, but with a family history of the disease, I'd imagine it's a risk that some choose not to take.)

Also agree re: the tests. Shirley knowing about them and having the paperwork is more of a stretch.

[tammyy2j]

If tests were done on Carly and Dean after Jimbo then Shirley would know if Dean had the Cystic Fibrosis gene but if she was absent at this time only Kevin then would know and he is dead and if Shirley didn't read the test results or couldn't understand them, she or Dean don't know

[Dazzle]

If tests were done on Carly and Dean after Jimbo then Shirley would know if Dean had the Cystic Fibrosis gene but if she was absent at this time only Kevin then would know and he is dead and if Shirley didn't read the test results or couldn't understand them, she or Dean don't know

I think that's the only way to explain it. Shirley wasn't around after Jimbo died so she probably didn't know about the tests until she came into possession of the paperwork after Kevin's death. She might have flipped through them and known vaguely what they were without looking at the results in detail. You'd think she'd have known CF was genetic though given her experience with Jimbo.