The trouble with EastEnders

As you may know from reading the old general EastEnders thread, we have decided to split the discussion in two. This thread can be used to discuss the overall quality of the programme. Feel free to give your opinions about the state of EastEnders, bearing in mind that you should respect the views of other members.

Please use the new general EE thread to discuss storylines, news, gossip and spoilers.

Happy debating...

I think Eastenders has improved so much over the past few weeks, and I think it is gradually going to get back to being as good as it used to be

Thanks for this. This will improve things no doubt.



I disagree. It's a long way off from being as good as it was back in 2001 IMO.

In the past couple of months i have noticed it starting to get better. I personally think May and Stella are growing into really strong characters, in their own way which is making people tune in to see how the develop. I may be totally wrong and living in a fantasy land

No, I agree that those two characters are making the show more watchable for me than it has been in a long time but I still don't think that it is anywhere near the quality that it was at at the turn of the century. I do think that the drop in quality was partly because of the addition of the fourth episode, which is why rumours of a fifth episode worry me.

The scenes the other night with Ben, Stella and Phil were actually very nicely played. Ben sometimes is attrocious, but there's no doubt that he improves when he is in a scene with adults.

I'm just not getting the May, Dawn and whatever his name is storyline. I don't know which one of them is more contemptible. Dawn is a silly tart and the other two seem evil. Who am I supposed to be rooting for?

The show can still have its moments, but I'm not inspired to follow the series as I once was.

I don't think the show is in anywhere near as good as it once was about 20 years ago. 20 years ago, I actually cared about nearly all the characters, plots were well developed, and the endings made me want to tune into the next episode. These days, it's on far too often, storylines are given to new characters with no substance, and plots are either hysterically rushed, or go on for what feels like 10 years.

The truth is that EastEnders is in such a big hole it can never dig itself out of it - however much it might improve.


Alot of the loyal fans have now gone - and they have little reason to return. Most of the characters they knew have also gone, with the ones remaining being the ones which are probably the biggest problems. And they have no reason at all to care about the new characters.


I used to be a regular viewer back in the late nineties and at the turn of the century, but I have probably only watched one episode since late 2003 - the one in which Dirty Den was killed again. Needless to say, that episode didn't have me coming back for more!

Bringing back Dirty Den on top of the Ferriera kidney storyline basically stabbed the show in the chest.

I watched Eastenders for five minutes last night, having not watched it in years.

The scene was some "hard" woman bartering with some young lad in a cafe about knocked off software.

It was like an am-dram production of Shameless.

I soon went back to the Simpsons on Sky One.

I do agree about May and Stella. The fact that they are both somewhat psychotic in their nature is the only thing that has caused me to stay tuned to the soap, as this hasn't been incorporated into EastEnders in the past, AFAIK.

Tried again tonight, Ian Beale came on screen, I turned over