EastEnders

Thought I'd create a new thread as the old one has been archived.

It's been confirmed that Exec Producer Sean O'Connor is leaving the show with immediate effect after only a year in the role.

John Yorke who was exec producer from 2000 to 2003 will be stepping in on a temporary basis.

http://www.digitalspy.com/soaps/eastenders/news/a831548/eastenders-confirms-producer-sean-oconnor-is-leaving/?utm_content=buffer6e9b3&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=mainfacebookpost

I for one think this is great news for the soap. O'Conner has really wrecked the soap and made some terrible decisions following the very successful period that Dominic Treadwell-Collins had.

He killed off Ronnie and Roxy for very little reason at all, completely turned the head on the fortunes of the Carter family and really couldn't grasp the dramatic 'doof doof' moments, often ending the episode on the least dramatic moment that there was.

It's painfully obvious that he was due his marching orders when EastEnders failed to win any awards at the recent British Soap Awards. Apart from a lifetime achievement award for one of the writers.

Luckily John Yorke was there with Who Shot Phil, Steve Owen's dramatic exit and Little Mo's domestic abuse storyline. Though he is there only temporarily, let's hope he can get the soap back on track before he hands the reins over to someone else.

Over at Walford Web, they are popping the champagne. All sorts of unconfirmed rumours about SOC being both the perpetrator and victim of bullying, and Steve McFadden - whose character Phil Mitchell has been absent for some months - refusing to return to work while SOC is at the helm.

I wasn't a fan of many of DTC's sensationalist plot lines - characterisation suffered - and for a while SOC seemed to be fixing things - but his slow-burn, repetitive and bland storytelling, not to mention culling of some of the most popular characters - evidently has viewers switching off in droves.

Earlier this year there were only 3 episodes a week for a number of weeks as BBC executives said that the stories were not up to scratch. This has been coming for quite a while.

I can't remember there being 3 episodes a week earlier this year, even though I watch the show! Maybe it passed me by.

EastEnders under SOC will be remembered for one thing only....bins.

However, I think there were some good decisions which were poorly executed. Ronnie and Roxy while well loved had past their sell by date. The character of Lee Carter was really poor, along with the depression storyline poorly executed. The bus crash with no deaths either with no real continuity to why suddenly a double decker bus was heading to Albert Square.

He should have kept Aunt Babe and Claudette Hubbard and what was the point of axing Pam and Les when SOC then introduced an almost identikit couple?

It's too early to say if the Taylor's are any good, but heavily infulenced by the Miller's but nowhere as appealing.

No wonder he need to be gotten replaced.

Between February & March 2017 there were serious problems of episodes not ready and not being up to standard. The bus crash storyline had to be brought forward there was some serious disquiet within management. The writing was pretty much on the wall after that.

Yeah, all I noticed was a standard pre-emption on Friday 24 March for Comic Relief.

There were never three episodes a week... The bus crash, however, was brought forward.

SOC being sacked really throws the Max storyline up in the air, plus everything else that is apparently building slowly. Will the new producer attempt to salvage it or scrap it?

There was a lot of disruption due to FA Cup football plus Comic Relief and the Six Nations earlier this year - plus one week when there was no Friday episode due to a wildlife documentary. I doubt more than one or two weeks in Jan/Feb/Mar had normal scheduling. However I don't recall a notable reduction in episodes - displaced episodes usually turned up somewhere, and sometimes in a one hour block with another episode.

The bus crash was, I believe, originally scheduled for April time, so it had barely any aftermath. Two characters were trapped under the bus - both were back at work without a scratch the following week, and the market looked like nothing had happened.

The crash was replaced in April with Nu-Michelle crashing a car into the chippy when she decided to drive to the tube station after taking a sleeping pill. A painfully convoluted storyline as the station is about two minutes walk away - she could have walked there quicker than it took her to find the keys!!

I disagree about Lee Carter. His depression storyline had its faults but he is both a better actor and more interesting character than his brother Johnny, who hasn't had a single storyline since DTC brought him back (recast) a year or so ago.

All of the Carter children have been wooden in one way or another. I could never gel to Nancy who soon left, but agree with you about Johnny Carter who hasn't had a real storyline in months with a slight blip when he kissed Ben Mitchell.

The Carter storylines haven't been helped by Kellie Bright going on maternity leave with SOC bringing her back for a couple of episodes during it to help the continuity of the story and Danny Dyer taking time off earlier in the year which is also alleged to be partly due to Sean O'Connor not handling his talent well. See Steve McFadden.