Yesterday's EastEnders

This programme has really taken a turn for the better! I am impressed. Okay so little mo is still a wet whimpering sap, and Chrissie still acts and looks like a pantomime dame, but Wow - the Moon brothers? Give me a piece of that - quick!

Actually, Patrick, didn't we find out a while ago that he's technically not your son? Hmm?

also, ian and jane + sexual congress = vomit.

i demand an appearance by bricktop & co to 'sort out' Andy.

I like the new Ronnie Kray 'loves his mother, only kills his own' type East End gangster. Have we found out what the connection between him and Pat is yet?

So Paul Trueman is properly dead then? I was hoping they were going to keep it open, in a Dirty Den kind of way.

Eastenders has got so much better since they dropped the absurd pretence that Leslie Grantham is supposedly attractive to women and made him into the durty old man everyone really thinks he is. Did you hear Den say "its so vulgar having your photo in the paper" the other week?

Also there's a Den whodunnit coming up, apparently. Soap whodunnits are always great in a preposterous kind of way.

will anyone tell the difference?

I was terribly disappointed at Andy Hunters death, I was expecting him to be torn apart by Alfie or Patrick, but hey ho, can't have all the square murderers.

Gosh, I'm sad.

how did Den fake his dead pulse?

Andy's death was cool, especially the ruthless economy of it. Actually the Andy story was much more compelling than the Den storyline, I thought.

I was saying to my wife the other night that with the two new rent-a-thugs, the return of Den and the bloke of The Bill that 'enders now had way too many tough/bad guys in it. Good plan to get rid of two at once.

Rumour azzit Grant Mitchell may return later in the year.

um, xpost, some wrestling stuff, folding table gtting smashed or something

I thought the bit in the Vic with Ian playing the air guitar was quite sweet because it involved all the characters who've been there from the beginning. I can't believe I've been watching that programme for 20 years now.

I also can't believe that the best plotline they could come up with for their 20th anniversary was to kill Den again. I agree, Andy's death was much better.

And hey! The Ferreras aren't gone at all! There they were at the bar with no-one saying "where the bloody hell did you lot slope off to?"

I was quite stupidly impressed with them keeping Sharon's brief return quiet - I read quite a lot of trashy papers and magazines and didn't know about it. I should get out more.

I said that thing about Ian being like his twattish 20-years-ago self with Pauline and Dot and Den and that to my husband when it was on on Friday, like what accentmonkey said, and my husband said I was really sad. :(

Are there any gays in Eastenders at the moment? I like a good gay character.

The guy who plays the Moon brother that isn't Lee from the Office is gay in real life, but that's not what you meant, was it? Corrie has the best soap gay in Sean.

I can't help myself, my head is full of old soap plots - I'm therefore frequently baffled at the company some people keep in the soaps ("Why are you buying him a pint? He shagged your wife in 1992!"). It seems the characters have shorter memories (or are more forgiving) than me.

Tony and Simon were a top gay couple. Simon was totally over the top bad acting camp guy and Tony spent the whole time going "I'm not gay, give us a kiss Si."

Oh, and WTF is with Ronnie Ferrera? Has he got mumps?

"Comedy"

Well the Jack scenes were in the time-honoured line of EastEnders’ tin eared feel for comedy, but I did like Jean’s expression at the end.

I haven't watch Stenders in ages, but I couldn't resist the lure of the 1979 episode. Sadly, it wasn't very good, but I love the idea, and the casting was spot on. They haven't done a high-concept episode in such a long time. I hope they're getting back into them more.

both Eastenders and Corrie are really, really bad at the moment. Eastenders is improving slightly, I really like Stacey's surprise lesbian wife and the Panesar mum, but there is a lot of nothing happening and I need Ben to simply not be in it for a while.

I really like EastEnders - but am aware I do cut it a lot of slack. The writers have just got rid of two young characters - Dana and Jada - that were starting to develop well after shaky starts. Janine as pantomime villain is getting a bit tiresome though.

I really liked Dana. It was nice to see a young woman who wasn't a sexy siren with a secret or a troubled vixen with a heart of a gold.

Eve (the aforementioned lesbian wife) is great, but they really need to use her in a major plot. I like all of the Panesars. I really like Bobby Beale’s range of expressions.

I see that Lofty and Mary the Punk, and Colin and Barry, will be back briefly ‘for Dot’s final farewell’ this autumn.

and Lauren! Jac Jossa must be bored of making sponsored Instagram content. It will be interesting to see how they handwave away Ian, Max, Carol and Bianca all not being there.

Maybe they will be? You know how they like to stack the surprises.

Eve (the aforementioned lesbian wife) is great, but they really need to use her in a major plot. I

Can’t complain about tonight’s developments on that front …. Also distracts from the terrible Alfie

I don't understand how Brian Conley and Shane Ritchie can both be in it at the same time. Surely it's one diamond geezer end-of-the-pier entertainer at a time?

Denise and Jack? Are they honestly going to pair up every single adult with every other adult at some stage in this programme? Can't wait till Phil and Martin have their spring awakening and end up together for six months.

Jack’s become incredibly dull and in dire need of a good plot. He’s been basically reduced to overprotective dad. Rumours are he’s about to stray from Denise.

I've only just found out they're a couple and now I'm furious that he's going to cheat on her. Who with? Is it his turn with Sharon?

Jack's already been engaged to Sharon.

Jesus christ, this programme.

Innit though. it's like how everyone in Corrie is no more than one degree of separation from Steve, Gary, Leanne or Maria.

I read an interview with the Maria actress in one of the soap mags lying around my grandparents' house a few weeks ago and she was saying the character has had 31 partners in her 20-odd years at Corrie.

I'm sure I said it earlier in this thread, but it is always funny when anyone in a soap lays out the history of any house or character on the street/square/close. It always sounds just crazy.

Who with?

Keep watching … Duff Duff duff duff du du du duff

Tonight, we say goodbye to a Walford legend. 7:35pm on @BBCOne #EastEnders #RememberDot pic.twitter.com/miw1QLZsFu

— BBC EastEnders (@bbceastenders) December 12, 2022

[wipes away a tear]

Good to see Colin, Mary, Lofty and Ian.

I was expecting it to be cheesy and full of pomp, but I thought it was really good considering how it could have been otherwise... until they started comparing her to the Queen. It took me right out of it. Also, everybody standing up in the church felt like a Harry Hill TV Burp moment.

Yes that was a real clanger

Toe-curling, because it was nicely done until that point. Ian lurking in a bush was unexpected. They brought it back at the cemetery though, Jack throwing her cigarettes onto her coffin, Abide With Me seguing into the theme tune...

Rip Mick… a full Vera Lynn farewell complete with White Cliffs of Dover.

he'll be back, Harold Bishop/Dee Bliss style

We absolutely reckoned he's up for the full Harold Bishop reveal. Janine husbands should really stay away from cliffs.

The actress playing Lola is doing an incredible job.

Cindy reportedly returning from the grave in a few months, with Ian. How many of Ian's wives have tried to murder him? He doesn't bear a grudge.