FAQ |
Members List |
Calendar |
Search |
Today's Posts |
|
Soaps Discuss Eastenders, Coronation Street and the rest of the soaps in this sub-forum. |
Reply |
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
21-02-2019, 03:34 AM | #1 | |||
|
||||
Senior Member
|
I just thought it would be interesting to get a glimpse of the backstage chaos that happened during her time for anyone who watched her polarising/controversial era (2002 to 2004).
“Louise's first episodes aired in late July 2002, meaning she took office in April. Upon her arrival, Michael Greco (Beppe di Marco) had just told John Yorke he was leaving the show that day and not continuing with his contract (due to expire 7 weeks from that day). Instead, all of Beppe's scenes/exit story were allocated to Joseph Millson who played Lynne's ex-fiancee Jason. There was a possible grievance taken out by the parents of Jake di Valentine who subsequently would've lost out on work for their son, who would've also had his contract terminated as a result, but this is purely speculaton. Just a mere couple of weeks after this, Michelle Ryan (Zoe Slater) went missing from her home and her absence was reported to the police, later found at a suicide hotspot and diagnosed with nervous exhaustion. Michelle was at the height of a central plot to the show involving Zoe and Dr. Trueman's wedding; the plot was subsequently re-written with all wedding scenes scrapped and instead Zoe was reported missing, until Michelle Ryan was fit to return four months later. Prior to Louise joining, Todd Carty (Mark Fowler) had been granted a break from the show lasting three months and was therefore departing screens in early September. Just days after his break began, Wendy Richard (Pauline Fowler) was diagnosed with breast cancer and subsequently had to take emergency leave for treatment. The following week marked the beginning of a four month break for June Brown (Dot Branning) who had told producers she would be leaving the role unless she had some time out. June then used this time to film a one-off BBC Drama and returned in February 2003. In December 2002, Michelle Ryan, Wendy Richard and Todd Carty all returned to our screens, with June Brown not far behind. Letitia Dean in this time had been approved a two month break from the show and Steve McFadden had also been granted a month off. Just when things began to be going well, Jessie Wallace was involved in a drink driving incident and suspended for two months. Her on-screen break occured from February to April 2003. Up to now, Louise had taken the decision to write out Lucy Benjamin (Lisa Fowler), Colm O'Maonlai (Tom Banks), Alex Ferns (Trevor Morgan), Edward Savage (Steven Beale), Todd Carty (Mark Fowler), Dean Gaffney (Robbie Jackson) and Bindya Solanki (Nita Mistry). Jack Ryder (Jamie) had also taken the decision to leave and was in the process of being fined a significant sum for breaching his contract and selling his and Kym Marsh' wedding photos (now collectors items) to OK! or Hello magazine. Introductions had included Tara Lynne O'Neill (Nanny Joanne), Shane Richie, Chris Parker & Hilda Braid (the Moon family) and Jill Halfpenny (Kate Morton). We were soon reintroduced to Cliff Parisi (Minty) on a full-time basis following a positive guest stint 9 months prior and Scarlett Johnson had been recast as a teenage Vicki Fowler (complete with American accent). All seemed to be calming down in early 2003, until Barbara Windsor then announced she too would like to take a break, alongside Steve McFadden. Both were approved and due to depart at the end of the year until Barbara was taken ill in March and unable to return to work. Scripts were hastily re-written and Peggy had an off-screen exit, disturbing a high-profile story featuring Phil, Kate and the briefly returning Lisa (the Portugal episodes). The show was then hit with numerous scandals throughout 2003; criticism for Vicki Fowler's American accent disappearing overnight, the casting of the Ferreira family in June 2003 and the decision to bring back the shows first dead character; Dirty Den Watts. In addition to this, guest actor Steve Nicolson (noisy neighbour Gavin Sharp) was reportedly at the centre of an off-screen class A drugs scandal. Autumn 2003 and a string of resignations arrive - Charlie Brooks (Janine Butcher), Lucy Speed (Natalie Evans) and Shaun Williamson (Barry Evans), the latter who decided to quit after being refused a break to appear in pantomime - understanable given the amount of long servers who'd taken time out from the show in the previous 12 months. We were also informed that Hannah Waterman (Laura Beale) and Elaine Lordon (Lynne Hobbs) had been axed way ahead of their contracts expiring, both of whom were reported to have fought at a recent awards do and the latter reportedly told Mal Young to "**** off" at a cast meeting. Late 2003: Steve McFadden is about to take his break and Leslie Grantham (Den Watts) is having a short spell away too, when Kacey Ainsworth (Little Mo Mitchell) announces she is pregnant. Scripts were re-written and Little Mo was due to depart. It's now October 2003, there are two blocks of filming taking place. The majority of the cast are in Elstree shooting scenes for Christmas whilst a small group of the younger cast (Shaun Williamson, Gary Beadle and Charlie Brooks included) are in the Scottish Highlands filming top-secret "dramatic scenes", including an alternative ending which was leaked to the press showing Janine at the bottom of the cliff. Little did the show expect that Immigration Officers were at the gates of Elstree with an instruction to remove Dalip Tahil (Dan Ferreira) from the studios and subsequently deport him for failing to have a work permit. Dalip was about to become the focus of a storyline which saw his children turn against him, kill him and bury him in the garden. Instead, viewers were treated to some re-written material consisting of Ronny Ferreira having a kidney transplant and finding out his best friend Tariq was in fact his brother, who'd been having an affair with his own sister. Are you still with me? Poor Robyn Moore (Shirley Benson) was then written out of the series as her intended involvement in the story, alongside Shirley's friendship with Little Mo had no future on the show with her characters network fastly disappearing. Then in early 2004, Gary Beadle (Paul Trueman) was suspended for alledgedly failing to turn up prepared for filming. The actor continued to feature in scenes that coincided with the exits of his on-screen love interests Charlie Brooks and Lucy Speed, then departured for two months. He was then axed upon his return. The show was now firmly under fire, mostly with the Ferreira family coming under criticism. Pooja Shah (Kareena Ferreira) was written out and returned with a sexy new look, Tracy-Ann Oberman was introduced to spice up the Watts family and filming logistics had to be re-worked as Elaine Lordon (Lynne Hobbs) broke her leg in the weeks leading up to her exit. The final straw for the press came when it emerged that Leslie Grantham (Den Watts) had been photographed performing a sex-act via webcam from his BBC dressing room, firing criticism at his colleagues Wendy Richard, Kim Medcalf and Jessie Wallace in particular. He was subsequently suspended and departed for two months in August 2004. As Summer came to an end, the Miller family arrived, Barbara Windsor was fit to return for two episodes to coincide with Sam Mitchell's wedding, Kacey Ainsworth was due back from maternity and a talented Lacey Turner had been cast as a new member of the Slater family, and then bam - Jessie Wallace fell pregnant. The shows leading lady would finish filming in September 2004. At the end of the month, the news came, Louise Berridge was leaving EastEnders. All the while this was happening, Louise was also being stalked be an obsessive fan who sent threatening letters, emails and phone calls to the studios and reportedly her home. I'm surprised the show didn't disappear completely during this period as anyone who had to oversee all of the above whilst delivering quality was on a sure path to a nervous breakdown!" All that was copied from Walford Web. Shines a different light on the 2003/04 era to the blind Berridge haters on forums.
__________________
Don’t let your regret be stronger than your gratitude. And don’t hang on to negativity. That’s all. |
|||
Reply With Quote |
21-02-2019, 11:31 AM | #2 | ||
|
|||
Senior Member
|
I knew about a lot of that. Never knew Michelle Ryan had those problems though.
|
||
Reply With Quote |
21-02-2019, 11:38 AM | #3 | |||
|
||||
The peoples princesses
|
Bloody hell she had a rough time
|
|||
Reply With Quote |
21-02-2019, 02:54 PM | #4 | |||
|
||||
Jemal
|
Omg this was so intense!
Where did you find this and do you have anymore from different years/eras? |
|||
Reply With Quote |
21-02-2019, 02:55 PM | #5 | |||
|
||||
Jemal
|
Lacey Turner being the silver lining to all the chaos
|
|||
Reply With Quote |
21-02-2019, 05:47 PM | #6 | |||
|
||||
Senior Member
|
She was up against a lot and made some terrible decisions but on the whole I enjoyed her era. The Watts revival and underworld gangland era was probably the last time I was hooked on Easties (in as much as women and feminine men don’t find that sort of thing entertaining for the most part).
__________________
Don’t let your regret be stronger than your gratitude. And don’t hang on to negativity. That’s all. Last edited by Redway; 21-02-2019 at 05:48 PM. |
|||
Reply With Quote |
21-02-2019, 05:53 PM | #7 | |||
|
||||
Senior Member
|
It sure was. Another myth that pisses me off about that era is when the press used those occasional 6/7 million ratings they got head-to-head with Emmerdale and made them out as the norm when average episodes actually rated double that back then. But a lot of people don’t know that either. It’s all the negative media attention that taints people’s memories and conceptions of the Berridge era.
__________________
Don’t let your regret be stronger than your gratitude. And don’t hang on to negativity. That’s all. |
|||
Reply With Quote |
22-02-2019, 08:21 AM | #8 | |||
|
||||
Jemal
|
She probably needed therapy after all of that, I must say the story they were going to do with the asian family (burying the dad) would of been quite scary not to mention it potentially affecting how the dirty den story played out.
Regarding the ratings the only time they talk about good viewing figures on soaps is when there’s an anniversary episode (or a very big episode such as who shot phil). Not even counting Christmas days because they still make it a competition. Sorry but the bit about Zoe Slater is crazy! I wonder if that’s the reason she isn’t returning? If she ever returns I’d prefer it not to be a recast |
|||
Reply With Quote |
17-04-2019, 06:46 AM | #9 | |||
|
||||
Senior Member
|
There’s some information about the Hutchinson era that followed plastered online. You want to see them?
__________________
Don’t let your regret be stronger than your gratitude. And don’t hang on to negativity. That’s all. |
|||
Reply With Quote |
17-04-2019, 06:50 AM | #10 | |||
|
||||
Senior Member
|
I hear you on Zoe still. There was a time they considered recasting Frank Butcher when Reid passed on 12 years ago but back then they still had the sense to realise that recasts for adult characters don’t work. Sue Tully has a black mark against her character’s name after the Michelle 2.0 nonsense and for what?
__________________
Don’t let your regret be stronger than your gratitude. And don’t hang on to negativity. That’s all. |
|||
Reply With Quote |
17-04-2019, 12:50 PM | #11 | |||
|
||||
Jemal
|
|
|||
Reply With Quote |
18-04-2019, 06:00 PM | #12 | |||
|
||||
Senior Member
|
Quote:
It’s been over five years since you left EastEnders. What have you been up to since? Before EastEnders, I Exec Produced Holby City for four years. While I did that, I had time to develop some new comedy drama ideas within the drama department. I’d always loved comedy. My first producing job was on Kay Mellor’s Playing The Field (I produced series 3 and 4) and Kay had taught me the importance of giving the audience a good laugh and a good cry in every episode. This is something I tried to bring to EastEnders and to everything I work on. I decided to concentrate on the comedy side of things after leaving the show and became a manager of stand-up comedians. This led to a great job with the Paramount Comedy Channel (now called Comedy Central) as Head of New Comedy. From there I went to work with an independent production company as their Head of Drama and Comedy so I get to combine my love for both genres. You started at EastEnders during a very tough time for the show when it was going though numerous problems. How did you view these problems and how did you go about fixing them? Louise had had a tough time with some unexpected problems which severely affected her storylines through no fault of her own. Of course it was important to try to raise morale within the production as well as create some long term juicy storylines that would give the audience what they deserve. We changed the planned Christmas and New Year storylines when I came in and this seemed to pay off with EE being the most watched show at Christmas 2004 and winning Soap Storyline of the Year for the death of Dirty Den. You started your reign as Executive Producer by axing several cast members. How important was this in turning the show around? Many of the decisions about cutting cast had already been made when I arrived; unfortunately I had the awful task of breaking the news to them. Louise had offered to share this with me but I felt at the time this would be unfair. It was important to think about the future of the show and everything was done with the best intentions. You touched on Christmas 2004 and the 20th anniversary - two key events you oversaw during your short time with the show. How much input did you have on these storylines? Were you pleased with how they played out? I was very pleased that the audience came back to the show for these big stories and was thrilled when we got the highest ratings for a long time. It felt like we’d turned a corner so it was a real highlight of my time with the show. How did you settle on Pauline’s doorstop for Den’s murder weapon? I wanted an iconic image to give him a good send off and really wanted to use the Queen Victoria statue from the pub but it was pointed out that if that landed on Den’s head it would’ve been flattened! So we looked for Den’s biggest adversary over the years, came up with Pauline, thought about the fruitbowl for about 10 seconds then came up with the iron dog doorstop. The episode by Sarah Phelps when Marcus Christie conned Sam Mitchell out of the Mitchell empire and Paul Trueman met his maker was received extremely positively by our forum members. Are you pleased with how this storyline turned out? I was delighted with the way the Sam Mitchell storyline played out. It included some fine acting and Sarah Phelps was a star writer on the show. She was also responsible for our ’witches round the cauldron’ images of the women plotting to see off Dirty Den. What is your perception of the negative press that surrounded the show when you left and the stories that were claimed to have happened backstage? Working on a national treasure like EastEnders has many upsides and so you have to take the downsides on the chin. It was an incredible privilege to have been there. I didn’t read any of the press after I left. I had to read so many made up stories in papers and magazines when I was working on the show, so I knew it wouldn’t be pretty. I know what we achieved when me and my team were there, that’s all that mattered. If you had stayed with the show longer, what storylines would we have seen? What direction would you taken the show in? I’d have wanted to rid the show of gangsters and all things unreal. We inherited a big story that was difficult to unpick and drop quickly. Tony Jordan and I were working on that before I left. There were so many talented writers with great ideas. I’m a huge fan of long stories that really play out. Getting back to basics and creating more emotional, character led stories, especially with the longest serving members of cast was an important move for us as well as introducing some new characters and of course planning the return of the awesome Ms Windsor! In the past month a new Executive Producer has taken over at EastEnders. Is there any advice you would offer him? Enjoy yourself! It’s an incredible experience. Great writers are the key to everything. Thanks for taking the time to chat with us, Kathleen!
__________________
Don’t let your regret be stronger than your gratitude. And don’t hang on to negativity. That’s all. |
|||
Reply With Quote |
18-04-2019, 06:02 PM | #13 | |||
|
||||
Senior Member
|
Santer
Spoiler:
__________________
Don’t let your regret be stronger than your gratitude. And don’t hang on to negativity. That’s all. |
|||
Reply With Quote |
18-04-2019, 06:19 PM | #14 | |||
|
||||
Senior Member
|
Berridge's personal interview (2010)
Spoiler:
__________________
Don’t let your regret be stronger than your gratitude. And don’t hang on to negativity. That’s all. |
|||
Reply With Quote |
18-04-2019, 06:47 PM | #15 | ||
|
|||
Senior Member
|
Interesting that they originally planned for Den to be murdered with the Queen Vic bust but changed their minds. Just under 5 years later Archie was killed with it instead.
|
||
Reply With Quote |
19-04-2019, 01:35 AM | #16 | |||
|
||||
Jemal
|
I was today years old when I discovered Den wasn’t hit with the Queen Victoria
|
|||
Reply With Quote |
19-04-2019, 01:37 AM | #17 | |||
|
||||
Jemal
|
Not all 3 of the anniversaries being about a murder of a character being hit over the head
|
|||
Reply With Quote |
20-04-2019, 08:32 PM | #18 | |||
|
||||
Senior Member
|
Don’t Pauline’s doorstep ring a bow-bell?
__________________
Don’t let your regret be stronger than your gratitude. And don’t hang on to negativity. That’s all. |
|||
Reply With Quote |
24-04-2019, 08:47 PM | #19 | |||
|
||||
Senior Member
|
Harwood
Spoiler:
__________________
Don’t let your regret be stronger than your gratitude. And don’t hang on to negativity. That’s all. |
|||
Reply With Quote |
Reply |
|
|