[Redway]

Originally Posted by Amy Jade

I'd like them to explore something between Jack and Denise, I like them together but we need something to go on to bring them together more - feels like a relationship out of nowhere.

Your wish was their command. Even-though Jack was a toxic bastard to Denise for a whole year until she made her own story-stakes with The Six. 2023-Jack is a disrespectful, borderline-abusive scumbag.

And now we have Ben Wadey taking the show back to 2011/12/15 in tone straight after Clenshaw gave it the best overall era in at-least 15 years (since 2014 and 2019 were the only decent years from 2011 to 2021, and 2022-the middle of this year is a trillion times better than 2019 without even trying), I worry. Between Owen’s abuse of her (culminating in him drowning Libby; poor Libs), all the stuff with Lucas and Trina, her questionable relationships/one-night stands (Ian, Phil.), her borderline-alcoholism (which was frequently hinted at at one point) and anything-else that’s worth mentioning within that period (so not her getting a GCSE in English Lit. and then collapsing in the hallway, ravaging bins for food and boiling pasta without water, but then 2017 is one of EastEnders’ very-worst years anyway), she’s had a lot of focus over the 19 years she’s been part of this show but the amount of executive producers who give her enough screen-time and sole focus when she’s not in the shadow of Kim., who should be in the shadow of Denise rather than the other way around and isn’t even really that funny anymore (although she does have her moments) is … well, questionable. But Clenshaw, for all his flaws (and he had many), utilised her sole and the show was all-the better for that, because Denise is a treasure and played by a powerhouse-actress.

The same want of extension goes to Chelsea, where Zaraah Abrahams is, again, a powerhouse-actress and one who’s obviously more settled and willing to be here to stay than she was in Corrie or Waterloo Road, but at the minute she’s in the shadow of Chelsea 1.0 in terms of focus and isn’t playing a character so much as a reminder that, y’know, that Denise has kids out there, one of-whom also happens to have terrible taste in men. But Denise learnt the hard way and it stuck. Chelsea just doesn’t seem to learn or grow from her dating-mistakes, and it’s pretty bad for a woman pushing 40 (not that she looks 38) who witnessed her mum suffer greatly in relationships with abusive men and serial-killing sociopaths. They need to sharpen up the focus of Chelsea as a character deserving of as much screen-time as Lauren and Penny, if not more, capitalise the fact that she’s played by a very capable actress and keep Denise in the limelight.

But I don’t trust Wadey to do that any more than I trust a pathological gossip to actually start minding the business one day. He’s just too green in the game and doesn’t seem to have a clue what he’s doing. No, the show isn’t as bad at the moment as it was in 2012, 2018 or 2021 but it’s a massive step down, and anyone (like I say, from the hardcore Walford-Web and Digital-Spy fandom of mandem and gyal-dem to casual fans who mostly only watch at Christmas) can see that. Wadey needs to go.