[Redway]

Originally Posted by Masterchief117

I think the GOLDEN ERA of Eastenders is 1985-2005, and to be more specific, I think it went downhill after Dennis Rickman got killed off. From that moment the storylines felt more mundane and soapy, not to say that it got BAD then. Max/Stacey, Archie, Sean, ronnie and roxy etc. Are all great stuff.... but it lost something it never got back.

I think it truly went RAPIDLY downhill when the Carter's were introduced in 2013.

Something changed in 2006, I agree. Some people say it got that “classic” spark back when Clenshaw took over, something that was largely absent from 2006-2021, but even if that is the case, Wadey’s regressed it again. 2007-10 was still a decent block of years overall (2008 not so much, but it had its moments) and the bar is currently a lot lower than that. It’s really come undone this half of the year.

But as-for something happening to the sensibility of writing/characterisation and what realism was left in the show by then (Dirty Den’s return was just-about plausible, still), a lot of long-term/real-OG fans do notice a certain decline from 2006 onwards (which Clenshaw may or may not have repaired). Santer was good but the cut-off point for undisputed-classic vs. modern does seem to coalesce around 2006/07, and 2006 didn’t help itself with such a string of dodgy storylines and needless affairs (Pat./Patrick, Grant/Jane/Chelsea, Sonia/Naomi, Pauline’s character-assassination, the Kathy-blunder, although that got corrected 9 years later, thank-God-for-that). But there was also a fair bit about this year that’s enjoyable (Jean, before she becomes a sausage-surprise caricature under Santer and Kirkwood, still possessed of some grit, trying to reconnect with Stacey and Sean, getting to know Bradley, the Denise/Owen/Libby domestic-abuse storyline, Honey/Billy’s wedding and Janet’s Down’s Syndrome, Ian and Jane as a nice couple, the beginnings of Stax/Stella’s abuse of Ben and the May/Dawn/Rob triangle).

I’d personally still say 2008 was the worst year of the noughties because it started the trend for truly WTF storylines (Tanya burying Max alive and him getting run over by his 13-year-old daughter in the same year, Mad May coming back for no reason and blowing herself up courtesy of a cigarette), cursed Stax literally the day after the Xmas-reveal was over and just gave us endless affair-drama off the back of it, bla-bla-bla. Just one overly sensationalised story after the other, the weakest of Santer’s years. Things like Whitney/Tony, Frank’s funeral, the return of the Butchers (Bianca/Ricky-dem) and Janine’s bacon-sandwich wedding are just some scattered highlights of a below-par year. Also liked the week in Weymouth where Ronnie (who wasn’t drowned in misery at this point) bumps into Archie again (even if Archie did go on to bring out the very-worst in Peggy at one point), getting to know the likes of Lucas and Christian this year and … yeah. Just a few bits and bobs along the way. There’s some good in there but all-in-all it’s just a very, very messy year.