Yea that episode was really great, Phil, Julie and Nigel in particular did a fantastic job, first time in ages I've felt a bit emotional watching ee 😅

Today's episode was excellent, I think they've navigated Nigel's story so well from start to now. I actually think it would've made for an excellent Christmas Day episode? The character drama was top notch and it was something so many could relate to, and it would've made for an excellent switch-up compared to what we usually expect from EastEnders on Christmas Day.

It was the best episode in months. Nigel, Julie and Phil are carrying this show currently.

Yes but why did they leave him ALONE ON THE STREET during a dementia crisis? And why did Elaine lrt a four yesr old go off with a man she doesn't know?

Bizarre

That actually was beautiful. How can they get this so right when they’re failing on an almost daily basis? Can we please not go back to Zoe drama tomorrow?

Bringing back Nigel and then Julie has been a revelation this past year. It’s been fantastic for Phil and it sold Grant’s return earlier this year (I still get emotional when watching his last exchange with Nigel) and aside from the silly car crash a few weeks ago, everything Nigel related has been brilliant.

Pat and Barry being back was a little gratuitous but it worked and they’re both great characters. Young Phil and Grant were brilliant as always-they are such good actors and very believable. Tracy having dark hair and some lines too! But it was wonderful seeing Debbie again-always a shame she quit abruptly back in the day, I watched her episodes on Drama a few years ago and I think that really helped seeing her with Nigel again tonight.

But of course, Nigel, Julie and Phil were the real main focus as they should be. Such great actors all of them and the writing was fantastic. Why can’t it always be like this?

As for Pat being killed off too soon, I have two thoughts on that. Yes, Pam looks great and could have been popping in and out for years. But on the other hand, it was a good time for her character to go given who was in the show for her final episodes at the time-Ricky, Bianca, Carol and Janine. They’ve not all been in it at the same time since.

Killing Ronnie and Roxy was foolish, Roxy more so than Ronnie. Killing Abi Branning was equally thoughtless, she could have been back right now. Denny feels like a misstep they’re always trying to recover from and I still think killing Martin off was a bad idea-it’s not even been a year and it’s already like he never existed!

Wow, I totally echo all the sentiments in this thread, I'm relieved the show can still provide high quality episodes after the amount of slop we've had to endure over the last few months. Karen Henthorn, Paul Bradley and Steve McFadden were all incredible. The last scene in particular between the latter two really choked me up and hit close to home. The younger versions of Phil and Grant indeed smashed it again as well. If I closed my eyes I'd assume it was Steve and Ross based on their vocal likeness alone.

Lovely to see Pam St. Clement back for this! Of course they snuck in some earring dialogue

I'm glad not all hope is entirely lost with this era if that standard is possible. This kind of episode is what has been sorely missed - strong character driven material with good attention to detail, loved the '90s touches in The Vic. Please deliver more of this Team Wadey!

Really really well done. They hit it out thr paek with this one, but everything else is just abysmal. I don't get it!!

Cliffhanger alert for today's episode. Not sure how I feel about it but I think it's good, certainly wasn't who I'd suspected at all

30 minutes ago, lewistgreen said:

Cliffhanger alert for today's episode. Not sure how I feel about it but I think it's good, certainly wasn't who I'd suspected at all

Was a good cliffhanger/ reveal.

But kinda raises more questions than answers 😆

LMFAOOOOO actually laughed out loud, this is comical. Is that really what they think is worth a Christmas episode? And if it is why not leave it until the actual day.

To go from yesterday”s Nigel episode to this convoluted 00s fanfic mess is a joke.

1 hour ago, Liаm said:

LMFAOOOOO actually laughed out loud, this is comical. Is that really what they think is worth a Christmas episode? And if it is why not leave it until the actual day.

To go from yesterday”s Nigel episode to this convoluted 00s fanfic mess is a joke.

Remember the Nigrl story will have been written by the LAST EP and writers, as it's the culmination to his main story, and was VERY similsr to thr Phil suicide episode. We won't be getting that quality again. It was a one off. The new ep is back to it.

Praying Ar Sharon makes a surprise return in the Christmas episodes 😭

I don't think so, as they'd have to explain away her AND Albie suddenly leaving again

Ok so that was quite a good cliffhanger. I actually managed to keep myself from being spoiled. We all said we’d wanted Chrissie, Zoe and Sam back on screen together, and now that’s what we’ll get.

But I am in two minds about it. Firstly, they’ll need to explain all of the Jasmine stuff quite quickly now. How did Chrissie know about her? Is she even still definitely Zoe’s daughter?

The other thing now quite sitting right is why is Chrissie doing this? Zoe actually never actually did anything to her. Zoe didn’t kill Den, Zoe wasn’t even involved in Chrissie getting caught. If anything, Chrissie was the one who insisted Zoe have an abortion and then let her believe she’d killed Den for months. And also Chrissie’s last stint suggested she’d grown past this and moved on after her chats with Sharon. You can kind of tell there’s been a change in producer.

Definitely a step down from yesterday’s episode. I enjoyed Sam but she feels like a background character in her own story.

There is no reason to it, to me this just feels like a 10 year old writing convoluted fanfiction to bring back Chrissy and Zoe in 2006 Why would Chrissie, finally out of prison with the man she waited 20 years for, spend her freedom chasing around after Zoe Slater who didn’t really do anything to her anyway?!

I just can’t ne excited about noted Zionist transphobe TAO on my screen, that heinous woman should not have any airtime, idc about the character. I think Chrissy’s story ended fine with the Sharon saga last time she came back and left with Jake.

I genuinely think jasmine is gonna get like stabbed or shot and die instead of Zoe tomorrow

It’s probably a step too far bringing Chrissie back for revenge. Especially when the motive will be weak as.

Sharon would be the only one she’d want revenge on (maybe Sam but who would actually go after someone with cancer?) and that was all resolved last year. She got back with Jake who waited for her. She got a happy ending. It’s not like Zoe has lived a charmed life either?

Let’s see what tomorrow brings but there’s a lot of work to do. Not sure this was worth the last 3 months of Zoe melodrama on repeat.

Fun cliffhanger, but it doesn't make a lick of sense!!! HERE FOR IT though