More realistic than Bianca's perfect manicure and make up and tan after being locked up for months... Maybe Debbie had a gel nail light in there?

“When was the last time you did something fun for Linda” maybe the 5 month cruise she just got back from?!💀

45 minutes ago, Liаm said:

They really need to rest or retire Jean. No matter how brilliant Gillian Wright is, she can do so much better than what they give her cyclically.

I feel like when they don't know what to do with her next they just give her a mental breakdown, I also feel like they're using this as "comic relief" which is a bit tone-deaf, like mental illness isn't something to laugh at - maybe I'm taking it wrong but it's just kinda icky to me

I so can't be arsed with this anymore but I'm in the habit of watching it on my lunchbreaks at work so I'll probably still watch it, this is the most I've struggled with it in a very long time

They need to bring back someone like Shirley or Janine, they should bring back Shirley with Tina's daughter, even if the latter was recasted, it's been long enough they could essentially reinvent her if they wanted to. They just seem dead cert on breaking the strongest families, The Slaters, Carters, Mitchell's, even the Panesars. It's says something when the Beals/Brannings are the strongest left 😅

Bea could be camp but with how we can’t trust Ben Wadey part of me thinks she might be one if those take over the entire show type newbies in a bad way, like 2019 Hayley Slater lmao. Idk I just don’t trust them to have nuance or layers to this kind of budding psycho storyline.

Any bets on when the new Hollyoaks ep will "quit" this year?

Also is Bea Pollen really a new character?! Iconic!!

I don’t feel like they’re playing Jean for laughs right now, at the very least they aren’t having any characters finding her amusing. I just think that they don’t know what to do with her and it’s plainly obvious whenever Stacey isn’t around. Kat and Alfie have dealt with this before so it’s ridiculous how ineffectual they are after all this time.

I can’t quite take Ronni Ancona seriously given how many times I’ve seen her playing Kat/Sharon/Peggy.

Bea feels a bit too on the nose for me so far for sure, already we see there is little nuance she’s just basically straight to 100 where you can tell she’s going to be crazy.

I like a camp villain but with how Ben Wadey has been so far I fear it will be fanfic.If this is a story for Emma Barron though I’m here for it!

Bea and Max are gonna be a thing I bet

I wonder if he marries Chelsea but has an affair with her?

Dunno who she is tbh, but I am here for her - I love camp villains! I even miss Anthony and his wooden acting, once he turned into a camp, panto villain!

Under no circumstance did we need Nish back.

Every time Ronnie Ancona does anything I think she’s going to burst into her Sharon impression.

So you're doing rubbish at your new job. You're being slated for ruining the whole programme... and then you bring Nish back as a hallucination.

Seriously... I mean... SERIOUSLY!!! 😳 🙄

I actually haven't watched since New Year's oop. A show I have watched for almost 30 years and whilst I've had breaks before the way the show is right now is seriously bad.

Derek Martin, the actor best known for playing Charlie Slater in EastEnders, has died aged 92.

Martin first appeared on the BBC soap's fictional Albert Square in 2000 as widower Slater, along with his four daughters Lynne, Kat, Little Mo and Zoe.

A regular cast member until 2011, he featured in a number of major storylines. Martin then made several guest appearances on the programme until his character suffered a fatal heart attack in 2016.

Feel like they're trying very hard to make Bea a new camp icon but the acting is so sub par ☠️

45 minutes ago, JosephStyles said:

Feel like they're trying very hard to make Bea a new camp icon but the acting is so sub par ☠️

Agreed

She just sounds like she’s doing impressions of other characters.

1 hour ago, JosephStyles said:

Feel like they're trying very hard to make Bea a new camp icon but the acting is so sub par ☠️

100%, as many of us have said a few times it’s feeling fanfic right now. Basically everything Ben Wadey does is like a 12 year old in the 00s won a competition and their fanfic got to be a special episode except it’s every bloody episode. Like if Bea was going to be a psycho, it would have been more effective for her to just be an old friend of Linda or whoever and get a job somewhere and turn out to be a psycho, but we don’t get any build up or nuance it’s just “oh isn’t she camp 🤪” the second she’s on screen.

Right down to Ronni Ancona as a casting, she’s obviously known for Eastenders impressions in the 00s so it feels like pure fanfic to just insert her into things like this and suddenly I feel like she’s going to be the whole show. Instead of focusing on the strong characters that the show already has, it’s all overwrought new storylines and all of it terribly written. I’d bank on Bea being part of the Max storyline for the flash forward somehow.

I think I already said this but it’s almost feeling a bit Hayley Slater in that she’s thrust on screen and straight away we’re expected to care about her, no build up, nothing. Obviously it’s too early to tell but it’s not feeling like a good start to me especially with how the show is at the moment already.

I was watching old episodes earlier from 2009 and Boris Johnson was in there back in his mayor days

I wrote that halfway through the episode and Christ she is EXCRUCIATING