Pre Warning re Tonight’s Eastenders

One Life, while cinema was in tears.

I never, ever saw my Mum cry - but she was a very soft hearted and empathetic person.

I’ve never watched an episode of EE and don’t ever intend to. On the odd occasion I’ve seen trailers for it, the frequent screeching and shouting has put me off.

I cannot understand why women don’t knock men back when they get too familiar, I’ve had a few in my time, one a boss(I lost the job he turned up at my house) and I told them at the time, no messing about. I am not remotely aggressive, but don’t invade my space and body or I would knee them. However no one looks at me now I have become invisible. I cried at George saying goodbye to his adopted mother whilst listening to his birth mother sing a lullaby, lucky he had a cassette player though. Those six women get on my nerves, I want them to be found out as I don’t want wrong person convicted even if he is not nice. You do the crime you do the time. I think the women are all as mad as hatters though.

SueEH
I absolutely hear what you are saying , I’ve also watched since the very first episode back in the day it was family viewing with my DD’s .
I’ve dipped in & out over the years & may very well miss one or two along the way but can always watch on catch up.
Very true to life storylines ,hard hitting at times & yes can be slated as not everyone works in the same street that they live Its a drama which gives it room to explore the same drama the as the long running Coronation St ,Emmerdale & even Hollyoaks .

annifrance

Oh yes, a great film can & does do that 😢
I’m not sure why some people would say they never cry, to me it’s an entirely natural & normal emotion ❤️

Heliotrope

I have not cried at TV since I used to watch Lassie as a child, but War Horse came close!!

I have never and would never watch Warhorse or Watership Down because I know both of those would have me in floods of tears…

Allsorts
I’m not entirely sure about the “ six women” storyline that is a bit far fetched & typical of TV drama.
However ,the ‘ Yolanda’ episode was not , it was true to life & I say good for you putting those men in their place .
This Man , The Pastor, is a manipulative groomer of women as was shown in the previous episodes . Even more of his grooming was shown over this weeks programme with the glimpses into his previous victims .

It's not for me. When I was teaching I had a young boy in my class who was allowed to watch Eastenders. He was distraught when Sharon was mistreated. He couldn't sleep for weeks according to his mother ( she told me at Parent's evening) who still continued to allow him to watch it.
It's ok for adults but young children like S were and still are damaged by some of the storylines.

Joseann I'm sure stage acting has to be much more exaggerated than for close up TV filming.
I did know someone who groomed a young lad. He obviously went for quiet people, not too much part of the pack. Yolande isn't very popular with the other prayer group ladies so fits with that.
Otherwise, I was attacked from behind once. It was a sexually motivated attack but my training (luckily) came back to me and I broke his grip and got away. It was at work in a special unit.

Barbadosbelle

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Germanshepherdsmum - you may, or may not, be aware that you do always seem to come across as a rather hard hearted person in your comments.

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You obviously haven’t read many of GSMs posts. My partner an extremely kind and generous man. In 46 years I’ve seen him cry twice. Neither times were related to sad circumstances.
Two daughters aren’t cryers but the other one is very emotional.

The only time I cried recently was watching the true story of a dog that walked to the station every night and waited for his man to come home. The man died but the dog continued waiting for him till he took died. I'm not usually a crier.

That really gets to me too AGA but I just can’t cry any more. I can still feel deeply hurt, indeed permanently wounded, by such sad things - in fact more so when animals are involved. You know the saying - the more I see of people …

Thanks petra. I have only noticed Barbadosbelle posting very recently,

Message deleted by Gransnet. Here's a link to our Talk guidelines.

If you don’t watch eastenders then why comment at all!

Dillonsgranma

If you don’t watch eastenders then why comment at all!

Well said 👏

Dillonsgranma

Another sanctimonious statement by germsnshepherdsmum. ! I really wish she’d give it a rest and stop being so judgmental. AGAIN!

What else have I said which upsets you?

Barbadosbelle

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Germanshepherdsmum - you may, or may not, be aware that you do always seem to come across as a rather hard hearted person in your comments.

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Perhaps you've not read all GSM comments, regarding actual events?

No she doesnt cone across as hard hearted. I really like reading GSM s posts, and we disagree on a lot, but as we are grown ups both GSM and myself can cope with that.

Galaxy

No she doesnt cone across as hard hearted. I really like reading GSM s posts, and we disagree on a lot, but as we are grown ups both GSM and myself can cope with that.

Indeed. We are all adults with many and varied opinions.

"A hard hitting 1 hour episode tonight, which has had me in tears - extremely emotional & well written" - and it apparently explores the ' predator of children' topic? Well, good for them, though umpteen other dramas have gone down that road in the last few years.

We stopped watching EE years ago, and when we stray onto the show (when changing channels) I see it has the same wildly irritating characteristics as before, "orright, innit, like, woss apnin like, innit, orright?".

Never watch EE it may be well acted but it’s all so miserable and negative
And - at the risk of being snobby - a tad rough?
(I only have an opinion on this because my autistic son watches it and gets very involved)
However I often feel moved to tears by fiction
Good fiction brings real life into focus
I have also cried plenty over my own life too - there’s plenty to cry, and to laugh about. Emotions are better expressed-for our wellbeing if we need that excuse

Bump

Crying or not crying isn’t an indicator of depth of feeling. Some people cry easily, and others don’t, but it doesn’t mean they don’t all feel pain. Putting people down for their choice of entertainment, particularly when the detractor doesn’t have the advantage of having actually seen the entertainment in question, however, is almost comically prejudiced.

Is this a soap box that I see before me? . ( Clambers onto box in ungainly manner )

Many people use tv and radio to wind down after a challenging day. Not everyone needs to have gaps plugged with educational content, and continuous dramas can be cathartic, and form points of connection between viewers. Water-cooler conversations about storylines can explore difficult topics, and gossip about characters is healthier than talking about real people. Isn’t it better to put down Kat Slater than to try to make real people feel inferior (and posters are real people)?

As for naturalistic dialogue - it’s hardly unusual nowadays. Can you think of a single dramatist since Stanislavsky who doesn’t use a combination of naturalism and realism in their work? Experimental theatre might flirt with different forms of expression, but that’s probably the extent of it if you exclude children’s tv.

To use the above example, would it sound better if 21st century working class characters said something like ’How do you do? Would you be so kind as to explain the situation, old bean?’

Most people would probably disagree - nobody has written like that in living memory (other than in pastiche).

Thematically, ‘going down the same road’ is nothing new either. Drama explores real life, even in unreal settings. Men in positions of power sexually abusing women is a very old theme. It featured in Ancient Greek theatre. Shakespeare wrote about it in Measure For Measure. Sadly it is a universal issue, both in real life and on stage.

There are tv programmes that don’t appeal to me, so I don’t watch them. Sometimes I see a bit of something accidentally and realise I was wrong about it and go on to enjoy it, and sometimes it’s just not for me. Nobody enjoys everything. But I don’t make assumptions about those who do enjoy them, or sneer at their viewers. Why anyone should be snooty about other people’s viewing is beyond me. It usually shows a limited understanding of drama and how it works, or a very narrow world view based on hierarchy and oppressive concepts of ‘respectability’.
( Steps down from soap box and heads to kitchen )