Holiday Highlights | Battle of the Soaps

It’s always an exciting time in Soap Land around the festive season as each of the soaps attempt to outdo each other with weddings, deaths, shock returns, love triangles, violence, vengeance and villains…

Now that 2015 is upon us and people return to a regular routine, there’s no better time to look back over the past few weeks of drama filled soap storylines that kept us entertained amongst the madness of Christmas dinners and New Year’s countdowns…

Eastenders – Lives are on the line as a car spirals out of control

The Walford residents over in Albert Square have certainly had more than their fair share of drama over the holidays as the Eastenders gang continue to pull out all of the stops in the lead up to their 30th Anniversary in February…

Christmas week saw the Carter family secrets finally spill out in abundance as Danny Dyer’s on-screen family marked a year on the Square, at the helm of The Queen Vic. All these secrets coming out at once led to Mick losing his cool and thrashing the bar, an outburst both viewers and Dyer himself have been waiting to happen since he joined the show last Christmas.

While the Carter drama still bubbled in the background, New Year’s shifted the focus to the wedding of Ronnie Mitchell and Charlie Cotton as well as Emma Summerhayes finally cracking the Lucy Beale murder case and confronting the killer. Both storylines intertwined when a car accident left the lives of Ronnie and Emma hanging in the balance.  In the end it was Emma who’s soap life was cut short, bringing with her to the grave the identity of Lucy’s killer…

Fair City – Robbie keeps Carol and Yvonne away from Dan

Relishing in the success of its 25th Anniversary storylines in September, Fair City continued one of it’s strongest years yet this festive season with the re-introduction of everyone’s favourite Garda, John Deegan, who’s two year absence (except for maybe a week in 2013 where he briefly just happened to be there again) is never addressed or explained, but with Deegan having his fingers in nearly all the storylines at the moment I can forgive his unexplained disappearances.

Of course Deegan wasn’t the only familiar face to return to Carrigstown recently, with Paul Brennan’s ex-wife and fan favourite Nicola Prendergast knocking up on Paul’s doorstep this Christmas Eve and fitting right back in to the household as if she’d never been gone, resulting in Niamh feeling replaced by Nicola and abondoned by her children which in turn causes problems in Niamh’s relationship with toy boy Michael…  Yeah, that’s going to get very interesting I suspect.

Elsewhere the drama surrounding Yvonne, Carol, Dan and Robbie ends in disaster when Dan ends up critical in hospital after a gas leak at The Station, Mondo O’Connell bids farewell as he leaves for Liverpool to be closer to daughter Juliet, The Fergusons are brought closer together when eldest son Neil goes missing and everyone fears the worst, and Dolores Molloy receives even more bad news when she finds out she may have cancer…

Hollyoaks – Sienna wants a perfect Christmas with Dodger and Nico

As always there was plenty of drama and action in Hollyoaks throughout the festive season, with John Paul McQueen and Ste Hay tying the knot and Dirk Savage and Cindy Cunningham becoming engaged that was all the good news out of the way and an onslaught of twists and turns followed.

Unstable Sienna wanted nothing more than a family Christmas so locked up her twin brother Dodger and their daughter Nico in her old family home. Nico managed to escape only to end up in a coma, while Dodger’s attempt at escaping resulted in a pregnant Sinead O’Connor getting run down and laid up in hospital, only for Dodger to be returned to Sienna’s basement prison once again.

The Roscoe clan took to the forefront for all the New Year’s drama with the return of matriarch Sandy, Jason’s body dismorphia revealed to his mother, Freddie and Lindsay’s affair being exposed to Joe, and tensions over Nancy Osborne between Robbie and his dad Rick resulting in Rick ending up in hospital only to become the first victim of the “Gloved Hand Killer”, who will be taking the lives of more Hollyoaks residents this year. RIP Rick Spencer…

Emmerdale – Finn finds his mum Emma

Emmerdale saw a Christmas Day wedding for Andy Sugden and Katie Addyman and despite some hitches along the way courtesty of Bernice Blackstock and Andy’s brother Robert, the couple ended up tying the knot. Robert Sugden of course has been distracted from making a misery of Andy’s life due to his ongoing affair with Aaron Livesy, which literally led to a roll in the hay between the two on New Year’s Day.

Belle Dingle’s troubles also continued over the past couple of weeks, with “the ghost” of Gemma Andrews refusing to allow the teen to be happy. Belle finally seems to be making progress on New Year’s Day when she opens up to new friend Lachlan White about Gemma speaking to her. Unfortunately, Lachlan has a bad reaction to some legal highs the pair had been partaking in and he ends up hospitalised, with Belle assuming she envoked the wrath of Gemma for opening up to him, escalating Belle’s problem further.

Finn Barton kicked the New Year off to a great start when, with a little help from some friends, he finally managed to track down his estranged mother Emma. It seems like almost a lifetime ago that it was announced Emma Barton would be joining the show and after only one episode I feel the wait was worth it and can’t wait to see how the rest of the Barton’s react to her reappearance.

Ros na Rún – Eoin has been secretly plotting revenge on Tadhg

Over on Ros na Rún we found out that there was more to Eoin Farren than meets the eye. When he first arrived in September the character was shrouded in mystery, although we soon found out he was another illegitimate son of Tadhg Ó Díreáin’s and following that shock announcement Eoin became somewhat of a goody two shoes, until right before Christmas when we found out he was actually up to no good, has been tampering with half brother Jason’s medicine, and that his mother whom he claimed was dead is actually alive and appeared in a scene with Eoin on Christmas Day which had a very Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho feel to it…

While Eoin turning from hero to villain in the space of a phone call was the ultimate highlight of Ros na Rún’s holiday happenings, we also found out that Máire Uí Conghaile has a child from before she was married to Peadar that he knows nothing about and it seems Máire is driven to track her offspring down before they find her. Also, Niamh continues to live dangerously and we even saw her go so fas as to take Tadhg’s hearse without permission… seriously, has she not met him? He would kill her if he found out. And of course the moment we’ve all been waiting for, New Year’s Day gave us the return of devious Dr Cathal Hennessy… Hurray!

Coronation Street – Roy Attacks Gary

Finally on Coronation Street we got more of the most unexpectedly brilliant story of the year with the continuation of The Sally Webster Sofa Saga as Sally urged Tim to get them another sofa for Christmas Day. Tim made a deal with Kevin to get the original sofa back just for Christmas Day, but when it went back to Kevin’s on Boxing Day Sally was left fuming and humiliated in front of the Nazir’s who she had invited around for dinner… Priceless.

Of course it wasn’t all sofa swapping and hilarity on the cobbles this Christmas, as David Platt finally saw red and gave Kylie her marching orders, Steve McDonald’s overspending came back to haunt him when he was found out for taking money from Streetcars resulting in the drivers not getting paid and landing Steve in hot water, and Roy Cropper spent time in a cell over the holidays after brutally attacking Gary Windass with a cricket bat (even though Gary was in the middle of breaking into Roy’s café at the time, but plenty of people seemed to overlook that detail).

 

Which Soap was the most entertaining this Festive Season? You Decide…

Iconic Soap Families

There’s nothing more exciting as a soap fan than the announcement of a new family arriving in any soap, because not only are a herd of new faces coming in all at once, there’s immediately a shedload of drama and backstory to get caught up in.

Some of these families come in for a few years before fading back into obscurity, never to be heard from again, while other families withstand the true test of time and grace our screens for decades, cementing their places in soap history.

When it comes to introducing big soap families that are settling in for the long haul, there are three soaps that do it particularly well – Eastenders, Emmerdale and Hollyoaks, so I thought it was worth having a gander at some of the big families currently knocking back pints at The Queen Vic, The Woolpack and The Dog In The Pond.

The Roscoes – Hollyoaks

While they’ve only been in the village a little over a year now, it would appear The Roscoes will be sticking around for quite some time, despite matriarch Sandy (Gillian Taylforth) having already bowed out from the show – although no reason she can’t return at any point to get her sons in line. The Roscoe boys have been embroiled in the biggest storylines of the past year in some way or another with Robbie (Charlie Wernham) and Ziggy (Fabrizio Santino) being particularly popular with the fans. The love triangle between older brothers Joe (Ayden Callaghan), Freddie (Charlie Clapham) and Joe’s fiancée Lindsey Butterfield (Sophie Austin) has been ongoing since their arrival and has caused a lot of tension between the two brothers. Jason (Alfie Browne-Sykes) has been the quietist of the Roscoes so far, but he should be seen coming to the forefront a bit more in the coming months. Throw Robbie and Jason’s Dad, Rick Spencer (Victor Gardener) into the fold and that’s one testosterone fuelled household. Probably also worth mentioning that the lads are also half-brothers of long-term Hollyoaks favourite Darren Osborne (Ashley Taylor Dawson), so hopefully he’ll be playing a bigger part in future Roscoe trials and tribulations.

The Carters – Eastenders

I was delighted to hear last year that Danny Dyer was making his way to Albert Square as new Vic Landlord Mick Carter – what I didn’t realise was that the rest of the Carter clan would also be fantastic additions to the cast. The Carters already had ties in the show, with Mick’s sister Shirley Carter (Linda Henry) having been there for the best part of a decade already. The Carter clan arrived to the Square in drips and drabs consisting of Mick’s wife Linda (Kellie Bright), their three children Johnny (Sam Strike), Nancy (Maddy Hill) and Lee (Danny-Boy Hatchard), Mick and Shirley’s sister Tina (Luisa Bradshaw-White), their father Stan (Timothy West), their Aunt Babe Smith (Annette Badland), as well as the return of Shirley’s son Dean Wicks (Matt Di Angelo). The Carters have been heavily involved in the goings on of the entire Square since they arrived, getting involved in everyone’s business, but they certainly have plenty of secrets of their own, including the fact that Mick is actually Shirley’s son, not his brother, rendering the rundown I just did of how they’re all related completely redundant. While the audience know Shirley’s secret, it has yet to be revealed to the Carters and it’s definitely going to kick off once that does come out. To add to their secrets, Mick & Linda aren’t even married, but the kids don’t know, so ssshhhh…

 The Mitchells – Eastenders

The Mitchells are infamous. Even someone who has never watched a day of soap in their lives have heard the names Phil and Grant Mitchell. Since the arrival of the two brothers Phil (Steve McFadden) and Grant (Ross Kemp) in 1990, The Mitchell’s have been an integral part of Eastenders with more and more family members appearing out of the woodwork as the years have gone on. While Grant hasn’t been seen in the East End for years now, Phil has remained a constant on the show and other Mitchell’s currently joining him on the Square are Billy (Perry Fenwick), Roxy (Rita Simons) and Ronnie (Samantha Womack) as well as the extended family, Billy’s Granddaughter Lola Pearce (Danielle Harold) and her daughter Lexi, and Billy’s foster son Jay Brown (Jamie Borthwick). While it may seem the Mitchells are low in numbers right now, Phil’s son Ben (Harry Reid) will be returing to Walford just in time for his Dad’s wedding to Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean), and speaking of the wedding, maybe we’ll see the return of some other Mitchell too – matriarch Peggy (Barbara Windsor) perhaps? I hope they continue to add to their ranks anyway, as a family fued between The Mitchells and The Carters would be fantastic.

 The McQueens – Hollyoaks

The McQueens are Hollyoaks’ answer to The Mitchells. They’ve been knocking about Hollyoaks for 8 years now and while members of the family have come and gone over the years the McQueen house has always been full to the rafters. The original McQueen crew consisted of Myra (Nicole Barber-Lane) and her children Jacqui (Claire Cooper), Mercedes (Jennifer Metcalfe), Tina (Leah Hackett), Carmel (Gemma Merna), John Paul (James Sutton) and Michaela (Holly Jay-Bowes), who were in time joined by Myra’s long lost son Niall Raffery (Barry Sloane) who causes Tina’s death shortly before dying himself. Other McQueens currently gracing our screens are Marlena aka. Nana McQueen (Diane Langton), Myra’s sister Kathleen (Alison Burrows) and her daughter Theresa (Jorgie Porter), and Jacqui’s adopted daughter Phoebe (Mandip Gill), as well as Theresa’s daughter Kathleen-Angel and John Paul’s son Matthew. With Jacqui and Michaela currently living away from the village and at least two McQueens bowing out later this year, the Hollyoaks crew have announced three of Myra’s nieces will be joining the show to ensure the McQueen name retains a strong presence in the village. Plenty of drama on the way for the McQueens over the coming months with Kathleen lying battered and bruised in a hospital bed unbeknownst to the rest of the clan, Theresa locked up in a prison cell and about to give birth any day now, and the entire family supporting John Paul after he was raped earlier this year by Finn O’Connor (Keith Rice) and the trial to convict Finn underway. Not to mention a big McQueen wedding on the way for John Paul and Ste Hay (Kieron Richardson). Expect lots of McQueen articles from me over the next few months anyway.

 The Dingles – Emmerdale

Last, but certainly not least we have the Dingles, probably the most iconic of all the soap families. Introduced to Emmerdale back in 1994, the Dingles celebrate 20 years in Soap Land next month. Over the last two decades the Dingles have given us so many characters it would be impossible to name them all. It’s the family that keeps on giving – once you think there couldn’t possibly be any more Dingles in the world another relative of theirs shows up in the village. There are currently 16 Dingles roaming about the village of Emmerdale, which makes it almost impossible for them not to be somehow involved in any of the storylines taking place. The original Dingle is Zak (Steve Halliwell) who was the first to show up in the village and is the patriarch of the Dingle dynasty. Zak is joined in the village by his sons Sam (James Hooton) and Cain (Jeff Hordley), Zak’s wife Lisa (Jane Cox) and their daughter Belle (Eden Taylor-Draper), plus Zak’s nephew Marlon (Mark Charnock) and niece Chastity (Lucy Pargeter). Then there’s Charity (Emma Atkins) who is a second cousin of Sam, Cain, Belle, Marlon and Chas, who had a daughter with Cain (they like to keep it in the family), Debbie (Charley Webb). Then you’ve got Chas’s recently returned son Aaron (Danny Miller), Charity’s other kid Noah (Jack Downham), Sam’s son Samson (Sam Hall), Debbie’s kids Sarah (Sophia-Amber Moore) and Jack, and Marlon’s kids April (Amelia Flanagan) and Leo. To add to the confusion you could also include Cain’s wife Moira (Natalie J. Robb) and Marlon’s latest wife Laurel (Charlotte Bellamy) bringing the Dingle count to 18, but chances are they’ll both be ex-wives by this time next year. I genuinely confused myself there, but regardless the Dingles are soap legends and here’s to another 20 years of their company.