Soapstar Superstars: June

June has seen EastEnders dealing with bipolar disorder and being gay and Muslim, Coronation Street has begun the Molly/Kevin storyline, and Hollyoaks has celebrated what must be a first: several student characters actually graduating. But never mind the headline-grabbing antics, who have our forum users been enthusing over and despairing about this month?

Epic Fail

5. The Emmerdale Scriptwriters
Emmerdale has a small but loyal following here, and they all seem united in their belief that, whilst they like a lot of the characters, they’re really unhappy with the scriptwriting and what they see as a tendency for laziness in it at the moment. It seems to be the law that there’s always at least one soap in the doldrums at any given time, but it’s a few months since Emmerdale was on form. However, recent interviews with the new producer have suggested an upsurge may be on the way. Let’s hope, anyway.

4. Jack Branning, EastEnders
We know he was in this feature last month, but we just don’t seem to *get* him at all. He’s only mildly attractive, doesn’t have much charisma, and worst of all, he’s making the Mitchell sisters boring and rubbish, not to mention being on the cover of TV listings mags all the time despite not being involved in a storyline that’s even remotely exciting.

3. Rosie Webster, Coronation Street
The laws of soap suggest that children who grow up onscreen will usually turn out to be evil adults, and Rosie Webster is no exception. Right now, people are generally on Sally’s side over here…

2.Rubbish Aussie Criminals and Cops
Both Neighbours and Home and Away have featured some tedious crime action lately, with the return of rubbish Katya-era crim Guy Sykes to Erinsborough, and the terrible robbery storyline in Summer Bay involving Gardy, and everyone’s favourite team Angelo and Charlie. Neither storyline seemed to serve any useful purpose whatsoever.

1. The babysnatchers, Hollyoaks
Poor Kieron Richardson (Ste). He’s one of the soap’s best actors, and most interesting characters, and yet he’s stuck in the middle of one of the most bizarre storylines in soap at the moment with the crazy babysnatching couple. The actors involved in the storyline are all doing their best, but it’s so obvious that this is a poor attempt to paper over cracks until Ashley Slanina-Davies (Amy) is able to return to work.

First Class Honours

5. Ma Fisher, Hollyoaks
Kris and Malachy’s mum is the best new soap mum in ages, and she has great chemistry with her onscreen sons. We don’t know if she’s going to be a permanent character or not, but at least a semi-recurring role would be great.

4. Natasha Wylde, Emmerdale
In a soap that has some issues at the moment, it’s nice to single out what’s working, and Amanda Donohoe’s portrayal is one of those things. The same praise does not, however, apply to the performance of her onscreen husband…

3. Elle Robinson, Neighbours
We can never single out Elle for enough praise. Everything she does is utterly amazing, and we love Pippa Black’s ability to do drama and comedy, to show that Elle can be a bit of a bitch, but also very caring; tough but vulnerable; snappy but sensitive. It’s rare to pull off such a well-rounded character in this soap and both Black and the writers deserve much praise.

2. Cindy Cunningham, Hollyoaks
Cindy, like Darren, is one of the soap’s most underrated characters. Villified by many fans for being a ‘bitch’, she’s actually got a lot more vitality, energy and spark than a lot of the dull residents of Chester, and the way she’s working through the entire male population without becoming a victim unlike most other female residents is quite refreshing.

1. Stacey and Jean Slater, EastEnders
We don’t usually single characters out for praise two months on the trot in this feature (otherwise the same old favourites would rarely leave the top five), but it wouldn’t be fair to pretend anyone else in soap has been better than this pair in the past month. Both Lacey Turner and Gillian Wright have been outstanding in the current storyline about Stacey’s possible bipolar disorder. If they don’t win something come awards season, justice really won’t have been served.

Tagged as: Coronation Street, EastEnders, Emmerdale, Hollyoaks, Home and Away, neighbours, soapstar superstars