2025 Season - UK Episode Discussion

[Red Ranger 1]

2 hours ago, James Martin said:

But if we're being uber technical, that should be a Monday in-universe but the original TX dates as you know are a bit of a crapshoot with double/triple bills on Thursday nights.

Well...it was shown on a Monday in Australia, and that's when I'll be watching it even though you apparently didn't, but unless someone actually said "Today is Monday", what does that actually mean? Episodes tend to carry straight on from each other, so they can't all be set on the day of broadcast, it's just an approximation. Given the high proportion of episodes that get shown on Thursday in Australia, maybe they thought it was an even bet!

[H&Alover]

Alf has been a busy boy.  

Where were all the staff when Maz collapsed, none of the customers saw her either.  At least she listened to Bree who got her to sit down have something to eat.  Alf took matters into his own hands and told Leah how much Maz was struggling who pitched up and as it  turned out it  helped her get through the day it being Theo's Birthday.  Lucky in a way Cash just happened to be there when Lacey ran into Leah so able to defuse the situation by steering Lace away.

I think Maz was thrown when another member of staff had called in  sick. 

We do tend forget that although for us it's the next day, for them it could still be the same day so it does get confusing what day is is. 

I reckon that stroppy git was the one who called the cops, though as been said they should have been there before, it had been, it seemed, a pretty serious car incident,  one being more injured than the other as he was whisked to theatre. 

Anyways, wouldn't Cash have known who he was being  called in to arrest, he went straight  to Levi.  It did prompt Eden to ring Max again and give her the news and she has come back which is something I guess. 

I think Tane and Jo had been in the motel a while, she mentioned about getting some food in but he wanted to get back to to see Archie.  Tane did confide in Cash who was sworn to secrecy, Lacey worked it out for herself by clocking Tane and Jo's body language when they were practising boxing on the green so now it's two people who are  in on the secret.  She told Jo she was happy for her. 

I know I keep banging on about this and I've asked before but why are there no blond blokes in the Bay?

[Slade]

On 04/01/2026 at 14:22, Red Ranger 1 said:

I mean, I accept I'm a luddite but I really don't see the appeal of streaming. It means more ad breaks, which seem to go on forever. For me it's very much a last resort, not something new and shiny.

The main thing I like about it is that you don't have to worry if you miss an episode due to other commitments and don't have to set your recorder.  The ad breaks are a pain in the backside but if you are watching it on a browser you can install plugins which block the ads (I tend to stream on my TV so have to watch them).

 

It's been while since I've been here so only reading after the New Years return.

Leah - I've had a lot of sympathy for her after Theo died, especially not being able to go to his funeral.  I don't blame her for being angry towards Lacey, although for her own sake I think she should tone down the hatred and just disengage.  I've quite liked the scenes with her, Sonny and Remi and I also like that she's valued their friendship with Theo.

Lacey - I've mostly been on her side re her pursuit of Wendell but I do actually think Theo's death was mostly her fault.  I didn't blame Lacey the first time Theo was hospitalised because he consciously made a decision to sleep with her whilst she was still with Gage.  But this time I felt Theo didn't really have much of a choice.  She was told multiple times, not to pursue the whole thing with Wendell and she wouldn't drop it.  Lacey was going to meet up with Wendell regardless and if Theo hadn't come with her, she would probably be dead.  So from his perspective damned if you do, damned if you don't.  Still, I find I can't stay mad at her for long and did enjoy when she was quizzing Cash after she sussed Jo and Tane slept together.

Eden - I found her quite annoying acting like a dog with a bone re Bree/Remi and Levi/Mackenzie.  I especially didn't like how she got Mali to call Mackenzie and took the phone of him to speak to her.

Harper - I hated how she got Cash to risk his career to locate her parents although I also didn't like Cash going through with it.  The dinner she arranged with Cash and Tane was obviously to thank Cash for putting his job on the line, although I do like her friendship with him.

Dana - She annoyed me when she had a go at Cash for helping Harper and I was glad Eden pointed out her double standards when Cash helped her when she first came to the Bay.

Cash - I'm enjoying the scenes with Tane.  Both of them don't really have mates but I think their friendship is genuine.

David - Really not liking him at the moment.  I hated how he spoke to Cash when he was investigating Wendell.  I hated the way he went round to Justin's and practically accused him of speaking to the media.  The only thing I agree with him is his concerns about Jo dating Tane, which I think are valid.  However, I'm finding him so unlikeable, I'm almost rooting for them just to wind him up.

[j.laur5]

I like David because he’s direct and keeps things in order. Let’s face it Cash hasn’t exactly been always the most efficient and going by rules cop as he does tend to break rules when it suits him. He could have said no to helping Harper but he still agreed.

Cash did handle the situation well when Dana and Harper came to town and when Dana was hiding at  Irene house.  Cash should never have put Irene in that situation as he knew Irene doesn’t exactly have clearest record and he knew Irene could get into trouble and yes Irene might of agreed to hide Dana but Rose was right they still broke law and Cash should not have put Irene in that situation regardless of Irene agreeing.

[James Martin]

3 hours ago, Slade said:

The main thing I like about it is that you don't have to worry if you miss an episode due to other commitments and don't have to set your recorder.  The ad breaks are a pain in the backside but if you are watching it on a browser you can install plugins which block the ads (I tend to stream on my TV so have to watch them).

The ads are the main reason everything's being pushed to streaming and why PVRs are on the decline; Sky are quietly retiring SkyQ for an IPTV product with no PVR and I can't see Virgin being too far behind, when a move from DVB-C to IPTV is probably pretty trivial when you consider they own their own network; you require Virgin's broadband for both their TV and now their landlines to function.

Also, from Channel 5's PoV not only is the main channel's daytime lineup is going straight for the older, down-market "GB News/Reform" vote (we've all seen Martin Clunes as Huw Edwards, unless you're too shy) which H&A just doesn't fit into, 5 Star chronically underperforms compared to BBC 3, ITV 2 and E4.  The streaming push helps shore things up.

All this said I actually pay for ITV X premium as the downloads and ad skipping are worth their weight in gold.  I'd pay for similar on 5.

Finally, the other four British soaps drop early - Hollyoaks drops an entire block I believe - so in many ways H&A is just catching up with everyone else.

There's a great chat on The Rest Is Entertainment with someone from the BBC, they talk about the rise of stuff like The Traitors but they mention how the culture used to be "commission for linear and iPlayer is the catch-up." BBC culture now is very much "commission for the iPlayer & the linear transmission is but a shop window."

[CaptainHulk]

Aussie Soap removal notwithstanding, Channel 5 has been going to the dogs for a long time.

[H&Alover]

Answering your comments  Slade.

No-one is perfect all  the time and make errors of judgement, cops included.  David himself bent the rules by taking home those files about his wife's accident/death. Cash, we know hasn't been squeaky clean but then cops before him have bent the rules during their tenure at Yabbie Creek.  The biggest one was Colby of course who went down for murder. 

David does like to do things by the book but does lapse at times Cash, in effect, covered for him when he, David, got a tad carried  away when he tackled Wendell.   He did berate Cash for treating the station like a  drop in parlour when Eden brought him coffee and snacks but's it's OK when Jo and Lacey do it.   Easy mistake for  him to make when he pitched  up at  Justin's and bumped into Peter, the journo, on his way out, then Justin got it in the ear again when Leah had  a go at him for inviting David around.  You would think she'd be grateful/pleased that Wendell had been arrested by David and in prison. 

He is  being overly protective with Jo now he knows about Tane's kidnapping of Maia/Poppy and his suspended sentence.  Yes Jo has had  a tough couple of years but she's coming through it now and wants to start living a normal life - whatever that is. She is an adult after all.

OK maybe Lacey did coerce Theo going to meet Wendell with her, but  no-one could have known Wendell would try and kill her and Theo would throw himself in the oath of Wendell's car. He was just there as  a witness. 

Eden was looking out for her brother by ringing Mac and wanting answers for just deserting him but she isn't the most tactful of people.  Btw she is going to be known as Mrs. Fowler.  

[James Martin]

So, Mac's back.  Even with the tears at the end, I'm sorry.  I'm struggling to have any sympathy with her at all - and to s**t on Abby by association just seems out of line.

Nicely timed speech by David, it's odd he was never that bothered about Lacey being with Theo but he doesn't want Jo with Tane, who appears to have gone straight (for now.)

It's not just Mac I'm struggling to feel sorry for, but Leah as well - and she's having yet another go tomorrow according to the promo.  I hope she does land herself with an AVO in all honesty as her grief for her nephew doesn't excuse her irrational behaviour; but Leah's always mishandled grief.

[Red Ranger 1]

It was slightly amusing that both Cash and Lacey quickly worked out that Tane and Jo were together, which kind of sabotaged Tane's attempt to keep it on the down low and not tell David. Now he's seemingly going to have to fill Jo in on David's warning. I like that, for all Jo's fears, Lacey was pleased for her and supportive. We're perhaps seeing what their relationship was like before their mother's death drove a wedge between them. Harper remains bizarrely oblivious, despite being on tenterhooks about them before.

And we're back to Alf babying Marilyn. He may have had a point, but he treats her exactly like David treats Jo, which is even more ridiculous given that Marilyn is twice Jo's age. It felt like Marilyn actually tried to be a grown-up for once and decide for herself, only for all the adults (including ones a decade or more younger than her) to step in and insist she go home.

I fully sympathise with Lacey but what was she playing at? To be fair, it seemed like she just bumped into Leah rather than deliberately seeking her out, but that makes three times that she's approached Leah expecting a warm reception only for Leah to make it abundantly clear she wants nothing to do with her. What was that Cash said about watching people do the same stupid things over and over again?

[Slade]

19 hours ago, James Martin said:

The ads are the main reason everything's being pushed to streaming and why PVRs are on the decline; Sky are quietly retiring SkyQ for an IPTV product with no PVR and I can't see Virgin being too far behind, when a move from DVB-C to IPTV is probably pretty trivial when you consider they own their own network; you require Virgin's broadband for both their TV and now their landlines to function.

The ads are annoying but objectively, it makes sense from a business perspective.  There's a certain segment of people who don't watch live TV (I very rarely watch TV live myself unless it's sport), so they want to make more revenue by pushing the ads to as many people as possible.  I think there's also the fact that most things nowadays are web based - shopping, banking, local council services, utility companies, doctors etc. so it's an inevitable consequence of modern day society.  Personally, whilst I think it's easier doing a lot of things online, I still think there should be equivalent non-internet services where possible, because a lot of older people are not technically savvy.

Answering your comments H&lover.

Of course no one is perfect all the time.  It's funny though because your statements basically support one of the reasons why I don't like David.  His double standards.  Also not sure if "bending the rules" and "like to do things by the book" really correlate.

Um...yeah...he's being protective of Jo because of the kidnapping Tane got a suspended sentence for.  What else would it be?  He even said this when he went round to Tane's to see him (another case of bending the rules).  I did say I agreed with David about his concerns re Tane.  The other concern which I think David mentioned to Jo previously (although he didn't mention last week) was Tane being a new father and co-parenting with Harper.

No, nobody could have known how the outcome would turn out with Wendell but it was pretty stupid of Lacey to agree to meet him somewhere clandestine at dark, especially given David warned her multiple times no to go down this path.  Given his experience as a police officer and genuinely knowing how criminals think, he knew Wendell was dangerous which was why he didn't want Lacey anywhere near him.  This was definitely on her.  She should have had more sense.  And as Leah said, she was selfish.

Anyone can see Eden was looking out for Levi but that doesn't negate the fact she was incredibly annoying.  Mackenzie put the phone down on her, even Mali had a go at her for the stunt she pulled and rightly so.  And as I said, she was also annoying practically hounding Bree to speak to Remi.  Funny how when Remi cheats, Eden fights his corner, but when Levi did it to Imogen, Eden almost went nuclear on him.