2026 Season - UK Episode Discussion

[pembie]

1 hour ago, Red Ranger 1 said:

It feels like all the storylines are heading in the wrong direction at the moment. I don't why soaps have this creepy fetish for having young women be stalked and harassed for a lengthy period and then ending it with them being the ones in trouble with the law and the abuser being treated like the victim, but I wish they'd get over it. And I've given up on expecting them to give the storyline the attention it deserves, with it only meriting three brief scenes here. David did mention Lacey would have a solicitor at the hearing, so at least they've sorted that out, but the fact she had to have a magistrate grant her bail and is talking about a trial does suggest she's been charged, which is just ridiculous. David did at least suggest it might not go to trial, but I've lost all faith in the show to actually handle this sensibly.

Which brings us onto the other storyline, where Tane's actions are entirely plot-motivated and don't make a lick of sense. I don't know whether Brax and Ricky or Western Australia was the biggest draw but the show obviously needed an excuse to get Tane out there with them and weren't bothered about how plausible it was. We get weeks of Tane worrying about being kept away from Archie and then one half-baked plan from Mackenzie later he's going "Okay, well, I guess I'll never see Archie again then", as if that's a better option than getting seven or eight years in jail, maybe serving half of it, and being back out before Archie starts school. The fact that the escape route isn't even properly sewn up would make it even more laughable if it wasn't so annoying: Brax does seem to be doing a surprisingly good job as a father, but he's still got a number of failings as a human being, lauding it over Tane in his usual arrogant way as if he thinks he's better than him. Tane might not be a shining example of humanity but neither's Brax. Mackenzie just tells Harper to give Tane a head start without giving any reason why that's a good idea. I guess I should give Tane credit for clearing the air with Harper and Cash before he left, although it's pretty much tokenistic given he's left them both in the lurch.

If you’re playing a abuser in a soap they probably won’t be brought to justice I don’t know why but writers always kill them off maybe they think it’s more exciting like maybe Game of Thrones 

[Medea Fleecestealer]

Tbh, Tane's storyline just sucks big time.  The last thing he needs to do is go on the run; he knows it and yet still does it.  

Police search Tane's house for evidence and can't find a baby monitor and check that?  They should all be fired as they're incompetent.

So should the show's writers if this is the best they can come up with.  

And I can't even get on Channel 5's website to complain about them dropping the repeat because it says the app isn't available - even though I'm in the UK atm.  

Edited April 21 by Medea Fleecestealer

[pembie]

4 hours ago, Medea Fleecestealer said:

Tbh, Tane's storyline just sucks big time.  The last thing he needs to do is go on the run; he knows it and yet still does it.  

Police search Tane's house for evidence and can't find a baby monitor and check that?  They should all be fired as they're incompetent.

So should the show's writers if this is the best they can come up with.  

And I can't even get on Channel 5's website to complain about them dropping the repeat because it says the app isn't available - even though I'm in the UK atm.  

The police have always been useless though good comedy though I guess 

[H&Alover]

All soap police are supposedly useless, but even cops in real life nick the wrong person, some even go to trial and get sent down.   

Did Leah's stalker, the one who kidnapped her, go to trial or did he die/get killed.  I know the actor/actress who plays an abuser, serial killer  has to be written out but yes they should go down and not always killed/commit suicide. 

I guess it  depended on what the ODPP decided  to charge her with and Holden's parents would want to know how and why he died.  They deserve that at least. 

Abby is certainly steamed up about it but Justin said Lacey wouldn't want it to be public knowledge,  bad enough it'll be in the local rag anyway, until when/if she's ready.  Big debate whether  anyone should go and see her, Mali advising caution but others, like Maz and Leah saying she needs to know no-one is judging her and not going to see her may make her feel like that.  Anyways the did go and see her, just to let her know she is in their thoughts. 

As I said TPTB had to have some excuse for setting a SL in Western Australia and why Tane went there. How did he get there so quick btw? I know he was given a new id, a ticket and some money.  Brax did give Tane a hard time, giving him the third degree  about why he was under arrest and about to go down for something he didn't do but then had to admit he was already on a suspended sentence for his kidnapping Maia/Poppy.  Brax can't really  take the high ground about the drugs side of it, he and the RB's of his day did grow cannabis in the local  National Park.  Tane did stand  up to him which Brax being  Brax did  approve of.   Does Brax really expect Tane to hide away in that cabin for how long it's gong to be?  Be a lot better, imo anyway, if Tane worked on the ranch so he could pay his keep, he's a strong fit bloke and not afraid of hard work.  Are all Brax's workers squeaky clean? 

We know Mac knows Tane has done a runner but not where, now Harper and Dana do.  Is her, Harper, leaving the bay the right thing to do, it's only going to make her look guilty.  

Some respite with John taking Sonny out for the day and seeing others like Mali, Abby, Justin.  Abby being discreet, for once, not saying she knows about Remi.  John did bring up one thing about getting wheelchair access to Salt which reminded me of something  I've been forgetting to mention, the stairs at the Surf Club and how has Harper been managing to cart Archie's buggy up and down them?  He's getting a  big lad now, 10 months,  so it can't be easy for her. 

[James Martin]

The way they've let so much of the Holden death storyline play out off screen when it's dominated the show for several weeks is just unforgivable. It's like "woo, Brax is back and screw everything else" even if they bought Sally back for a stint I wouldn't expect every other storyline to be parked because they've got a big returnee to show off.

[Red Ranger 1]

5 hours ago, H&Alover said:

Did Leah's stalker, the one who kidnapped her, go to trial or did he die/get killed. 

He did get arrested, yes. We didn't see a trial but we did see Leah recording a victim impact statement and heard he'd been given 25 years. So yeah, while it was another storyline where the police had to be useless so it could play out the way the show wanted, at least they got that bit right.

It feels like they've brought Brax back just to remind us that he's a bit of a louse and a monumental hypocrite. It actually made me sympathise with Tane, having to defend himself to someone who's done a lot worse than him, and I rolled my eyes at Brax saying he won't put his family in danger: Yeah, tell that to Charlie and Casey Snr. And that's just the ones that got killed as opposed to being beaten or kidnapped. Anyway, Brax agreed to help him in the end (Tane's talk of leaving Archie where he knows he'll be looked after probably struck a chord), although the fact that the plan appears to be for Tane to spend the rest of his life hiding in a tin shed just reinforces my feeling that this is the worst idea ever and eight years in prison would be a better option.

Meanwhile, Dana becomes the latest person to bite Harper's head off for something that isn't really her fault: All she did was give Cash the information he asked for, and it's not like he realised that asking for help from a decades-long drug dealer might not be the best idea. Anyway, by the end it seems that the Matheson girls are playing holiday tag and it's Harper's turn for time off.

We hit the problem that Lacey has now used up her episodes for the week, so we have to have the storyline bubble along by having a  new set of characters suddenly appear and talk about her. I'm in two minds about Mali, who may have had a point but was a bit domineering about it. In the end, Abby sought advice from others and they all decided that paying Lacey a brief visit so she knows they've got her support was a good idea.

Even though it was probably because he was short of options, I did like Sonny acknowledging John as a friend. I'm guessing John's fixed his problem and is back home now? The end result is John performing the most transparent set-up ever, so see if it pays dividends!

[c120701]

As ever, I have zero interest in Brax. I don’t remember Ricky being this bogan either.

Alf’s Brown Polo Shirt makes the titles, I think it must be the oldest costume item on the show, so it’s well deserved.

 

 

[James Martin]

5 hours ago, Red Ranger 1 said:

We hit the problem that Lacey has now used up her episodes for the week

No, she's got one more in the can for the block.   

Sophea has only appeared in 8676 & 8677 so one assumes she'll crop up in one more episode this block.

I didn't have time to watch on Tuesday, so have only just watched 8678 tonight.  I don't have the mental energy to do 8679 as well tonight, so I'm on your pace until I catch back up at the weekend.

More what seemed like dodgy edits "you don't know, where do I start" - cut straight to later on and Leah having been told.  It was so abrupt it put me back in the 90's watching on ITV.

Gosh, this could have been a real gift of a storyline and they've blown it because of this WA slop.

Mali suddenly being a dick over how Abby should be with her friend just screams the producers deciding "yeah we're going to break him and Abby up, here's the first cracks" which isn't going to work because Ally Harris is back from her break and we need to reinvest in Dana and Sonny again.

Is Roo even alive?  I know Georgie Parker is on a kind of very part time contract but it feels like saw more of Cornelia Frances when Morag was on a "recurring guest" deal in the 2000s and early 2010s.

[Red Ranger 1]

7 hours ago, James Martin said:

No, she's got one more in the can for the block.   

Sophea has only appeared in 8676 & 8677 so one assumes she'll crop up in one more episode this block.

I mean, in theory, yes, but while we say that actors have a three episode limit, quite often characters only appear in two episodes. Characters like Alf, Leah, Marilyn and Justin nearly always appear in three when they're around, even if it's just one scene standing in the background in the Diner. Curiously, John appearing in three is extremely rare, he almost always has only two. So I don't know if there's a limit to how many three episode blocks a character can have in a year. Looking back, Sophea has had quite a few three episode weeks this year but she was only in two (8674 & 8675) in the previous block.

[Dag Dog]

9 hours ago, James Martin said:

No, she's got one more in the can for the block.   

Sophea has only appeared in 8676 & 8677 so one assumes she'll crop up in one more episode this block.

 

1 hour ago, Red Ranger 1 said:

I mean, in theory, yes, but while we say that actors have a three episode limit, quite often characters only appear in two episodes. Characters like Alf, Leah, Marilyn and Justin nearly always appear in three when they're around, even if it's just one scene standing in the background in the Diner. Curiously, John appearing in three is extremely rare, he almost always has only two. So I don't know if there's a limit to how many three episode blocks a character can have in a year. Looking back, Sophea has had quite a few three episode weeks this year but she was only in two (8674 & 8675) in the previous block.

To clarify how it works, the actors are contracted to a set number of episodes per week. As it stands, Emily (Marilyn), Ada (Leah), Jimmy (Justin) and Jeremy (David) are contracted to 3 episodes a block, whereas everyone else (except Ray) is contracted to 2 episodes.

Basically what that means is that their contract covers this amount of appearances. If they go under, happy days - they get paid regardless. Anything over that has to be paid as an "over" rate, which is just overtime to the average punter.

As I understand it, Ray is covered for all five episodes. Georgie used to be as well, but that stopped in 2017 dropping to 3 eps and then down to 2 eps in 2022. Shane dropped down to 2 eps from 3 eps in 2019. Ada also did all of 2022 with 2 eps.