Dark storylines in the early years

[adam436]

Early years H&A is often thought about in modern times to be a bit "daggy" or simplier, but it did have some quite dark storylines at times. I'd even say that those storylines are often far more hard-hitting than most of the generic crime stuff we get today, perhaps in part because the characters were more rounded and the villians were more interesting. These days we just get two-dimensional generic villains and it sometimes feels like the writers are just phoning it in when it comes to some stories and characters they create now. 

Here's a list of some of the darkest storylines I can remember: 

• Carly's attack
• Ailsa's post-natal depression - moreso the scene where she almost smothers Duncan
• Morag's stalker - Justin Connor played the part so well. With a lesser actor, I'm not sure I'd have found that story so memorable to be honest. 
• Dale's cot death
• Shannon's backstory of abuse
• Irene's ex sleazing onto Selina
• Chloe's attack
• The Selia/Saul stuff
• The Robert Perez story
• Justine accused of killing a baby
• Ailsa's mental health after the car accident - at one stage she even walked away when Alf was being electricuted and we going to let him die! 
• Donald and Marilyn losing Byron - that was largely played out off-screen, so we were spared most of that except Donald's grief
• Some of the more shocking deaths - like Gary Samuels, Stephabie Mboto, Curtis' girlfriend Laura and Phillip Matheson. 

Those were the big stories, but we had other shorter arcs that mostly involved guest characters like the Barlow family story, Pippa's brother contemplating suicide etc. 

[cymbaline]

There's also

• Sam Barlow. As well as making the lives of his wife and daughter hell, he knew how to intimidate Pippa in her own home. He was utterly repellent.
• Carly's relationship with Ben. After being in a very questionable relationship with her former teacher, Carly rushed into marrying a guy who had more red flags than the Chinese Communist Party. Admittedly this all looks much darker when viewed with modern-day eyes but still...
• Viv Newton's father who made his daughters' lives hell behind closed doors. 
• Donna getting back with her ex and learning that leopards don't change their spots
• Angel's ex stalking her