Most Popular Character 2024

[hapitoby]

6 hours ago, Zig said:

Thank you to @Chris J @Dan F and @Red Ranger 1 for all the hard work they do for the Most Popular Character polls, it's so appreciated. Very happy that Alf won. Now to see the results again in two years time.

 

Would love a Most Popular Couples poll to happen as A one of like you did way back in 2004 or 2006 can't remember which one it was to see who the Most Popular Couple of all time is. I feel like it would be fitting if it was Alf and Alisa or Sally and Flynn.

That would be good. A most popular guest character poll would be great. We've had many that were basically regulars, some even lasting longer than regulars. We'll also get a few unique options of characters no one has thought about for 20+ years. I wonder who would wi- who am I kidding we all know it'll be Freya Duric by a landslide though she's basically a regular so it'll be pretty much cheating

[Red Ranger 1]

Firstly, my thanks to @Chris J, @Dan F and Matt for all their hard work in collating the results and turning my commentary into such an excellent presentation. I always feel I have the easy job while they have to handle the technical stuff!

Secondly, my thanks to everyone that's been following the reveals and posting their thoughts on the results and my commentary in here: It's been interesting seeing the reactions!

As ever, a few mentions for characters who've gone missing since the last poll: As noted, no Fin, the highest placed character not to return. No More Recent Chloe (thanks, @atrus!), the most recent regular not to get votes. No Kit, who usually picks up points from someone. And no Zac, meaning only three of Leah's four husbands got votes!

[John]

13 hours ago, Red Ranger 1 said:

Firstly, my thanks to @Chris J, @Dan F and Matt for all their hard work in collating the results and turning my commentary into such an excellent presentation. I always feel I have the easy job while they have to handle the technical stuff!

Secondly, my thanks to everyone that's been following the reveals and posting their thoughts on the results and my commentary in here: It's been interesting seeing the reactions!

As ever, a few mentions for characters who've gone missing since the last poll: As noted, no Fin, the highest placed character not to return. No More Recent Chloe (thanks, @atrus!), the most recent regular not to get votes. No Kit, who usually picks up points from someone. And no Zac, meaning only three of Leah's four husbands got votes!

My thanks to all who make this annual "walk down memory lane" possible and so enjoyable.  It always brings back memories of characters I'd forgotten all about and miss and also leads me to ponder anew ones I wish I had no memory of.

 

[Lila_Q]

On 15/12/2024 at 22:17, christine king said:

How has Harper polled so high? Who even likes her?

The popularity of the character or storyline can't be measured by people commenting on this forum or social media. Out of all members/ followers, only a handful actually comment. That's why I find polls more reliable, people vote and move on, and don't open themselves to potential arguing with people who disagree. The Facebook poll showed that about 70% of people voting liked Harper and Tane together. This surprised me as judging by comments I thought the majority of people disliked them, but then as I said, most people who participate in polls don't ever comment. It's the same with Tane, Mac and Eden, judging by the people's comments on social media, one would think that they're currently the most despised characters, yet they all ranked high on the poll. 

Anyway, the results of this poll are pretty much what I expected. I had fun going through the results and remembering some characters who left the show long ago. Thank you for organising it this year.   

Edited Sunday at 16:23 by Lila_Q

[pembie]

Well done on the poll Red your little write ups make me laugh 

[SandsResort]

This is how the current cast ranked relative to each other, highest to lowest. The + figure next to their name is how many extra points they achieved than the character below them. E.g. Alf got 135 more points than Tane.

It illustrates how some characters were much further apart, or closer, than they appear from the rankings.

+135  Alf
+1065  Tane
     Massive 1065 points jump from Cash up to Tane

+369  Cash
    Big 369 points jump from Marilyn up to Cash

+64  Marilyn
+44  John
+250  Mackenzie
    Big 250 points jump from Eden up to Mackenzie

+102  Eden
+100  Dana

Not much separating Irene and Mali (29 points)
+29  Irene
+99  Mali

Not much separating Levi, Theo, Justin and Leah (22, 16, 34 points)
+22  Levi
+16  Theo
+34  Justin
+63  Leah

+85  Remi
+92  Harper
+90  Kirby
+47  Rose
+41  Roo
+63  Bree
         Abigail
 

[SandsResort]

Observations about the current cast's performance:

Marilyn is the most popular female, followed by Mackenzie. (Yes Felicity beat Marilyn, by a tiny 12 point margin, but I'm just looking at current ongoing characters.) For males of course it is Alf followed by Tane. This seems at odds with some forum opinions that Mackenzie and Tane are "well past their use by date".

It's funny that top male and female Alf and Marilyn were two of the characters with the least screentime or storylines this year. Maybe less is more! (Although that didn't help Roo.) Or maybe it's largely "legacy votes" from long-term viewers, but that doesn't tally with Sally etc being so far below them.

Top male Alf got more than double the points of top female Marilyn (3045 to 1476).

Lyrik in order of popularity: 1. Eden, 2. Theo, 3. Remi, 4. Kirby.

The six lowest ranked characters are all female. Remi is the lowest ranked male*, but "7th from bottom" in a cast of 21 is getting towards the mid-table group anyway.

Exactly mid-table in the ranking of current cast are young men Mali, Levi and Theo. It's perhaps surprising that Justin and Leah are beneath them.

It should be emphasised that all of the current cast did really well, all picking up hundreds more votes than Fisher, Pippa, Bobby, Morag, Shane & Angel, etc, with even Sally slotted in between Bree and Abigail. Obviously that's recency bias, but it's still an impressive achievement for the current show.

Spoiler

*I'm assuming that Xander's exit was permanent

 

Edited Sunday at 18:50 by SandsResort

[Slade]

I hadn't been to the Forum in around a month so I'd forgotten about the results.

I was shocked but not surprised Rory even featured at all, especially given how short his stint was and that he murdered a police officer.  I was surprised at Abigail.  Maybe it's because I only watch the episodes at UK pace but I've found very little likeable about her.  Harper finishing so highly was also an eyebrow raising moment.  Don't get me wrong, I like her, and have got nothing against her as a person but I don't find her to be a particularly interesting character.  Eden was another shock (Really?).  Sadly I'm actually not surprised Dana finished as well as she did.  I'm definitely seeing a different person to 99.999% (add more 9s where appropriate) of people.  I find her to be manipulative, self-centered and as I always like to flog the dead horse, despite being a nurse I feel she lacks empathy.  What I will say though is that one thing I've noticed with characters in soaps, if their personality shows giddy, bubbly traits, this will often endear people to them.  Very similar to Holly Hoyland from Neighbours.

I was fully expecting a strong finish from Felicity.  Even if she hadn't died, I would have still expected her in the top five.  I'm actually a little surprised she didn't finish higher.

I was expecting Stevie to have a little more votes.  Pleasantly surprised Mackenzie finished so high and I can't disagree with the overall winner.  Can't say I'm disappointed about Sally finishing so low relatively speaking, considering how she used to dominate.

I would actually like to thank Dan F and Chris J for opening the poll to non forum members knowing full well it would mean more effort on their part with the data.  I think it's a good thing, far more representative and it shows there are a lot of people who lurk the forum who are not confident enough or simply have no desire to post.  So, I'm glad they've also been included.  I hope this trend continues.

Last but not least, a shoutout to Red Ranger, with regards to the character summaries.  Never fails to deliver with the stellar grammar, writing and of course the wittiness.