Emmerdale

[Slade]

I have mixed feelings about this whole week regarding the Wyldes. Whilst I'm glad that Natasha confessed meaning that Ryan will be a free and thought the whole thing was quite dramatic I really didn't like the general way things were handled. I've stated on more than one occasion that I can't stand Nathan, I think the guy's a tosser but this whole business with Cain really annoyed me. Why should he be able to get away with kidnapping and almost torturing Nathan or at the very least starving him? Admittedly if he hadn't done that Natasha might not have confessed but I still think some comeuppance as far as Cain's concerned is long overdue. I also absolutely hated his smug taunting nature in particular the way he was at Natasha's and the way he tried to make out it was for Will's benefit when in actual fact he was simply using Will as leverage to pressurise Natasha. I also hated the way when Nathan threatened to report Cain to the police, Maisie said she would claim she did it. Incidentally I don't think Nathan should get away with trying to frame Ryan. I can understand why Natasha claimed she did it though, perverting the course of justice isn't going to really add much to a murder sentence so the aim was to keep what's left of her family together. It's funny because if you told me a month ago I would have felt a bit sorry for Nathan, I would have said never in a million years but I did have a tiny amount of sympathy for him. I also felt quite sorry for Natasha. Whilst she ultimately deserves what's coming to her in terms of jail time, I do think she is a good mother and was only trying to do what she thought was best for her kids. I do think it will be interesting to see how Masie, Will and Nathan cope now especially when Ryan gets out of jail. It will also be interesting to see what Nathan does about Declan's offer (On another note what happened to the money he got from blackmailing Natasha?)

I quite enjoyed the stuff with Charity and Jai, it's a shame Cain had to open his big mouth especially as Charity confirmed he was more than happy to do business with Jai when it meant ripping off Nikhil. I find that I'm really, really disliking Cain at present.

Can't really say that I like Alicia at the moment. She still comes across a bit selfish and self-centred but I am enjoying the rivalry with Chas and the interaction with some of the other characters so I don't mind her being around.

[Red Ranger 1]

Surprisingly, I found myself actually feeling sorry for Chastity when she realised Carl was cheating on her, even though I haven't liked her very much recently and indeed didn't like her a couple of times in that episode.I liked the way she and Charity kept trying to come up with alternative explanations.Mind you, I feel sorry for Eve as well, it seems like she really likes Carl but I suspect she's going to be the real loser in this situation and end up looking like the bad guy.

Adam's hostility towards Holly annoyed me somewhat.Fair enough, she's not my favourite person either but making constant digs when she is at least trying to get help isn't going to improve the situation at all.

[Slade]

So Holly actually prostituted herself to get a score. I had been finding that storyline quite boring but have to admit is improved a bit since John and Moira tried to make her go cold turkey. I actually felt really sorry for Holly when she was crying and begging for John and Moira not to lock her in her bedroom.

I found Rhona’s jealousy of Paddy quite amusing. I had no idea she was in love with him. I did admire Paddy up to that point for not giving into temptation and opting to choose his friendship with Marlon but I suppose it was inevitable something was going to happen with Rhona since they work together and so spend a significant amount of time with each other. I think he needs to decide what or who is more important - Rhona or Marlon.

Oh dear, Ryan’s still having difficult coping since he was released from remand. I kept thinking if looks could kill when he was drinking in the Woolpack and the detective walked in. I can see why though because he looks very smug most of the time. I’m not sure what Katie’s up too though. Funny when she announced the horses were stolen as Nathan not only didn’t seem that bothered but didn’t seem too surprised either. It reminded me of a storyline many years ago when Kim Tate and Steve were in serious financial trouble and staged a robbery on their price race horse so they could make a huge profit.

If I were Declan I would get someone to buy Home farm on my behalf that way he won’t have to worry about Nathan refusing to sell out of sheer pride.

Can’t really say I’m that thrilled to have Debbie back. I don’t particularly like her and was used to her not being around. Still I guess it will be interesting to see what happens now.

[Red Ranger 1]

Don't really know why they've put Paddy and Rhona together, except for dramatic effect.They've never struck me as anything more than good friends yet they seem to be trying to build them up as some great tragic love story.Then again, they've always made a mess of Paddy's love life:Breaking up him and Emily when I really liked them together because someone decided he'd be more interesting if he slept with Viv, wrecking his and Chas' relationship to send her back to Carl yet again...

Rather like Declan's ex-wife, not least because she's rather pleasing on the eye.Nathan's reaction when he realised he'd be outmanoeuvred was brilliant.And it was great that absolutely no-one, including Maisie, felt remotely sorry for him.And then Ella starts flirting with Nicola just to wind her up...

Still not too happy about the whole "Chas' revenge" plot.Did I get it wrong or did she really steal from Scarlett just to make Eve look bad?That's low.Not sure about Debbie being back, I like her, most of the time, but it did seem like she didn't have much of a place in the show when she left. Which is ironic when they'd just brought her parents back.Maybe that was because they knew she was leaving and it'll work better this time.

I can't decide if the Bartons are being incredibly naive or I am.Could they not check Holly into a rehab clinic instead of locking her in her room and forcing her to go cold turkey?(And then having Moira turn into a drug pusher.)I know they went to the professionals for help and it didn't seem to work but is that really their best option?

[Slade]

I thought what Moira did last week was incredibly irresponsible. I think if they’d just hung on for another week Holly would have been over the Cold Turkey phase although it must have been really difficult for her seeing Holly like that. I too don’t understand why they haven’t checked Holly into a clinic.

The first two episodes of Emmerdale this week have actually been pretty good. I’m really not a fan of this Paddy/Marlon/Rhona storyline. Not so much because it’s bad but simply because it’s now such a mess throwing a baby into the equation. Marlon would have been annoyed at Paddy for quite a while but I think their friendship is strong enough he would have got over it eventually. Now that Rhona’s pregnant he’s obliged to support her knowing full well she and Paddy will be together. Incidentally I loved his - “You patronising, sanctimonious girlfriend grabber” – line to Paddy from Monday’s episode.

I don’t particular like this storyline with Chas either (even though I am quite enjoying the scenes). What bothers me is the underhand way she is going about things although to be fair Charity is the one pressurizing her to do it. To be completely honest though I couldn’t help but laugh at Eve’s facial expressions since Chas asked Carl to marry him and he accepted. She has a permanent face like a wet weekend look. Making Carl think that she was pregnant was both a masterstroke and cruel given how emotional he was when Thomas and Anaya left. I’m not sure if Carl is in love with Eve or simply telling her what she wants to hear. Part of me really wants him to find out what Chas is up to so he can get one over on her.

[Red Ranger 1]

So, that's Nathan's punishment.Yep, I'll take that.I loved when he went round to see Ryan and was trying to play tough and Ryan just completely took control of the situation and made him do what he wanted.And I literally laughed out loud when Nathan was telling Maisie "I've given everything to Will, I'm a nice guy really" and Ryan appears behind him and you realise he's already told her what really happened.Declan taking his keys and furniture off him was just the final insult.I just found myself wishing that they hadn't felt the need to get physical and start pushing him around, he was already thoroughly humiliated, resorting to violence was a bit demeaning.

Not really liking Chas.Like Slade, I want her to get found out but I doubt it'll go like that.She's just coming across as petty, malicious and rather hypocritical, since she'd get up to that sort of thing herself given half a chance.Plus, as Debbie said, does Carl actually have any money for her to take these days?

[Slade]

I have to admit it was quite amusing seeing Edna’s reaction to finding out about Carl and Eve and I really enjoyed seeing her take the moral high-ground with both of them. I especially liked Carl’s schoolboy look and relief when he found out Edna was going to keep quiet. I’m actually glad that contrary to Charity’s advice Chas decided to tell Aaron. At least that means there’s a higher probability of the plan failing now. We all know what Aaron’s like and it’s going to be hard for him to keep his mouth shut and try and play along considering how small a village it is, how often he’ll bump into Carl and how much he hates him. They’ve done a similar storyline to this already. Years ago Tina Dingle dumped Luke at the altar as some sort of payback for accidentally killing her brother despite playing along at being his girlfriend for months and having duped him into thinking she was in love with him but then there was no indication until the actual wedding she was going to jilt him. It will be interesting to see how the writers will actually end this storyline. Will Chas actually go through with it or will Carl find out beforehand?

It’s been a long time coming but Nathan finally got his. I too really enjoyed seeing Ryan make Nathan squirm and beg. I also enjoyed the part Declan played and liked seeing him gloat to Nathan about how he left his phone lying around so they could secretly record his confession before taking his car and literally throwing him out of Home Farm. I can understand you not condoning the violence Red Ranger but I really don't think it was that bad and if you recall Ryan got beaten up in jail so it was no more than Nathan deserved. I’m really surprised in spite of everything Nathan still continued to lie to Maisie. Did he not think that Ryan would tell her? Yes, I smiled at the image of Ryan emerging from Nikhil’s front door. I do think he was bluffing about going to the police however. To the best of my knowledge it is illegal to record a conversation with someone without their consent so surely that recording would have been inadmissible in court and without a confession the police don’t have any evidence to convict him especially with Natasha having already confessed.

Despite everything Natasha's done I still felt sorry for her and didn't really like the way Faye turned up to gloat although it was understandable after what they did to Ryan.

[~Zoe~]

'Emmerdale' producer Blyth dies, aged 41

Emmerdale's series producer Gavin Blyth has died at the age of 41, ITV has confirmed.

The show chief - who took office at the Yorkshire-based soap in January 2009 - passed away last night following a short period of ill health.

An Emmerdale spokesperson said today: "It is with great sadness that we confirm our series producer Gavin Blyth passed away last night after a short illness.

"Our thoughts are with his family, friends and colleagues at this terrible time. He will be greatly missed by us all. Gavin leaves his wife Suzy and children Tom, 15, Anya, 11 and Carter, aged 1."

Blyth first joined the world of soap in 2002, when he landed the job of senior publicist at Emmerdale. He later secured the position of script editor at the programme.

In 2005, Blyth became a story associate at Coronation Street before moving onto the role of assistant producer.

After returning to Emmerdale in the position of series producer last year, he began steering a major revamp of the rural soap. His decisions included introducing the Sharma and Barton families, bringing back the characters of Cain and Charity and signing up a number of new cast members, including Kim Thomson, James Sutton, Suzanne Shaw and Pauline Quirke.

Sally Spode's evil revenge on village vicar Ashley Thomas, the tale of Mark Wylde's murder and Aaron Livesy's sexuality struggle were among the successful storylines which appeared on screens during his time with the soap.

Paying tribute to Blyth, Emmerdale's executive producer Steve November said: "Gavin has made an immense contribution to Emmerdale since taking over as series producer in January 2009 and during many hugely successful years at ITV.

"As a friend and colleague, he will be missed an incredible amount by us all. It is a very sad day for everyone at Emmerdale. Our thoughts are with Gavin's family and those closest to him at this difficult time."

[Red Ranger 1]

I can understand you not condoning the violence Red Ranger but I really don't think it was that bad and if you recall Ryan got beaten up in jail so it was no more than Nathan deserved.

I get what you mean and there've been a few occasions when I'd have been perfectly happy to see Nathan get his head smashed.My real problem was that it left me with a slightly lower opinion of Ryan and Declan:They'd already beaten Nathan simply by being cleverer than him and acting in a way that he just couldn't comprehend, so having them turn it into a playground scuffle just seemed to lower the tone a bit.

[Lesley Bee]

Great episode last night, all credit to the actors who play the Barton family, especially Holly she really portrays the part so realistically.