[Stuart]

Originally Posted by Tinky

I think she has been losing it for some time now Stu, she's been like a dream walking. It's quite remarkable how these actors are able to turn on the waterworks at will. Wonder how they do it, praps think of summit sad, I guess.

Oh, she has, but people rarely just become mentally ill. It happens over months, or sometimes years. This is something Eastenders has covered before. Remember Joe (Jaw) Wicks? He was becoming increasingly eccentric for about 18 months before the character was diagnosed. Even Stacy was showing signs months before.

As for actors turning on the waterworks, well some can do it easily. Most, from what I have heard, just go back to a really sad event in their life and think about it. Same with other emotions.

I remember Micheal Dorn (played Worf in various Star Treks) said it was the best part ever because he could get himself in a really bad mood, and just go to work and everyone would assume he is just staying in character.

I also would have preferred a different ending to this storyline about how Kat and Alfie get the baby back. For example if baby Tommy had developed a slight medical problem that required a blood sample to be taken, and then Jack was told he wasn't the father. This whole storyline has been quite unbelievable, but not quite as bad as the one where Tanya tried to kill Max and tried to bury him in the woods. Wonder what far fetched story they will come up with next lol.

Personally, I think this story probably looked good on paper. I don't know how believable I found it though. I didn't particularly like the Max/Tanya burial story though.

One think I think Brian Kirkwood has done well with EE though. He seems to have ensured that the writers flesh out the characters a lot better with stories (or histories) that in some cases give good reasons for them to act the way they do. Janine, for instance. In the past, she has just seemed like the sort of randomly evil person you don't generally get outside TV. At christmas, she had good reason to behave how she did, and her grandmother is a good indication of where it came from.