Slade

Does anybody know why Friday's episode (Episode 7220) isn't available on My5? I went abroad for a few days last week so was trying to play catchup over the weekend and it isn't there although today's episode is??????

Killing Ground - Very disturbing film!

No worries. Thanks for checking.

Before on the main Forum page along the far right you were able to hide the "Recent Topics". Is this no longer available? Thanks.

I would say Corrie's definitely my favourite soap at the moment. I quite like David (I like his dry, cynical sense of humour) but I was utterly disgusted when he attacked Gary. Even if he goes to jail I wouldn't have a problem with that as he could have killed him despite putting aside the believability of the assault in the first place given the size difference and the fact that Gary was knocking seven bells out of him during the first round of boxing. One of the problems with the David/Josh rape storyline is very similar to the Ross Barton acid attack story in Emmerdale. They could have chosen a character that is easier to sympathise with. David has proven to be psycho on more than one occasion, causing the car crash which resulted in Nic's brain injury because Nic slept with his wife. And whilst he loves his kids a lot of the time he doesn't come across as a particularly likeable person. Even the way he acts towards his own mum. It may have been better if they had chosen Chesney or someone who you could argue is essentially a good person. In saying that I am still interested in this storyline to see how it progress. In particular I would like to see Shona's reaction if she finds out. I think the actor who plays Josh is doing a great job. He comes across as totally slimy and I will imagine he's probably done this before and if he hasn't will probably do it again. David was right about one thing though - Sarah was an idiot to take Gary back after cheating on her and getting another woman pregnant. I was fully on Bethany's side when she tried to make life difficult for them as I wouldn't be happy if that was my mother. In principle I like the idea of Rana and Kate. I remember when Kate was dating Imogen, Rana would constantly give them dirty looks and Kate put that down to homophobia where I imagine a lot of people would have realised that she fancied her. I recall when Rana was drunk and kissed her and even though Kate pushed her away you could tell by her reaction afterwards that she liked her. However the first problem I have is Zeedan. He's got a really raw deal in this and for a small period of time was made out to be the bad guy and unreasonable because he was heart broken his wife was cheating on him. Another issue I have is that as a person I don't particularly like Kate. She just doesn't seem that nice. I also don't like the way she treated Sophie. And just last week even though Sophie was clearly still affected at being dumped by Kate, Kate was trying to talk to her as if nothing happened. Even Aiden had more sympathy for Sophie than Kate did. When Zeedan kissed Leanne I thought that was absolutely cringeworthy and could barely bring myself to watch the TV. However what I found hilarious was when Carla and Kate saw Zeedan trying to apologise to Leanne about it out on the street and in the Rover's afterwards and even though they couldn't hear what was going on it was clear to Carla that Zeedan had tried to hit on her. I just found Carla and Kate's conversation about it hilarious. Zeedan and Rana are kidding themselves if they think this arrangement of staying together for a year (just to save face) so Zeedan can inherit a large some of money is going to work. Although we can see Zeedan is trying to get back with her. I would say this is probably the first time in quite a while where I don't actively dislike Michelle. I used to strongly dislike her when she was with Steve, so much so they when he knocked Leanne up I was firmly on his side. And I was enjoying seeing her suffer when Will was stalking her. Just a shame Leanne ended up being the injured party trying to help her. Although since she's gotten with Robert she hasn't been as bad. I do have to say though I really like the fact that Oli slept with Carla and only wants to spend time with Michelle when Carla's going to be there. I also really liked the fact that Carla is absolutely bricking it because of how Michelle's going react when she finds out. I do think Oli genuinely fancies Carla but I can't help thinking he's doing it to get back at his mum as well. Eva can't really be that surprised Aiden didn't believe her or want to get back with her when she told him about the baby. OK so he was wrong to cheat on her but that doesn't justify her stealing his family's business, his flat and putting all the factory employees out of work. It was quite frustrating because there were no repercussions for either her or Adam despite them committing a fairly serious crime. I don't think it matters that Eva sold the flat she stole from him and gave him half the money after selling it. The damage had already been done. I do remember when they were going to get married and Toyah locked Maria in one of the hotel rooms because she was going to expose everything. I was absolutely cheering when Maria escaped and stopped the wedding. She did Aiden a massive favour. But after going through all that Aiden would have been pretty stupid to get back with Eva. I think this whole idea of Eva basically being surrogate for Toyah is completely ridiculous. I'm assuming it's still going ahead now or has Eva left for good and Toyah's going to have to think of an excuse to tell Peter why they're not going to have a baby. Although now that Simon knows it will be interesting to see what her next move is. I do think Simon's gearing towards being the devil child. I can't believe Peter's attitude after finding out he was responsible for mugging Audrey. He and Leanne have also let him get away with stealing money from Toyah. Maybe they should call the police because at this rate he's only going to get worse. Although I did enjoy him blackmailing his own aunt. I used to think he was completely vile and utterly repugnant but now, not only is he one of my favourite characters in the show but is shaping up to becoming one of my all time favourite soap characters - Pat Phelan! AKA evil incarnate. In terms of greatness right up with Paul Robinson. I love the lying, scheming, manipulating etc. I'm so glad he framed Anna Windass for attempted murder and got her locked up as I hate her (It's a shame he can't do the same thing to Liz McDonald). Even though he was in the wrong I was on his side against Garry, Seb and Nicola. I would agree with anybody who refers to him as a cold-blooded murderer. There are a couple of things I would say - firstly he didn't actually kill Michael. Michael had a heart attack and he let him die. I actually didn't think that was illegal until I read about a case where someone drowned and another person who was present made no attempt to save them resulting in their prosecution. Secondly I didn't really understand the point of the Andy storyline. I thought initially it was a way at some sort of redemption but then I wondered if some sort of plot device to go past the point of no return i.e. as per my first point with Michael you could always argue that Phelan didn't actually do anything but in the case with Andy he did decide to kill him. I was actually surprised with how well he coped with it as after Michael died it did seem to bother him slightly but in the case of Vinnie, Andy and Luke, no remorse. I'm glad he survived Eileen pushing him into the sea (I don't actually dislike Eileen and actually feel quite sorry for her). Hopefully he will come back to Weatherfield and cause mayhem.

Closing Numbers. Interesting film...

Oh wow I didn't even realise the BTTB site is now encrypted. Excellent.

Hi folks, not so much a issue as such but I didn't want to start a new thread just to ask a question - would it be possible to reactivate this thread: Link so I can post in it please? Many thanks.

I see the Forum software has been updated. Thanks guys (Dan/ChrisJ?) Look forward to seeing the new features. One that I've immediately noticed is there are now other options in addition to liking a post. Will be interesting to see how that goes....

Raffy reminds me of a younger, nicer version of Ronda Rousey - Feisty, headstrong and a bit of a smart arse. I like her.

I wasn't interested at all at first and like An eye for an eye wasn't going to bother. I hardly ever use the main website but just out of curiosity decided to have a look and the content on that page in particular some of the pictures have made me very interested so I will try and watch them now. It will be good to get an update on Kyle and will be worth watching the episodes just to see Isla even though it probably only is a cameo. I like the fact there's going to be a crossover with the two specials. I assume they are going to be available to stream on My5. Once again, thank you very much for taking the time to produce this page. I can see clearly you've gone to quite a bit of effort for only two episodes and yet again purely for the benefit of the UK users.

Many happy returns!!!

OK finished a marathon session of season 7. My initial thoughts are it mirrors season 3 in that the first half of was better than the second. I really liked Lily as a character and I loved the fact that she was torn between supporting the Mystics (who were her adopted family) and Stefan and Damon (who were her actual family). I quite liked the dynamic between the various Mystics and certainly thought there were some good characters. Particularly Valarie and the romance with Nora/Marie Louise. Nora/Marie Louise came across as extremely spoilt and immature but I think the latter half of the season when they both decided to die together showed that they truly loved each other. Valarie developed quite a bit as a character. She started off as another vampire but the back story of her falling in love with Stefan, getting pregnant and Julian beating her and forcing her to lose the baby showed she had another side to her. And we gradually saw her empathising with Caroline when she was pregnant with the next generation of Gemini twins and helping to protect them and also aiding Stefan escape from the vampire hunter, rekindling her relationship with him and letting him go when she knew he was in love with Caroline. For me the worst part of the season was when they killed Lily off. I was very disappointed with Damon's attitude towards her on her death bed. He could have a least said something positive but she went to her grave thinking that he hated her. I would like to think Damon loved her in his own sort of way and I did think he was sorry the way things ended but was too stubborn to admit it. One of the things I found fascinating about Lily was that she allowed herself to be dominated and bullied by men to the point where it took priority over protecting her own family. We saw this with the Salvatore brother's when they were kids and to a lesser extent with the Mystics or more specifically Valarie when she mentioned what happened with Julian. Unlike before when she tried to escape from her husband but didn't this time she sacrificed herself (or so she thought) to protect them from the man she loved. After Lily's death things started to fall apart. It didn't feel like a family with the rest of the Mystics and they were all killed off with the exception of Valarie. Although he had help from Valarie I thought Stefan was able to kill Julian way too easily as they gave the impression he was quite a powerful vampire. Then I found the stuff with Rayna Cruz hunting after Stefan (which was the basic premise for this season) and The Armory's pursuit of Bonnie and various others quite mundane and repetitive. I did like the part where they were doing the spell to transfer Rayna into Bonnie's body to stop Bonnie from dying and Rayna had her final revenge saying that Bonnie would assume the role of the Hunter and dedicate her life to going after vampires. It was also really good to see Klaus again and I didn't even mind Tyler showing up for a couple of episodes. You can't have an end of season without a cliff hanger so we now see Damon and Enzo on a pursuit of evil rounding up bodies for who knows what. The second half of the season made me think that they should only really continue doing this for a couple more seasons tops and perhaps call it a day. The main reason I continued watching was because of Damon. I really like his personality and find his dry, cynical sense of humor highly amusing. It's not even so much what he says but the way he says it that I find funny. If he wasn't in the show there is a good chance I would stop watching it. They're currently showing season 8 but I'm all TVD out so need a break for a while. I wanted to make a start on The Originals, season 1 but even though it's only 10 episodes, I'm not even sure I could watch it right now.

My main issue with Hope is that there appears to be very little that's likeable about her. She's selfish, self-absorbed and dishonest. Justin gives her a job and she uses the opportunity to commit credit card fraud, not even considering the fact that it could have affected his livelihood. The one thing I will say about her is her love and dedication towards Raffy are impressive. And if she had to I think she would throw herself in front of a bus to protect her. Despite her lack of likeability I do prefer her over Mason and Brody who are two of the worst characters on the show for me at the moment. People say that she's boring but I'll take her over Mason any day of the week. Another massive thing in Hope's favour for me is that she annoys Phoebe.

Dull, mundane, insipid....despite the fact that he's a medical student at times seems quite gormless. Can't really think of much he's done that's worthwhile except for putting the other Morgan's lives in jepordy because he was so focused on getting his leg over with Lara that despite their warnings to keep quiet he went and told her about the witness protection and went off to meet her when they going to be relocated after Decker thought they were compromised - which put them all in further jeopardy. Going at UK pace I like Evelyn and am not happy seeing her spending so much time with him and the friends with benefits arrangement frustrates me as I think she's too good for him. I didn't think much of the character the actor played in Neighbours and it's the same here. Feels to me like he's been brought in to show off that body of his. The only positive thing I can say is at least he's not as annoying as Chris.

So after effectively getting away with kidnapping and attempting to kill to Casey, beating Sean and Trystan and leaving them for dead and the illegal gambling, Kyle finally goes down for the one crime he didn't commit. Now isn't that a final irony...

Many thanks. I would actually prefer if it was like Neighbours and the episodes came out on the same day as in Aus as that would mean those following at UK pace wouldn't have to worry about spoilers from the people following at Aus pace who can't be bothered to check where the UK is up to (Yes I said it again and I sound like a cracked record.). Also it would mean we could venture into the character discussion threads without the fear of encountering spoilers.

I'm actually pretty fed up of this storyline with Ashley and his Alzheimers even though it is a very serious and real issue. I do think it is being done quite well by all the parties involved. I have to say I'm loving the relationship with Andy and Chrissie, if only how it winds certain people up. Robert's anger and frustration was absolutely wonderful but even better is Bernice's jealousy. Especially given that Andy has moved onto younger and hotter and she's not getting any action from her own man. As someone that likes Laurence I was disappointed he got those guys to beat Andy up (OK so I accept that he only wanted them to warn him off Bernice because he thought they were having an affair but there was always a possibility Andy would fight back and end up in hospital). I guess the fact that Andy isn't pressing charges shows what sort of a person he is. Lachlan continues to display he has no redeeming qualities - Completely unrepentant about trashing Eric's house and stealing from him and wanting Gabi to use Ashley's condition to go to a concert should was forbidden to initially. He really should be in Juvie because he hasn't displayed any signs of changing. I actually don't mind Holly coming back. Whilst she was annoying initially compared to some of the characters she's a godsend. And I quite liked seeing her smack Cain and giving him a bloody lip. Will be interesting to see what happens with her trying to seduce him (I'm assuming that's what she's going to do). I find that I'm now fed up of Zak and Joanie. The problem is I find Joanie so smug and insensitive, even though I don't particularly like Lisa I find myself on her side. Given the situation I don't think Joanie should have been allowed to work at the factory and I don't like the way Zac took the family pot and sold it to Eric to buy her engagement ring (especially given that he's leaching off Dan and hasn't divorced Lisa yet) so I don't have any sympathy for Joanie now that she's lost it. It also doesn't help that the vile Kerry constantly sticks her oar in rooting for them and accusing Lisa of taking the ring. What I find interesting is the affect all of this has had on Belle and she is now knowingly engaging in a relationship with a married man, having now completely rejected the notion of marriage and fidelity. This whole abuse storyline with Aaron has been an absolute lose-lose for me. Whilst I'm glad Gordon has been found guilty it feels bitter-sweet because it's like we're meant to feel sorry for Aaron but let's not forget that he beat someone to a pulp just before Christmas not to mention all the other stuff he's done. I wasn't sure what to make of Liv. She mugs Aaron and Robert at first then tries to help Gordon and changes her mind about Aaron and decides to help him right at the end of the trial. Whilst I briefly liked some of the stuff with Aaron given how she caused trouble at David's shop I can't help thinking perhaps it's a blessing we don't see her again. Really not sure what to make of the Paddy/Rhona stuff. I can't help thinking that the attempts to sabotage their business by Tess's husband and him trying to poison Rhona's mind against Paddy are going to thwart their attempts to move the Germany much like when they tried to emigrate to New Zealand. I wouldn't be surprised if Rhona decides to go at this alone given that Paddy doesn't want to move. Well Charity's back. The only positive thing I can say about her is that she's no worse than since before she left. Should I be surprised that she's teamed up with Ross? Nope. Am I surprised that Rhona has effectively gone into league with her? A little.

You've made some fairly interesting points kmp1963. Some of it to do with Phoebe, some if it related to people's attitudes towards characters in general. I'm going to respond to what you've said. This may come across as blunt so apologies in advance (nothing personal) but it's late, I've just finished a five and a half hour drive and I'm tired. I'm not sure what difference that makes TBH. Just because somebody feels a certain way about a character it does not under any circumstance mean that somebody else should feel the same. I don't see a problem with Phoebe (or any other character for that matter including the ones that I like) getting a torrent of abuse. Home and away is not real life, it's a scripted drama with fictional characters in a fictional program. The argument may hold water if this were real life but it's not. I believe that fictional characters are fair game as long as the posters don't continually repeat the same thing and there is some level of reasoned discussion. Critique is fine as long as the posts don't include negative comments about the character's physical appearance, aren't racist or homophobic then I see no problem. I'm not sure what your point is and how that relates to this thread. Are you suggesting that characters who are morally worse than Phoebe are given a free ride because they're hot, whereas Phoebe is not? I don't think there's anything wrong with her appearance actually but again I don't see what the issue is here. People are perfectly entitled to like whoever they want regardless of how shallow their reasons are. Again this is a fictional program Why do you find it offensive? I don't see why it should it matter what other people think. Surely the most important thing should be what you think. Are you suggesting if someone likes a character with violent tendencies in a fictional program they will support or encourage behaviour like that in real life? I found Chris so annoying last year, I wished he was comatosed after the bus crash instead of Leah but of course if it was real life I wouldn't want something like that to happen to someone just because I find them annoying or because I didn't like them. Similarly with Neighbours Paul Robinson is one of my all time favourite characters. I love the way he blackmails, manipulates, lies , schemes and threatens people. Would I advocate behaviour like that in real life? Of course not. But in the context of the fictional program I absolutely love it because I want to be entertained. Would I say what I said above to someones face if I felt that way about them? If someone like Phoebe was in my face delivering a self-righteous sermon, raising her voice, there's no way I would stand there and take it. I'm not sure if I would attack someone personally like I have above. It really depends on the circumstances and what she's actually saying. But I would see it as my right to stand up for myself. Of course not. Why would I? I've got no issue with the actress, simply the character she portrays. Again you're not differentiating between an element of the program and a real person. The two are completely independent as far as I'm concerned. This is not specifically directed at you kmp1963 but as long as I've been posting here there have always been posters that have taken offense and seen it as their right to go into threads and call people out just because they've gotten upset about comments towards a non existent entity. Almost acting as if the poster in question has said that to someone in real life. You see I like to think that people are better than that and irrespective of their comments here they would be different if it was a real person with real feelings.

I increasingly loathe Phoebe. She's a self-righteous moron. It's a shame because when she first came to the bay I really liked her. I liked her lively personality. I thought she was pretty headstrong and a breath of fresh air. I thought she would be able to pacify the most violent Braxton (sorry Bennett) when she rekindled their relationship. I loved the way she would routinely stand up to Brax and wouldn't take any crap off him. In a funny sort of way whilst he clearly found her a pain in the backside I think he actually respected her for that. I liked that she had a very musical side to her. And I've actually enjoyed some of the storylines that have come about as a result. e.g. Nieve when she drugged Phoebe and tried to create the sex tape to boost her popularity and status in the music industry, completely oblivious to what she was doing wrong. And also the storyline with Ryan. I really enjoyed and found his stalking of her fascinating. So I definitely wouldn't have described her as boring before. The main reason why I've turned from liking to disliking her is because she is incredibly sanctimonious. She will often launch self-righteous rants when she feels strongly about something. And it's incredibly annoying because often the character she launches her tirade doesn't deserve it. So much so that I will almost always default to siding with the person who is on the receiving end regardless of whether they are right or not. One of the worst examples of this was when she went for the job interview with Snelgrove and he quite correctly pointed out that her rock band attire was inappropriate for applying for a position as a school teacher. And rather than accept a perfectly reasonable statement she started spouting feminist bullocks. And quite incredibly she still got the job. Other examples of getting on her high horse include the way she spoke to Casey when he wanted Josh to move in, harping on about her parent's marriage failing after rejecting Kyle's proposal, getting annoyed with Kyle for blanking her when she told him to stay away when she finished with him, her attitude towards Charlotte when she got her marching orders from Angelos and in particular the way she was with Ash when she found out Brax was alive after going through his phone. Her holier-than-thou attitude on numerous occasions has made me want to slap her. She also irritated me when she opened her big mouth and congratulated Ricky when she got pregnant even though Kyle specifically told her not to and the way she practically blackmailed Ash into going to Ricky's to reveal that Brax was alive made my blood boil. I dislike Kyle more than her but I don't think him going out with her has made him a better person. He was jealousy possessive and aggressive towards other people. Going out with Ash seems like it's more trouble that it's worth for him. She seems to blame him for anything that goes wrong and she finished with him just because she thought he chose Brax over her ego couldn't handle it (Completely negating the fact that this was all done to protect Ricky and Casey from Gunno). I feel he has to watch everything he does around her and I honestly don't know how he puts up with it. Why he would want to get back with her again especially considering that he finished with her when she was pregnant? As I said before I struggle to understand how the Braxtons even managed to live with her for as long as they did. Even Ricky got fed up with her after one day. And she is enough to drive anybody insane. During her time on the show she's effectively transitioned from a fun hipster type girl into an nagging housewife and I do feel sorry for Ash as she's almost like a vampire sucking the life right out of him.

At UK pace have recently seen the episode of Oscar cheating on Maddy with Asia and you know what - I'm proud of him! I absolutely loved the spontaneity with which he grabbed Asia and just went for it. It was beautiful. I just wish we'd seen more of that from him with other girls previously rather than wasting over a year of his life on Maddy. I was actually disappointed that Oscar didn't want to take things further with Asia but it's hardly unexpected. I do not believe that Maddy ever loved him and TBH she deserved to be cheated on. She only slept with him initially to get back at Evelyn for stealing Josh and she only starting going out with him because she was grateful that he supported her when she thought she was going to die. The minute a perceived higher value guy started to show some interest she fell for him. And rather than end things then and there she was quite prepared to string Oscar along. I'm often very wrong when I predict things in Home and Away but there are two things I called a long time before they actually happened. The first was Nate being in love with Ricky despite apparently moving on. The second was that Maddy would end up hurting Oscar. And I knew she would hurt him because she wasn't in love with him but he was head over heels in love with her. This was pretty evident when she attacked him just as she ended things "You're only holding onto this because of some pathetic nerd who got the girl mentality you have going on. But I'm me, you're you it was never going to last". This was actually incredibly frustrating for me as a viewer because I knew this would happen even after he finished with her the first time (the right choice IMO) and he started to fall for her again. See the problem with girls like Maddy is they tend to be very shallow and they don't normally go for guys like Oscar (this obviously changed when she had the big C and survival was priority). They primarily select guys on appearance, confidence and charisma. Physically there's nothing really wrong with Oscar's but he isn't particularly high on the last two. There's also the issue of him letting her walk all over him. TBH I always felt he was punching way above his weight when he was going out with her. And he should actually count himself lucky he was able to date her for that long. This will surely be one to tell the grandchildren. Although he can spin the story slightly. "When I was in highschool I was a nerd and people often picked on me but I managed to seduce a hot blonde into sleeping with me and we went out for months. I got fed up of her but didn't have the heart to break up so I copped off with another cute girl and let her tell my girlfriend about it so she would finish with me" (He can leave out the parts that Maddy wasn't in love with him, her feelings were the cancer talking, she fell for someone else and the breakup was her choice). I think Oscar should learn from this and count it as a blessing anyway as it will give him an opportunity to seek out someone who genuinely loves him for him. And doesn't pretend to be in love with him out of gratitude. I said a while back that you should never be friends with someone that you fancy and sadly Oscar's proof of that. See the problem was I always felt she saw him as a friend not really a lover whereas it was the reverse for him so the minute he got involved with her he was in deep water emotionally. Although he's proven already with Asia that if he can build his confidence up and meet other females anything can happen. Personally I'm glad he and Maddy are over as maybe we will have a chance to see some storylines with him which don't revolve around her. I'm looking forward to seeing a (hopefully) improved Maddy-free Oscar. Let's hope the writers get it right this time!

Yep I love assassinating fictional characters and that waster certainly deserves it! But I'm so sorry Kyle's feelings were hurt from some of my comments about him. I have to admit I do find him quite amusing sometimes when he loses it. e.g Spitting his dummy out when Brax dared to lend some of the money from his business to help Andy out and Kyle took Brax's money and spent thousands of dollars on musical equipment Getting annoyed when Casey dared to help his own brother out and moved him into Braxton household (even though Kyle did the same thing with Phoebe) Biting Josh and Evelyn's heads off when they were copping off at the Braxtons just because things weren't going well with his own relationship Going for that guy that touched Phoebe's bottom Ricky using him for babysitting duties and the lustful way Kyle was looking at her (deluded enough to think he was in there with a chance initially) Yep Kyle will very often throw his toys out his pram (although not his kid's pram, that can't happen now re my post before last). Good old Kyle. Always guaranteed some laughs.

You do realise that ALL killers start off with never killing anyone don't you? The point was that IMO Kyle is an extremely violent and dangerous person. He almost killed Casey and could have killed Sean and Trystan. If he continues like this he's bound to kill someone one day.

I find it very interesting how popular this particular individual is. The posts towards this character from some people would indicate he's the best thing since sliced bread. People go on and on about how bad Brax is but this piece of garbage is given a free ride and IMO far worse. Kyle is an violent, aggressive, jealous, childish, controlling bully. The Bennett Braxton love child make his glorious entrance by stalking his supposed half-brother. Kidnaps him, beats him and leaves him in the desert to die a slow painful death. Blaming Casey for stopping Danny from murdering someone in cold blood but really it was because he was jealous that Danny spent more time with the other siblings and he couldn't handle it. But just because he puts his hands up in court and says "oh sorry I've been a bad boy" he gets a slap on the wrist. Even when Casey did forgive Kyle, how does he repay him? Steals his girlfriend from right under him. The only reason why Tamara fell for Kyle was because she had amnesia. So I was ecstatic when her feelings for Casey resurfaced when Casey was hospitalised. I loved the way Kyle was completely powerless and watching the inevitable unfold. That's karma for you and it was wonderful how he finally got to experience how Casey felt and got a taste of his own medicine re the woman that he loved. The best part about it was that Casey and Tamara didn't last long anyway so Kyle lost her for nothing - and even sleeping with one of Chris's castoffs didn't help. Kyle's violent tendencies resurfaced after Andy got into strife with Sean. After unsuccessfully trying to pay Sean off, Kyle seriously assaulted him causing internal bleeding. There's an argument as to whether the character deserved (and it does not take away from the fact that Kyle chose to do it) but as a result he puts Irene, Chris and Spencer in serious jeopardy. They were all actually very lucky to get out of that situation unscathed when Sean held them hostage. The problem I have with Kyle is that he won't change or should I say can't change. When things are going well for him he's OK but often a real test for a person is how they react when things are going badly and how they deal with the situation but that is when Kyle is at his most dangerous. He's usually like this when things aren't going his way. So we have girlfriend #2 the annoying self-righteous Phoebe. Ironically Kyle didn't even want her at first as he was so fixated on girlfriend #1. Although that didn't stop him from trying to kiss her when he realised what he did to Sean. She was right to follow her initial instincts and reject him but that didn't stop her persisting in trying to 'save' him from the Braxtons. Obviously failing to realise that Kyle was like that before he had even met them. She was even visibly shaken once he told her about Casey but she still tried to get him away from them anyway and then completely changed her mind. It's funny after looking into Kyle's history the lengths Phoebe's dad went to to protect his daughter from him. And whilst I don't agree with what he did, Mark I guess was essentially right about him. Although I'm not complaining that Kyle was hospitalised. Kyle has shown with his relationship with Phoebe he has veered from controlling, demanding to just plain delusional. He didn't want her to get back into her music initially and bit her head off then attacked Matt for helping her because he was envious it wasn't him. He tried to entrap her by proposing to her in front of everybody at Angelos and couldn't handle it when she rejected his offer of marriage and didn't want kids with him. After they broke up he slept with Billie and didn't want Phoebe when she wanted to get back with him. Then after she moved on and she and Ash got together he couldn't handle that. So like some child stormed off to the city and ended up in debt because he was gambling. And when he couldn't pay the money that was owed and was hospitalised Ash had to waste a kidney on his sorry, miserable existence. Regardless of whether Ash should have told the truth about Brax the fact of the matter remains someone would have had to waste an organ of theirs on him regardless if Brax had been the one to do it. He even admitted to the illegal gambling and how he's not in prison despite being on a suspended sentence I don't know. When Phoebe was pregnant his demanding attitude annoyed me immensely. I'm not going to lie, I was ecstatic when she lost the baby. Kyle's devastation was absolutely wonderful! I loved how he just couldn't handle the fact that he wasn't going to be a father. He attacked Ash but the best part of that episode was when he smashed the cot up. Words cannot describe how euphoric that scene was. After what he's done it's no more than he deserves! But he hasn't stopped there. Without even bothering to check his facts he goes and commits yet another serious assault just because he was gullible enough to believe some story from someone he had a one night stand with. And even before he found out what she was like he was prepared to cover up a murder for her. People often mention that Kyle has anger management issues but this goes way beyond impulsiveness and losing it. Each time he has attacked someone, it has not be reactionary or the heat of the moment. It has been cold, calculated and premeditated. As I mentioned above he cannot change. All we get is each time this happens he sometimes apologises, hold his hands up, is OK for a bit then commits another act of violence. It's only going to be a matter of time before his next victim is dumped in the outback and that person might not be so lucky. At the rate he's going, it's inevitable that he will end up killing someone....

I've said this before but Emmerdale is an odd one for me. It's probably the soap which has the most characters which I don't like. In fact I would say I actually dislike the vast majority of them so by rights I shouldn't even be watching it. But I still feel compelled to watch it because I find some of the storylines quite entertaining. I know they represent a significant proportion but it really feels for me at times the show revolves around the Dingles. I didn't actually mind the Chas stalker storyline. I did think it was Emma at first but it never occurred to me that it was some form of PTSD after witnessing Robert getting shot. Initially I was actually quite pleased when Chas stabbed Diane as I saw that as an opportunity of getting rid of her once and for all. But ultimately to my dismay ironically she actually ended up doing Diane a favour and saved her from the big C. Admittedly though Diane hasn't been as bad as of late. I go through ups and downs with Aaron. There are periods where I quite like him and like the relationship he has with Paddy but there are times where I really dislike him. Since he and Ross did the robbery just before Christmas and Aaron beat that guy senseless I'm not liking him at the moment. I'm not feeling the abuse storyline at all and don't have any sympathy for Aaron. In fact for me all this storyline has done is given some of the characters an excuse to be unpleasant. Would Cain really have gone through with forcing Gordon to take all those pills thereby killing himself? And now we have Chas wanting to join forces with Robert and frame Gordon. Don't get me wrong I hope he does go down but in their own way some of the other Dingles are just as bad. I was over the moon when Debbie left. I really hope she never comes back although given how rushed her exit was I suspect it's only a temporary thing. That delight quickly turned to dejection upon seeing Charity again. The very prospect of not only knowing she is returning but suspecting that it is probably imminent feels me with dread. I suspect she's going to be just as bad if not worse especially given that she has Emma under her thumb. I kinda liked the idea of Zac and Joanie at first because at times I find Lisa quite annoying but I dunno I don't like the way she appears quite smug sometimes (although it's hard to know whether that's just the actress). However I think their treatment has been quite disgusting - Belle spitting in Joanie's face, Lisa dumping Zac's pigs outside of Dan and Keri's and the whole of the Dingle clan collectively disowning Zac, not even letting him support Aaron through this whole abuse thing. I was surprised the writers decided to do the whole Pete fall for Moira thing but in a way I'm glad as meant him indirectly going to jail which has hopefully brought and end to the whole Pete/Ross feud. I was actually really enjoying some of Emma's manipulation with Noah until Charity got the better of her. I knew that Ashley and Laurel would get back together eventually but I didn't like the fact that Harriet was the one to lose out by giving Ashley Alzheimer's so he basically dumped her because he didn't think she would want to be with him (I do actually think he was probably right). Are Ashley and Laurel really meant to be together? Can't help thinking back to how Laurel treated Ashley after the Sandy abuse storyline. Doug seems quite happy for them now they are engaged but given his resistance previously can't wait to see his reaction when he realises that Laurel hasn't lost the baby and she and Ashley are keeping it I don't like this new version of Gabi. The old one was much more the devil child. I really wasn't happy about Nikhil returning. He's a character that I never really liked and I never found him particularly interesting or felt he had a lot of depth. So I was glad when Jai started to mess his plans to revive the business. I was however absolutely disgusted with Jai for what he did to Tania and how it affected her relationship with Nikhil. Is Jai genuinely sorry? Given how he lost Archie I'm going to say yes purely because of the fact he wants to be a dad to the baby Megan's carrying. I though Nikhil and Leyla were ridiculous even more so when they got engaged. I'm actually glad Nikhil's gone again so hopefully that's the last we've seen of him. Regarding this storyline with Tess, I didn't think it was possible but I've actually ended up really disliking Paddy (despite the fact that I hated Aaron's lake of loyalty once Paddy told him). He's come across as completely selfish and it felt like he was just using Tess for sex, then when she fell for him he just cut her off and discarded her. And now he feels guilty because she died. I also feel it was selfish of him to tell Rhona. He should have just kept quiet and tried to pretend everything was ok. What good could possibly come from telling her? Conversely I think it was good of Rhona not to tell Tess's husband the truth unlike Paddy but I don't agree with her at all pretending everything's ok for the sake of adopting more kids. She must decide whether to forgive Paddy and give their marriage another go or whether it's best to go their separate ways. Can't way to see Marlon's reaction if he finds out. Given how good a father he was being, I actually really felt sorry for Adam when the truth came out about Kirin being Johnny's real father. And I didn't like the way Vanessa was using him for baby sitting duties afterwards. Rakesh did have a lot to answer for but the way Kirin has conducted himself proves he's not mature to be a father anyway. The thing that bothers me about this storyline is obviously Kirin will be caught and will have to pay for what he's done but then you have characters like Ross who brutally assaulted two characters and tried to murder a third, Robert who was responsible for Katie's death but no repercussions for either of them. Even though there's an argument the guy was a womaniser I really didn't like the way Tracey and Carly were blackmailing him for the wine so I was glad him set them up even though it meant repercussions for Eric.