What would you like to happen in the Bay in 2012?

[cadyctslover]

I have enjoyed 2011 overall, especially the first 6-7 months before the RB overkill. But for 2012 I would like to see:

• A return to fostering
  
• The RB characters stay, but see more of their development as characters, not just their next violent/near-death encounter
  
• Less/no Elijah, get him away from Leah, and don't bring back Robertson!
  
• Continued focus on Irene, and the return of some of her Family
  
• A more positive year with lighter moments and humour.
  
• Leah have some actual happiness, her and Miles have been so enjoyable to watch up until recently. Maintain the regular interaction with VJ, it's been great recently
  
• Watson become the new head of the police station. I would like to see her on screen more, but not as another regular police officer, so still as a recurring character
  
• More focus on the caravan park and SBH, and have visitors actually stay in the caravans!
  
• An update on Martha/Hugo, with Roo, Alf, Xavier, Gina and John discussing the situation
  
• A love interest for Colleen, such as in a return of Keith? Would also be nice to see Lance return to visit her and Marilyn
  
• Apart from above, no more returns unless it's Donald/Lance. I think we've had enough
  
• More of Marilyn and Irene's friendship. More ditzy moments and happiness for Marilyn
  

• With Miles leaving

  another character who has mental health issues, and how they deal with them.
  

• The theme tune back
  

[Pierced Musie]

Less crime and more character development for the river boys.

A revisit on Charlie and her sexuality (bisexuals do exist!).

And it would be awesome if Sophie came back. Bonus awesome-ness if she brings Blake with her.

Find that balance they found through last year and the beginning of this year. I loved it when older (age) characters formed friendships with the younger lot (I loved the moments when Nicole confided in Alf and asked for his advice).

[H&Alover]

I think the last time I saw a general store in the bay was way, way back when before Dodge burnt it down.

Did you miss a lot of years?

No what makes you ask that?

[Red Ranger 1]

I think the last time I saw a general store in the bay was way, way back when before Dodge burnt it down.

Did you miss a lot of years?

No what makes you ask that?

I think they meant that you seem to have missed the whole of Alf's tenure as shopkeeper, once his defining characteristic.I think the last general store we had was the one destroyed in the 1996 earthquake.

I agree about the crime storylines.Not sure about keeping the Braxtons around.Ironically, at the moment, Heath, who initially seemed the most two-dimensional, has the most potential:He's starting to show hidden depths that it might be worth exploring.Brax needs major personality revision and a narrative cop-out to be able to stay.Casey had potential but they need to give him something other than endless "I do/don't want to go to school, I do/don't want to date Ruby" scenes.

I agree about the fostering angle up to a point but they can't do it overnight and have first week of 2012 Tim and Poppy Fulcher and their foster children take over the caravan park.I'd like them to build up some of the existing characters into believable foster parents:As I alluded to in another thread, I think Sid and Roo seem the best candidates.

Leah should stay away from men:Everyone they pair her with doesn't work out, they even resorted to pairing her with Miles(which I wasn't in favour of)and she's still ended up miserable.I think they should bring in some family for her, a niece or nephew the same age as VJ or slightly older who has to come and live with her, and show a new side of her that way.

I don't think they need a new police officer regular.I think they need to raise Georgina Watson to the same level as Bob Barnett or Terri Gardner, someone who can do the police stuff but has a life outside the work, a background and an involvement in storylines that don't revolve around her work.

I agree it's about time VJ was made a regular.It's getting to the point where there's no children on the show and they need some younger characters.Give VJ or Sasha a peer group rather than just having them with their families, they seem to keep missing opportunities to give VJ friends.(As it is, we might as well place bets on who repeats Year 12 next year:My current most likely list is

April, Casey and possibly Xavier

.)

I'm not against returns per se but if they do bring something back it needs to add to the show and the character, not giving someone a storyline that could have been given to a new character with minimal rewrites.

[Skylover]

I agree about the fostering angle up to a point but they can't do it overnight and have first week of 2012 Tim and Poppy Fulcher and their foster children take over the caravan park.I'd like them to build up some of the existing characters into believable foster parents:As I alluded to in another thread, I think Sid and Roo seem the best candidates.

Major LOL at Tim and Poppy Fulcher!! I agree with what you're saying to a certain extent about building up current characters to become foster parents. I don't necessarily think that the 'fostering' angle needs to be brought back as such, but more that there needs to be a link back to the beginning of the show. I know a lot of people have mentioned it before, but I'd love to see Sophie or Carly come back to live in Summer Bay House. There just doesn't seem to be any structure to SBH anymore, I'd like Alf to move back into his old house where he used to live with Ailsa. I don't think Sid is a strong enough character to play in SBH, neither do I think that they would feasibly go down the fostering route; to me that wouldn't seem in-character.

If they were going to choose a current character to make a foster parent, it would make sense for it to be Marilyn. She's pretty much a link to the beginning. They could find her a love interest and then the pair start fostering. She has that maternal instinct and seeing as she's probably too old to have a child now, maybe that's what she could turn her attention to.

[Red Ranger 1]

I always remember when the creator of Grange Hill got hired to revamp the show and he decided to recreate the original trio of Tucker Jenkins, Alan and Benny with Tucker's nephew Togger Johnson, Andrew and Abel.And gave him a love hate relationship with Tanya Young exactly like the one Tucker had with Trisha Yates.I kid ye not.You could probably write an essay on the "It's just like 1978" attempt.

I get that Sid isn't everyone's cup of tea but the VPH doesn't necessarily need a strong male head: Neither Rhys nor Flynn Mark II were particularly strong characters but they work.I accept foster parenting might be going a bit far but I think moving the Walkers in would help give the place a family feel.I seem to be in the minority at times but Alf feels like he belongs there to me and there's not really anywhere else for him, other than moving into Colleen's mobile home as has been suggested.Both of the homes he shared with Ailsa are long since demolished.

I really don't know what they can do with Marilyn and I suspect the writers don't either;they made a mess of making her part of the Walker family and she seems to be back to standing around the caravan park or the Diner making funny comments.A lot of people probably want her to move back in with Irene but I don't think trying to ape a past dynamic would really work.I think it would be in character for her to try fostering but I'm not really sure she's really foster parent material, she comes across as more of a big sister than a mother figure.

[Jamie!]

I seem to be in the minority at times but Alf feels like he belongs there to me and there's not really anywhere else for him, other than moving into Colleen's mobile home as has been suggested.Both of the homes he shared with Ailsa are long since demolished.

I don't think Alf should be living in Summer Bay House. He only originally moved in to look after Sally after Flynn died. Well, it's now been three years since she left and he's still there. He should move out and live somewhere else, ideally in a new house.

I really don't know what they can do with Marilyn and I suspect the writers don't either;they made a mess of making her part of the Walker family and she seems to be back to standing around the caravan park or the Diner making funny comments.A lot of people probably want her to move back in with Irene but I don't think trying to ape a past dynamic would really work.I think it would be in character for her to try fostering but I'm not really sure she's really foster parent material, she comes across as more of a big sister than a mother figure.

I think Marilyn should definitely move in with Irene. Apart from about two or three scenes, the writers and producers have all but forgotten that Marilyn and Irene had a good friendship during the 90's and bounced off each other well. Marilyn even lived with Irene before she married Donald Fisher. And I don't know about her being a foster parent either. We need to see the ditzy side of her, which we don't really see now.

[j.laur5]

I think Marilyn is becoming like the mother figure of the show. She is at the right age to be a mother to teens.

[Ryan]

You need look no further than the initials of the characters, Red Ranger. Mind you, I have the first four series of Grange Hill from the official DVD's and I have seen the first 15/16 seasons, in the past 3-4 years, and I did enjoy them, though I guess my age gives them a slight time capsule quality.

I think now VJ will reach his teens reasonably soon (don't quite know what he's been SORAS-ed to), but I think he would be the ideal candidate to build the teen group around and an actual group of friends, the sort of comrades that we used to see. I always feel new additions to the cast a rather hopscotch at the new moment and that the last time it felt like we had a teen group was in 2006-07. I'm not one of those that turns my nose up at kids storylines, written properly teen drama can be as good as any.

[Red Ranger 1]

You need look no further than the initials of the characters, Red Ranger. Mind you, I have the first four series of Grange Hill from the official DVD's and I have seen the first 15/16 seasons, in the past 3-4 years, and I did enjoy them, though I guess my age gives them a slight time capsule quality.

Yes, I've got those DVDs as well.Where on earth did you see them recently?I saw most of the '80s stuff when they used to repeat them Sunday mornings and I kept watching right up until about Season 29, when they messed around with it and only showed it on the CBBC Channel.It's one of my biggest regrets that I didn't see the last two series, especially since the penultimate one sounds pretty good.(The last series went a bit weird and ended up with Phil Redmond threatening to quit if they didn't change it back and having his bluff called.)

On Alf living at the caravan park...I get that the original reason for him living there is gone but I think there's always been a good enough reason for him to stay on:Ric was living there and by the time he'd gone Alf had struck up a good relationship with Miles and now you've got Roo living there with him.With Martha and Morag having lived there as well, I do consider him part of the extended family for that house.