2000 Episode Discussion

[Liz]

A female Hannibal Lecter is a pretty good description. Let's get her a mask and have done with it. Ailsa was always a strong woman, but Nancy Hayes just seems so... hard-faced? That might not be the best adjective, but I just don't feel any warmth from her. No wonder Shauna leaves the room whenever she walks in.

[Pierced Musie]

I think if they had ever needed to recast Celia ( shocking thought) then Nancy would have been a great choice but I will never understand why they used her as fake!Ailsa.

[Dan F]

I also find Ailsa's really formal "Hello Shauna" everytime she sees her, even when it's five minutes after the last time she saw her really hilarious, especially as she basically ignores everyone else in the room, other than the "Welcome home Pippa, we've missed you."

I think I may have said this before, but the way Nnacy Hayes says "Hello, Shauna" is like nails on a blackboard.

And as for her 'Hello Shauna'... it was like watching a female version of Hannibal Lector !

All these years I thought I was the only one who found the "Hello Shauna" lines cringeworthy!

Something notable about these eps at the moment is that Kim Cooper was on crutches, and it's quite obvious when you look out for it in her scenes (sitting down, standing still, unsteady on her feet when turning around to talk to Hayley in the gazebo etc.)

Given that the show tried to hide the fact by not showing them in shot, I'm presuming it wasn't part of a storyline (can't think of a reason why Gypsy would be on crutches).

Ah the continuity glitch with Floss and Nev's van is all the more painfully obvious after rewatching the early years...and they did so well with everything else in these eps The mention of Floss going to stay with her grandson is a nice touch though.

[Light of the Bay]

Lovely couple of episodes today - really enjoyed them.

Sadly I haven't yet got my DVD recorder fully up and running and my SKY+ box has been playing up meaning I couldn't record the first episode shown today but I did manage to record just less than half of the second episode.

Luckily an engineer is coming out tomorrow to correct what the problem is and I can record as of tomorrow.

[c120701]

Oh, whoever said about Irene being at the end of the titles, I completely forgot about all the oldies being at the end too, with Ken & Edward being the exceptions. It seemed odd seeing Alf & Ailsa away from Duncan & Mitch, even though I'd have paid no attention if it was in the older style titles.

Any ideas why they played the tune normally played as the bride & groom leave as Sally walked up the ailse?

I love Alf's "Which part of no don't you understand sport, the n or the o?" - I miss that side of Alf, it rarely comes out now.

Kate Ritchie really does the "Why does everything bad happen to me" face really well. I suppose she'd had 12 years to perfect it at that point.

[Red Ranger 1]

Voices change. It'd be unrealistic to expect Daniel Amalm to sound the same as he did 15-17 at 21.

I'm 33 and if you listen to old cassette recordings of me at 15-17 I sound pretty much exactly the same.

Hayley!(Looking incredibly young.)Ken!Irene, 2000 version!Harry!Duncan!Can always rely on a wedding to show the characters who haven't appeared for a week hanging around in the background.And more doomladen dialogue as Hayley talks about Ken and Irene being the next to marry and we all go "Oh no..."I think Ken, Edward et al must have been added to the credits after the original order was sorted, hence their odd positioning.(When these were last on we had five of the cast still in the current show and the next one appeared in 2004.Now we're down to three and, discounting Marilyn's brief return, the next one's in 2009.)

It's a shame we've been parachuted into the middle of this storyline, meaning there's no build-up to Kieran getting his comeuppance, no background to Hayley and Gypsy's reconciliation and we don't notice Colleen doing a complete turnaround after weeks of blaming Gypsy for everything.(The show being taken off in the UK meant I spent a year hating Kieran and Colleen...)Still, it's hard not to cheer Gypsy and Hayley when they get up and out Kieran at the wedding.Continuing to love everything around both Gypsy and Sally, both of whom seemed to be put through the grinder for months upon end around this point.I'm so glad Sally didn't stay angry with her for long and that thank you at the end laid the foundation for their forthcoming friendship.

Never liked Steven and Frank going after Kieran like macho thugs and the fact no-one's that bothered about it apart from Sally and most of them are pretty much cheering them on makes uncomfortable viewing.I'm still in two minds about kicking off with these episodes:They're wonderfully nostalgic for the long-term fans but imagine being a new viewer from 2013, turning that on and finding them all talking in what's virtually a foreign language, then all the new characters you've just met disappear both literally and metaphorically.Still, everything from Sally and Lance's chat on is a delight:I've been misquoting his bon mot for years, what was it, "Everything's all right in the end"?Alison Patterson gets a happy ending eleven years after she left the show:Makes a nice change from the other way round.Suddenly realised near the end that Ben is the name of both Carly's husband and Floss' grandson which is probably why the latter didn't get a namecheck.And that moment between Pippa and Frank, her first foster child, on the stairs finally brought a tear to my eye:"All the rest was a bonus."

And I don't actually mind Nancye Hayes...

[c120701]

Another couple of odd moments, Pippa not having realised the Patterson connection, but I'm sure there was mention when Vinnie first arrived and Pippa was there then.

Also, Sally showing no recognition to Ben on the phone, I'd have thought she'd ring Carly a lot so would still know what he sounds like.

[Pierced Musie]

Never liked Steven and Frank going after Kieran like macho thugs and the fact no-one's that bothered about it apart from Sally and most of them are pretty much cheering them on makes uncomfortable viewing

I've always loved that scene.

I am so bad .

Something notable about these eps at the moment is that Kim Cooper was on crutches, and it's quite obvious when you look out for it in her scenes (sitting down, standing still, unsteady on her feet when turning around to talk to Hayley in the gazebo etc.)

Given that the show tried to hide the fact by not showing them in shot, I'm presuming it wasn't part of a storyline (can't think of a reason why Gypsy would be on crutches).

I always wondered why she looked unsteady on her feet in those episodes and spent most of the time sitting down. Thanks for filling in the blanks .

I managed to watch todays episodes and no, they are still not boring to me.

[Liz]

it was like watching a female version of Hannibal Lector !

Hannibal Lecter actually got a mention today!

Today's episodes proved why Gypsy and Vinnie are my top 2 H&A characters respectively. Just great to see.

Stevo's karate was a nice bit of continuity, as was his "Oh, come on, Carly!". How many times have we heard that during the Early Years? In general, I think the returning characters did a great job of reprising their roles as though they never left the show - Craig Thompson was particularly good.

.

[dan]

Ah yeah I remember hearing about Kim being on crutches, I think she said on the channel 5 back to the bay shows that she had a broken ankle at the time and when she stood up to halt the wedding she inadvertently whacked her ankle on the pew in front, so her pained expression wasn't acting it was real pain!