Being Murdered in Soapland has Become as Generic as Leaving in a Black Cab!

So the big news is that Lucy Beale of EastEnders is soon to meet her maker in the next few months. So while quite shocked that TPTB can be so casual in their slaughter of a young character with a promising future ahead of them - even if the actress currently in the role is less interesting than a stale roll on sale in Ian's cafe - I can't but feel this again is sensational storylining gone mad, which has led to a massive decline in the quality of a hugely powerful media. Because can any soap realistically depict the trauma and pain of a loved one being taken away so suddenly? No I don't think so. And it is this inability to realistically portray the long term psychological impact of such an event which has turned the soaps from powerful contemporary dramas - with something relevant to say - into cartoons. One only has to look at the ridiculous death toll in Hollyoaks to see the truth of this. I remember when Brookside was by far the most realistic soap on TV, yet even that went too far in killing off the children of Max and Suzanna; they couldn't convincingly carry the long term impact of such an event on the characters. And as it turned out, this story was simply a device to shoehorn in a surrogacy storyline so had no long term intention. So I suspect is the killing of Lucy Beale, being seen as a desperate device to revitalise the Beale family who for years have been overshadowed in the interesting stakes by both the Mitchell's and the Brannings, and now the Carters. Yes, in the short term it will all be very dramatic, with a number of suspects in the frame, but no doubt it will soon fall into the usual paint by numbers soap storytelling, and once resolved life will return to normal. As will happen with Tina's death in Coronation Street; within a year both characters will have been forgotten about. Yes, I know soaps are supposed to be entertainment, but they did it so much better in the days before such sensational storylines, which to me smacks of ratings grabbing desperation. It will be interesting to see how the Lucy death is played out, as DTC's comments make it all sound a bit Twin Peaksy. Though if Lucy suddenly has a secret life, judging from all we've seen on screen over the years, this is going to come as big a shock to her as well as us! So long as they don't make Denise a killer; that will really smack of ridiculousness. Characters become killers in soaps these days as frequently as people passing their driving test. Rant over. What do you think?