EastEnders boss explains approach to show as date of Kate Oates episodes is revealed
(Picture: BBC/Metro.co.uk) EastEnders boss John Yorke was initially only drafted on for three months..
EastEnders boss John Yorke was initially only drafted on for three months as an interim period but has got his teeth well and truly stuck in to the soap for the last two years, where he has rebuilt families and character groups, brought about some returns and dealt with heavy storylines based around knife crime and consent.
Now, as Kate Oates takes the helm, with her episodes commencing from February, he has been reflecting on his last year at Walford and is happy with the progress that has been made and staying true to the original values of EastEnders.
He explained in an interview with Metro.co.uk: Theres been a lot of consolidation – a lot of rebuilding families – and a lot of work has gone into strengthening and deepening the characters. Weve tried to vary the tone a lot too. Its always unfair to pick things out, but if you pushed me on what best illustrated all those things – I think we all feel really proud of Kats return, the knife crime story – particularly working with the families of the real victims.
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In the latter half of the year the reaction to the story around sexual consent has been very rewarding. Its also been great to give Sharon a story once again – and #Sheanu is going to build to something explosive for some time to come. And of course the return of Dr Legg has to be mentioned. At the heart of everything whats been most rewarding is staying true to the founding principles of the show.
And he is optimistic about the future of the soap going into 2019 as he smiled: The big question we asked ourselves in January was – how can we top last year? So thats what weve been building up to – hopefully its pretty unforgettable.
And Christmas promises to be just that. John teased: We have three big, explosive storylines over that period – the Slaters, Mel & Ray and Mick & Linda are all big. Kat and Alfie are two of the biggest characters in the shows history – so its always been a question of how you reinvent them to keep them as fresh and vital as they first were almost twenty years ago. Weve been slowly building to this all year – and it plans to pay off in spectacular fashion.
Around that weve woven the saga of Mick in prison. How can he get out, and what happens when he does, knowing how damaged he is and how much hes been wronged? And we round that all off with Mels discovery that Ray is nothing like he seems. How does a wronged woman take the ultimate revenge – and just who gets hurt most in the process?
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