Musings on recent departures

So, the country is reeling in the aftermath of something truly shocking that has happened this week. No, not Gordon Brown and "that remark", but Lacey Turner and Gillian Wright deciding to announce their intentions to quit the show later in the year.

It’s going to be an interesting few months down Walford way. Until we learn what’s coming, the cast is going to be shrinking in number quite significantly. Except much of what is going is deadwood. Minty, Charlie, Libby, Adam. Can you honestly say that any of those characters have been used properly in recent months, with hand on heart? Charlie floats around like a loose end without his family around him, Minty and Adam were both doomed when the far-superior Josie Lawrence decided to leave at the end of her contract, and so on and so on. In my eyes, they’re not critical departures. More characters will continue to act as visual driftwood when they’re gone - Darren, Mo and so on.

EastEnders is an ensemble piece. It’s no bigger than any one of its characters, and can survive - yes, even when so many characters are going to leave in the coming months. Even Lacey’s departure will be dramatic, cause much wailing and nashing of teeth (if the tweets and posts today are anything to go by), but after a few months she will be gone and forgotten, as we move onto the next characters that will be feted and given all the awards instead.

What’s interesting is what is left behind, and why they’re still there. The biggest question out of recent events is "what on earth is the point of Alfie and Kat returning to Walford?" Kat will only have Big Mo as her family tie, Alfie will have absolutely nothing (apart from a friendship with Ian and Peggy), and of course they have each other. So what’s the plan for Kat and Alfie? Makes no sense to me at the moment.

I feel in my water though that there’s bound to be more to come. If I were Lucas, Denise or even Patrick I’d be worried right now - you look on shaky ground now.