Two Emmerdale legends have hit out ‘sensationalist’ storylines and stunts advising bosses to be cautious.
As fans know, Emmerdale has just celebrated its 50th anniversary with some major storylines which have concluded with a number of deaths in the village. John Middleton, who played Ashley Thomas until 2017, has appealed to soap bosses to be ‘very careful’ and not follow the route Channel 4 soap Brookside went down before it was axed.
Speaking to the Soap from The Box podcast, John said: "You have to be very careful, and I think it's the big mistake that Brookside went down, they went for stunt after stunt after stunt.
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"Eventually, your audience is tuning in to watch a stunt, and then that's it, then they go away. You're aiming for a young, but very fickle audience, you've done your stunt and then they go off and what something else.
"What you need is a loyalty to the characters because that's what brings you in and actually develops your understanding of drama and what it's about."
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This echoes the similar thoughts of the soap’s current longest-serving cast member Chris Chittell who plays Eric Pollard.
As our colleagues at The Mirror report, Chris said: "The biggest change is the topic of storylines, they're all sensationalist, which is a shame.
“We have to look at life and be able to reflect it to do our jobs. And life as we see it now, hells bells, you daren't cough, walk in the street because there's a death.
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