What is it that makes EastEnders writers so glum?
Even when something funny happens, it’s not long before someone with a long face walks into shot and spits out some miserable negative comment that puts a right downer on things.
And fans of the show are struggling with Denise Fox’s latest storyline which has seen her jobless, penniless and starving.
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In spite of the fact she still manages to scrub up well by applying some pretty nifty make up, she has been moping round the square like a dark cloud, with the camera tilted to one side on her.
In last night’s ep, the unemployed student dragged herself down to the job centre to sign on, but fans of the show were fast to criticise the scene that unfolded.
Armchair critics were spinning at home when they spotted what they felt were errors that rendered the scenario “unrealistic”.
Other fans also thought the way the scene was written gave viewers a “bad representation” and thought people watching it might be “put off” from seeking the desperate help they needed.
When Denise arrived at the job centre, she was forced to join a lengthy queue where she was taken under the wing of an elderly Eastern European lady who showed her the ropes.
While some moaned that they had never encountered a friendly person in London, others pointed out that in job centres there are in fact no queues and that there are a number of agents available to take people’s queries.
A critic moaned: “Such a bad representation of the job centre! You don’t have to queue up and there’s more than one person attending to people # eastenders”.
Another pointed out that it must have been a very friendly job centre as it didn’t have any big burly security men on hand to sort out any potential troublemakers.
Another joshed that this Walford office was unlike many others because no one was swearing to be heard and that those agents working at the job centre were less rude then the ones they had encountered in real life.
When Denise finally got seen, she was told she had to go home and complete her application online.
When she argued that she had been told to come in, the agent informed her she had been told wrong.
When she said “have I just wasted my time” viewers were having kittens at her naivety.
“#eastenders Denise stands in a queue for 20 mins and thinks that’s a waste of time .. wait til she finds out about the GCSE” jabbed one fan.
However others were confused as to why she didn’t understand how the system worked.
“Wondered why Denise was in the job centre and not obtaining dwp via her online diary #universal credit” one questioned, while another added: “I hope #EastEnders will address the fact the Denise won’t get the #UniversalCredit she’s applying for for at least 6 weeks [sic].”
Viewers decided that the poorly realised episode was down to the fact that its writer clearly had never been to a job centre, with one speaking for many: “Whoever wrote tonight’s eastenders has never been to the job centre. #eastenders #bbc #fail”
Another fan added: “Urghh #Eastenders have got this job centre story line so wrong. Might put people off getting help. What’s up with these new producers”.
Meanwhile another fan of the series begged for the old producer to come back: “#Eastenders who on earth does the research. Portraying job centre story line so badly. Come back DominicTreadwellCollins we miss you.”
Sadly this storyline looks like it might go on and on.
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And all we can say is – “Hey Dee, swallow your pride and ask your sister Kim for a loan.”