Emmerdale viewers have accused the ITV soap of becoming “boring”, “pointless” and “clichéd”.
Many are now saying they’ve had enough, after a string of unpopular storylines – including Joe Tate’s departure and subsequent mystery surrounding his death, Maya’s grooming plot and now the return of Kim Tate.
Read more: Emmerdale fans call out plot hole as Cain discovers Joe is alive
Venting their combined frustration on Digital Spy’s Forum, one soap fan raged: “Emmerdale is in crisis. Pointless, repetitious teenager grooming scenes. Very poor attempts at comedy with new Asian female character behaving as if she’s in panto.
“Bolted on and clichéd racism storyline involving Marlon’s new family. Ridiculous honeytrap business meeting being played out in the pub.
“Really not good and the programme has taken a noticeable dive in quality on this evidence. What on earth has happened? Lame.”
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Another totally agreed, lamenting: “You are so right. The whole soap is spoiled and will it ever get back to how it used to be? Certainly not with a lot of the present characters.”
A third added that they’d stopped watching it, because it had become “boring”.
They wrote: “It’s lost its way somewhat. So yes it’s boring me to bits at the moment, sickening me to the pit of my stomach with the grooming storyline and making me angry as hell with the Billy racism story.
“Not currently actually worth watching.”
One former fan accused the soap of pandering to the awards ceremonies, typing: “Emmerdale only seems to pull things off for the big episodes which get them the awards, while having no plans for the day-to-day episodes. Characters are inconsistent. It’s […] pretty shambolic.”
Other armchair critics slammed Marlon’s wife for being “wooden” and “unbelievable as Head Teacher“, while Bear Wolf’s storyline was described as “rubbish”.
Some were frustrated with the soap “constantly changing its mind” about Joe Tate, too, while others said the soap had forgotten it was supposed to be entertaining – and was instead “ticking every box” like racism, terminal illness, the menopause and grooming.
One disgruntled fan even described watching the soap as “a chore rather than a pleasure”, while another insisted it should go back to three episodes.
“The show is complete trash,” seethed one. “There is not one decent story right now. It’s dull and boring.
“We’ve got Gangsta Granny Kim Tate plotting against anyone and everyone for no apparent reason. Heavy-handed social issues with Rhona’s hysterectomy and Billy’s racism, but the stories are being told in a vacuum and have no impact for the characters.
“Then fan favourites like Aaron have been side-lined in favour of newbies like Billy and Ellis.”
ED! has previously reported how viewers have threatened to boycott the show over the “sickening” sex scenes between teacher Maya and schoolboy Jacob.
Kim Tate’s return has also been blasted by fans, who already want her to be killed off!
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