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Message: <blockquote data-quote="James from London" data-source="post: 404759" data-attributes="member: 22">Gosh, I remember the exact same point being made, if more critically, on Right to Reply, C4's edgier equivalent to Points of View which used to air immediately after the Brookie omnibus on Saturday afternoons. Before the rape aired, two women complained in the Video Box that exactly a year after a female (not to mention the show's only Black) character had been murdered, yet more female characters (Sheila, Sandra, Sally) were once again the targets of male violence, with the explicit references to Kate's death adding fuel to the fire. Brookside's response, as it usually was on Right to Reply, was, "Keep watching and it'll all become clear."What also helps explain Matty's behaviour for me, as well as Teresa's, is the backdrop of long-term unemployment. That, as much as his feelings for Mo, fuels his desperation to find an escape, if only into a romantic fantasy, which of course turns into anger and hatred towards Sheila once that fantasy is taken away. I thought the actress who played Mo (who reminded me of Julie Walters in one of her less comedic, more flinty-eyed roles) also did a brilliant job of bringing to life what was only hinted at in the script: her own reasons for needing to find love with Matty and then to end the affair once the bubble had burst. In a storyline chockfull of highlights, the final scene between her and Sheila was one of the best -- one of those cases of two enemies unexpectedly reaching an understanding, like in the final scenes between Sheila and Marie, Lou Beale and Pat Butcher, even Sue Ellen and Mandy Winger.Oh interesting!A far more evocative line than the relationship it describes.It's kind of interesting how uninterested Brookside ultimately is in Sally.  I think it's to the writers' credit that they don't make some simplistic attempt to get inside her head. Karen's shrugged-shouldered response when Damon asks what makes tick kind of says it all. Neither she nor the series are in a position to fully explain Sally's choices:  this simply isn't her story. Perhaps one could say that, for better or worse, Mandy Jordache will be Sally Dinsdale Revisited: the same situation told from a different point of view.Oh yes, I hadn't thought of that. I do think it's fascinating that Heather's promotion at work, aka her victory, the goal she's been after since the series began, happens entirely off screen and is treated almost casually. The thing that has defined her character on screen all along -- her ambition, her determination to succeed on her own terms -- is no longer the thing that defines her character on screen. Now the character is defined by a marriage to a man both she, and we, are beginning to realise she doesn't really know. Somehow, somewhere along the line, we've strayed into Alfred Hitchcock territory.Wow ... that is next-level trivia!The way I've heard Jimmy McGovern describe it (and it was his idea, I believe), this was very much a calculated response to "Who got MIchelle pregnant?" on EastEnders. a way to get people talking about the series and to keep Sue Johnston interested in playing the part. If I recall correctly, Cracker also features a rape whodunnit which, again, could easily have been crass and cheap but instead is powerful and devastating.I guess it's like pairing Sheila with Billy, or even Who Shot JR?: you come up with the big idea first, and then work backwards to make it credible and compelling.Yes, I think different moments have leapt out at me each time I've watched this ep. This time, it was Bobby frantically, desperately trying to make sense of what Sheila's just told him.  It's almost unimaginable to know what it's like for the victim, so it's by experiencing it second or third hand, through someone else's eyes, that it starts to hit home. I re-watched the aftermath of Kathy's rape on Enders recently and for some strange reason it was the bewildered response of her brother-in-law Arthur, the third or fourth person to hear the news, that moved me the most.Another parallel with the Enders story: in both cases, there is a clued-up younger woman, Karen on Brookie; Michelle on Enders, on hand while the victim is being interviewed by the police, who is ready to pounce on any hint of a suggestion that she has brought this on herself. It's probably the most "messagey" both storylines get, and both Karen and Michelle make very credible mouthpieces.I'm missing Madge in Harry and Ralph's scenes. (Happily I'm getting my fix of her in Making Out, which I'm watching before it falls off the iPlayer, where she cuts a much more glamorous figure than she does here.) Without her, I'm finding the geriatric Likely Lads a bit tedious.Actually, that was a fun scene.Yes, very strong. It feels a bit wrong to include it in the Soapy Headlines thread, but ultimately my need for completion overrides any sense of taste and decency.I'm fairly certain we knew nothing. In fact, I didn't realise she had been raped, which might just be my own naivety, until the next episode. It didn't occur to me, although I remember my mum was pretty sure that's what had happened.I think Sue Johnston won some obscure industry award at some point for Brookside, but of course this was all pre-soap or telly awards. It was so real, and soaps were so looked down on. you almost didn't think about the acting, which made it all the more powerful. You couldn't go on Twitter straight after and say "Bla Bla deserves a BAFTA", you just had to try and make sense of what you'd just seen in your own head.Speaking of acting, I think possibly the most powerful scene of this bunch of instalments is the one a couple of episodes later where Sheila's in bed and Bobby's trying to question her about Alun Jones, and she ends up turning away from him. It's just so real, so claustrophobic, I almost have to make a mental effort to remind myself to that they're acting.</blockquote>

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