About

The EastEnders Sean O' Connor Era refers to a controversial production era of the British BBC soap opera EastEnders where it was run under by executive producer Sean O' Connor.

Under O' Connor, EastEnders gained a considerable amount of criticism from the cast and fans of the show due to the way he ran the show which resulted in a boycott and raised tensions between the cast and O' Connor.

O' Connor was fired due to the situation that the show was in due to his influence. In the aftermath of his axing, RadioTimes wrote an article on how Sean O Connor's time on the show went terribly wrong

Origin

Sean O' Connor replaced Dominic Tredwell-Collins as executive producer of EastEnders in 2016.

During his time on the show, he was responsible for the deaths of Ronnie and Roxy Mitchell, the re-introduction of original character Michelle Fowler, the bus crash, Bex Fowler's bullying storyline, the never completed Project Dagmar storyline, the Albert Square gas explosion and the departure of Jane Beale.

He planned a four-year storyline which would have involved Max Branning (Jake Moon) taking revenge on the residents of Walford due to being wrongfully imprisoned for the murder of Lucy Beale.

Due to his poor handling of the show which saw cast tensions and crew members resigning, he had been fired and replaced by former executive producer John Yorke who was to take on a temporary role for 8 months.

Storylines

The Deaths of Ronnie and Roxy Mitchell

The characters of Ronnie Mitchell (Samantha Womack) and Roxy Mitchell (Rita Simons) were killed off, a decision which was made by Sean O' Connor who said that the characters 'were tiring'.

Fans of the characters had expressed anger towards Sean O' Connor. In response to this, many EastEnders fans had boycotted watching the programme which affected the programmes ratings

The Return of Michelle Fowler

Sean O' Connor was responsible for the return of original character, Michelle Fowler, who had been recasted from Susan Tully to Jenna Russell, hich was slammed by fans and critics.

Project Dagmar storyline

Sean O' Connor planned a four year storyline which would have seen the character of Max Branning (Jake Moon) take revenge on the Walford residents for being wrongfully imprisoned for the murder of Lucy Beale.

The storyline only managed to last less than one year with Max teaming up with the Wilmott-Brown family, a previously established original family on the show. The storyline focused on the family overtaking several businesses such as the Queen Victoria Public House.

Due to his planning of a four-year revenge storyline, Moon, said that he didn't even know how long it would last.

"Bingate"

Bingate was a term used by EastEnders fans during 2017 and 2018 where the writing team for the programme focused too much on bins, bin collections and bin overflows. Many Twitter users criticized then executive producer Sean O' Connor who had focused too much on issues that made the program "boring" and "dull." Bingate became subject to various memes on Twitter and YouTube during 2017 and 2018.

Reactions

The Deaths of Ronnie and Roxy Mitchell

Reactions

After the episode had aired, many EastEnders fans, cast and crew members expressed outrage at their deaths and attacked the executive producer Sean O' Connor for killing them off. Samantha Womack had tweeted her sadness after the episode had ended and many fans of Ronnie and Roxy had boycotted future EastEnders episodes which affected the viewing figures of the show.

Twitter accounts and petitions were created to campaign for Ronnie and Roxy to return to the show, with fans saying that they wouldn't care if it 'had defied' the meaning of death, they just wanted them to come back and they called on the showrunner to get axed due to it.^[2][8]

Twitter account @RonMitchellEE, a roleplay account parodying Ronnie Mitchell had pretended that Ronnie and Roxy faked their deaths and moved to Ibiza. Media outlets such as the Daily Star, the Daily Express and the Sun had reacted to the parody account shortly after.^[3]

In February 2019, whilst appearing on Loose Women, Samantha Womack and Rita Simons had expressed their desire to return to the soap as 'ghosts' and teased a spin-off.

Criticism from cast and crew members

Samantha Womack and Rita Simons

Womack and Simons had attacked Sean O' Connor for killing the characters off as they expressed their desire to return to the soap in the future. Due to this, they both boycotted the show and they revealed that they don't watch the show anymore due to the deaths of their characters.^[4]

Womack revealed that she challenged the producers after she found out they were axing her from the show ^[5]

Rita Simons said that their deaths were a 'kick in the bollocks' and had said that she expected to leave with the door opening to a potential return in the future.^[6]

Barbara Windsor

Barbara Windsor, who portrayed Peggy Mitchell on the soap had blasted Sean O' Connor for axing off the characters. She had revealed that it wasn't Samantha or Rita's choice to leave, but O'Connor's choice and that the axing of two legendary characters was wrong and that he had made a huge mistake.

Danny Dyer

Danny Dyer, who portrays Mick Carter had praised Samantha Womack and Rita Simon's roles as Ronnie and Roxy however he was upset at the fact that they were leaving the soap and criticised O'Connor of his decision to do so.

Dominic Tredwell-Collins

Dominic Tredwell-Collins, who was responsible for the creation of Ronnie and Roxy, was very disappointed in O' Connor's axing of the characters.

Steve McFadden

Due to Sean O' Connor's decision on axing the characters, there were tension among him and other cast members, notably Steve McFadden who apparently left the show due to tension between himself and O' Connor but the producers had denied such thing.

Ross Kemp

Ross Kemp, who portrayed Grant Mitchell on the soap, slammed Sean O' Connor for 'exhausting the cast' and described his handling of the show as 'a complete mess'.

Axing

On 24th June 2017, it was announced that Sean O' Connor was axed due to the direction the show was going in. After it was announced, many EastEnders fans had celebrated.

External References

^[1] Daily Mirror – "Samantha Womack 'to leave' EastEnders in new year:https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/samantha-womack-leaves-eastenders-after-8626683

^[2] CelebsNow – Fans react badly to Mitchell Sisters' deaths and call for showrunner to get axed

^[3] The Sun – Crazy fan theory suggests Ronnie and Roxy are still alive

^[4] The Sun – Womack and Simons reveal they don't watch EastEnders anymore

^[5] Digital Spy – Womack challenged producers over axe

^[6] Digital Spy – Rita Simons reacts to Roxy Mitchell's death

^[7] Daily Mirror – Barbara Windsor blasts EastEnders producer over deaths of Ronnie and Roxy. Daily Mirror – Barbara Windsor blasts EastEnders producer over deaths of Ronnie and Roxy

^[8] Daily Express – Fans blast rubbish Ronnie and Roxy deaths