Who's Bagged the Better Movie Star?
When it comes to new actors and actresses joining soaps, you very rarely get a big screen star coming into British small screen soaps. Recently, both Eastenders and Coronation Street have managed to add to their respective cast lists two actors that have big hits (and utter flops) on their resume. The thing is, the addition of two big cast members doesn't not mean clear sailing ratings or quality wise. They might not fit in, they might not take it seriously and worst of all, they might be misused.
So far I've really enjoyed the new Carter family on Eastenders. The balance within the wider unit has been fantastic with something for everyone in my opinion. Their comedic attributes have been perfectly fine and doesn't overshadow the serious aspects of their family dynamic. Centering the family around the established charatacter of Shirley was a great idea, as the character and actress has the prowess to maintain being the glue that stabilizes the new influx of characters. The stand out character of the new crew is Mick, played by Danny Dyer. Realistically Danny Dyer is the quintessential typecast movie character. The majority of roles he's played, its always Cockney geezer, give or take a certain amount of 'hardness'. This role isn't too different from his previous. So far he's maintained a lighthearted approach both on and off screen but has eluded to a certain mystery behind what we've seen already. Don't get me wrong, he's shown glimpses of 'tough' so far but I get the feeling there's a lot more to come from that angle and we'll see it later this year. What I find strange is his ongoing role as 'agony uncle' he keeps finding himself playing. I'm interested to see if that continues and becomes a key part of the character, if so, I fear it's just the same way Coronation Street use Stella so often these days, constantly involving herself in going arcs (although to be fair to her, less so recently).
Over on Coronation Street, we have Kal played by Jimi Mistri. Much like Danny Dyer, Jimi Mistri finds himself trapped in similar characters. East is East is one of my favourite films so when he came into Coronation Street I was intrigued into how and where he'd fit in. There's a few issues I've had so far since he's appeared. Firstly, I understand the link with Dev however to bring in the rest of his family already and his career investments seems rushed story line wise. A bit more development would've gone perfect as unlike Danny Dyer's character on Eastenders, he doesn't have a character as strong as Shirley to work with. On top of that, the character itself seems very on the fence. I'm not going to judge too much yet but I would like to see a bit more edge of his character. There's a big possibility that the incoming family may be the trigger to real development of the character but only time will tell.
Neither actor has really had too many roles which gained them massive praise so I assumptions can be made that they were brought in for their fans. However, looking at each actor, would their fans truly translate to new viewers. Danny Dyer is popular with a lot of women but so is Eastenders...Jimi Mistri...any female readers would have to tell me. I can't imagine any of Danny Dyer's 'hardman' fans tune into Eastenders each week but Jimi Mistri's fanbase is more broad so there's more a chance they do. Despite that, even if new viewers are gained by each soap, they have to keep them watching with good, quality television, which realistically, neither is showing at the moment.
All in all, I'm favouring Danny Dyer's character at the moment but a lot of that is down to the whole accompanying family and their dynamic. It will be interesting to see how each develops and I'm interested to see how long-term each role turns out to be. What do you think about the two? Do you have a preference? I love reading your comments so please feel free!
See you next time!
