EASTENDERS are blowing up the Queen Vic - again - as they've clearly ran out of ideas ahead of their 40th anniversary.
Soaps are often accused by fans - and critics - of recycling storylines every couple of years.
It can be at times warranted, but sometimes unavoidable as writers attempt to hold a mirror up to society and draw awareness on important issues affecting communities.
This year in Coronation Street, Bethany Platt left her family worried for her life as she awoke in a foreign hospital to learn she would have a stoma bag for the rest of her life, having had botched liposuction.
A similar storyline will no doubt rear its head again as there'll be many more Bethany's with body dysmorphia in years to come, such is the world we live in.
However, there's no excuse for EastEnders execs to blow up The Queen Vic pub yet again.
Granted, the last time the place was ablaze was 14 years ago as Phil Mitchell threw that faithful match on the ground in front of his devastated mother Peggy.
It was event television and had fans gripped as the Beeb perfectly aired the late Dame Barbara Windsor's final scenes - at that point anyway - as she bowed out after years in the role.
The storyline made perfect sense for fans and did justice on Peggy's decision to quit Walford; the pub was her everything and now it was destroyed.
Can the foundations of the Walford institution really take another battering? I'd love to know how much current landlords Elaine Peacock and George Knight fork out on insuring the place each month.
Earlier this month, The Sun reported how EastEnders will screen a huge explosion in the boozer that will 'tear the Vic apart'.
Located smack-bang in the centre of Albert Square, the Queen Vic is the epicentre of drama, from furious bust-ups to scandalous romps and has housed the most iconic Walford matriarchs.
Fiery alcoholic Angie Watts and her husband Den once resided there, as did Peggy Mitchell obviously, Sharon Watts, Kat Slater, Pat Butcher - and not to mention Chrissie Watts after she bumped off her hubby Den and took control.
It's synonymous with EastEnders and such an easy target for lazy script writing and story ideas. Could we not blow the Minute Mart up? Surely it would make sense to explain the decision to revert it back to that God-awful green colour.
When a whopping £87million has been spent with taxpayers' money to fund the shiny new EastEnders set and compound at Elstree, having ran £27m over budget and was delivered four years late - maybe let's not destroy it?
Alex Doyle
We know the pub will always be a part of The Square and won't become eye-watering expensive shoebox flats, so what's the point of blowing it only for viewers to know it will eventually reopen again?
The last year alone has showed us soaps don't need big storylines to engage their fans and keep them tuning in. This time last year we were gearing up for the highly-anticipated reveal of who the dead body was on the floor of The Vic on Christmas Day.
Outgoing executive producer Chris Clenshaw left fans' jaws dropped, aghast as the credits rolled, reeling having watched Linda Carter kill Keanu Taylor in defence of her best mate Sharon.
The scenes easily sit on the highly-esteemed pedestal of best ever Christmas Day moments, nearby to 2007 when Tanya and Bradley Branning - as well as the wider family - learned their respective partners were having an affair.
In the last year we've lost BBC medical drama Doctors due to the rising costs in the production sector and they don't show signs of reducing, with Casualty already slashing its episode number in a bid to stay on air.
Earlier this year Beeb bosses announced they were drawing up plans to sell off the land that currently houses EastEnders to raise funds.
When a whopping £87million has been spent with taxpayers' money to fund the shiny new EastEnders set and compound at Elstree, having ran £27m over budget and was delivered four years late - maybe let's not destroy it?
MICHELLE Collins has seen her second EastEnders stint boost her bank balance. Yet what stars have quit this year?
The Sun exclusively reported how Michelle, 62, was down to £20,000 in her company accounts when she agreed to a shock back-from-the-dead return to Albert Square last year.
Her character, Cindy Beale, was presumed dead off-camera in 1998.
Yet what about the 2024 exits?
Earlier this summer, loyal soap fans appeared to note how Stevie Mitchell had "quit" the long-running series.
It came after Alan Ford enjoyed just six-months on-screen.
Bobby Beale actor Clay Milner Russell also left this year after five years in Walford.
Fans also feared Martin Fowler actor James Bye would "quit out of boredom" over recent storylines.
Additionally, a host of stars have quit the BBC soap for Hollywood fame.
One of the most successful stars to come from the BBC One soap is Rob Kazinsky.
He played Stacey Slater’s brother Sean Slater from 2006 to 2009, he has starred in Hollywood blockbusters Pacific Rim and Captain Marvel.
Ben Hardy, who quit EastEnders as Bobby Beale almost a decade ago, went on to break Hollywood the following year, when he starred as Archangel in X-Men: Apocalypse.
Since then, he has played Roger Taylor in Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, and he starred in Michael Bay’s Netflix movie 6 Underground.
Michelle Ryan played Zoe Slater until 2005.
She starred as the lead in short-lived American series Bionic Woman from 2007 to 2008.
