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TV show fan with an idea - but nowhere to go

malmo58

Hello all, h/f man here. I’m a big fan of a couple of the UK soaps. The identity of the one I’m going to talk about here doesn’t matter, so I’ll just call it ‘Acorn Antiques’.

Let’s call my favourite Acorn Antiques character ‘Melissa Grangerford’.

Melissa’s a fun, sassy lady and a warm, kind, caring type. She’s very attractive but perennially unlucky in love. In recent times she’s become a fan favourite, but she gets quite limited air time.

There was a pair of consecutive episodes (Episodes A and B) some weeks ago when Melissa received a significant emotional hurt. Being the fan I am, I felt for her.

Yet in Episode C she was cheerful enough, and in Episode D she was fully back to her usual vivacious self. While that was gratifying to see, I was curious about her recovering so soon.

It’s easy to work out the Doylist reason why Melissa was back to her normal sparkling self so quickly : that is what the fans want from her. After all, there are enough sad and desperate characters in Acorn Antiques already. However, perhaps it’s my Aspergerite mind, but I find a Watsonian explanation much more satisfying.

Over the coming weeks, I worked out a Watsonian theory that, with a couple of ‘missing scenes’, explained how Melissa recovered from the wound so soon. I rewatched the episodes and fine tuned my idea, and it is fully compliant with onscreen events. 

The trouble is that I’ve found no-one to share my thoughts with. None of the friends I’m in regular contact with are Acorn Antiques fans. By the time I had my idea primed, the episodes were 6-7 weeks into the past, so posting about those episodes on the Acorn Reddit or DigitalSpy forum would have been frowned on.

I emailed the people who maintain an Acorn Antiques website and podcast - they really are hardcore fans - asking if I could run my thoughts by them. Although they replied ‘yes, go for it’, when I emailed back setting out my theory they didn’t reply.

The saga hasn’t diminished my enjoyment of Acorn Antiques - I still find it valuable escapism, and still feel joy whenever Melissa appears. It’s just frustrating that, when I put a lot of thought and effort in, my Watsonian idea has to just stay in my personal headcanon.

Acorn is one of the several soaps which have episodes from 10+ years ago airing as ‘Classic’ on one of the Freeview channels. I make the gallows joke to myself ‘I’ll wait until the episodes air on there in 10 years’ time then post my idea on the Classic Acorn thread on DigitalSpy’!

Any support welcome, thank you so much.

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  • in reply to hypercolius

    Here it is…

    What happened onscreen (these scenes were separated by other scenes not set at the party) :

    Episode A

    Melissa Grangerford and her brother Michael are celebrating milestone birthdays (they’re 10 years apart). It’s Melissa’s actual birthday, Michael’s is in 2 weeks, but they’re having a joint party. Melissa’s setting up the venue, the owners tell her where everything is, she says they want it low key.

    Michael’s partner Loretta Lush arrives. She’s not happy with the lack of decorations. Melissa says they want it low key, Loretta says that won’t do. She sends out for decorations and basically takes over the organising. (That’s how Loretta is in the show - she has a talent for unthinkingly creating chaos.)

    Loretta organises everyone to let off party poppers when Michael arrives at the venue. Melissa visibly feels left out.

    Next party scene, a bit later, the guests gather around for the presents. We see 2 presents given, both to Michael. The first one’s from Colin (a close friend of Melissa). The second’s quite a grand one, so Loretta calls for a photo of Michael and Melissa with that present. Loretta includes herself in the photo. When Loretta leans in to get closer to Michael as the photo’s taken, Melissa ends up partly obscured behind Loretta’s voluminous hair.

    At that point one of the guests, Pamela, announces that she’s leaving. Loretta protests that they haven’t done the cake. Melissa says there isn’t a cake as she and Michael weren’t bothered about one. Loretta insists there isn’t an occasion merits a cake, and two lads agree to go out for one. Before they go Loretta calls for a group photo. Michael’s in the middle of the group photo with his showpiece present. Melissa’s in the chorus Disappointed

    Episode B

    The party’s still going on. Melissa’s sitting alone at a table looking forlorn. There’s a gift bag in front of her on the table, and two more at her feet. Colin comes over and asks her what’s up. She’s feeling introspective about where her life is at this milestone age, and she confesses that she’s lonely. Colin tells her that he (platonically) loves her and how fantastic she is. He asks her to dance and she agrees. We cut to the two lads coming back with a cake, which they present to Loretta still in its box.

    Next party scene, Melissa and Colin are still dancing together but the record is different so several minutes have passed. A young lady, Jenna, is just beginning cutting the cake into slices. There’s a pre-existing, wonky cut on the far side of the cake, which Jenna’s first cut doesn’t line up with perfectly. Jenna has a conversation with another guest as she slices.

    Next party scene, the cake is all sliced and ready to serve. One of the guys who collected the cake announces that it’s ready to serve. Melissa, still dancing with Colin, smiles broadly.

    Episode C

    Two days later. There’s a special occasion at Acorn Antiques’ central pub (we’ll call it the Royal Oak). Melissa’s working there and she seems cheerful.

    Episode D

    The following day. Melissa, Loretta and some other ladies, who have lately formed a bit of a friendship circle, gather for another special occasion. Melissa’s fully back to her usual vivacious self.

    *

    That’s the onscreen events. Next post, I’ll share my Watsonian theory.

    Many thanks!

  • in reply to hypercolius

    Many thanks for your interest! I’ll post an outline here over Easter weekend.