Talk:Kathleen Hutchison

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On 12 July 2007, Zoe Diver, PR manager for Kathleen Hutchison's current employers removed the following text from this article.

But in January 2005, backstage at the BBC Elstree Centre in Borehamwood, where EastEnders is shot, tensions ran high. As she reportedly ordered plots to be binned, shooting was becoming dangerously late and the cast were coming in having learned their lines to find scripts ripped up and new ones in their place. Hutchison apparently ordered the cast and crew to work weekends and until the small hours of the morning, to make sure scenes were shot, and scriptwriters were apparently up in arms over the number of rewrites they were asked to do. In 2005 it was reported that because of these problems, that for the first time in the show 20 years history, it would be forced off air due to lack of scripts, this was later denied by the BBC.

On 26 January 2005 a major crisis meetings took place at BBC Elstree, after cast and crew members complained about their workload and bruising personality clashes on set. In this meeting Kathleen Hutchison - after just four months at the helm of the BBC's highest rating show - was sacked as executive producer of EastEnders. Hutchison left the studios and the BBC without saying goodbye to any cast or crew members. The following day, she said, "I’ve enjoyed my brief time at EastEnders and wish the show the very best." John Yorke, BBC Controller of Continuing Drama Series, took total control of the show himself and became acting Executive Producer for a short period, before appointing Kate Harwood.

John Yorke said, “Kathleen has done a fantastic job of managing EastEnders during this period of change - I am very grateful to her for all her hard work and for leaving the show in such a strong position for us to build on.”

However, when hearing about her departure the cast apparently broke into applause, among cast members said to be delighted at Hutchison's departure were Wendy Richard and Natalie Cassidy. Later, Michael Higgs, whose character Andy Hunter was axed by Hutchison, said, “Kathleen was hated by everyone - cast, crew and schedulers alike, it was quite something.”

Whilst the contention that Kathleen was sacked may be disputable, the context in which she left the show is information which properly illuminates her period at the helm of EastEnders. I consider it improper that a PR manager should seek to sanitise content in this way. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 132.185.144.124 (talk) 16:56, 2 November 2007 (UTC)