TALKING POINTS | EastEnders, The Comeback, Corrie and The Simpsons
- Elliot Gonzalez
- Jun 29
- 5 min read
Here's what's got me talking this week...
It's that time of the week again when I take a look back at the last 7 days to see what has got me talking the most.
From Julie Bates' EastEnders return to a major death confirmed in The Simpsons and more, here are my 4 telly talking points of the week...
1
JULIE BATES
returning to EastEnders
As Nigel's dementia storyline continues, EastEnders this week, confirmed what many had been hoping for... the return of Nigel's wife, Julie Bates! Karen Henthorn last appeared in the show in 1998 when Julie and Nigel moved to Scotland to start a new life together.
She'll be reprising her role as Nigel's wife this summer, 27 years after she was last seen in Albert Square. Her voice was heard on-screen earlier this year when viewers saw Nigel listen to a voicemail message from Julie.
Nigel left Julie last year without explanation and returned to Walford, initially telling friends that they had separated.
Later, Nigel admitted that he didn’t want to become a burden to Julie, so he chose to disappear and deal with his dementia alone. However, Julie is set to discover the truth when she arrives in Albert Square.
EastEnders continues Mondays to Thursdays at 7.30pm on BBC One with first look episodes available from 6am on BBC iPlayer
2
THE COMEBACK
coming back to HBO
This week, 20 years after the first season debuted in 2005, and 10 years after season two, HBO announced that Michael Patrick King and Lisa Kudrow's comedy The Comeback, is... erm... coming back for a third and final season in 2026.
The Comeback follows Valerie Cherish, a former B-list actress, played by Lisa Kudrow, who found fame on a sitcom called I'm It! Since then, she failed to find substantial acting work and fell out of the spotlight for more than a decade.
In season one, we saw Valerie attempt a a career revival by starring in a cheesy sitcom called Room and Bored, while allowing a reality TV crew to document every awkward step of her retreat into Hollywood relevance.
In season two, Valerie re‑teams with the reality crew, only this time it’s to chronicle her role in a more prestigious, darkly comedic dramedy called Seeing Red, which co‑stars Seth Rogen.
Season three will begin production this summer with Lisa Kudrow, Dan Bucatinsky, Laura Silverman, and Damian Young all returning.
The Comeback will air on HBO
3
GARY'S ATTACK
in Coronation Street
This week's Coronation Street centred around the event of Aadi's midsummer party, which saw Brody bring LSD and Lauren accidentally take it. And with Nina and Summer certain they pushed a man to the ground before fleeing the scene, whilst high themselves, But could that person have been Gary Windass?
That's certainly what the end of Friday's episode, in which we saw Gary lying unconscious in a hospital bed, would have us believe. But with Nina unsure as to who she attacked, the fact Maria received a text from 'Gary' to say he's staying at a mate's house, seemingly rules her out.
With his friends and family unaware of this dramatic development, this shocking twist, reveals that Gary, who has seemingly disappeared, is actually in a coma fighting for his life at Weatherfield General.
The mystery began when Gary left town, supposedly to stay with his mother amidst Lou’s manipulative blackmail. However, when he failed to return for Liam’s birthday, Maria became increasingly worried and began desperately searching for him.
Maria's concern escalates when she reports Gary as a missing person to Kit and learns about an unidentified coma patient. Despite Kit's initial assurance that it isn’t Gary, we learn the extent his attacker is taking to cover their tracks by changing his name and fraudulently claiming to be his next of kin.
As Gary remains in critical condition, the investigation into the incident continues. Upcoming episodes will delve deeper into the events that led to his hospitalisation, uncovering secrets and revealing the identity of those involved. And I for one cannot wait to see how this storyline unfolds.
Coronation Street continues Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 8pm on ITV1 with first look episodes available from 7am on ITVX
4
MARGE SIMPSON
being 'killed off' in The Simpsons
The season 36 finale of The Simpsons, titled Estranger Things, aired a month ago, yet it's this week that everyone's been talking about the life-changing events that wer revealed within it.
The episode began with Bart and Lisa falling out of love with Itchy & Scratchy, and as a result, Marge feared that her kids were drifting apart from one another and with her eyes tearing up, told them both "Your father and I won't be around forever. When you're older, you're going to need to lean on each other. Whatever you do, don't drift apart."
We then got a flashforward which showed Lisa as the commissioner of the NBA, whilst Bart is wasting his life on the sofa eating and watching telly and we were told that Marge passed before Homer, "if you can believe it" with a shot of the family at her funeral.
We then fast-forward 35 years into the future where Lisa Simpson receives a fax (no, seriously) from Bart, asking for the money for Homer's stay at Springfield Retirment Castle, only for Lisa to discvoer that Bart had been lying and Homer hadn't lived there for three years, using the money to throw parties instead.
As Lisa heads into the loft of her old family home, she comes across an envelope marked 'To Be Opened After I Pass (On)' inside which was a DVD marked 'Marge Simpson Emotional Will". Sitting down to watch it, Lisa saw her late mother reiterate the conversation she had with her and her brother about not drifting apart, and having drifted apart, Bart and Lisa come together to rescue Homer from ending up in Florida and make their late mother's wish come true.
The episode ended as it began, with Bart and Lisa together again, now as adults, sat on the floor watching Itchy & Scratchy as Marge looked down from heaven, pleased that her kids were close again. And then came the biggest spoiler of all... Marge had remarried in heaven! But I won't spoil who she married.
I'll admit, I haven't watched The Simpsons in many many years, but watching Estranger Things, did feel like the perfect re-introduction and strangely nostalgic as I got to see where all the characters I grew up watching ended up.
Despite this episode feeling like the perfect finale, there is a 37th season on the way later this year and it's already been greenlit until at least season 40. And it's just as well, because although we know that Marge eventually dies before Homer, we don't know when or how.
The Simpsons is available to watch on Disney+
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