New Year - New Boss - New EastEnders?

When the top post at EastEnders changes, it's always an exciting time because it means big waves are coming.

It was announced in November that Chris Clenshaw, a previous EastEnders storyliner who helped create Stacey's postpartum storyline, and also Peggy Mitchell's final farewell, will join the soap in January 2022 as the new boss.

When bosses arrive in Walford, they always have their own ideas and are determined to make their mark. So what changes are ahead?

Harder Hitting Storylines

Chris had involvement in the knife crime storyline a few years ago, one of the soaps most hard-hitting storylines to date, so it's likely we'll be seeing many more grittier storylines, something many viewers have argued has been missing from the soap for some time.

Faster Turnaround of Storylines

Many of you have expressed your annoyance at the slow-burning storylines which can take months or even years to come to an end.

Thankfully over the last couple of weeks the speed of storylines seems to have picked up a little, but there's more work to be done and we're sure Chris is the man to do it.

Surprise!

Chris Clenshaw worked on EastEnders under one of the soaps' most favourited Executive Producers, Dominic Treadwell-Collins. He brought us the Carter family, Who Killed Lucy? and of course Who Shot Phil? some years before.

Although Chris had an input at the time of Dominic's reign, this time he's at the wheel and can do as he pleases. Viewers should expect to see the return of the edge-of-your-seat cliffhangers.

Where Are They?

Something we're sure will change is the wrapping up of old storylines, or on-going missing characters like Ian Beale and Dot Cotton.

Although Adam Woodyatt decided to take an extended break from the soap, Ian Beale has been forgotten about in the world of Walford. Dot Cotton headed off to Ireland to stay with her grandson, and for some reason gave an enormous amount of money to Sonia Jackson, and that's where the stories seem to stay.

Hopefully Chris will want all of these loose ends tied up.

Including Characters

Despite the odd line here or there, many characters over the last two years have been left out of major storylines.

Many of you are desperate to see Jamie Borthwick's character Jay Brown get his own storylines instead of being a side-part in someone else's.

What characters do you think need more screen time?

A Brand New Set

Many of you have noticed the recent changes to some of the external set, including the update of the Minute Mart, this is all part of the big changes coming to the soap as the external set will be a whopping 20% bigger than the old set, with the houses in Albert Square having rear gardens, something the current set doesn't have.

The new set sees Turpin Road (by the railway bridge) pedestrianised - New filming locations will also create an enormous amount of storytelling unseen on the soap before.

Of course the other point to make is every new boss has their list of their favourite past characters. They will want to see if they can persuade any of these to return and if they would benefit the soap.

If you could have just one past character return to Walford, who would it be?

EastEnders airs weeknights on BBC One.