Over the years, the characterisation of Ben has been a real mess.
They got rid of Kathy so Phil could have his Mitchell boy all to himself.
Young Lady GaGa Ben was great.
Heather murderer Ben was horrible.
Harry's Ben had the best balance, wanting to please his dad but never really fitting in with the Mitchell’s. And I loved his relationship with Paul and his friendship with Jay.
And then we got Max, an entirely different character, with no physical resemblance to the other versions. People trafficking, violent, self pitying. And he has never clicked with Jay.
Yet for years, he has seemed to be the show’s favourite, getting so many big storylines. Max must have done something to seriously piss off the producers, after all the effort to make him a main character. They even repeated history so that his child’s mum died, plus he has the Ballum fan stuff.
I‘m glad he’s going, and curious how they will write him out (I don’t think they will kill him off).
And whoever the next Ben is, can he please be more a part of the Beale family, that side of the character has always been minimised in favour of Phil.