There seems to be an increasing trend for too many boring contestants who leave no impact on the show with their less-than-sparkling personalities. Middle-aged housewives and young students with no money and dowdy guys with no personality. Do you think the show would be better if it had more 'characters' on it? I'm not suggesting turning it into some kind of freak show (not saying that any of the following are freaks) but would you like to see more of the likes of Miss Orry, Farmer Clive, Tax Free Harry, Morris, Finn, Bunney, Wrighty, Charles, Slim, Yvi etc and less totally forgettable contestants like Louise, Lance, Carol, Les, Richard and a few others who I have already totally forgotten about?

I was thinking about this earlier....maybe it's just 'cos the show was newer and fresher but I remember there being a real sense of occasion when people like Mad Sarah, Pat M, Lance etc. finally got to play, it really felt like a big event...I can't remember the last time I thought that about a contestant, probably Clive to be honest.

Still people have been saying "there aren't any big characters anymore" since not long after the show began, so this isn't a new complaint and I'm sure in a few months' time people'll be saying that the contestants around at that point aren't as good as the ones there now...

Hell no, I'm sick to the back teeth of them. Well, it is nice to have an occasional one, but when you get one, it makes others try and attention seek, which is annoying.

It's OK to have one or two on the wings, but too many and it becomes all about them, rather than the player in the chair.

I think the balance is about right... what I wish they would stop doing is giving low-key characters such as Brian at the moment long runs...

long runs? What are you talking about? He's only done 20 shows

Anyway, I think it's good to keep 'characters' on the wings, but they're only particularly noticeable because they also have low-key players. If all 22 were characters, you wouldn't particularly be able to appreciate all of them at once.

Anyway, I think there have been plenty of characters recently. But I personally just like those who are reasonably 'normal', but aren't particularly shy - they're more open and for want of a better word 'bubbly'. Melissa for example, and Angela are both good examples of 'normal' people who aren't especially eccentric, but were good on the wings.

Yes, I agree there have been some 'bubbly' characters and that is fine, they don't all have to be Miss Orry's, heaven forbid! But, there have been some really dull contestants recently who leave no lasting impression in their times on the wings or after their games. It would be nice if there were a few more characters we would remember a year or so on, rather than all these dreary frumps who are so instantly forgettable, like Carol, Louise and Lance.

Usually, they get the balance pretty much right. There's normally maybe two or three characters at one time. Now that Charles has gone, they're lacking a really big character. Maybe it's a good thing, that there's no really big character hogging the limelight. It gives quieter characters the chance to come out of their shell a bit.

They usually seem to get the balance right. If everyone was a big character then they wouldn't be able to show them all. Though at the moment there seems to be a lacking of any big characters. Whilst I recognize most of the 22, some more than others, I wouldn't say that there are any really big stand-out characters.

I think it was May 2006 when people started to say how little characters there were compared to the 'old days', which then was the previous March/April, with Marcus, Pat M, Morris, etc.

It's definitely flucuated over time since then. Sometimes there's only one big character and no one else (Lance a few years ago after Giorgio went, Orry for a while before Clive and Hayley started speaking more), sometimes there's lots (the Jan 07 era of Sarah/Julie/Bunney, the Oct 07 era of Little Rich/Mary/Judy) and it has genuinely seemed sometimes that there aren't any standouts at all, like April 07 after Tess went, Jan 08 after Clive went, and, erm, now I think. I have no clue right now who in the 22 is meant to be a character.

I think the worst is when they get really desperate, latch onto one tiny thing a contestant's done and overhype it to kingdom come. Like when Ashleigh yawned in one episode and they spun it into this whole running joke of Ashleigh falling asleep...that just really feels like desperation to me.

No, the show only needs a few at a time. And that balance is usually right.