2. Eastenders
BBC One was the first to broadcast the British soap opera, Eastenders on 19 February 1985. It
initially broadcast the very popular soap opera twice a week with each episode lasting two and a
half hours, however, since August 2001 four episodes are screened four times each week with each
episode usually lasting half an hour. Each episode is then repeated on BBC Three at 10.30pm the
same evening with an omnibus edition on at the weekend on BBC One.
Eastenders storylines creates its own society based in the east end of London in the fictional.
3. London Borough of Walford. It represents the day to day life of people from different
professions and backgrounds and creates an idea of a close community by using a lot of the
same mise en scene. For example, “The Queen Vic”, a pub based in the middle of Albert
square where we continually see the characters go. It is a very laid back, and generally
friendly atmosphere, where the residence of the village all know the pub staff and each
other. We see a lot of the characters re visit the pub regularly which shows how this is a small
and close net community. Throughout Eastenders we also continually see the same
café, street market, park and small businesses which creates familiarity with the audience
It is one of the UK's highest-rated programmes. It frequently appears near or at the top of
the week's Broadcasters audience research board ratings, which is a site ranking the most
watched channels and episodes, usually abbreviated to “BARB”. After its launch in 1985 it
only took eight months for Eastenders to be ranked number one and has since remained
among Britain’s top rated TV programmes. It has bought a lot of success to BBC One and won
several awards including: ten National Television Awards for “Most popular serial drama”, six
awards from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (also known as BAFTA) ten
awards for at the British soap awards, and eight TV quick and TV choice Awards for “best
soap”.
4. Hollyoaks
Hollyoaks began in 1995 with a cast of just seven major characters; however it has
now got approximately fifty main characters which make up its cast due to its high
succession rate. It is a teen drama which was first broadcasted on channel 4 and is
now aired on E4 also. The programme is set in a fictional suburb of Chester called
Hollyoaks. Hollyoaks has won 4 of the 6 public voted British Soap Awards they also
won five prizes at the annual ceremony. Hollyoaks is a more modern soap compared
to Coronation Street for example.
Hollyoaks Later was originally named: ‘Late Night Hollyoaks’. It is a British television
spin-off of the Channel 4 television series Hollyoaks and was produced as an
expansion of Hollyoaks when it had improved ratings and an increased audience.
Hollyoaks later is broadcasted on E4, after the watershed every September, since
2008, for five consecutive nights. Because of its later screening it allows for there to
be more sexual content and edgier storylines.
5. Emmerdale
Emmerdale is the 2nd oldest soap opera and classed as one of the ‘top 4’
soap operas. It was initially known as Emmerdale Farm up until 1989. It is
set in the Yorkshire dales in the fictional village once named Beckingdale
until it was changed to Emmerdale in 1994. The programme was created
by Kevin Laffan and broadcasted on the 16th October. Emmerdale used to
have seasonal breaks up until the Christmas of 1988, and was screened
during the day, in an afternoon slot; however, it is now screened all year
round at 7pm on weekdays for half an hour. Emmerdale sets the scene of
a close community village with stereotypical country lifestyles. Characters
are generally presented in farmer looking clothing such as wellington
boots, old checkered shirts and gillets.
6. Waterloo Road
Waterloo road was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 9 March 2006. It
is a gripping UK television drama set in a corrupt comprehensive school in Greenock. It is
important to know that Waterloo Road is not a soap opera however we looked further into
it as we are basing our soap opera around the same themes and following similar codes
and conventions. Waterloo Road is not a soap because it is not broadcast on television 2-3
times a week and also is not shown all year round. It was however, originally set in
Rochdale, which is in England, until recently when it moved to Scotland in 2012. The
programme promotes social realism through exploring the lives of the teachers and the
students and raises social issues which are realistic to our era such as teenage
pregnancy, suicide, affairs, bullying, divorce and abortion. This similarity of the programme
to today’s society makes this programme extremely popular, predominantly with
teenagers as they can relate to the social issues.
Waterloo road is produced by the same creators of ‘Bad Girls’ and ‘Footballers wives’.
7. Waterloo road is produced by the same creators of ‘Bad Girls’ and ‘Footballers wives’.
The creators are known as ‘Shed productions’ and the first series was screen in 2006. In the
first series the school was known as the ‘scrap heap’. It has poor quality teachers as well as
poorly behaved students and creates a rough, undeveloped atmosphere through its use of
mise en scene, with lots of things which we would associate with areas that are high in
crime. For example there is lots of graffiti, lots of young people smoking and doing drugs
and lots of the setting is composed on an estate.
8. Coronation Street
Coronation Street (often called Corrie) is a long-running UK soap opera, first
broadcast on 9th December 1960. It was first broadcast on Granada television.
The programme is all about the lives of the residents that live on Coronation
Street in Weatherfield, a fictional area of Salford. The soap focuses on the
everyday lives of working class people in Manchester. Coronation Street is
broadcast weekly and is on 3-4 times a week which is stereotypical for a soap
opera. The fact that the producers look at everyday life shows that they are
relating to everyday people living in a modern society and over the years you can
see how they have adapted with the times. For example, new characters with
various problems that people of today are going through such as teen pregnancy
and suicide. The soap lasts for half an hour and occasionally has hour long
‘special’ episodes where it comes to the ending of a built up plot.
