2. A soap opera is a long-running, never-
ending program of roughly half-an-hour
stints, usually more than once a week,
that follows the lives of many fictional
characters as they battle their own issues,
written to reflect those of real-life,
however events happening in real-life do
not impact on the lives of the characters
(e.g the current recession), unless it is by
coincidence that the writer wants this to
be the case.
3. The main convention in any soap
opera is the verisimilitude reflection of
it to everyday life.
4. This verisimilitude is used so the soap
is believable to the audience and is a
form of escape from their own life -
especially if the characters are in a
difficult situation, when it comforts the
audience into realising their own
problems aren’t that bad - or the
characters’ actions help them to deal
with their own life.
5. Once upon a time, instead of being on
the TV, soap operas were transmitted
on the radio and were called "dramatic
serials".
6. These dramatic serials were sponsored
by various different soap
manufacturers which eventually
influenced the change in title to "soap
operas“; a nickname that stuck.
7. NOW
THEN
The longest running soap opera on
television is Coronation Street with the
show first premiering on the 9th
December 1960. Obviously, the much-
loved soap opera is still being filmed to
this day.
8. However, the longest running soap
opera ever is The Archers. This soap
opera was first broadcast on the radio
in 1950, as a five-part pilot, and now it
is still on-going on BBC Radio 4 today.
9. Originally, soap operas, like The
Archers, were broadcast in the middle
of the day and aimed at housewives
who could listen whilst doing chores.
10. According to a Digital Spy forum,
Corrie's Fiz is the most popular
character, across the soap operas,
however it does come down to
personal opinion.
11. Coronation Street viewers' favourite
ever character was Jack Duckworth, as
votes top him in a recent Digital Spy
poll (May 2012).
12. One of Eastenders‘ original characters’,
Sharon's, return on August 13th 2012,
prompted recent polls to pronounce
that she was the viewers' favourite
character.
13. Eastenders was the most watched
soap on Tuesday 28th August 2012
when it had 7.3m viewers to watch
Sharon's decision, suggesting this was
also one of the most popular
storylines.
