By Lizzie, Lucy and Zaid

By the 1950s the soap operas became more common and known around
the world.
In 1960, Coronation Street was broadcast on television, originally meant
to have 6 episodes 50 years later is still being broadcasted. It is Britain's
longest running soap opera.
British soap opera has a character of its own, and has influenced soaps in
many countries. Compared to American or Australian soap operas they
face more realistic problems that occur in households since there are
very rarely any natural disasters. These are replaced by train crashes or
car accidents etc.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrN1EOWVK8U
Coronation Street
Eastenders
Hollyoaks
Emmerdale
Doctors
Waterloo Road
The Bill
The Archers
Holby City
Family Affairs

Crossroads
Crown Court
Lots of UK soap operas explore social realism storylines such as family
disagreement, marriage breakdown, or financial problems. For example
Eastenders storylines consists of the domestic and professional lives of
people who live and work in fictional London or Walford.
Most of the shows embrace the location by using typical dialogue i.e.
slang/accents from the set whilst using costume and occupations to help
make the show more relatable to the audience.
Typical storylines of:
Coronation Street= death/murder/fires
Eastenders= abortion/mental illnesses/addictions
Emmerdale= disaster (mine explosion/fire/storms)/rape
Hollyoaks= racism/homosexuality/homeless/bullying
This shows how much the shows differ in storylines depending on the
target audience and where the show is set and location.

Over the years, the stereotypes of the characters and the representation
of them will have changed through clothing, dialect and props. Such as,
in the 1960s there wouldnt be a video game or iPhone used as a prop
compared to modern day.
The most popular and main soap opera in the UK which revolutionised
them is Coronation Street, but has been criticised by its out-dated look
on the working class and the community represented a nostalgic
fantasy However in 1970, started to become more updated about the
social class.
Most of the women were stereotyped as housewives and catering towards
the needs of the working man when the shows started, but now in
modern day women have successful, respected careers and run the
famous pub.
As its set in a working class community, not a lot are shown as educated
or particularly wealthy except a few characters are considered better
than their common neighbours.
Archetypes=a very typical example of a certain person or thing
Stereotypes= what you would see typically of that certain age, gender,
culture etc. In Coronation Street we would consider seeing an older age
group which are working class and less educated than normal.
Realism soaps such as Coronation Street and Eastenders have similar
stereotypical characters. The characters are used to get the audience to
form an opinion on them whether it be good/bad depends on how they
are presented. Soaps have a wide range of age between characters so
that they get a bigger scale of audience to appeal to. An example of a
stereotypical character is the scheming villain such as Tracy Barlow
from Coronation Street.
The storylines will be linked to the characteristics of the personality they
are trying to portray and will link to other families/characters storylines
also to get a sense of community.
In most soap operas, the mise en scene will be through
the props, costumes and setting used, this is to create a
more realistic and homey' feel across to the audience.
All soap operas now will use technology as part of a
storyline such as texting or phone calls, mainly to
appeal to a younger audience and keep up to date with
the latest trends. Hollyoaks, mainly being aimed at
young people tend to use technology much more and
show the audience the text the characters receive.
All the shows have a certain style of decorating for each
house to reflect which characters live there. i.e.
Coronation Street use a lot of red which connotates
traditional/old vibe since its a old show. The furniture
also is very traditional whereas Hollyoaks use more
brighter colours and much more up to date props.

The accents from certain shows are meant to represent
where the characters are from, the theme tune will
also reflect the type of community the show is set.
Coronation Street= throughout the show the theme tune
has kept the same sound of the low trumpet, to keep
the tradition going on making regular viewers know
when the show is on. The sound reflects the slow lives
the characters live.
Emmerdale= this theme tune is more smooth and more
of an upbeat vibe, it also links to the setting of the
countryside.
Hollyoaks= more pop and modern vibe which is very
different to the other soaps, making it stand out more.
This appeals more to their target audience of a younger
generation and links to the young characters they have
on the show.
The most editing that will be shown is at the beginning or the end of the show.
This is because of the theme tune and the logo of the show needed and the
flow of the camera shots.
Hollyoaks uses a lot of editing at the beginning, by using a back drop behind
each characters and they are using props/editing to represent their character
to the younger audience and keep them eager to watch the show and not
distracted. Such as the character Carmel, has black/white and red to represent
her, by using the red this connotates her need for love by using heart cards.
Whereas, Coronation street has kept up with technology, they have kept the
old shots of the rooftop but made it a better quality.
CONVENTIONS-EDITING
Coronation Street=
Channel= 1
st
on Granada Television with the ITV
franchise.
First broadcast = 9
th
December 1960
Target audience= older demographic
Emmerdale=
Channel= ITV
First broadcast= 16
th
October 1972
Target audience= middle class audience
Hollyoaks=
Channel= Channel 4
First broadcast= 23
rd
October 1995
Target audience= young teen audience