"An important feature of soap operas are the open-ended nature of the narrative; each episode ends with a storyline that is going to be continued in another episode"
A soap opera is a radio or television series which shows the intercommoned lives of many different characters in a melodramatic way. The term soap opera has at times generally only been applied to romantic serials, however it is also used to describe more naturalistic UK primetime drama serials such as Coronation Street. Each episode may feature some of the show's current storylines but not always all of them; there is some rotation of both storylines and actors so any given storyline or actor will appear in some but usually not all of a week's worth of episodes. Soap operas rarely "wrap things up" story wise and generally avoid bringing all the current storylines to a conclusion at the same time. When one storyline ends there are always several other story threads at differing stages of development and most episodes generally end as a cliff-hanger.
Soaps are the most popular genres in the United Kingdom as most of them are broadcast during prime time. Most UK soap operas focus on working-class communities; the five most popular soaps are Coronation Street, Eastenders, Hollyoaks, Doctors and Emmerdale. Coronation Street is generally the most watched show on British Television. Whilst UK & Australian soap operas are more realistic and relate to working class/ middle class people, American soaps are always a lot more glamorous. They focus on rich people and are always set in posh areas such as Beverly Hills including fancy car s and beautiful people who seem to have the perfect lives. These aren't always as realistic as British or Australian soaps and the issues and storylines are always more far-fetched.
The typical conventions of a British Soap Opera are;
- A serialised drama which runs every week (usually 5 times a week and omnibus on Sundays) all year round
- It is a serialised drama that usually runs week-in, week-out, all year round
- Continuous storylines are featured which deal with personal and family related themes
- An obvious, well known theme tune!
- Open ended plots with storylines which overflow into many other episodes
- Set around a small central area such as a village (Hollyoaks) or square (Eastenders)
- Most soap’s will always have a special episode around an event which is occurring in the real world for example Christmas, New Years, Easter, Valentines Day etc.
- British soaps always focus around the more common, ordinary working class characters in contrast with American soaps which star rich, upper class characters which perhaps reflect their target audiences
- British soaps always aim for realism and try to cover every-day problems and issues that occur in real life
