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Does Corrie owe part of its enduring success to EastEnders?
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OK, so I'm not trying to start a war on which soap is best and I'm not having a go at either soap as I like both of them, but this is a genuine question.
Watching the 50 best moments of Corrie last night, it struck me that although Corrie did have its moments in tragedies etc during the 60s and 70s, for the most part it did just trundle along with not a lot happening. I know that when it first started in 1960 it was groundbreaking, but by the time EE started in 1985, Corrie was well established and had been the number 1 soap for years and people probably watched it out of habit more than anything else.
At the time EE started, Corrie's only competition in the soaps (as far as I can recall) was Emmerdale (which was still called Emmerdale Farm then and was probably as mundane as Corrie was), Brookside which was a completely different soap anyway and had a completely different audience and Crossroads (which doesn't really count imo). This was also in the days before the Australian soaps like Neighbours and Home and Away came along as well.
My point is that when EE started and became a success, it obviously threatened Corrie (I still remember it being headline news when EE became no 1 in the ratings, knocking Corrie off the top spot for the first time in years) and they had to buck their ideas up a bit and bring in more exciting storylines.
Up until then, people stayed married and didn't have affairs, you didn't have love triangles, tragic deaths, babies weren't born where you didn't know who the father was etc. Yet by the time EE had been on our screens for a year, there had been a fire at the Rovers and Gail had had an affair resulting in a pregnancy where she didn't know whether the father was Brian or Ian Latimer.
I'm not saying that these storylines might not have occurred, but I do think that if EE hadn't come along, Corrie might have just carried along as it was and whilst I don't think for one moment that Corrie wouldn't be here today if EE hadn't started, I do think it would have been a different show.
I know somebody is probably going to shoot me down now and say that plenty of exciting things happened in Corrie before EE started, but this is just a general observation and you could say that the same applied to Emmerdale which has obviously changed its image a lot over the years as well.
Thanks for reading this - I didn't mean to go on for so long, but I am genuinely interested to know if people can see what I mean or whether they think I am talking complete nonsense!
Watching the 50 best moments of Corrie last night, it struck me that although Corrie did have its moments in tragedies etc during the 60s and 70s, for the most part it did just trundle along with not a lot happening. I know that when it first started in 1960 it was groundbreaking, but by the time EE started in 1985, Corrie was well established and had been the number 1 soap for years and people probably watched it out of habit more than anything else.
At the time EE started, Corrie's only competition in the soaps (as far as I can recall) was Emmerdale (which was still called Emmerdale Farm then and was probably as mundane as Corrie was), Brookside which was a completely different soap anyway and had a completely different audience and Crossroads (which doesn't really count imo). This was also in the days before the Australian soaps like Neighbours and Home and Away came along as well.
My point is that when EE started and became a success, it obviously threatened Corrie (I still remember it being headline news when EE became no 1 in the ratings, knocking Corrie off the top spot for the first time in years) and they had to buck their ideas up a bit and bring in more exciting storylines.
Up until then, people stayed married and didn't have affairs, you didn't have love triangles, tragic deaths, babies weren't born where you didn't know who the father was etc. Yet by the time EE had been on our screens for a year, there had been a fire at the Rovers and Gail had had an affair resulting in a pregnancy where she didn't know whether the father was Brian or Ian Latimer.
I'm not saying that these storylines might not have occurred, but I do think that if EE hadn't come along, Corrie might have just carried along as it was and whilst I don't think for one moment that Corrie wouldn't be here today if EE hadn't started, I do think it would have been a different show.
I know somebody is probably going to shoot me down now and say that plenty of exciting things happened in Corrie before EE started, but this is just a general observation and you could say that the same applied to Emmerdale which has obviously changed its image a lot over the years as well.
Thanks for reading this - I didn't mean to go on for so long, but I am genuinely interested to know if people can see what I mean or whether they think I am talking complete nonsense!
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there were stunts and dramatic scenes, it's just that in 60's, 70's and early 80's boundaries were different
also you seemed to have forgotten that Crossroads existed or that Brookside was revolutionary soap of the 80's (2 and a bit years before EE started)
Ken/Deirdre/Mike is still one of the biggest soap opera plots, so people were having affairs before EE started
Forrest Gump: And that's all I have to say about that
How can you ignore Emmerdale, Crossroads and Brookside just to suit your agenda?
Like I said at the beginning of my post, I'm not having a go at any soap and I'm not saying any soap is better than another one, but the point I was trying to make is that until EE came along, Corrie (as well as Emmerdale and Crossroads) were all well established soaps that trundled along in their own little world.
Despite what others have said on here, I did mention Emmerdale, Crossroads and Brookside (although it would be easy to miss mention of them as my original post did go on a bit, sorry
Can't believe I forgot about the Mike/Ken/Deirdre love triangle which was one of the best storylines ever in a soap
You can't have watched EE in some time. There has been a lot of humour in EE in recent months. More than I can ever remember.
27 million watched Hilda Ogden leave in Xmas 1987
I'd argue that the "affairs and shouting" of EastEnders only took hold of Corrie in the late 90s though. I watch early 90s Corrie and don't see the influence of EastEnders at all.
Coronation Street is Humour based whilst Eastenders is tragedy based.
There's Comedy in Eastenders???????????????
I have to admit that I have tried really hard over the years to watch Eastenders and have failed everytime.
I find it to be a bit nasty and aggressive....not what I want to chill out to in an evening.
Not saying that's a bad thing
Now I really did enjoy Corrie what has happened this week. I have no criticisms.
But both Corrie and Easties were both hard hitting dramas right at the beginning. I was only a little girl about seven when Corrie started but believe you me it bears little resembleance to the way it has been since about the eighties.
Easties I loved back in the mid eighties and up to the mid nineties. But both soaps imo have gone off over the years.
I think that's always been debatable. It's pick a number. I remember over the years it has been put down as 26m then 28m then 30m. It just went up everytime it was mentioned.
And it's all based on a guess anyway. Clearly the majority of those few viewers monitored watched it, so they gave it a high rating. No one I ever knew watched it.
The true number would be fascinating to know.
How about EE owing Corrie something? Maybe EE wouldn't be here now in all its angst and depressing glory if it wasn't for the little drama that could, which began 50 years ago tomorrow.
Phil's hilarious drug storyline does not count;)
Well said!
I think EE has more to thank Brookside for than Corrie. Like Channel Four the only way the BBC was allowed at the time to do a soap opera was if it covered social issues in a fashion which would educate viewers. EE hasn't really ever looked back and has in theory always stayed true to itself.
Life must be hard in the South - that's all I can say !
30 million watched EE, including omnibus figures
http://www.barb.co.uk/facts/since1981?year=1986&view=top10
aggregated refers to the 2 showings