Which British soap has the biggest international audience?

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  • 80's Gal80's Gal Posts: 12,716
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    'Neighbours' and 'Sons and Daughters' were generally thought of as 'soaps' in Australia.

    Things like 'Cop Shop', 'Skyways', 'A Country Practice', 'Carson's Law' were unusual in that, like soaps, they produced 2 hours a week on videotape in the same format as a soap (most footage shot multi-camera format on studio sets, and 'switched' by a vision mixer). However, each week there was a new main self contained story with guest stars. It was like the self contained episodes of a straight weekly drama, except over two episodes. Mixed with these stories there were ongoing dramas of the regular cast: affairs, pregnancies, engagements, etc. So things like 'A Country Practice' were like a drama series/soap hybrid. 'E Street' (1989-1993) started like a drama, but later changed into more a soap.

    In any event - most of these types of programs (including the straight soaps like 'Prisoner', 'Sons and Daughters') waned in popularity in the early to mid 1980s. 'A Country Practice' was cancelled in the early 1990s due to declining ratings, though it had had a long run, having started in 1981.

    I used to be a regular viewer of sons and daughters and a country practice and going back further, the young doctors, the restless years, number 96 and the box.

    I'm only going by my experience when I say that none of these were classed as soaps - we called them continuing dramas :)
  • GlendarrochGlendarroch Posts: 20,489
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    80's Gal wrote: »
    In Australia, programmes that used to be classed as soaps were the American ones which were televised every day like General Hospital, Days of our Lives and The Young and The Restless.

    A Country Practice / Sons and Daughters were classed as dramas rather than soaps but in the end were overshadowed by the US dramas which took over Australian TV in the late eighties.
    'Neighbours' and 'Sons and Daughters' were generally thought of as 'soaps' in Australia.

    Things like 'Cop Shop', 'Skyways', 'A Country Practice', 'Carson's Law' were unusual in that, like soaps, they produced 2 hours a week on videotape in the same format as a soap (most footage shot multi-camera format on studio sets, and 'switched' by a vision mixer). However, each week there was a new main self contained story with guest stars. It was like the self contained episodes of a straight weekly drama, except over two episodes. Mixed with these stories there were ongoing dramas of the regular cast: affairs, pregnancies, engagements, etc. So things like 'A Country Practice' were like a drama series/soap hybrid. 'E Street' (1989-1993) started like a drama, but later changed into more a soap.

    In any event - most of these types of programs (including the straight soaps like 'Prisoner', 'Sons and Daughters') waned in popularity in the early to mid 1980s. 'A Country Practice' was cancelled in the early 1990s due to declining ratings, though it had had a long run, having started in 1981.

    'A Country Practice' takes me right back to being off school sick, or on holidays and watching daytime t.v.:D Same with 'The Sullivans.'
  • CatmittensCatmittens Posts: 1,507
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    'A Country Practice' takes me right back to being off school sick, or on holidays and watching daytime t.v.:D Same with 'The Sullivans.'

    Haha - same here, Glendarroch! :cool:
  • MelSingletonMelSingleton Posts: 1,894
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    80's Gal wrote: »
    I used to be a regular viewer of sons and daughters and a country practice and going back further, the young doctors, the restless years, number 96 and the box.

    I'm only going by my experience when I say that none of these were classed as soaps - we called them continuing dramas :)

    Pretty sure that at Crawford Productions (producers of 'The Box', 'The Sullivans', 'Cop Shop', 'Skyways', 'Carson's Law') it was mandatory to call their continuing dramas 'drama serials'. I suspect anyone using the term 'soap' there would have been fired on the spot by Hector Crawford.

    TV Week magazine was much looser and I'm pretty sure that by the 1980s they sometimes even referred to comedy-dramas like 'Willing and Abel' as being a "soapie"!
  • ThumbolinaThumbolina Posts: 3,981
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    My daughter and I were in Disneyworld a couple of years ago and while in the queue for a ride we started talking to a Canadian family. In Canada they are, or were then, several months behind the UK in Corrie so they wanted me to tell them everything that was yet to happen for them to watch. As my daughter and I told them what happened to their favourite characters I noticed that many other people of different nationalities were interested in what we said and they too began asking us "what happens to ..."
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 974
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    Over here in Ireland, I think all the soaps share the same preferences that they have in the UK. Corrie being the most popular, then EastEnders, Emmerdale and Hollyoaks.
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