Does Corrie owe part of its enduring success to EastEnders?

2

Comments

  • ForGodsSakeForGodsSake Posts: 16,235
    Forum Member
    ✭✭
    30 million watched EE, including omnibus figures

    http://www.barb.co.uk/facts/since1981?year=1986&view=top10

    aggregated refers to the 2 showings

    Ahhh ....so it wasn't 30 million watching one episode at one time.
    Thanks for clearing that up! ;)
    It's always puzzled me.
  • ghettoBLASTER!ghettoBLASTER! Posts: 5,220
    Forum Member
    Ahhh ....so it wasn't 30 million watching one episode at one time.
    Thanks for clearing that up! ;)
    It's always puzzled me.

    Actually 30 million did watch the second episode. The first episode on Christmas Day got 28 million and the second 30 million. The reason only 30 million is used is because both episodes got classed as one so the higher figure is used instead of both which is where the confusion comes in. Its in several EastEnders books but also in a media manual for Uni Media studies

    The repeat never got 10 million viewers like another poster claimed. Shows at 1pm on a Sunday afternoon have never reached that.

    It's also worth noting that ITV always repeated the previous Corrie episode the afternoon prior to that evenings episode themselves. So Corrie always had repeats as well.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 1,282
    Forum Member
    ✭✭✭
    Sorry, nothing to do with the OP really, but to people mentioning that Corrie is humour based - I don't think I ever found the lines or deliveries funny at all in this soap. With the exception of the late Blanche who delivered great lines, to give credit where it is certainly deserved. I think comedy is down to personal taste and I find many more characters in EE far "funnier" than Corrie, despite its tag of being the most depressing soap on telly ;).
  • ForGodsSakeForGodsSake Posts: 16,235
    Forum Member
    ✭✭
    Neb Adra wrote: »
    Sorry, nothing to do with the OP really, but to people mentioning that Corrie is humour based - I don't think I ever found the lines or deliveries funny at all in this soap. With the exception of the late Blanche who delivered great lines, to give credit where it is certainly deserved. I think comedy is down to personal taste and I find many more characters in EE far "funnier" than Corrie, despite its tag of being the most depressing soap on telly ;).

    I have yet to laugh at anything I have seen on eastenders.
  • The_abbottThe_abbott Posts: 26,930
    Forum Member
    ✭✭✭
    the plane crash changed Emmerdale Farm from a soap about sheep to a show full of young lambs
  • brouhahabrouhaha Posts: 661
    Forum Member
    ✭✭
    I have yet to laugh at anything I have seen on eastenders.

    Not even Letitia Dean's acting?
  • edExedEx Posts: 13,460
    Forum Member
    ✭✭
    I think Brookside was more an influence on Corrie changing than EastEnders was. Brookside completely changed British soap operas in a way that EE then built on.
  • Mike TeeveeMike Teevee Posts: 35,567
    Forum Member
    Actually 30 million did watch the second episode. The first episode on Christmas Day got 28 million and the second 30 million. The reason only 30 million is used is because both episodes got classed as one so the higher figure is used instead of both which is where the confusion comes in. Its in several EastEnders books but also in a media manual for Uni Media studies

    The repeat never got 10 million viewers like another poster claimed. Shows at 1pm on a Sunday afternoon have never reached that.

    It's also worth noting that ITV always repeated the previous Corrie episode the afternoon prior to that evenings episode themselves. So Corrie always had repeats as well.

    I don't remember any Corrie repeats till the late 80's at the weekend

    granted I was a school kid, the stuff I remember on in the afternoons were Son & Daughters, Young Doctors, CITV, Blockbusters and Emmerdale Farm
  • PyramidbreadPyramidbread Posts: 10,440
    Forum Member
    ✭✭
    People forget that when Corrie started it was quite hard hitting - Attempted suicide, homelessness and dozens of other issues, it only started mellowing in the 90's
  • ForGodsSakeForGodsSake Posts: 16,235
    Forum Member
    ✭✭
    People forget that when Corrie started it was quite hard hitting - Attempted suicide, homelessness and dozens of other issues, it only started mellowing in the 90's

    It's mellowed???? :eek:
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 1,282
    Forum Member
    ✭✭✭
    I have yet to laugh at anything I have seen on eastenders.

    Well like I said, it's personal taste in comedy lines ;)
  • ForGodsSakeForGodsSake Posts: 16,235
    Forum Member
    ✭✭
    Neb Adra wrote: »
    Well like I said, it's personal taste in comedy lines ;)

    Of course .I respect that too. :)
  • ForGodsSakeForGodsSake Posts: 16,235
    Forum Member
    ✭✭
    brouhaha wrote: »
    Not even Letitia Dean's acting?

    Thought that was s'posed to be serious. :D
  • edExedEx Posts: 13,460
    Forum Member
    ✭✭
    I have yet to laugh at anything I have seen on eastenders.
    You didn't laugh when Little Mo hit Trevor in the face with the iron? I nearly wet myself :D
  • auldlangsyneauldlangsyne Posts: 865
    Forum Member
    ✭✭
    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! :D


    Lol, if anything it is the other way around, you people are seriously making me laugh, so envious that you will do anything to divert attention away from corrie in its anniversary week, FAIL! :D
  • PyramidbreadPyramidbread Posts: 10,440
    Forum Member
    ✭✭
    It's mellowed???? :eek:

    No, EastEnders (and Brian Park) gave it a kick up the arse xD
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 6
    Forum Member
    What about Neighbours? :D
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 2,293
    Forum Member
    ✭✭✭
    27 million watched Hilda Ogden leave in Xmas 1987

    Also, Ken Barlow married Deirdre Langton on 27 July 1981. The episode was watched by over 24 million viewers – more ITV viewers than the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana two days later. :D
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 2,293
    Forum Member
    ✭✭✭
    I have yet to laugh at anything I have seen on eastenders.
    edEx wrote: »
    You didn't laugh when Little Mo hit Trevor in the face with the iron? I nearly wet myself :D

    So did I. :D:D I cheered too. Then they went and spoiled it by sending her down, after all the abuse she had suffered at his hands. The memor of him shoving her face in that cold lumpy gravy.....:cry::mad:
    I don't remember any Corrie repeats till the late 80's at the weekend

    granted I was a school kid, the stuff I remember on in the afternoons were Son & Daughters, Young Doctors, CITV, Blockbusters and Emmerdale Farm

    :cool: I used to love 'Sons and daughters, and 'A country practice'. Do you remember 'Take the high road'? :D
    Lol, if anything it is the other way around, you people are seriously making me laugh, so envious that you will do anything to divert attention away from corrie in its anniversary week, FAIL! :D

    Fail indeed. Corrie is soooooo brilliant this week 14.6 million viewers Monday, I suspect more for the live ep' tomorrow.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 629
    Forum Member
    ✭✭
    Lol, if anything it is the other way around, you people are seriously making me laugh, so envious that you will do anything to divert attention away from corrie in its anniversary week, FAIL! :D

    Ummm...I'm not sure if I've misunderstood your post (or you've misunderstood mine for that matter :) ), but I am actually a Corrie fan (I am also an EE fan, it is possible to be both you know :) ) so I don't see how you can think I am trying to take attention away from Corrie :confused:

    When I started the post I made the mistake of not including all the other soaps like Emmerdale, Brookside etc, but I only referred to Corrie and EE as I considered them to be the "top two" (but I admit I got that wrong before anybody jumps on me for saying that :D )

    I have been a fan of Corrie for years, since the mid-70s when I was a little girl and allowed to stay up late enough to watch it. I have also watched EE since it started in 1985.

    My original post was (and still is) a genuine question as to whether or not Corrie would have been any different if EE had not come along and shaken things up, that's all :)
  • auldlangsyneauldlangsyne Posts: 865
    Forum Member
    ✭✭
    Ummm...I'm not sure if I've misunderstood your post (or you've misunderstood mine for that matter :) ), but I am actually a Corrie fan (I am also an EE fan, it is possible to be both you know :) ) so I don't see how you can think I am trying to take attention away from Corrie :confused:

    When I started the post I made the mistake of not including all the other soaps like Emmerdale, Brookside etc, but I only referred to Corrie and EE as I considered them to be the "top two" (but I admit I got that wrong before anybody jumps on me for saying that :D )

    I have been a fan of Corrie for years, since the mid-70s when I was a little girl and allowed to stay up late enough to watch it. I have also watched EE since it started in 1985.

    My original post was (and still is) a genuine question as to whether or not Corrie would have been any different if EE had not come along and shaken things up, that's all :)

    If you were a corrie fan then you would not be insinuating that it owes its success to Eastenders right in the middle of the week of its 50th Anniversary week
  • Polly_PerkinsPolly_Perkins Posts: 21,464
    Forum Member
    ✭✭✭
    Interesting discussion.

    My initial thoughts were that perhaps you are right and Corrie did need to shift its thinking and perhaps at times was to complacent.

    But thinking back, thats not actually the case. Corrie was and still is a character based drama and it had some pretty amazing characters and it did have lots of high drama, even in the 60's

    Corrie started to tire when most of its long standing cast started to leave or die, that co-incidently happened shortly before Eastenders hit our screens.

    Sadly I think Eastenders has had the opposite impact on our soaps, where constant high drama is the order of the day. But what Eastenders did do was open the door on more in your face storylines at a faster rate.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 113
    Forum Member
    I think the OP has a point. By eastenders being produced corrie had another soap to compete with in terms of being the 'number one soap' so they probably spurred each other on to do more hard hitting and gritty story lines :)
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 4,910
    Forum Member
    ✭✭✭
    Corrie had been the number one soap in the UK for years and years and clearly the arrival of EastEnders DID threaten Corrie and as a result they began bringing in more dramatic storylines.
  • glowboyglowboy Posts: 9,077
    Forum Member
    Of course Eastenders has had an effect on how Coronation Street has evolved but I think Brookside had more of an effect.

    People forget how influential Brookie was in its first few years. Using real houses, "gritty" storylines, etc.

    Coronation Street changed radically between 1982 and 1985.

    People can argue all they like but CS has a huge 25 year historical advantage that Eastenders can never overtake. It existed through the iconic 60s and 70s decades when EE hadn't even been thought about!
Sign In or Register to comment.