Will we ever see a soap play out a terminal illness storyline in it's entirety ever again?

All for the sake of needless sensationalism and a bit of drama, producers are continually ruining stories that are otherwise very important and every day subject matters which sadly don't have a happy outcome and should be tackled in the appropriate way.

Such topics have always been covered by soaps with the onus being on the viewer getting a clear and true representation of the subject with an honest and true interpretation of the issue being tackled.

Terminal illnesses end in death and without deluging a soap in misery should be reflected in that way. If you're not prepared to run a story in it's entirety with a true beginning, middle and end the don't run it at all.

We've had Steph in Hollyoaks, Hayley in Corrie and now Donna in Emmerdale. All of these stories and characters should have reached a natural end as the writers were spot on but instead were all ruined in cop-out sensationalist storyline twists which render them quite pointless.

Steph choosing to burn to death in a fire is one of the silliest exits ever in a soap.

I agree it was beyond ridiculous.

People die naturally as a result of illness, terminal or otherwise and they should show that instead of cooking up some hair-brained story to avoid tackling the subject head on.

From experience, Corrie was spot on with Hayley's plight and it was dealt with brilliantly up until the silly ending.

Soaps are sending out the wrong message entirely to individuals and are almost encouraging victims to commit suicide instead rather than the face reality as difficult and traumatic as it is.

While it's true a terminal illness is rarely played out in its entirety this isn't something that personally bothers me. The sad truth is a lot of us will have to watch this play out in our own lives, a lot of people can find it saddening, do we really want to see it on screen? I don't necessarily believe its a cop out either, especially when soaps are criticised for being depressing. Script writers are challenged to create twists and turns in story lines and there is an appetite for a faster pace in television these days which doesn't lend itself to a cancer battle that can (in some of my family members cases) unfortunately last for decades let alone years.

And also as a side note Donna's story line wasn't just about the cancer. It was about the desperation of a young mother to ensure her daughter had a financially secure future, something she didn't think she could provide without turning to crime. It was against her character to lie to her family, break the law and fall in love with the local bad boy and that's what made the storyline so interesting for me.

I'm sure we will at some stage

EE Pat

Im glad she went this way, last weeks and days with marlon whimpering at your side, with laurel doing the pity stare, Mona Rhona giging in on the act pretending to care, while paddy loafs in the corner with that furrowed brow, brenda and bob clucking around. no thanks and looks like Donna did'nt want it either.

She was diagnosed one week and dead the next. I know it can happen quickly but it was hardly a fully played out storyline like the others mentioned

I saw her reasons behind it. She wasn't scared of death but she was scared of dying, so wanted to some way be in control of it. I want to say more but it's a sensitive topic and I don't want to upset anyone by going in to detail.

I thought she was very brave.

There were no reasons. It's all well and good to want to be in control of death but wanting to die a slow and painful death by BURNING TO DEATH if she didn't choke to death on the smoke.

It was just too stupid for words. Awful writing and a cheesy final scene.

She wasn't though. The back story showed that she had been diagnosed a very long time ago and had dealt with it alone. It wasn't until she knew that she didn't have long left that she came back for April's sake. It wasn't a cancer storyline but a story of a young mother dying of cancer and the torment of leaving her beautiful daughter.

I was talking about Pat in EE

If you look back at the Pat Storyline.

You could see she was having difficultes.

Ste's mum in HO was terminally ill as well and he helped her commit suicide, although she wasn't a main character.

Couldn't agree more!

I don't want Emmerdale but I read about this storyline and from what I can gather I thought it made sense her doing what she did.

Alma in Coronation Street played it up to the end. Beautifully.
Last edited by Lois_Green : 15-08-2014 at 10:39

It was too harrowing for me and I stopped watching until she was gone.

It was obvious that Donna was never going to actually die from her terminal illness - she looked far too healthy to be at deaths door.

I thought her demise last night was very well done and, as other posters have said, I'm glad she went out like that rather than having a death bed scene with Marlon sobbing all over her.

There must be a limit to how much they can make a healthy actor look as if they are in the last stages of a terminal illness.

Too true, the twists may add a big of excitement to the storyline but it steers it off track, it shouldn't really be exciting if that makes sense, it should be powerful and emotional! Because soaps are fiction and not real I think a child terminal illness storyline would be great! Little tommy moon on a EastEnders would work for this storyline and it would give kat and alfie an actual storyline!

Alma Baldwin was the last I can remember, acted beautifully and hard to watch!

Which she put down to a pre existing but not terminal heart condition. She was diagnosed with the terminal illness only 2 episodes before she died so we really didn't see a death from Cancer (including diagnosis, treatment, acceptance by Victim and family, deteoriation, being bed bound for some time) played out over months or even weeks. Yes it can happen that quickly, my aunt was diagnosed with lung cancer on Thursday 24th of July and died on Monday 28th July last year but more often it takes longer and I don't remember that ever veing portrayed on screen. Either it is faily quick due to late diagnosis, or they take proactive measures to hasten their death (suicide or assisted suicide) or they go away so die off screen. The 'best' representation I can remember was Alma Baldwin and that was still pretty quick.

I think the reason though is that it is just too close to home for many viewers and they are scared to reflect the reality of a slow decline and death.

The soaps seem to be backing the right to die issue and rightly so.