Like Eastenders for example, I'm not a regular viewer but I sometimes dip in and out and notice that they have "Marie" in the Cafe and "Tracey" in the pub for example. I think that having extras like these help to add realism to the show, so was wondering why the ITV soaps don't have these?
In Emmerdale for example, last week when Bob & Brenda were away would have been the perfect time to have an extra helping out Rodney in the cafe, and when Chas was off having her PTSD treatement are we supposed to believe that Charity was running the pub 12 hours a day seven days a week single handed?

60% of Corrie's cast are named extras

True Seriously though, I don't understand why they don't do this.

EE always tries to make out there is a wider world out there.

Money.
They have to be paid a lot more if they speak and have to be credited.

The shruggers are just fine how they are, if they have names and speaking parts then they are not extras.

Soaps on the whole do not have extras that speak or have names, although Corrie do it every now and then in the salon.

If you want a 'proper' answer, then I think it's because there just isn't a place for 'developed extras' in Corrie's massive cast.

However, these type of characters do have their positives. What EastEnders have managed to do with the likes of Tracey, Marie and the market stall holders is free up the main characters to come and go more freely without bringing into question who is running the pub/caff/stall while the landlady/owner goes off to do something else. It also eases pressure on the cast by allowing the landlady/owner to not have to be in every scene set on their premises.

One of Corrie's big problems at the moment is scenes in the Rovers where there is no member of bar staff at all. This is quite a common thing in episodes these days.

This is something Corrie has never done but it would answer a lot of questions when a character is seen in one location when, realistically, they should be at work in the pub/bistro/shop/cafe.

Smaller more close knit communities is probably the reason.

EastEnders is busy. Multiple stalls. A tube station dropping people off. It's a good way of freeing characters up as well.

The only other soap I could see it making sense in is Hollyoaks.

But If that was the problem wouldn't It be the other way round, with Corrie & Emmerdale having workplace extras but Eastenders not being able to afford them?

I agree, as you say in some scenes there isn't any one behind the bar at the Rovers, It just looks unrealistic. The Bistro is another example in Corrie, I don't understand why they can't even have non speaking extras behind the bar or serving in the bistro, to make it more realistic. Sadly though, there is very little that's realistic about Corrie these days.

They did used to have non-speaking extras working in the bistro from time to time, but I don't think they were even ever named. Now that the bistro staff has suddenly been flooded by established characters of Nick, Leanne, Robert, Steph, Andy and Zeedan they don't even need extras ...

What angers me with Corrie is that they are happy to have talented actresses like Claire King and Melanie Hill working as a glorified extras in the corner shop and cafe, rather than spending time to develop them as characters in their own right.

I don't have the first clue about Eastenders.

I was going to say the same thing!

I think the point that Ben was making that because Emmerdale and Corrie are on commercial broadcasters, that theoretically money is less of an issue. Whereas because EastEnders is on the BBC, their budgets will be much tighter and far more harshly scrutinised.

I always wondered what happened to the non speaking extra that worked in the kitchen. The guy who put the garden salad under the heat lamp. I think Nick was too quick to fire him. It just might have turned out to be a popular dish. Who knew.

I agree, I would also add the likes of Sally Ann Matthews, although she has been used a lot more recently and had a big storyline last year. Claire King and Melanie Hill are criminally underused and are both very capable actresses.

ED has the legendary PC Mike Swirling

Yes that was what I was getting at, I probably should have explained it.

Most businesses in Coronation Street only have a few people on staff and I'd rather see actual characters fill those roles. The exceptions are Underworld and Nick's Bistro and they do pad out the numbers with extras in those locations. We don't know who they are but that's the point, they're background players, our attention isn't supposed to be on them. If you start giving them identities and roles you're just drawing attention to the fact that they never speak.

Corrie do tend to give extras names, with Audrey's clients and the man in the Rover's Rita told Gemma about when they were having a drink together being examples, but they don't tend to keep them around enough to make them as memorable as EE do.