I find it difficult to get into Hollyoaks, Emmerdale, and Corrie because they seem more working-class than EE, Neighbours and H&A, is this the case?

Sorry if I offend anyone.

I think Emmerdale is more middle class

Emmerdale has the Sharmas, Whites, Megan,Frank, Paddy, the Thomases, Vanessa,Eric, Davidand,Rhona who to me would all be middle class. Then a lot for into that vague lower middle class/ upper working class category - the Kings, the Bartons,Marlon, Bob, and the Sugden/Blackstocks

IMO Working and lower class = EastEnders, Home and Away and Hollyoaks
Emmerdale has a mix of two but is more middle class, CS is somewhere in the middle, Doctors and Neighbours is more middle class

I would say Hollyoaks is far more middle class than EE. Most of the characters tend to be quite aspirational, and posh people aren't treated like a novelty. At the moment, one of the most central families - the Nightingales - seem to be of very middle class stock.

I think maybe HO has the working class reputation because of the McQueen family, and Ste, who are probably the most well known characters on the show, but they are usually looked down on by other characters for being quite chavvy.

Really I can't think of any reason why H&A would be thought of as lower/working class.

I'd say Emmerdale has the best mix of characters from every background and that's mainly due to Home Farm. It always tends to bring in an upper class family to work alongside the mainly middle class vilagers. The Dingles and oddities like Kerry bringing a bit of working class culture. Most people in Emmerdale are business owners and mostly own their own home which I think is fairly typical for a village of it's kind, in that location.

We tend to hear them talking about going into Leeds quite often so I'm assuming it's closeby? In real life it would be a fairly affluent community with most people commuting into Leeds or York for work.

I don't think class us necessarily easy to define. It's s not just your job, or the street you live in. It's also your background and your aspirations. So you get people from working class backgrounds who do professional jobs but still see themselves as working class and vice versa, and families where some lead middle class lives and others are more working class. Then you get highly educated people doing traditionally working class jobs

I can in comparison to others I think it's more so, I think the show is more likely to attract young people and working class people. Everything from the beach location, the jobs, aspirations of the majority of characters for every Zac and Morag there are more Morgan types, Martin Ashford, Matt erc

Do working class people still exist, because most people consider themselves middle class due to some kind of misplaced snobbery.

Are you actually serious? EE couldn't be more working class if it tried. ED has more working people, business owners, professionals etc. I thought you were joking when you said Justin Bieber was more talented that Freddie Mercury. Now you suggest that you're can't get into some soaps because they are more working class than EE?? Corrie and EE are much the same I think. EE has Stacy and Martin skint and Corrie has Fiz and Tyrone. They both have the odd business owner and no one seems to be claiming benefits. Just because EE is set in London doesn't make it more middle class than northern soaps. As for soap watchers I'd say I was working class and I watch them. Mr D is privately educated, professional career, fancy car etc. and he doesn't

They definitely do exist in Yorkshire. Most people where I am from are fiercely protective of their working class roots despite working in occupations and living a lifestyle that most might consider to be middle class.

I came from a mining family and my father was working class through and through, but wanted better for his kids. I'd say therefore, I am aspiring working class. There is no doubt where I come from but given my level of education, career path and lifestyle, my children would undoubtedly be considered to be middle class.

problem with EE is that nobody seem to work - I mean, I can't think of anybody returning absolutely knackered and filthy from a day's work - on the busses, down the tube, a building site or whatever. Is Lee's place the first we have seen? They don't even leave the square to go shopping at a big Sainsburys/Tesco - no work, no benefits - yet they can afford the Minute Mark prices and small selection of goods, where do they buy their proper meat ?

Emmerdale very definitely not working class as a whole, although there are working class people on it, unless you're confusing your description of working class with the word Northern as that's the only similarity between those three soaps.


Leeds is about 3 miles away from the real life Emmerdale set on the Harewood Estate and it's 10 miles SE of Otley, which is where they film the Hotten scenes.
Otley is very much a market town with a mix of all financial brackets and, sadly, in recent years has become a desired location for commuters pushing the housing prices up a lot.

Yeah you're right there's no real difference between EE and CS on second thoughts

Yes,it' s similar in Central Scotland. Middle class is practically spat out, when people say it I' m a bit the same as you - my zDad served in the police when it was still considered an upper working class job ( he hated policing the miners' strikes for instance - he said ' you knew it was just guys like you fighting for their jobs'')but my sisters and I have degrees. I' m not working because of health problems just now but one of my sisters lives a very middle class lifestyle - she ' s a professional gardener, she's s married to someone who' s privately educated and has a well paid job, while the other works in the shop at a tourist attraction and earns peanuts. So I,' d say one sister is very middle class ( although she won't t admit to ,it, bless her) a while the other one, myself and our parents fall into that vague upper working class/ lower middle class. My grandparents and their families were in domestic service, police, shops, mines .

I think some people define working class as ' has never had a job'!

Apparently they' ve invented a new social category for the likes of ye and me but I can't t remember what it's s called

Home & Away has always been more working class than Neighbours - you can tell just by the characters' accents.

They sound the same too me

Is Leeds as close to Harewood as that?

I think that it's s quite far from Emmerdale - maybe 30 miles or something. Not local but near enough to travel to relatively easily I think it reality it would be the domain of retired locals and affluent commuters and urban émigrés.

I think Corrie & EastEnders are more working class and Emmerdale/Hollyoaks more middle class.

But all of them are mixed in a way, like you get people in Corrie such as Sally who could be argued as middle class and then the Dingles in emmerdale which are more working class

Yep, the Harewood Estate is basically on the outskirts of Leeds with just a bit of green belt in between. It's 9 miles into Leeds city centre from Harewood House though.

In the TV show I have no idea how far apart they are supposed to be from each other.

The centre of Leeds is about 10 miles from Harewood. I was up at Harewood House a few weeks ago for FriendsFest.

I think fictional Emmerdale is supposedly just north of Otley so about another 5-10 miles from Harewood.

The original farm is half a mile outside of Otley at Lindley but the Woolpack etc were miles away completely in Esholt, so I'm not sure if they've ever identified the whole village as a "real place" if you see what I mean?

Harewood is eight miles away from Otley.

I remember Leyla taking Jacob there on the bus or train, and she seemed to get there relativelyeasily but I' m just guessing. I think they would have loads of commuters, especially when they seem to be close to a motorway, and there's a market town nearby too.

Yeah I think you're right but I remember seeing a documentary where someone said that in the begninning it was implied that the farm was literally at the foot of the Yorkshire Dales National Park, so I'm just making an assumption. Personally it doesn't feel as rural as it once did and could actually be any little village out towards the airport, just on the fringe of Leeds, with Moira's farm being a little further north I guess?