Page 140 - Soaps News Today

I think eastenders is viewed slightly more on iplayer than the itv shows are with the itv hub, though. well, lets have a look at the creative process. the turnaround time for making soaps is really fast, as i understand it. from commissioning a story to transmission is around 16 weeks for a daily show like eastenders, 20 weeks for a weekly show like casualty. phil, when youre tackling, you know, issues, really sometimes very thorny issues, like sexual assault or drugs, you must know that its goi...

For sir salman rushdie, authors have been gathering in new york to demonstrate their support, a week after he was seriously injured in a knife attack. hundreds of writers gathered at the citys public library to read his works and pay tribute. and now on bbc news, its the media show. hello. in march this year, the bbc gave one of its biggest soaps, holby city, a do not resuscitate order after 23 years. injuly, channel 5 decided we no longer needed good neighbours and the sun went down on ramsay s...

And charles collingwood, whos been farming, flirting and digging into his wifes venison pie for a whopping 47 years as brian in the archers. welcome to you all and thanks for coming on the show. phil, if we start with you, all the big soaps — eastenders, coronation street, emmerdale — have seen huge drops in audience numbers in recent years. youve criticised soaps for not tackling big social issues like they used to. do you think its the end of the road for them? i think in the current clima...

So i think in that case, it shows that the bbc isnt turning its back on continuing drama, its pretty much replacing like—for—like but in a different location... south to north. yes. and in the case of neighbours, again, that was completely different reasons. it was still doing very well. it was one of the top rated shows on channel 5, even though it airs in the daytime — or aired in the daytime. wasnt bringing in enough advertising revenue, right? yes, it was advertising revenue. obviously...

The mitchell family in the earlier years. and they have cast jaime winstone to play peggy mitchell, which i think is a brilliant casting, because she also played barbara windsor in the babs programme that was on a few years ago. so i think thats a very good example of soaps trying to do something different, trying to have an appointment—to—view story that will hopefully bring in some lapsed viewers. 0k, and in ourfinal minutes — seconds, even — i was going to ask a question for you all. ...

Consistent, that care i about those characters, that think about the audience. and i still think theres - something fantastic there, but there is a lot of competition. you know, were going to have to accept that were not - going to see the viewing figures that dan - and angie got again. but that doesnt mean - that they cant have success. yeah. and with autumn coming, which i think is a big time for soaps as they start, you know, sowing the seeds for those christmas storylines, daniel, what can w...

Now its back to putting up shelves," you know, because you have to sort of take those beats, you have to take those pauses with the audience. and if you keep throwing it in, you burn up storylines so fast that, in the end, itjust becomes... itjust becomes wallpaper in the end, you know? now, lets think about being in soaps. lets talk about being in them. charles, you joined the archers in 1975, almost 50 years ago, so i guess youve got the best insight of what its like to be in a soap. i mean, h...

Box set, whatever it might be. so theres so many demands. on your attention, and i think, you know, when soaps do things well, theres nothing better — i when you get really hooked i into one of those storylines, with characters that - youve known for years, decades in some cases. but those storylines have to be strong enough. - they cant just rely on their. brand to get people to watch. yeah, and well come onto those storylines later. charles, i wonder, from the perspective of you in the green...

Highly personalised social media feeds like tiktok. you know, how can the dingles and the barlows compete with that? its really tricky. and interesting... thinking about the case of neighbours, there i are so many people that hadntl watched it for decades and were still devastated it was going. you know, the relationship| we have with these soaps — we want them to be there even if were not actuallyl engaging with them any more. theres so much nostalgia that feeds into it. - in terms of whos ta...

So...whether youre going to be blown up orjust going to the pub and never seen again, the cheques will not be there the following month if youre not recording. infact, i remember when siobhan, my mistress in the archers, tragically died, the week... i mean, she was dying of cancer, it was terrible. and the actress, caroline lennon... the week before, i mean, barely... she barely said a word. she was just breathing. and they had her there. and then she died. and i had a scene with her dead body. ...