TV Soaps...Part 1

From the days of the early radio soaps like 'The Archers' to more current TV soaps like Hollyoaks, their stories of life, and all that it brings, have been entertaining us for years. They have covered a wide range of story lines from abortion, to AIDS, to relationships (and the break up of them), and many others. From the early days of my childhood I can remember sitting down to watch Neighbours, and although I'm still an avid viewer, I have also in the past few years began to be a fan of Eastenders. Both soaps have been on our screens for many years and here's a run down on all that has happened in them past and present.

Alongside Home and Away, this has probably been one of the most popular Australian soaps that has been exported to England. For years we have been following the lives of the families who live in Ramsey Street, Erinsborough, families like the Martins, the Robinsons and more recently the Scullys. Here are some facts and interesting story lines about one of the nations favourite soaps:

• The title that was originally going to be used for Neighbours was "One Way Street".

• Neighbours is shown in over 60 countries, from Australia to Zimbabwe and most recently Croatia and China.

• Many star's careers have started in Neighbours. Jason Donovan, Kylie Minogue, Craig McLachlan, Guy Pearce and more recently Kimberley Davies and Natalie Imbruglia, all started off in Neighbours.

• Neighbours first came to our screens in 1985.

• The show started by following the lives of three families, the Ramsay's, the Robinson's and the Clarke's.

• Viewing figures here in the UK have been as high as 16 million.

• Neighbours has been criticised in the past for showing too many adults drinking alcohol!

• Story lines have been extremely varied, covering stuff like therivalry between the neighbours, relationships, weddings (Scott and Charlene's wedding is probably the most memorable, for us die hard Neighbours fans), accidents, affairs, deaths (I was so young that my mum would not let me watch the episode where one of the characters, Daphne, died because I would've got too upset!!!), tales of school life, bullying, adoption and many, many more.

• For all those of you who've read this and want to watch Neighbours in England it is on at 1.45pm BBC1 and 5.35pm BBC1.

Neighbours has now been going for over 15 years and it seems to be going from strength to strength. Despite never being able to be as big as soaps such as Eastenders and Coronation Stree,t it has still got a huge following and is bound to be just as popular for many years to come.

Despite only being an avid viwer of 'The Enders' for the last few years I do remember clips and old episodes of the early days of Dirty Den and Angie. Howevre nowadays, the cast of the Millennium seem to be just as popular as those who were there when it began 15 years ago. Right from the beginning, when Den kicked down the door of a flat to discover a dead body, Eastenders has been at the fore front of new, original and fast paced story lines. Here are some of the things which have happened in Eastenders, and to the characters, in it's 15 years history:

• Eastenders started in 1985.

• Like Neighbours, it is set in a street, in this case Albert Square and was, and still is, centred on families like the Fowlers and the Beales.

• At the centre of the square is the market and the Queen Victoria Pub, which actually shares it's room on set with Steve Owen's apartment.

• Eastenders has covered so many issues, such as:
  Divorce (Dirty Den and Angie brought in huge viewing figures with their Xmas story line)
  AIDS (the story line with Mark has been tearful at times)
  Weddings (from Ian and Cindy, to Bianca and Rickaaay! they've always been a big feature)
  Death (the recent story about Ethel and euthanasia has been gripping)
  Murder (one of the big stories of 1999 was the murder of Saskia by Steve)
  Birth, abortion, miscarriage (all these have been covered well, including the recent story line with Phil and Lisa and their miscarriage)
  Accidents (another big Xmas/New Year story line-the death of Tiffany Mitchell, after being hit by a car, while chasing husband Grant)
  Affairs (there was the affair between Arthur and another woman while he was married to Pauline and recently there was the big story involving Dan going out with Bianca who was married to Ricky and Dan was engaged to Carol, Bianca's mum)
  

• For those of you now interested in watching Eastenders it is on BBC1 on a Monday at 8.00pm and Tuesday's and Thursday's at 7.30pm

Eastenders is one of the nations favourite soaps and has been so since it began. It's creators never thought that it would be as much of a success as this, but judging by the list of story lines above, it will continue to be so in the future.