Battle of the soaps

Soaps are popular TV serials which dramatise their characters' daily lives. The storylines are entertaining, but often unbelievable. Soaps are broadcast either three or five times a week and each episode lasts about half an hour. Nearly half the population watches one or both of the two most popular soaps, Coronation Street and Eastenders. Each episode of Coronation Street is watched by up to 17 million people. It is so popular that people visit television studios in Manchester to look round the set.

Coronation Street has been running since December 1960 and is set in a working-class area of Manchester. Eastenders is set in the East End of London. Since 1985, when it was first broadcast, it has introduced controversial issues, such as racial prejudice and AIDS.

The two Australian soaps, Neighbours and Home and Away, are shown five days a week and children watch them when they come in from school. They are the favourite programmes of both 12- and 15-year-olds.

a  Compare your TV watching habits with the average person in Britain.

b  Do you have satellite or cable TV? Compare your country with Britain.

c  What is the most popular programme on TV in your country? Is it a soap?

d  Does your country show British TV programmes? Are they dubbed or sub-titled?

Michael Vaughan-Rees, Geraldine Sweeney, Picot Cassidy: In Britain. 21st Century Edition, Cornelsen Verlag, 2000, page 56