Details of the Prominent Actors of Soap Opera in Britain Characteristics of British, American and Australian Soap Opera

1. Katie Needham
Prominent Directors and the
characteristics of their soaps

2. Eastenders – (February 1985-current)
Most prominent directors for Eastenders:
 Steve Finn
 Toby Frow
 Rebecca Gatward
 Mickey Jones
 Reza Moradi
 David Moor
 Ian White
 Lance Kneeshaw
 Richard Lynn

3. Coronation Street - (December 1960-
current)
Most prominent directors for Coronation Street:
 Simon Massey
 June Howson
 Tim Dowd
 Richard Doubleday
 Tony Prescott
 Stuart Davids
 John Anderson
 Ian Bevitt
 Alan Grint

4. Emmerdale - (October 1972 – current)
Most prominent directors for Emmerdale:
 Judith Dine
 Tracey Rooney
 Mickey Jones
 Tim O’Mara
 Neil Alderton
 Heenan Bhatti
 Duncan Foster
 Geoff Husson
 Bob Hird
 David Crozier

5. Hollyoaks - (October 1995-current)
Most prominent directors for Hollyoaks:
 Paul Riordan
 Nicky Higgens
 Sean Glynn
 Tessa Hoffe
 Tant Lay
 Ian White
 Rob Rohrer
 Stewart Svaasand
 Griff Rowland

6. Doctors – (March 2000-current)
Most prominent directors for Doctors:
• Dominic Keavey
• Niall Fraser
• Matt Carter
• Ian Barber
• Neil Adams
• Brett Fallis
• John Maidens
• Diana Patrick
• Sean Gleeson
• Bob Tomson
• Jordan Hogg

7. Characteristics of British Soap Opera
Soap Operas in Britain often follow similar characteristics, and use
similar techniques and features in order to achieve high ratings.
Soaps intend to represent a depiction of life in Britain, and
demonstrate a microcosm of society that people experience in
Britain. Soaps in Britain intend to show a condensed and
summarised overview of life in Britain, this is normally shown with a
town or square and therefore soaps often follow dramatised and
exaggerated storylines that occur in peoples lives but in a much
less dramatic way. The storylines within soaps will often be fairly
conventional, with plots such as murders, deaths, cancer storylines
and marital affairs.
Soaps have the intention of being as naturalistic and realistic for
viewers, therefore they try to create social realism to make the
episodes relatable and relevant to audiences. The methods used to
create social realism are: realistic settings, realistic storylines,
believable camerawork and having recognisable characters act as
the background actors to make the scene feel familiar and usual for
the viewers. Soap opera also include conventional character types
as well, such as: the bungler, the rebel, the wayward youth and the

8. Characteristics of American Soap
Opera
 American soap operas, unlike British soap opera, tends to depict
a more glamorised and idealised version of everyday life.
Therefore the actors tend to be very attractive, they include a
variety of different wealth within their soaps to represent life of all
social classes, as opposed to British soap which mostly
represents working class people.
 American soap opera also tends to focus their storylines more
on relationships within the characters, so they air plots with
marital affairs, divorce, marriages a lot more often than British
and Australian soap, which focuses on a wider variety of
storylines.
 Just like British and Australia soap operas, they are continuous
dramas, showing weekly but often not having re runs – instead
they are broadcast again elsewhere on different platforms.
 American soap opera also tends to be confined to one, smaller
environment than Australian or British soap opera. For example,
EastEnders films in the pub, park, different homes, the market
and the shops. However in American soap opera it is more
common to see all filming done within one environment, such as
General Hospital and Doctors establishing their storylines solely
in the hospital.

9. Characteristics of Australian Soap
Opera
 Similarly to US and UK soap opera, Australian soap
opera is produced for and aired during early evening
and late evening time slots, they are shot on
videotape just like UK soap but unlike US soap opera.
 One way in which Australian soap opera differs from
other soaps is the amount of outside shooting they
use. Starting in late 1970’s, it has become standard
for large chunks of episodes to be filmed in outside
environments to emphasise and use the exotic and
beautiful locations and scenery that Australia has.
This is a way in which they attract international
audiences, such as the UK, who do not have such
scenic locations in their soap opera.
 Just like British soap, they try to represent a
condensed version of life in Australia for the middle-
class in society – leading them to film in relatable and
familiar settings such as a café, a bar and a park.