Coronation Street is definitely my favourite.
As we were watching tonight, I realized something. I don't know why I never noticed before...
Though they are set in fairly different locales (a small farm town, Manchester, and the east end of London- respectively) they do share one thing (besides ridiculous story lines).
The locations of the soaps all include:
A pub:
The Woolpack on Emmerdale
The Rovers Return Inn on Corrie
The Queen Victoria on Eastenders
Then there are the cafes (pronouced "caf" a uniquely British style of eatery):
The Cafe/Post Office (currently closed due to a fire) on Emmerdale
A scene starring Sir Ian McKellen in Roy's Rolls on Coronation Street.
Of note: Proprietor Roy Cropper's wife Hayley used to be a man.
Kathy's Cafe on Eastenders
Part of Ian Beale's "empire".
A small shop:
Leyla's Farm Shop on Emmerdale
D&S Alahan's is the "General Grocery" on Corrie.
Ross tells me that the very first scene of Coronation Street was set in this shop
(though it had a different name at the time).
Corrie also has a newsagent's. Nosy Norris runs The Kabin.
Heather socks it to Denise in The Minute Mart on Eastenders.
A garage (pronounced gar-ridge; also known as an auto shop):
Debbie Dingle owns Dingle Automotives on Emmerdale
Webster's Autos on Corrie.
Oopsie! Kevin, Tyrone didn't mean to crush you under your fancy new lift.
Just like you didn't mean to knock up his wife.
Some guy named Dev posing in front of Mitchell's Autos
Who can keep track of Phil's empire? One minute he's channelling Jimmy Durante
as a crack addict, the next he's back on top.
Sure these soaps also involve other locations, but all 3 of their bubbles (see what I did there? soap... bubbles... he he he) involve these locations. Ross (my go-to resource) says that the cafes were added to Corrie and Emmerdale because of a social outcry regarding all the meet-ups taking place in the pubs. The drinking culture of England runs deep! As for the shops and the garages- who knows why all 3 share these locations. Maybe they're just logical places for communities to have.
Of note, only Emmerdale has a community church. There is a Vicar named Ashley who lives in the town who seems like a nice guy. Corrie and Eastenders only really use churches for weddings, funerals, and christenings and don't seem to have a standard one that is a part of the community. They occasionally feature men of the cloth, but they generally turn out to be murdering crazies.
So there you go. That's my ramble on a topic that is generally useless.
What's the most ridiculous soap story line you can think of?
I don't watch soaps, nor am I familiar with these shows, but this was a cute and interesting post.
ReplyDeleteThanks Kimberly! I never really watched soaps in America, but Ross introduced me to them here. Since they're on in primetime it's the main thing on during the week.
ReplyDeleteThis is so true and I had never thought of it before! Although Emmerdale is hardly recognizable from the show I used to watch 20+ years ago (now I'm dating myself!) Back then it was called 'Emmerdale Farm' and it was all about a family called The Sugdens who were ridiclously unfashionable! Here's a clip of the first ever show http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_O35tCYhE9M
ReplyDeleteThey did have a pub but no cafe or garage or shop. We used to make fun of the fact that in every episode, they seemed to be heading out to 'mend fences on t'tops.' My dad used to say they must have the worst built fences in the world since they seemed to need mending every five minutes.
I watched it lately and didn't recognize it at all!
Emmerdale Farm was famous for having the weirdest couple in the history of television, Amos and Mr. Wilks who were joint landlords of The Woolpack, they were not a 'couple' http://youtu.be/793wZKGAMmM
ReplyDeleteEmmerdale Farm also had a character called Walter who for more than 10 years was in every scene in the pub and never once uttered a word. Although upon checking Walter was played by two actors and the first one did on rare occasions speak.