History Of A Soap Opera

'Soap opera' is a phrase first used in the 1930s, USA. It was used to describe radio series that were sponsored by the manufacturers of soap powder; hence 'soap'. The 'opera' part came from the fact that they were about dilemmas and other dramatic or melodramatic situations. They were directed towards married housewives as during this time they would have been at home, doing housework, and not in a profession. They were entertaining and fun to listen too and were very popular. An example we as a modern day audience might think of the 'Daz' adverts which show family drama's and the solution is always the product, with the tag line being "Dazwhite - The soap you can believe in."
Here is a 'Dazwhite' advert. (Scroll down and press play in the centre to watch!)

As radio series grew, in 1950s, they made their way onto TV. They soon realised that it was cheap and easy to produce. The first ones were called "Ma Perkins" and "One Man's Family". After the War though, figures dropped as soon after, the television was invented. The NBC and CBS were initially radio and became television producers when television became more and more popular. Soaps were then shown 5 times a week.

At first, producers were worried as the initial cost of setting up the television was expensive but then found that soaps were cheap to run, with their target audience still females and shown during the daytime. The first TV soap to show in the evening, filled with action and aimed at males was called 'Peyton Place'.

England didn't take to soaps as well as America. The leader of the BBC, John Reith, said he felt that TV should be 'cultural' to broaden education and he thought soaps were not considered as culture. The first soap to be aired after WWII was called 'The Robinson's' followed by 'Mrs Dale's Diary' in 1948 and then 'The Archers' in 1950 (click here to listen to the 4/11/2010 show, starts at the time 1:18) and this is still going strong today and is the longest running soap. The BBC's first British soap was called 'The Grove Family' but in 1955 ITV soon caught up with them. The BBC wasn't successful in soaps until 'Eastenders' in 1985 and then 'Elderado' which ran from 1992 to 1993 and then was cancelled. British soaps were more "homely" rather than the American "glossy" style of soaps. Nowadays, American soaps revolve much more around New York City and glamour whereas British soaps revolve around family lives and the trials and tribulations that follow.

Many other regional independent British companies also make their own soaps. For example:

• Emmerdale - Yorkshire TV
• Take The High Road - SC4
• Families - Granada
  
  Reference.