Conventions of Soap Operas

Although there are many different soap operas such as Eastenders, Coronation Street, Emmerdale and Hollyoaks, they will all have things in common. These things that the different soaps have in common are the generic conventions of soaps. These often include:
- a serial narrative told throughout a number of episodes
- they happen in real time
- special episodes for real events such as Christmas

Such as this clip from the Eastenders Christmas episode.
- each episode starts with a hook and ends with a cliffhanger, the cliffhanger will often be tense and full of suspense

Such as this cliffhanger in Eastenders where Phil Mitchell get shows.
- they will focus on family conflict and romance
- primary shocker story leading to a meta narrative
- stories that relate to issues such as domestic violence, adultery and underage pregnancy

Such as this scene from Hollyoaks where the two girls are talking about pregnancy.
- they are cheap to produce and have huge audiences
- diegetic music is used to create irony
- they are regional eg. eastenders in London
- each scene is very short, approx. 2 minutes
- characters can be brought back who have a bad past in the soap
- 3 - 5 story lines per episode
- a range of diversity in characters allows the audience to find someone to relate too
- British soaps are very focused on a neighbourhood, specifically a pub















- Simplistic camera work to make it more realistic
- they have a well known theme tune and intro sequence


- characters will often be in a dilemma and make the wrong choice