Did you watch the soaps on TV when you were a child?

[CosyJanuary]

I was having a conversation with someone and I wondered if my experience was normal/typical of the times.

I was born in a he 80s and I always watched the soaps on TV in the evening right from when I was a young child probably age 6-7 and carried on until my teens.

It was a normal thing in my house to put the soaps on if an evening from 7.30pm and he allowed to sit and watch them with mum and dad.

They weren’t really suitable for children and my friend was horrified that I was allowed.

We had south american ones.
Esmeralda, the one with Natalia Oreiro.
Dallas as well.

Yes! Eastenders started when I was at primary school in London and we all watched it. I was in what would now be called Year 5 then, but some of our younger siblings watched it too.

I remember we had lessons temporarily with another school once, and the girls in both classes all got on until we discovered that they watched Dallas & Dynasty and not Eastenders. HUGE falling out over which was better 😂

My parents weren't really soaps though - except Brookside which I watched with my mum.

My sister and I used to go home from school at lunchtime and we'd watch The Young and The Restless with Mum. I think we had time for a bit of Days of Our Lives as well before we had to get back to school. We were really annoyed when they changed the scheduling and it didn't work in with our lunch break anymore 😁This was secondary school, so college/high school, ages 12 onwards, Year 7, I guess. It was only a five minute bike ride from home and it was normal where we lived that kids who lived close by would go home for lunch.

Corrie was on every night, and I would stay up to watch Dallas. Dad would feel bad for me sitting up by myself, it didn't air until 9pm or something, and so he'd sit up with a book to keep me company but invariably fell asleep most nights.

Yes, haven’t watched eastenders in at least 20 years but caught a bit the other day and all the cast still the same 😅

No, my parents didn’t watch anything like eastenders or coronation street. I can remember my brother and I being keen to watch neighbours once we were secondary school age because our friends must have been talking about it, but my mother would never let us. To be fair, I was always out looking after my horses / riding until at least 6 or 7pm anyway. Then it was supper, shower and bed. I can barely remember having the tv on at all at home, but I think they used to watch things like mastermind / university challenge which I thought were very dull so I would go and watch my one Jon Bon Jovi music video in the playroom instead 😂

Coronation Street and the original Emmerdale Farm. Then into the 80s we started watching Brookside too!

Dallas, Knots Landing, Dynasty, Corrie, Eastenders, Home and Away, Neighbours, I was a child in the 80s, hated Emmerdale though.

My mum never missed an episode of Corrie and as a child I used to hide behind the sofa about 10 minutes before it started hoping she’d forget I was there and I’d get to stay up later. ( usually bed time before it started so she could watch it in peace!) I think it maybe worked once or twice though not much fun stuck behind the sofa trying to stay undetected!

I was brought up on The Archers and Coronation Street from conception!

No - my parents didn't watch soaps, so they weren't on in my house.. I started watching some as a teen, but stopped when I went to university and never started again. I'm in my 50s and haven't watched any as an adult.

Yes, loved Coronation Street, me and my best mate watched it in our work breaks!

After school in the sixties we watched Crossroads, Dallas and Eldorado would have ben the 70’s.

I used to watch Emergency Ward 10. Also Compact.

Watched eastenders religiously from a young age…. I think the first episode I fully remember was “sharongate” when grant played the recording of Sharon and Phil having the affair. I was 6 at the time. Watched it non stop from then on. I stopped in 2017… I’ve dipped in here and there when previous characters have returned. But defo not fully watched it since then. Watched corrie for a while, got bored of that and then from a young age was forced to watch neighbours and home and away whilst at my nans house 😂

I can remember Valerie Barlow being electrocuted by her hair dryer. I always think of it when I see the great Anne Reid on TV.

Neighbours, home and away, el dorado and a bit of Holly oaks. I never watched eastenders until I was 17 lasted a year then stopped as its so depressing.

Crossroads was hilarious with all the moving scenery and Amy Turtle fluffing her lines. DM liked Peyton Place.

Yes. Remember pretty much my entire school dying to find out who shot Phil.

I don’t know anyone my age now who watches soaps.

Yeah pretty much

Loved Brookside

😂

Oh gosh yes, back in the 60’s, I remember that Coronation St was aired in black and white, or at least my parents only had a a B&W tv, I don’t know which.
Anyway, I too can’t recall the storylines, but I do remember being pretty scared of Ena Sharples.
i perceived her as always being grumpy, and “in charge” of Minnie and the other one.
i thought at the time that Elsie was fairly glam, and I really fell for her son Dennis.
i believe Crossroads came a fair few years later.
That soap I can remember far more .
Meg Richardson who always pronounced words beginning with wh as a kind of blowing sound.
Also I could never forget Benny, and “Miss Diane”.
I shouldn’t mention the very unstable props that were quite obviously were about to fall over at any given moment.

I grew up watching Coronation Street and it was mostly fabulous. Even into the early 2000s it was still brilliant, the Richard Hillman storyline being maybe the best of all time. The problem was that storyline. It was so original and captivating that Corrie has spent all its time since trying to emulate it and failing miserably.

I was a child in the 1960s and early 70s and didn’t watch any soaps. I was vaguely aware that Crossroads and Coronation Street existed, but I never saw either of them - presumably because my parents didn’t watch them.

Yes definitely remember watching Eastenders, my mum didn’t bother with Corrie or Emmerdale though.

Also watched Neighbours and Home & Away after school.

Surprised my mum allowed me, I remember she had a copy of 9 1/2 weeks on VHS tape and I was strictly forbidden from watching it. Still to this day haven’t either 😂

Yep, I watched Shortland Street, Neighbours, home and away, eastenders and Corrie!

Oh yes, I forgot about Shortie. We roll out the "not in Gautemala now, Dr Ropata" line whenever the situ seems appropriate (surprisingly often, as it turns out 😁). I watched it every week day, couldn't miss an episode til I went on holiday for two weeks and there was no telly. I thought I'd be gagging to catch up when I got home but after watching the first couple of minutes I was sitting there wondering why 😁