To ask how do you get into the soaps?

[JudasPrudy]

I mean Coronation Street, Emmerdale etc have been going since TV began basically. Sometimes I see them on TV the odd time and they look quite exciting, but how could I possibly catch up with the storylines, some of which presumably have been running for years?

Google. Just watch it, I'm sure by now they must just be recycling the same storylines again and again.

You just need to start watching and even if you have no idea what's going on you'll soon pick up the different storylines. Then google to fill in the gaps.

It doesn't take long to catch up. I have dipped in and out of Corrie a few times and after a couple of eps you get the general idea of what's happening.

It doesn’t take long to catch up. And tbh the stories are so short lived nowadays so there isn’t much to catch up on. People’s serious illnesses are never referred to again, affairs are forgotten, murderers welcomed home with bunting etc. Just start watching and you’ll Soon be as caught up as you need to be.

There will be the married couple who've had like a million affairs each. They probably have kids. Who will either be really intelligent or total tearaways.
There will be the pub family.
The hairdresser.
The gay character.
The baddie.
The old character.
The town gossip who everyone still tells things to.
The smartarse/wheeler-dealer/schemer son of someone.

I read this thinking you wanted to act in them!

Ugh don't do it they're all absolutely shit. So glad when I moved out of mums (nearly 15 year's ago) and never had to watch them again. So depressing.

I wouldn't bother tbh. I have been watching classic Corrie for a little while, it went from basically character studies, good drama, consistent personalities etc. To daftness and parody, issue of the day, irritating bollocks. Can't imagine how shite the modern day versions are.

Simple... Step 1, remove brain. Seriously though, there's a whole world of things to do, read, make, write, discuss and even watch (cinema can be a truly amazing artform). Why would you actively try to get into something that's such a dead end for your time?

The storylines are pretty basic and are written to play out very slowly and the characters are fairly 2 dimensional so that viewers can "get into them" very easily.

Use of stereotype & archetype in character development, simple plots that people recognise and can relate to and form a quick opinion on (there's rarely grey areas), simple language use and representation of emotion.

Repetition of certain storylines over the years so fans can feel clever spotting a certain type of plot about to occur.

This all sounds quite derogatory but simplification in writing and character development while maintaining an illusion of realism is a real skill. Many successful screenwriters start out on soaps.

They are aimed at a certain demographic though, they're hardly deep political satire!

Watch a few episodes without worrying too much about if you don't understand something, maybe read some character outlines (Wikipedia is actually quite good for this - especially with showing who's connected to who and how) and you'll soon be hooked.