History Of Soap

"'Soap Opera' first came onto the scene in the 1930's from the USA. It was used to describe radio series that were sponsered by the massive company at the time that sold soap powder, hense 'soap'. The 'opera' part came from the genres and themes of the dilemas and melodramatic situations in the opera itself. In the 1950's, these radio series made it to television therefore grew and grew to world wide popularity.

'Corination Street' is the longest running television soap in all the world, but it is prefated by a radio soap called 'The Archers'. After glossier productions such as 'Dallas' in America, soap suddenly become more and more popular again in the 1980's. This then caused the the likes of 'Brookside' and the success of Australian soaps like ' Neighbours' and 'Home and Away'. The Aussie soaps were aimed at teenagers and young adults, because of the suitable plots and storylines. After the success of the Australlian soaps, British producers decided to follow the theme of 'teen/young adult' audience therefore 'Hollyoaks' became more and more popular over time.

In 2009, Soaps are at a high and are more popular than ever!"

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A1087193

I found this information on the website listed above, however have re-written it to suit how I would interpurate it. From this information however, I have listed the main points that I think are the most important about the history of soap.

• 'Soap Opera' first began in the 1930's and origonated from the United States of America, and started off as a small radio series.
• Soap' became the name described to call these serial dramas because at the time, the target audience was women, therefore a big name soap company sponsored the radio series. ('Opera' then came at a later date when critics decided that the series revolved around things that happen on a day-to-day basis. i.e relationships, divorce, fraud).
• In the 1950's the radio series made it onto television, and from that point, 'Soap Opera' popularity grew and grew.
• Corination Street is the longest running soap ever, which deals with real life situations.
• After Australia git the big time with soaps such as Neighbours, British producers decided to target soaps at teen/young adults, so soaps like Hollyoakes and Biker Grove became more and more popular.
• In 2009, soaps are the most watched, and most popular thing on television.

Coronation Street is the longest running soap, reaching their 50th anniversary this year. Here, I have found the first ever closing titles of the soap that were produced in 1960, to the present closing titles made in 2011. I have chosen to add these too this piece of work because I think it shows the History of Coronation Street and how the production and equipment have changed in time. As Coronation Street is the longest running soap, I thought the change between 1960 and 2011 would be seen more dramatically. This is the link for the 1960 Closing Titles and the 2011 Titles.