SOAP AND SOCIETY
The who, what and why of soap operas as Laurie Taylor talks to creators of soaps past, present and future.
Soaps have played a vital role in the development of broadcasting in this country and have engendered an enormous publishing industry filling pages and pages in magazines and newspapers week in, week out, all the year round. They are a growing force in internet chat rooms across the world and lately, soap opera practioners have taken their skills abroad to develop educational soaps as part of post-war reconstruction efforts in countries as diverse as Afghanistan, Rwanda and Albania.
Once regarded as the lowest common broadcasting denominator, the genre has stormed the ramparts of academia becoming a staple of cultural studies courses: 'Soap: force for social cohesion or Soap: engine of community change or even collapse' being only some of the burdens thrust on the genre.
Laurie Taylor talks to Dorothy Hobson, cultural critic and author of 'Soap Opera', , industry insider who's extensive work in the field has led to him being dubbed the Pope of Soap, Sarah Phelps, writer and Penny Leicester, radio drama producer about this heady brew of commercialism and social realism. Together they unpick the dynamic two-way relationships that have always existed between Soap and society, creators and audience.
Additional information:
Dorothy Hobson is a Senior lecturer in Media and Cultural Studies at the University of Wolverhampton and Author of "Soap Opera" (Polity Press ISBN: 0745626556)
Wulfruna Street
Wolverhampton
WV1 1SB
Tel: 01902 321000
Matthew Robinson is a Television Drama Producer and Director. Matthew's television career spans three decades. To date, he has produced, directed or written over 1,200 episodes of British TV drama. He is currently Head of Drama for Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Wales, known as the Pope of Soaps he was the lead director when Eastenders was first launched, and the Executive producer from 1998 - 2000. He has also worked on Brookside and Coronation Street. He produced and directed the first Byker Groves and has launched the career of such greats as Ant and Dec. He was also executive producer on the highly acclaimed United Nations backed African soap, Heart and Soul.
Penny Leicester is freelance a radio drama producer, writer and Soap consultant with the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service Trust, a charitable trust which puts forward projects aimed at creating educational drama programmes - soaps made by country they're to be broadcast in, in that country's language. Penny has been involved with radio soaps in the United Kingdom, Romania, Rwanda, Moscow and now in Albania.
Bush House
Strand
London
WC2B 4PH
Sarah Phelps is a freelance playwright who was working for the RSC when she took part in a Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ initiative to find new writers. She then wrote for the World Service Soap Opera 'Westway' before joining Eastenders a year ago.
Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4,
Broadcasting House,
London
W1A 1AA
The Mersey Television Company Ltd
Campus Manor
Childwall Abbey Road
Childwall
Liverpool
L16 0JP
Tel: 0151 722 9122
Granada TV
Quay Street
Manchester
M60 9EA
Tel: 0161 832 7211
ITV Network Centre
200 Gray's Inn Road
London
WC1X 8HF
Tel: 020 7843 8000
Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Elstree Centre
Clarendon Road
Borehamwood
Herts
WD6 1JF
Bush House
Strand
London
WC2B 4PH
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