Coronation Street controversial storylines

  For my research I have watched a variety of of videos and documentaries. These include; Corrie Controversies (2004) - This documentary was made in 2004 at the height of the first major gay character, it starts with telling cum about how the current storyline came about with writers and actors talking how they first heard about the story and there thoughts, as well as journalists talking about how they spoke about the storyline. It then talks about previous controversial storylines   including transsexuals, bigamists, arranged marriages, rape, teenage pregnancies and homosexuality. This research and information is quite reliable as we have the information straight from the actors and writers of the storylines, although they might be slightly bias as the documentary was also trying to promote the storyline of the first homosexual. From the documentary I will only use the rape, gay, teen pregnancy, transsexual storylines, as well as maybe the arranged marriage storyline, thi...

  For soaps to exist they have to have a continuous story with different story lines interwoven with each other. Due to this soap operas have a lot of conventions. These being that the shows runs usually multiple times a week all year round and feature continues story lines that deal with personal personal, family and domestic relationships. The casts are bigger than a normal TV drama but only usually focus on a limited set of characters at a time.  Soaps don't end and don't seem to have an ending to a story line compared to a film or TV series, as we see a build up to the story, then the actual story, then we see how the event has affected the characters, before it not being mentioned as much, as the characters have moved on as real people do. While this is happening, other story lines have being building up in the background with multi- narrative strands, so once a story line 'ends' we are already engrossed in another story that has been building. Sometimes the story ...

 How do soap operas challenge or represent taboo topics?  An analysis of how UK Soap Operas have represented controversial social and cultural issues with a focus on Coronation Street.  Key characters in Coronation Street  Context of the time 1960s -  1970s -  1980s -  1990s -  2020s - Sophie Lancaster  Storylines - euthanasia, transgender,  Criticisms of the approach or way in which they covered an issue  Other key moments and character EastEnders - Michael 1980s reflected AIDS epidemic; Piers Morgan -  Around gambling (Arthur Fowler)  Brookside - first lesbian kiss on daytime TV  For each one - look at context at the time, reaction to the storyline/issue and how it is represented Introduction -  methodology what I have learnt  

According to 'Jen Ainsworth Soap Operas' The first Soap Operas were broadcast live on the radio the first being 'The Archers' on BBC Radio 4, which has been running on the radio since January 1st 1951. The term 'soap opera' was first used to reference the American serial drama 'Painted Dreams'. It was premiered on the 20th of October 1930, and was regularly broadcast in the daytime, where most listeners were housewives. Therefore the drama serials were sponsored by products aimed at women, mainly soap brands such as Colgate Palmolive, Procter and Gamble and Lever Brothers, this is where 'soap' originates from, and the term opera is used because of the dramatic content.   Soaps were moved to live TV broadcasts in the 1950's, with soaps such as The Grove Family and The Appleyard's.  The longest-running current television soap is Coronation Street which was first broadcast on ITV in 1960, with the record for the lon...

Potential storylines: First Trans character (1998) - Shows the first trans character Hayley, showing her struggles by transitioning and being accepted. The added layer to the story is that she forms a relationship with popular character Roy, a straight man who falls in love with a trans women. When Hayley tells Roy she was born a man he originally wants nothing to do with her, as he is a straight man, he found it hard to accept her, but he eventually did. We also see how hard it was to be transgender at this time, with when he boss finds out he was going to sack her, as well as other characters telling it to her face that it isn't right. In 1999 Roy and Hayley planned to get 'married' as they couldn't legally get married but another character called the press and reporters ruined the wedding before Roy or Hayley even got to the church.  Teenage pregnancy (2000) -  One of the oldest and most popular families, the Platts, on the street had a teenage pregnancy as the UK ha...