Soap opera

Half hour soap opera

• The hub of activity where they all meat up and socialise where most of the beef would occur and the occasional fight. For example The Queen Vic in Eastenders and ‘The Root Rovers inn’ in Corronation street.
• There are always over the top storylines such as fan favourite characters getting illnesses that could potentially kill them or people getting into terrible accidents that would have the potential to kill the character. Such as Sinead in Corronation Street getting Cervical cancer or Bobby Beale killing Lucy Beale in Eastenders 
• Overly dramatic cliffhangers at the end of episodes to keep audiences gripped for future watching and they tend to have music at the end of it to make it more dramatic like in Eastenders they have the iconic drums that play as the episode finishes.
• Characters are supposed to be relatable to the working class person thats why caudices view it because they can relate to the characters. 
• A long title sequence with a recognisable song playing in the background, for example in Eastenders when it zooms gradually out of the river thames.
• People getting into fights over things such as daughters or wives.
• The occasional over the top storyline that seems to have everyone that watches the program talking about it and even the odd person who doesn't even watch the program but has heard about it somehow or another. For example who shot Phil Mitchel in the classic Eastenders episode that aired in 2001 that got everyone trying to figure out who it could of been who shot Phil Mitchel. 
• A long time character that seems to of been in the program since it began For example Dot Cotton in Eastenders who looked like she should of died about 30 years ago from old age. 
• Dramatic camera shots zooms in or over the shoulder shots to keep mystery and tension are common to make a storyline have more tension or suspense.