We’ve tried every brand of soap from gloomy EastEnders to sun—kissed Neighbours. So will RIVER CITY wash any whiter? Words: Mark Fisher
24 THE LIST
oaps. 'I'hey‘re at saturation point. right'.’ They must he.
Time was when there were but two of them. There was
(‘umnutiun Street which went out on Monday and Wednesday at 7.30pm. A regular appointment like an old neighbour calling round. Then. alter four years on its own. it got competition — but not really — from (‘mssmudx in NM. Which was a hit ol~ a joke.
All was right with the world. We can ignore the ['8 challenge of Peyton I’lur‘e which lasted a mere the years at the end of the (ills. liyen the arrival ol‘ Ifnnnen/ule l‘urm in l972 was no threat. sleeping away in the afternoons until. wham-ham. the summer of punk. 1977. when it crept into the evening schedules.
That was when the rot set in. By the time they started calling it [innnm/u/e in 198‘). the market had been swelled lirst hy the Americans — Dal/us. Dynasn' and l-ki/mn ('resr — then by the serious home market — Yiike the High Road. anksit/e and [fast/finders »— and linally hy the Aussie generation — Align/mars and Home and .'\H'(l_\'. That's not including challengers such as Albion .llurker which harely saw out a couple of years. In short. loads of them.
But it's not just the number of these things — did i mention l/u//_\'()(l/\'.\‘ and l-iuni/y :lflililiy'.’ — it's the frequency they're hroadcast. Many are on five nights a week and. il‘ you subscribe to BBC (‘hoice and l'l‘\'2. you can see the repeats ol’the episodes you missed while you were watching the riyals. Then you can head out for a copy of Inside Soap or even mutate into a soap character in linunenlu/e hy auditioning on soups-tars.