The battle between the soaps hots up

Press, 7 October 1987, Page 18

The battle between the soaps hots up

By

GRAHAM PAYNE

The “Coronation Street” versus "East Enders battle hots up even more with the news that Dirty Den and Co. have been sold to America in a £1 million deal.

But if the 8.8. C. London soap plans to outstrip its Manchester-based rival abroad, then it’s got one heck of a fight on its hands. The Street has so many established overseas fans now that it doesn’t seem possible Albert Square will topple it as it has in Britain.

For the last four years, the goings-on around the Rovers Return have been watched by more than 10 million people daily on the American Cable Network. They are seeing old episodes, but they’re hooked.

And on the Hawaiian island of Oahu, where “Magnum” and "Hawaii Five-0” were filmed, fans of "Coronation Street” tune in on the beach at dusk with their portable TVs.

Foreigners seem to have little difficulty in getting on with the “Hey up’s” and “By ’ecks” or

the idle banter that goes on in a typical northern pub. Peter Buckman, a British playwright who has studied soap operas around the world, says: “Viewers are happy to settle down in territory they don’t recognise, with people whose accents are almost inpenetrable. “The luxury or poverty of the setting is immaterial; it is the roles and reactions of the participants that involve us. "A bastard is a bastard the whole world over; and the Algerians and East Germans — to take two examples of keen ‘Dallas’ fans — are fascinated not because J.R. represents the class enemy (everyone knows money doesn’t bring happiness, which is a message shared by all soaps), but because they want to see how long the Villain can stay a grin ahead of destiny.” Buckman examples the Brooklyn viewer of “Coronation Street” who found every one of its characters in his New York apartment block. “This proves that soap stereotypes transcend nation, class and audience barriers,” he says. New Zealand fans once organised a Great Coronation Street tour, lasting seven weeks which culminated in a special tour of the Granada studio. They were, at the time, fully

Julie Goodyear (Bet Lynch): “I have met people In New Zealand, Canada and Israel and they have all told me how much they enjoy the Street. It isn’t shown in Israel, but a lot of people have seen it in Britain when they have visited and they think it’s wonderful entertainment.”

five years behind Britain in episodes, but many said it was the highlight of their life. “Wherever the Street is seen, like so many other soaps, once you begin to understand who the characters are, and what they represent, it doesn’t matter that they act, look and talk differently from those with whom you are familiar,” says Peter Buckman.

"What matters is how they behave, and here soaps are the same the world over.” “Coronation Street” has had years of advantage over the relative newcomer “East Enders when it comes to overseas sales.

Right now, the Street is selling in places like Thailand and Nigeria where there are absolutely no cultural similarities. Graham Nown, author of many books on the Street, told me: “Among its international army of devotees are viewers in Canada, where it t is screened every day with an omnibus edition on Sundays. “Three years ago, Gibraltar TV decided its viewers could not live

Bryan Mosley (Alf Roberts): “People I met in Greece said they had seen the programme and could relate to it because, even though they were Greek, they could identify with the characters.”

without the Street and began transmitting episodes, making a total of 18 countries who receive regular reports of life in Weatherfield. "Viewers in the Netherlands are still following the events of 1982 when Deirdre Barlow came close to wrecking her marriage to dull, dependable Ken.”

In Singapore, they watch “Coronation Street” with its original dialogue accompanied by Chinese sub-titles running up the left-hand side of the screen and a simultaneous commentary in Tamil on the local radio.

Selling the Great British Soap began back in 1954 with “The Grove Family," so named because it went out twice a week, live from the 8.8.C.’s Lime Grove studios.

The 8.8.C/S last major serial in black and white, ’“The Forsythe Saga,” was its first major breakthrough in American sales. The 21 episodes were so well received overseas that one American station, XYZ, transmitted them non-stop for 23 hours. But “Upstairs Downstairs” tops the 8.8.C-’s overseas sales and still holds the record with more than one billion viewers in 40 countries. —DUO copyright