All Current English Speaking Soap Operas

[Bright Eyes]

Current English Speaking Soap Operas

 

Coronation Street (December 9, 1960)

General Hospital (April 1, 1963)

Days of our Lives (November 8, 1965)

Emmerdale (October 16, 1972)

The Young and the Restless (March 26, 1973)

EastEnders (February 19, 1985)

Neighbours (March 18, 1985)

The Bold and the Beautiful (March 23, 1987)

Home and Away (January 17, 1988)

Fair City (September 18, 1989)

Shortland Street (May 25, 1992)

Hollyoaks (October 23, 1995)

Doctors (March 27, 2000)

River City (September 24, 2002)

 

Is there a show I am missing?

[DRW50]

If you count partial English, Generations and Isidingo.

[Ben]

I'm sure there's something interesting that can be learnt from this list...

No new soap has been successfully launched since 2002, although it is debatable if River City can be classed as successful, seeing as it doesn't have a lot of viewers, and it was revamped a year ago or something, downsizing the show to 1 episode per week, turning it into a drama-esque show.

Also of potential interest: all of the English soaps are broadcast nationally in the UK, but River City and Fair City only air in their home countries.

The 70s/80s were good eras for launching new soaps, but the 90s proved difficult, and the 2000s even more so. So many casualties.

[Bright Eyes]

Thanks for commenting guys. I just made the list due to curiosity and my self diagnosed OCD. LoL

I tried to find current Fair City episodes to watch online or download but I haven't found anything. TheBox and UkNova don't upload it either.

I know there was talk about Brigie de Courcy's EastEnders run awhile back, but I forget ... did you guys praise her work there or trash it?

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Trash it, as it was during Kate Harwood's shitfest

[~bl~]

In the 90s, they showed Fair City on one of the PBS stations in NYC. I used to watch it, but I couldn't tell you what it was like back then.

[BadBoy93]

Whose Brigie De Courcy ? I don't remember that name as Executive Producer on EE.

[DRW50]

She was the storyliner for Eastenders in 2006.

[BadBoy93]

Oh. Grim memories are flashing before my eyes.

[All My Shadows]

Proud to say I've watched full episodes (old and new) of all but three of the shows. I did watch a good bit of a River City episode back when I had The Box, but I've never seen a single second of Shortland Street or Fair City.

[Matt]

I'm currently watching everything except Neighbours (which I plan to get into once I get caught up on normal TV & the Olympics are over), River City, and Fair City.

[Bright Eyes]

Good luck finding Fair City. If you do, please inform me.

[Matt]

I can find bits and pieces (and a full episode here and there) but no consecutive current runs.

[FrenchFan]

Digging this old thread. I currently watch the 4 American, the British soaps (except "Doctors"), the Australian soaps and Shortland Street.

I think I will add Fair City as it is also a daily soap but River City isn't right? Are there South-African soaps still aired?

[Bright Eyes]

It's sad to realize that since I created the list, All My Children and One Life to Live have returned and left again. Like Carl mentions above, South African soaps Isidingo and Generations are still running, but I didn't include them because they aren't full English speaking soaps. Going by Wikipedia's 'List of Soap Operas' page, they have a few others that are still running.

 

In regards to the UK, I struggle with whether to include Red Rock as a full fledged soap opera, or a show more along the lines of series' like Holby City or Casualty; more serialized dramas with heavy soap opera inputs. Expanding to radio, there is, of course, the longest running soap opera, The Archers.

 

And if you want to be more inclusive, Canada is still going strong with Degrassi.