BBC plans to set new soap North of England

[vetsoapfan]

That number of contract characters would never happen on an American soap of only thirty minutes in length. Even the 60-minute ones generally don't have over 60 regular characters. General Hospital (60 min) has a staggering number of characters if you combine both the contract and recurring actors, but that's the exception rather than the rule. If Emmedrdale has a total of 86(!!!) contract and recurring characters, combined, their budget must be huge. With the miniscule budget of US-based soaps, 30-minute shows usually have between 18-22 contract players and then a few recurring ones, used as needed.