Soaps.

Love Holby.

No. Not meant to be realistic. Need to be entertaining.

I stopped watching soaps when they started to be full of murders, crashes and explosions. I might give Coronation Street a go; used to love it when it was just gently humorous. And I found Brookside very ground breaking in it's day. Didn't miss an episode of Neighbours back in the Kylie Minogue days. Can't watch any medical soaps as I needed to get away from NHS stuff when I wasn't at work; too close to home for me. Even though I might be knocking them a bit I don't think the actors in most soaps get the credit they deserve for their acting, though.

Round a Rownd was originally aimed at teenagers. The story lines are a bit more adult these days but still a lot of teenager interest.

Jess for some reason I've never gone in for Rownd a Rownd, and I've lost interest in Pobol y Cwm since they've scrapped the Sunday omnibws. According to dd, PyC has won a "soap" award, beating my favourite soap indulgence, Doctors. I doubt many people would admit to watching Doctors, but it's a staple in my telly diet, and has been since 2002.

Should soap be realistic? I think so, but still a little bit larger than life. There's a debate on Mumsnet at the moment about the poor quality of Corrie at the moment; the consensus is that the storylines are silly and sensational, and don't reflect what the characters would actually do/think. I think the Norris scene in the most recent episode was well done, and very "Norris" in an understated and rather moving way.

As I recall, Corrie, when it started, was praised for its realism (being part of a trend towards realism as found in kitchen sink dramas).

Tegan you sound like me, I loved Brookside also thought it handled quite a few "hot potato" issues in a ground breaking way and it did give us Sue Johnson, Ricky Tomlinson and Anna Friel to name but a few. I started watching Neighbours when I was a newish mother as it coincided with a middle of the day feed or nap, I can't remember which but it was a brief sitting down period in the middle of quite busy days then. I became sort of hooked, Australian soaps were very much a new phenomenon then and having visited Australia just before it was screened, I was still very taken with the Australian twang However I gave it up years ago the same with Eastenders. I find it amazing when I see an excerpt now that Phil Mitchell still seems to attract women, I found that hard to believe 20 or so years or so ago I watched Coronation Street until about 5 years or so ago. I think the most annoying thing for me with soaps is the constant recycling of relationships and of course the mandatory birth, death, divorce at Christmas time. I don't watch soaps anymore it's too much of a commitment, it was bad enough trying to catch up with The Bridge when we went away just before Christmas.

The only soaps I watch are Eastenders, Neighbours and Home and Away. I watched Coronation Street religiously from the start in Dec 1960 until the summer of 1970, when Jack Walker died, and I suddenly lost interest. Have never bothered with any of the others, not interested in trying them.

There was a Brookside storyline about an affair/divorce and, as I was going through an identical situation in my private life at the time, I was astounded at how close to 'my' reality it was...even down to implausible conversations etc. I now watch programmes that either inform me [documentaries] or series [mainly historical] such as Ripper Street/Sherlock/Game of Thones etc as I just need to escape from reality sometimes.

I've always watched Corrie except for a gap in my 20s. It used to have more humour than it does now although Tim makes me laugh and I wish we saw more of him. I was amused at how fast Emily managed to get fixed up to go to Peru. Would they really accept a woman of her age without apparent skills except fundraising?

gettingonabit it has the huge bonus that you can see bits of this lovely area. Every time the titles come up I feel like shouting out "OO that's where I live".
Had a classic RowndaRownd Soap/Reality moment today. Walked into the lovely new university arts centre in Bangor. There's one of the RaR actors (who plays a Bangor student) serving in the cafe. Of course when his recent storyline came to an end he became, for now, an out of work actor. Or have I walked into a soap set and become an unintentional actor.
Forgot to mention that people I know in Reality sometimes appear as extras in the Soap universe. Further blurs the boundaries.

Thanks jess. I must try harder. Watched Pobol y Cwm though tonight, for the first time in ages.

Emily Nugent? . Is she still in it??

Emily's just left, Tegan.

I used to watch Corrie when Hilda Ogden and Annie Walker were in it. Pure comedy.
Never watched EE as it seemed full of domestic violence, depressed characters and crime, from the trailers.
Don't watch any of them now, but I know they're popular.

Another old face turning up in Eastenders, Lily's dad, Ryan. I had no clue and couldn't remember him from the past. I do wish they would stop bringing old ones back and introduce some new characters. Well, apart from Grant, he can come back, I remember him, he was the slightly less grumpy brother.

They can bring some of the old ones back anytime they like. I quite liked Ryan but, for the life of me, I can't remember why he is on the run!! Did he kill Janine? And, talking of which, shouldn't Alice be out of prison anytime soon! Though I can't remember who she was related to either.

Alice was the daughter of Derek Branning,older brother to Max. I cannot remember why Ryan is on the run though I think Janine is still alive.

Oh, yes! Well done! I think you are right about Janine too!

Wasn't Ryan involved in the death of the chap who forced Whitney into prostitution? Do not take my word for it though! Will have to google it!

I watched Corrie from the first episode and remember watching it in Singapore in the sixties, dubbed into chinese but with English subtitles . I don't follow any soap religiously now. Some of the storylines are beyond ridiculous.

Sally in Corrie is celebrating being in it for 30 years tomorrow on Lorraine. I remember when she first came into it. I love her relationship with Tim, his humour is great, as is hers. I'm going to vote for her in the elections.