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Celebrations in soapland

The original cast of EastEnders
  • Posted at 1:30pm
  • 01 October 2009
  • by GarethMcLean-RT

As EastEnders announces that a live episode will be the culmination of a weeklong commemoration of its 25th birthday next February and Coronation Street prepares to celebrate its 50th anniversary in December 2010, the question of how a soap - working so far ahead, as they must - can best mark a milestone becomes more pressing by the day.

So what would make a suitable celebration? The climax of a big plot or an explosive stunt is a given, but as soaps are regularly punctuated by momentous events, that would hardly be special.

In 2007, Emmerdale's 35th birthday was marked by a conflagration at the Sugdens' cottage - but given the soap's penchant for blowing up buildings, that seemed nothing out of the ordinary.

Briefly bringing back departed characters can attract headlines and reward long-term viewers, but it can also look retrograde, lazy and gimmicky, especially if those characters have little or no connection to the current residents.

And changes in filming techniques - not least the move from black-and-white to colour - makes using flashbacks for the reminiscences of surviving characters problematic, too. Hence, much of the emphasis of both celebrations necessarily will be on events beyond the soap universe. "History of…" documentaries will almost certainly accompany them, with Coronation Street planning a range of merchandise to coincide with its half-century (a pair of Underworld knickers, anyone?).

There are also rumours of a Coronation Street musical, which sounds like an awful idea. Perhaps the best way to commemorate an anniversary would be to replicate the soap's schedule when it was first broadcast. Having only one or two episodes a week would be special indeed. Out of the question, I know, but it's nice to make a birthday wish, isn't it?

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