What is a Soap Opera?

A soap opera is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on T.V or radio. When we want to look at what a Soap Opera is, we have to understand how they came about;
In 1930, radio soap operas began in Chicago, when WGN broadcast the 15-minute drama, "Painted Dreams." This show centered on the trials of an Irish-American widow and her daughter. By the start of World War II, there were several, popular soap operas. In 1949, soap operas were introduced to network television, with NBC's short-lived, "These Are My Children," followed by NBC's, "Hawkins Falls," in June 1950, and CBS's two-year run of, "The First Hundred Years," in December 1950. Two longest-running soaps, "Search for Tomorrow" and "Love of Life," started broadcasting in 1951. "Guiding Light" began on radio in 1937 and first aired on television in 1952.


Soap operas run regularly at a precise time of day ranging from half an hour to about an hour. This is a very important system that they keep as audience become tuned to the time and the program, the system eventually has the audience planning their daily routines around a program. When a program can achieve this reaction from audiences then we can call this a very successful soap.

some of the well known soaps of today include. EastEnders, Holby City, Doctors and Emmerdale.