The soaps keep us hooked week after week, year after year, with their gripping storylines – but even the most dedicated fans still have their pet peeves.
While writers and producers work hard to deliver daily drama, occasionally a lack of originality or the limitations of the genre mean they fall victim to classic soap tropes.
This is a hot topic currently being debated on Reddit, with commenters on the social media platform deciding which is the worst common plot device soap bosses use.
Here are some of the top contenders for the most annoying soap tropes…
‘The secret son’
From Patrick Trueman (Rudolph Walker) and Issac Baptiste (Stevie Basaula), and Nish Panesar (Navin Chowdhry) and Ravi Gulati (Aaron Thiara) in EastEnders, to Bernie Winter (Jane Hazlegrove) and Kit Green (Jacob Roberts) in Coronation Street, and Frank Tate (Norman Bowler) and Caleb Milligan (William Ash) in Emmerdale, soap really does love nothing more than a rogue child turning up that no-one previously knew existed.
‘How basically every couple – no matter how devoted, no matter how out of character it is –will cheat eventually.’
Remember when Mick and Linda Carter (Danny Dyer and Kellie Bright) were first introduced into EastEnders back in 2013, and everyone involved made a big deal about how the childhood sweethearts would never, ever cheat? Then along came Whitney Dean (Shona McGarty). And then Max Branning (Jake Wood). Sigh.
See also: Toadie Rebecchi (Ryan Moloney) cheating on Sonya (Eve Morey) in Neighbours (no, we’re still not over that); and Laurel Thomas’ (Charlotte Bellamy) feelings for Marlon Dingle (Mark Charnock) while she was still married to Ashley (John Middleton) in Emmerdale.
‘That there is absolutely no CCTV in the Square’
If you want to commit a crime in Walford, you’ll probably get away with it considering there seems to be zero CCTV coverage.
That is the only explanation as to why Ravi Gualti was able to move his father’s body out of Suki Panesar’s (Balvinder Sopal) flat unnoticed, and The Six managed to lug a dead Keanu Taylor (Danny Walters) from the Vic over to the caff after bumping him off at Christmas.
Perhaps Ring doorbells have yet to catch on in Walford?
‘How everyone has everyone else’s phone number’
Look through any soap character’s phone, and you’ll likely find they have the numbers of every other resident in Walford/Weatherfield/Emmerdale/Hollyoaks – regardless of whether or not they’ve ever spoken on screen.
And as one user also points out, text history – or lack thereof – is another classic. There’s never any previous messages between characters, as if they delete every text immediately after receiving it.
The Group Chat must be absolutely dead in Soapland.
‘Nobody in soapland knows about contraception.’
As one Redditor explains: ‘If you are cheating on your partner, the chances of it leading to you being pregnant increase tenfold. More so if you’ve had fertility problems previously.’
‘Funerals where half the family doesn’t turn up.’
Sure, it’s often hard to get actors back to reprise their roles, especially if it’s only for an episode or two, but burying someone without their parents, siblings, or best mates is one of the most jarring things about a soap funeral.
The least they could do, however, is spend the extras budget and make sure all the pews are full.
‘If you don’t tell them, I will’
It is actually impossible to count up the number of times this has been uttered. Soap characters just love to issue an ultimatum – them’s the rules.
‘Enemies to lovers’
While is can be great for shock value when done well, it can be all too common – especially when it’s done with the same character.
Take EastEnders’ Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) for example. First there was Kate Morton (Jill Halfpenny), then Denise Fox (Diane Parrish) and more recently Kat Slater (Jessie Wallace).
‘Murder arrest, trial and often conviction of an innocent character.’
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Out of all four soaps, Coronation Street has to be the worst for this.
The OG was undoubtedly Dierdre Rachid (Anne Kirkbride) back in the 90s and the ‘Free Deirdre’ media campaign that followed. But in the years since, we’ve seen the likes of Sally Metcalfe (Sally Dynevor), Peter Barlow (Chris Gascoyne), Yasmeen Nazir (Shelley King), and more recently Roy Cropper (David Neilson) befall a similar fate.
‘The factory is in trouble and if it doesn’t do this one special order it will go under.’
Despite the factory being a mainstay on the Street since the 80s, Corrie loves nothing more than placing it under threat, which has such low stakes for viewers.
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