Dr Ruth A Deller(r.a.deller@shu.ac.uk @ruthdeller)

at 20

"Teen" soap no longer?

‘There is television that gets watched and there istelevision that gets discussed: the two do notnecessarily coincide… there is a wealth of televisionthat is invisible to what we do as academics; that is,there are programmes that exist, but seem not tobe seen… Ratings show that these series are notinvisible to significant proportions of the population.‘Invisibility’, then, aims to capture the notion thatthis is broadcasting which appears to go unseenwithin academia; it is simply overlooked or lookedthrough as though it were not there…. . In seekingout the new I am suggesting we downplay thesignificance of the old, the ongoing, the repetitive,the always- there. And in doing so, we inadvertentlyrender a wealth of programming invisible.’ (Mills2010: 1, 7)

Hollyoaks at 20

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‘[A]nalysis of soap operas has been limited in recentyears precisely because it is assumed that all thework that needs to be done has been completedand we now have an agreed approach towards theiranalysis. The fact that alternative approaches havenot been developed, and changes in soap operas inthe last couple of decades have not been taken intoaccount, demonstrates how easy it is to ignoresoaps, precisely because they are always there, partof the furniture of television, ordinary and invisible’(Mills 2010: 8).

Hollyoaks at 20

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‘British soaps are no longer discussed, or even verymuch watched, in television and media studies.Soaps have become the staple of textbooks and, ifthey have a role in contemporary debates, it is asthe standard binary against which other, moresignificant or engaging, programmes are measured.A similar lack of interest can be found in the broadertelevision culture online and in the British press...This shift away from soap opera pre- dates but isaligned to debates about quality and aesthetics.’(Geraghty 2010: 82-84)

Hollyoaks at 20

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• First broadcast October 1995.• Initially a thirteen-part run and then re-commissioned

for more episodes.• Extended to twice weekly and permanent in September

1996.• Extended to thrice weekly, then four times - extended

to five days a week in 2003 (as Brookside ended).• E4 first-look episodes begin 2001.• Late night episodes and spin-offs on a semi-regular

basis from 2000 (first VHS spin-off in 1998).• 2014: Only British soap outside of 'the big two' to win

Best Soap at the BSAs.• Ratings appx 2 million per episode across broadcasts on

E4, Channel 4, Channel 4 HD, E4 + 1 and Channel 4 + 1.

Hollyoaks at 20

'We took the view that even if Hollyoaks folded, we would still have a great set wecould use for Brookie and anything else... By the time we got to the press launch,the main story seemed to be about teenage pregnancy, or why we didn't have any...the tabloids had assumed that because I was the writer, it would be full of sex,drugs and teenage pregnancy... In any event, Grange Hill and Brookie could dealwith the angst of rites of passage; Hollyoaks was about the fun side of growing up'(Redmond 2012: 448-451).

Starting out

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THE good citizens of Chester don't deserve it. First they are represented in theHouse of Commons by Gyles Brandreth, then they are represented on televisonby Hollyoaks. That's the equivalent of your home town twinning with both Sodomand Gomorrah. Hollyoaks is gruesome. A mish-mash of the worst out-takes ofVosene and Doublemint ads, it boasts the most vile collection of youngsters seenon screen since the Von Trapp Family. And at least when the big one sang "I am 16going on 17" you sort of believed her. This posse of alleged teenagers look oldenough to go on a Saga holiday.

What's worse is they carry mobile phones, ride motor bikes and say lines like "wayto go". You warm to them as you'd warm to Goebbels or Bonnie Langford. AlvinStardust has been tossed in as a pub landlord to play a sort of Lovejoy role, but he'smore Lovesad. Every time he picks up a bottle you expect him to hold it at a jauntyangle, suck in his gut and sing My-Coo-Ca-Choo. Put it in Room 101 now. (BrianReade, Daily Mirror, 1995)

Early reviews

The writer, Phil Redmond, relied on teen mags for much of his research, and itshows. All the characters are good-looking and shallow, and aspire to a meaninglessconventionality. Nothing terrible will ever happen. It's not like being a real teenagerat all. No sex, no drugs, no patricide. Only a progression of tiny slights, on thatbedrock of blandness familiar to soap-watchers… The girls' role is highly suspect.They're given little to say, and spend their time worrying needlessly about eachother… The boys entertain themselves with music and motorbikes, the girls withbodings of disaster. "What would the world be without male red-blood cells?" Kurtasked his friend, Tony. "Tidier, prettier, smell nicer?" was all Tony could suggest.Women are there to perfume, tidy and present their cleavages to the world. Menare there to model unfortunate trousers. I see no hope for this arrangement. (LucyEllmann, The Independent, 1995)

Early reviews

A rusty nail dropped on a dustbin lid would ring truer than Hollyoaks (Channel 4,Monday and Thursday), a new soap opera about rich and randy adolescents,conceived, written and produced by Phil Redmond, who gave the world Brooksideand Grange Hill. It is traditionally written of new soaps that they just won't wash.Coronation Street received an early mauling from the critics, as did EastEnders. Somaybe Hollyoaks will improve. After week one, the consolation to viewers, if thereare any viewers left, is that it can't possibly get worse… If Redmond had been anymore blatant in his attempt to anglicise Beverly Hills 90210, he'd have called itChester CH3 9LP. The fundamental problem is that we all know there's nothingglamorous about being a teenager, which doesn't spoil our enjoyment of BeverlyHills 90210 and its Aussie equivalent, Heartbreak High, because as well as beingdistant from reality, they're distant from here. Besides, daft as they might be, theyare passably acted. If the cast of Hollyoaks have an acting experience it can only bein commercials for Clearasil, for there's not a spot, nor much discernible talent,among them. (Brian Viner, Daily Mail, 1995)

Early reviews

‘Although the aim was for Hollyoaks to become a British Happy Days or evenFriends, the audience started to signal that, while they liked it, they already hadthat from the US-Aus imports. If Hollyoaks was British and it was by Phil Redmond,where were the issues?... They wanted to see their own culture, hopes, issues,ambitions and concerns played out, not those of their US and Australiancounterparts’. (Redmond 2012)

Starting out

Ever since Phil Redmond left the picture, Hollyoaks has undergone a curious rebirth -it got good. They got rid of most of the writers, kept only the actors who could act,and repopulated it with indie kids with actual northern accents. It's soundtracked bythe Coral, the Golden Virgins, Arcade Fire and My Chemical Romance, and the guywho picks the music is a regular poster on the Drowned in Sound forums. The likes ofRussell T Davies are falling over themselves to heap praise on it... Hollyoaks really isthe only British soap worth bothering with at the moment. And if you find that weirdto read, imagine how it felt to type. (Martin 2008)

'Kirkwood steered Hollyoaks from hungover laughing stock, through cult classic, togenuine treasure garlanded with praise from television's great and good. Hiscombination of lightning-fast storytelling, genuinely ambivalent lead characters andabsurdist fantasy has made it more than a soap. He even made a decent fist of thefeared Late Night spin-offs. Skins had a better press campaign, but Nu-Hollyoaksbroke more ground, and in more compelling style. It's rare to find one man's creativefingerprints so visible on a mainstream show. Among online fans, Kirkwood is asmuch a star as the actors who appear in the show (and on calendars). Hollyoaksmight sink or swim without him. It's as big as Doctor Who's transition from the RTDto Moffatt era'. (Martin 2009)

Key players

‘Sensationalism is such a subjective word. I am very proud of the show. Thosebig blockbuster stories are what our wider audience tell us they enjoy. From theTwitter reaction on a nightly basis to anecdotes in the pub - not to mention thebest ratings in years - all tells me that the heightened reality and escapismof Hollyoaks is what people love. We tell a unique blend of stories on this showfrom our truthful issues to stories that could only in happen in Hollyoaks and Iam not going to apologise for that.’ (Bryan Kirkwood in Kilkelly 2014)

'Hollyoaks prides itself on being different from its competitors, using what canonly be described as the Hollyoaks spin on life. For instance, no other showcould combine the high drama of Luke's trial with a naturist party and get awaywith it. The funeral of Jill Osborne saw the vicar knocked out by the coffin andthe brutal moments of Luke's rape were juxtaposed with Max's first sexualexperience with Chloe' (Evans 2002: 8)

Hollyoaks' style

'Despite winning Best Soap at the British Soap Awards we are still seen as thefourth soap, so our stunt episodes are a fanfare to get the attention that we feelwe deserve and we have been overwhelmed with the reaction to the crashepisodes. It was a mammoth team effort by our cast and crew. Our amazingbackstage team pulled out all the stops to give viewers a truly memorable stuntthat was full of plot and heart, driven by relationships and family. At the centreof these episodes were our biggest characters - the McQueens and theBlakes/Savages in hugely emotional character driven plots, and the fact theratings have gone up since the crash proves the audience are coming to us forfar more than to watch an expensive stunt.' (Bryan Kirkwood in Kilkelly 2014)

Hollyoaks' style

• Webisodes, bubble episodes, late-night episodes, VHS episodes and spin-offs (1997 – present).

• Open casting calls (e.g. 'On the Pull', 'Desperately Seeking'.• First (only?) UK soap to use music as soundtrack. Spin-off music show.• ‘First Look’ episodes on E4 (2001-present).• Summer Strallen - planted promotion for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sound of

Music (2007-8): ‘As the two Summers' lives head inexorably towards aworm-hole in the space/time continuum, we are all left dealing with theknowledge that, even for a moment, Hollyoaks was real.’ (Julia Raeside,The Guardian, 2008).

• Online ‘soap within a soap’, Runners, proposed (2008-09).• Non-linear week (2009).• Flash-forward episode (2009-10).• Product placement (2012-present) (see Channel 4 2014) and episodes

made with real-life magazines (e.g. Heat, Company).• First UK soap to tackle several storylines (inc. male rape, F2M trans journey,

snuff movies, gay regular with HIV...).

Text and Narrative innovations

[On spin-off Movin' On]: 'People tell me that they aregetting "too old" - at twenty-two, scary isn't it? - forHollyoaks and they can't quite identify with the new,younger, characters. At the same time, they still want toknow what will happen to the older characters.' (PhilRedmond in Evans 2002: 66)

'The annual jamboree Hollyoaks Later, during whichHollyoaks gets to pretend it is Skins: showing flesh,gleefully swearing and generally revelling in thebacchanalian Arcadia that is post-watershed E4... This isHollyoaks turned up to 11, where the entire boundariesof plausibility meteor off the scale. Shockingly, againstall expectation, the scripts and the acting have provedto be actually pretty decent. The plots, of course,remain ludicrous'. (Martin 2010)

Spin-offs and late night specials

Social issues

'We never actually sat down at a storylinemeeting and decided to do an episode abouta male rape. The story we wanted to tell wasabout a young man who seemed to have itall being driven to the brink of suicide bybullying. The rape element only appearedwhen we were trying to hit on somethingwhich Luke would feel he could not recoverfrom... We wanted to get across that malerape is nothing to do with sexuality but withbrutality and humiliation - and that it oftengoes unreported... I wasn't certain we'd gotit right until we received letters and emailsfrom people who had been through similarexperiences'. (Writer Neil Jones in Evans2002: 145-6)

Social issues

We have to work within the confines of ourtime slot and also the age of our audience.But we do like to tackle stuff that’s importantand hard-hitting. We don’t want to just dofrothy and light-hearted storylines; we like todo stuff that will push boundaries and makepeople think. It’s difficult and it’s a fine linebecause the last thing we want is to get introuble with Ofcom, but they’ve pulled ablinder with this. It’s really cleverly shot, in away that manages to convey the distress andhorrific-ness of what’s going on without theaudience actually seeing anything.’ (JamesSutton in Stroude 2014)

Social issues

'Hollyoaks is set to become the first British soap to see a major gay character diagnosed asHIV positive, producers have revealed... Channel 4 has been working with HIV charity theTerrence Higgins Trust to make the sensitive storyline as true to fact as possible... "We havewanted to tell this story for a lone time and while HIV can affect anyone, infection rates inyoung gay men remain too high and to ignore that is to do the gay audience a disservice,"said Bryan Kirkwood, Hollyoaks executive producer'. (Denham 2014. Also: Strudwick 2014)

Social issues

‘The campaign incorporated character Bebo pages in which thefictional characters chatted and discussed the episode content withviewers as the events depicted had taken place, and postedfrequent blogs relating to their leisure time in Manchester. Blogsinitially depicted alcohol use as a positive and fun aspect of youthleisure, before progressively portraying drinking in a more negativemanner over the course of the month… Viewers’ comments relatingto alcohol included references to the characters drinking too muchand viewers trying to persuade them to stop. However, numerouscomments also encouraged characters to drink and have fun, andincluded viewers discussing nightlife, inviting the character to drinkwith them and expressing a wish to join characters in their drinkingand partying.’ (Atkinson et al 2010: 461)

Social issues

• 'The amount of violence in soaps has varied over the years: EastEnders has shown a decline from 6.1violent scenes per hour in 2001/2002 to 2.1 in 2013; Hollyoaks has increased from 2.1 scenes per hourin 2001/2002 to 11.5 scenes per hour in 2013; Emmerdale has shown a slight increase from 2.5 to over4 scenes per hour; while the level of violence in Coronation Street has remained fairly steady at around3 scenes per hour' (Cumberbatch et al 2014: 2)

• 'Strong scenes (portraying violence that might make the viewer uncomfortable) were very infrequent, at6% overall... 'In 2013 they were logged only in Hollyoaks, where they contributed around one in six(17%) of all violent scenes in this soap' (ibid: 17).

• The storyline analysis demonstrates that the antecedents to violence are quite clearly indicated, soviewers are unlikely to be surprised when the violence takes place in soaps (ibid: 2)

Paratexts

Social media

Social media

Social media

Social media

Social media

• Paratexts ‘extend[ing] the invitation to play’ (Gray 2010: 187) (Also Booth 2010, Deller 2014)• ‘According to the team, it [the SnapChat spoiler] received “phenomenal feedback” for

showing its fans “trust and respect”… “Lime has a reputation for delivering talked-aboutyouth programmes,” says Little. “If you’re not looking at it through the lens of a digital eye,your shows are not going to get the traction you need to make it a success.” (Lime PicturesMD Kate Little in Campelli 2014)

Social media

Social media

‘We’re not unaware of the sneery attitude thatpeople have towards it, but that makes it all themore exciting to fight against… We remain skewedto a younger audience but we’ve made a definitemove to appeal to families. Signing Gillian Taylforthand putting adult, authority characters into theopening titles hopefully demonstrates this.’ (BryanKirkwood in Parker 2013)

‘We are no longer an exclusively teen show. With theschool thriving I felt a move into a workplace ratherthan university allowed us to tell a richer variety ofstories’. (Bryan Kirkwood in Kilkenny 2014)

Places and people

Coming of Age (2013)

No longer a ‘teen soap’?

‘2015 is Hollyoaks' 20th year and to make that our 'yearof safe sex' felt right for a show built upon telling rites ofpassage stories. With Ste's HIV and other stories for ourteenage characters, we will explore the many implicationsof unprotected sex and hope to encourage thoughtfuldebate amongst our audience.’ (Kirkwood in Dyke 2014)

‘We are immensely proud of our issue stories, but I alsolove our big blockbuster soap storylines as well and thegloved hand came about six months ago in storyconference when I was worried about whether we werebalancing our stories evenly enough. We have a brilliantwriter called Steve Hughes and he and I are alwaysswapping memories of camp '80s soaps. The gloved handstory developed from those conversations’ (Kirkwood inKilkenny 2014)

References

Atkinson, A.M., Sumnall, H. and Measham, F. (2010) Depictions of alcohol use in a UK Government partnered online socialmarketing campaign: Hollyoaks ‘The Morning after the night before’ Drugs: education, prevention and policy 18(6): 454–467.Booth, P. (2010) Digital Fandom. New York: Peter Lang.Campelli, P. (2014) Claire Poyser & Kate Little, Lime Pictures. Broadcast, 13 November. Available at:http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/features/claire-poyser-and-kate-little-lime-pictures/5079927.articleChannel 4 (2014) Hollyoaks: The hottest show on TV available for sponsorship. Channel 4 Sales. Available at:https://www.channel4sales.com/globalassets/hollyoaks-ppt.pdfCumberbatch, G; Lyne, V; Maguire, A and Gauntlett, S (2014) Violence in UK Soaps: A four wave trend analysis. Ofcom.Available at:http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/research/tv-research/violence/CRG_content_analysis.pdfDeller, R.A. (2014) The Art of Neighbours gaming: Facebook, fan crafted games and humour. Intensities: 7 (1): 97-106.Denham, J (2014) Hollyoaks set for ground-breaking HIV storyline; The UK soap will be the first to feature a major gaycharacter with the disease. The Independent, 20 November.Dyke, P (2014) Hollyoaks: X rated action for the village as things hot up in Chester. Daily Star, 30 December.Evans, M (2002) Phil Redmond's Hollyoaks: The Official Companion. Basingstoke: Pan Macmillan.Geraghty, C. (2010) Exhausted and Exhausting: Television Studies and British Soap Opera. Critical Studies in Television 5: 82-96.Gray, J. (2010) Show Sold Separately: Promos, Spoilers and other Media Paratexts. London: New York University Press.

References

Kilkelly, D (2014) Hollyoaks producer Bryan Kirkwood shares show gossip and teasers. Digital Spy, 15 November. Availableat:http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/soaps/s13/hollyoaks/interviews/a610302/hollyoaks-producer-bryan-kirkwood-shares-show-gossip-and-teasers.html#~p0v7XOiGTKBg9eMartin, D (2008) TV's favourite goths are back from the dead. The Guardian, 10 March. Available at:http://www.theguardian.com/culture/tvandradioblog/2008/mar/10/tvsfavouritegothsarebackfMartin, D (2009) Will Hollyoaks survive after Bryan Kirkwood? The Guardian, 27 May. Available at:http://www.theguardian.com/culture/tvandradioblog/2009/may/27/hollyoaks-new-producerMartin, D (2010) The post-watershed wonder of Hollyoaks Later is worth celebrating. The Guardian, 25 October. Availableat: http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2010/oct/25/hollyoaks-15-hollyoaks-laterMills, B. (2010) Invisible Television: The Programmes No-One Talks about Even Though Lots of People Watch Them. CriticalStudies in Television 5.1: 1-16.Ministry of Justice (2014) £500,000 to help break the silence for male rape victims. Gov.UK, 13 February. Available at:https://www.gov.uk/government/news/500000-to-help-break-the-silence-for-male-rape-victimsParker, R (2013) Bryan Kirkwood, Lime Pictures. Broadcast, 24 October. Available at:http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/features/bryan-kirkwood-lime-pictures/5062810.articleRaeside, J. (2008) Dismantling the fourth wall, brick by brick. The Guardian, 1 February. Available at:http://www.theguardian.com/culture/tvandradioblog/2008/feb/01/dismantlingthefourthwallbrRedmond, P. (2012) Mid-Term Report. Random House.Strudwick, P (2014) HIV is increasing in young gay men. Will Hollyoaks help raise the alert? The Guardian, 19 November.