The Grove Family - One of the first Soap Operas
Only two episodes of this survive, Written by Jon Pertwee's (the third Doctor Who) brother and farther in the early 50s its an interesting example of how the BBC tried to develop the form for British television. Thought some of you might be interested. It's oddly a mix between public service announcement and light hearted family drama in this episode, something viewers noted and didn't appreciate :p
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Jorvic, Tue 12 Feb 2013, 15:33,
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so they moved it to radio and called it the archers?
and simply dropped the light hearted element and changed the name to eastenders for its return to television?
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artifus is doing it all wrong, Tue 12 Feb 2013, 15:40,
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Ha, in a way yeah
The Archers was originally developed after the war to inform farmers about new technologies and best practice, seemingly something they still try at times to do now. There were a few short lived soaps around this time on the radio and tv all with differing approaches. In fact Coronation Street wasn't seen as a soap by its producers for a long time, serial drama and even documentary-drama being preferred!
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Jorvic, Tue 12 Feb 2013, 15:46,
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