Opinion: Stop exploiting real life issues for ratings
Opinion Piece: Soap operas need to stop pretending that their next big storyline is to raise awareness, when it’s simply being done for viewers and awards.
Coronation Street shocked its viewers this week when the stalker plot came to a crescendo with Justin (Andrew Still) throwing acid in the Rovers Return. Although he was intending to attack Daisy (Charlotte Jordan), it was Ryan (Ryan Prescott) who got most of the acid, leaving him screaming in pain.
This was a culmination of a long-running plot where viewers have witnessed Daisy being stalked by Justin and the police doing very little about the numerous complaints she made against him.
On storylines such as this, a soap will often team up with charities and organisations who will offer guidance, advice and their own stories to assist in the storytelling. However, while soaps have for decades thought of themselves as the moral compass of the nation and a platform for which they can educate, viewers shouldn’t be fooled into thinking this is their primary objective. Their goal is to get viewers, and lots of them.
In a recent trip to the cobbles, Princess Anne met with the cast taking part in the storyline
Soaps tackling big social issues of the day should be commended, and have been over the years. The problem is that in the last twenty years all the soaps gleefully tell an assembled press that they have teamed up with a charity or organisation to work on an ‘important story that needs to be told’. What a load of nonsense.
I’m not saying that these stories shouldn’t be told. The actors involved in this week’s Coronation Street stalker plot have excelled. Charlotte Jordan’s performance as Daisy, as she conveys her anger at the police as they now decide to take action, should win an award.
My point is do it because you want to do it, do it because it fits with the storytelling, do it because it fits with character development. Just don’t do it because of some self serving prophecy when the reality behind it is purely for bums on seats and awards on shelves.
In recent years, I’ve wondered whether charities are actually happy with the outcome of the social driven storylines that they were involved in at the start.
Take EastEnders’ domestic violence storyline, which resulted in Gray (Toby-Alexander Smith) killing his wife, Chantelle (Jessica Plummer). While the initial lead up to Chantelle being killed can be commended in highlighting domestic violence, the aftermath was an insult to millions of victims.
Killer Gray went on to kill several times, turning the storyline into a joke and it quickly being shelved when a new top team took over. We contacted Women’s Aid, who worked with EastEnders about how they felt the story panned out – they didn’t get back to us by time of publication.
As viewers take to social media to share their frustrations at the continuous misery train the soaps continue to serve up, will the powers that be take note? Will they get back to storytelling from the angle of the characters? I very much doubt it.
