The filming of famous British soap opera Eastenders

Watching TV is a very popular pastime in the UK but what kind of programmes do British people like to watch? Well, the most-watched TV programmes every week are very popular dramas that are usually on at least four times every week. They are dramas based in one neighbourhood that try to depict ordinary life in the UK - we call these dramas ‘soap operas’ or ‘soaps’.

In the early days of TV, there were often dramas on during the day. Back in those days, it was traditional for the husband to go out to work and for the wife to stay at home and look after the house and the children. Most of these daytime dramas were aimed at entertaining the housewives who would traditionally be at home, probably doing the washing. Companies selling washing powder would advertise their products at times when these dramas were on, and sometimes those companies would even sponsor the drama. Hence the word ‘soap’.

So what about the word opera? Well, that’s because these dramas are often an exaggeration of real life. They are supposed to represent ordinary lives but to make them entertaining, lots of dramatic events like murders, divorces, affairs etc. all happen probably much more regularly than they would in a normal neighbourhood.

Most soap operas these days are shown in the evening. Each show will have several different storylines happening at once that continue over several shows. The same cast members will appear in every show too.

There are lots of different soaps on in the UK on different channels but there are three main popular ones. ‘Coronation Street’ has been on since 1960. It is set in a suburb of Manchester and it’s supposed to represent working class life in the north of England. Then there’s ‘Eastenders’ which started in 1985, set in the East End of London and ‘Emmerdale’, which is set on a farm in Yorkshire, in the north of England.

The BBC even has a soap opera to help you learn English – so if you want to experience one of these dramas in English, ‘The Flatmates’ would be a good place to start – go to www.bbc.co.uk/china/learningenglish/flatmates.

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GLOSSARY 詞匯表 (收聽發音, 請單擊英語單詞) 

pastime 消遣, 娛樂	most-watched 收視率最高的
neighbourhood 鄰里	to depict 描述, 描寫
aimed at 瞄準, 針對	housewives 家庭主婦
doing the washing 洗衣服	washing powder 洗衣粉
advertise 做廣告	sponsor 贊助
hence 因此	an exaggeration 夸張, 夸大
murders 謀殺	divorces 離婚
affairs 風流韻事	storylines 故事情節
cast members 演員班底, 演員陣容   a suburb 市郊	set 以…為背景 working class 工人階層