With the invention of radio, the stories that we heard came to us through the airwaves. In the past, audiences tuned in to listen to their favorite shows, including soap operas/serialized narratives. With the advertisers’ support (mainly soap and detergent companies in the US context), radio channels produced and aired serial dramas regularly.

About two years ago, at a dinner party, with my husband to my left, I was surprised when I turned to my right to find Nancy Ford, the woman responsible for getting me my first job on a major network television soap opera. I hadn’t seen Nancy in more than 25 years.

I’m in Colombia, doing some research on a plaque unveiled by Prince Charles in Cartagena two years ago that briefly commemorated a British fleet trying to starve the inhabitants into submission and make the United Kingdom an occupying power in South America. The plaque lasted just a few hours before being “transformed” by an activist engineer, then removed by the municipal government, following mass Twitter protests.

Liz Giuffre’s earlier blog ‘From Ramsay Street, With Love’ starts with an apology and ends with an assurance that Australians know that long-running soap Neighbours is ‘a bit embarrassing and a bit backward’. As a Scottish fan of the soap, I read her blog with fascination.

The first episode of EastEnders was broadcast on BBC1 on 19 February 1985. Created by Tony Holland and Julia Smith, the serial is set in the fictional London borough of Walford. It is shot on a purpose-built outside set at Elstree Studios and also interior television studios on the site. The task of the first episode of any soap is to introduce location, characters and storylines, and to set a tone for the drama.