{"id":27765,"date":"2022-12-24T09:00:59","date_gmt":"2022-12-24T08:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1759534"},"modified":"2022-12-24T11:30:29","modified_gmt":"2022-12-24T10:30:29","slug":"drama-death-and-dalliances-a-love-letter-to-christmas-time-in-soaps","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/drama-death-and-dalliances-a-love-letter-to-christmas-time-in-soaps\/","title":{"rendered":"Drama, death and dalliances: a love letter to Christmas time in soaps"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Melissa Parker\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Saturday, 24 December 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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The origins of a festive tradition: a simple two-hander between EastEnders<\/a>\u2018 Angie Watts (Anita Dobson) and her husband, Den Watts (Leslie Grantham). \u201cThis, my sweet,\u201d Den snarled, \u201cis a letter from my solicitor, telling you that your husband has filed a petition for divorce.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHappy Christmas, Ange,\u201d echoed across generations. Thus, they became the festive East End demigods. It\u2019s estimated that more than 30 million people<\/a> watched Dirty Den serve his wife with divorce papers on Christmas Day in a now-iconic episode.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s often claimed that soaps have an exquisitely non-existent grasp of reality. Still, at their core, soaps have always depended on and roused human connections because these characters are drawn from life \u2013 we\u2019re still being told human stories.<\/p>

Dirty Den serving his wife divorce papers on Christmas Day is a comparatively minor revelation, but it\u2019s the blueprint for all who came after.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s still a cosiness, a homeliness to it \u2013 the grasp on reality might be ever more tenuous, but these people still occupy a unique position within the public consciousness. The characters on the screen share our festive schedule, gifts, Christmas dinner, and TV. Even if they deviate slightly: gifts, Christmas dinner, bludgeon your arch-nemesis with a bust of Queen Victoria, and, if time allows, gather around the TV.<\/p>\n

As a child, I underlined what I wanted to watch in the festive edition of the Radio Times<\/a> with clumsy, chubby fingers, scarcely understanding words though able to recognise photographs of soap characters \u2013 and that personal connection is still present.<\/p>\n

The choice has grown \u2013 and soaps have evolved. These specials are billed more often as \u201cevents\u201d. It\u2019s a rite of passage to have a formative Christmas soap memory, such as seeing Emmerdale<\/a> favourite Tricia Dingle (Sheree Murphy) being crushed in the debris when the storm hit The Woolpack.<\/p>\n

But few could forget the Christmas which unfolded as the Brannings gathered around to watch Bradley Branning\u2019s (Charlie Clements) and Stacey Slater\u2019s (Lacey Turner) wedding video in EastEnders. A family is shattered in close detail as the groom\u2019s father unzips the bride\u2019s wedding dress.<\/p>\n

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Tanya (Jo Joyner) and Max (Jake Wood) in EastEnders<\/span><\/figcaption> BBC<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

It appeals to our desire to experience TV collectively \u2013 even as social media has replaced the fabled water cooler. Or perhaps it reassures us that few are having a picture-perfect Christmas.<\/p>\n

After all, it isn\u2019t Christmas without a family spat, as the most iconic screech in British soap history conveys, \u201cyou ain\u2019t my muvva!\u201d Who better illustrates that truth than the most famous families across our land? The Dingle Dynasty, the Mitchell Empire, the House of Barlow.<\/p>\n

We relate to soap because it provides that rare thing. A little honesty regarding what it is to be a working-class family, a working-class community, and a working-class woman. British working-class women are so often hidden; when visible they are put upon and worn down.<\/p>\n

Soaps let us have a reprieve, particularly at Christmas when we\u2019re shown the fabric of British life. Your grandmother might have lived at No. 1 Coronation Street, on Albert Square, or drunk in The Rovers when Hilda Ogden (Jean Alexander) led the regulars sing Silent Night, or was there when Peggy Mitchell (Barbara Windsor) wore her most glamorous clothing.<\/p>\n

Each was a golden age for their viewers, which captured a moment in time, their generation, and it continues to provide simple, comforting nostalgia.<\/p>\n

But soaps have also embraced the surreal. Emmerdale has given an innovative retelling of a Christmas Carol. The episode revolved around Robert Sugden (Ryan Hawley) dreaming after an accident \u2013 his moral guide? Val Pollard (Charlie Hardwick), wrapped in white fur, clutching a cigarette holder, accessorised effortlessly with a lace veil.<\/p>\n