Abstract:
As a field, soap opera studies has long been fascinated with how these long-running,
oftentimes melodramatic, programmes relate to issues of continuity. From programmes’
ability to follow multiple generations of the same family to how they cater for both
newcomers and long-term viewers who can recall programmes’ vast histories, the
longevity of soap operas — especially British soap operas — has frequently been a
point of scholarly intrigue. However, comparatively little attention has been paid to how
British soap operas themselves work to recall their own histories. This thesis examines
the phenomenon of British soap operas repeating the same social issue storylines with
characters from the same family unit in a way that purposefully cites the past. Following
the precedent set forth by narratology, through the close analysis of select social issue
storylines from EastEnders and Hollyoaks, this thesis establishes how these intergenerational social issue storylines are centred around instances of intratextuality.
Following this is a discussion surrounding how these instances borrow from the
conventions of metafiction, thereby allowing programmes to mark specific past
storylines as being particularly significant despite this process further complicating the
genre’s already fraught relationship with realism. By repeating the past along family
lines, British soap operas are able to plausibly represent troubling subject matters while
retaining the genre’s principal preoccupation with notions of family. Moreover, these
moments of narrative recurrence illustrate British soap operas’ ability to be hyper-aware
of their status as continuous texts as they engage in practices of self-quotation and
capitalise on the British soap opera genre’s potential for longevity