For a soap opera to be successful, it needs certain stock characters. This offers a sense of safety for the viewers as they know what to expect from the characters. A stock character fits into a stereotype of a character to decide their personality and mannerisms. For example, the villain, the good guy and the elderly. People like Anthony Easthope and Peter Buckman have contributed certain stereotypes. And although Vladamir Propp's theory of character functions concerned soley Russian fairytales, it can be applied here. There will be the same 7-8 stereotypical characters in every soap. Here are a few examples of stock characters:
The Elderly Citizen The elderly citizen is an integral character in most soaps. This character is often the glue that holds the community together. The elderly citizen can bring everyone together, and also provides a shoulder to cry on, even to the most unlikely people.
Harold Bishop (Neighbours) Harold made his Neighbours debut in 1987. He sticks with the convention of the elderly citizen by being a long standing character. Harold is actually the second longest serving cast member for Neighbours. Harold's wife Madge died in 2001 of cancer, leaving the lovable character alone. Harold himself suffered a stroke in 2003. Tragedy again struck Harold when his son David, along with David's wide Liljiana and daughter Serena, were killed in a plane crash. Harold's lovable character was tested by these trials, and although occasionally going off the rails, the Erinsborough community always managed to return him to his original sense.
The audience warmed to the character as he is a lovable kind of person, whose reliable and is always there for those in need.
Example's of other elderly citizens in soap opera's would be Peggy Mitchell - Eastenders
Blanche Hunt - Coronation Street
Dot Branning - Eastenders
The Villain - Every soap opera has a nasty and hated character. This character is a character that the audience can all dislike. Popular methods of making this character a villain and unpopular is to make them abuse, bully or manipulate a popular or innocent and helpless character.
Trevor Morgan (Eastenders) Trevor first appeared in Eastenders in December 2000 as the husband of Little Mo. Trevor humiliated and beat Little Mo repeatedly for angering him or for going behind his back. On one occasion he shoved her head into her Christmas dinner, and on another he ironed her hand. It reached an extreme when he raped her as punishment for her planning to attend her sisters wedding behind his back. Little Mo eventually defended herself by hitting him with an iron, but Trevor went to the police to report Mo who was later imprisoned. After her release, Trevor returns for a final meeting with Mo, which results in Trevor dying in a blaze at the Slater's house.
Trevor was hated by a large percentage of the audience. This wasn't just because he did these cruel things. It was who he was doing them to that caused him to be hated so much. Little Mo was a likeable, timid little character, who was very popular which meant when people saw her being bullied they felt sorry for her.
Example's of other villains in soap opera's would be Paul Robinson - Neighbours
Richard Hillman - Coronation Street
Sadie King - Emmerdale
The Gangster/Businessman - The gangster/businessman and the villain are occasionally the same person. This character is normally driven by power and money, and they do not care who they hurt as long as they get what they want.
Phil Mitchell - Phil first appeared in Eastenders in 1990 with the rest of the Mitchell family, brother Grant, sister Sam and mother Peggy. He is a popular character in the soap and is the second longest serving male character. Often involved in violence, drinking and various other "bad-boy" activities, he has built a reputation of being a thug. He also is a bussinessman, running various things in the square such as the pub, the Queen Vic, and the Archers, his garage. Phil has been involved in 2 of the shows most high profile storylines. The story where he was shot was known as the "who shot Phil" storyline, as well as being a main character in the Sharongate story, where he had an affair with his brothers wife, Sharon.
The character's popularity has flucuated depending on the storylines he is involved with. In 2001 for example, he was voted 2nd in a pole of "characters we love to hate". Morew recently however, with the return of his son Phil's softer side has come out, leading to a rise in his popularity.
Eastenders hard man Phil Mitchell.
Example's of other gangsters/businessmen in other soaps would be Warren Fox - Hollyoakes
Paul Robinson - Neighbours
Tony Gordon - Coronation Street
Troubled Teen - This character is normally in trouble with the police, in a gang, being bullied or they get pregnant at a very early age. The show usually tried to gain sympathy for this character, and it is regularly a member of the older cast who puts the teen on the straight and narrow.
Sarah Platt - The storyline that shook the country was the story where Sarah, just 13, found out she was pregnant. She gave birth to a young girl, but after this went off the rails. She would shun her daughter to go out and do "teenage things" like partying. At the age of 16 she became pregnant again. Throughout her time on the Street, she had two near death experiences, one in a car crash and one where Richard Hillman drove their car into the river. She had many unsuccesful love interests and developed a sour relationship with her brother David.
Sarah was a character who had a lot of sympathy from the audience. The father of her baby abandoned her, and there were often scenes showing her vulnerable side, which endeared her to the audience.
Troubled Corrie Teen Sarah Platt.
Examples of other Troubled Teens in soap opera's Sonia Fowler - Eastenders
David Platt - Coronation Street
Amy Barnes - Hollyoakes
Forbidden Couple - A common source of conflict between characters is when young love blooms, causing parents or siblings to forbid the two from seeing eachother. The couple are normally quite young, early teens normally, meaning their parents still have sway with them. This is commonly the start of the growing up process for the teen.
Peter Beale & Lauren Branning - This couple first started dating in December of 2007. The couple were instantly unpopular with Peter's father Ian, as he felt that Lauren was distracting Peter from his promising athletics career. Peter was the cast as Romeo in the production of Romeo and Juilet, with Whitney Dean as Juliet. Lauren was jealous of how much time Peter spent with Whitney, and Peter ended the relationship in October 2008, but this was due to Max Branning, Lauren's father, forcing him to do so.When Max saw Lauren and Peter together in the cafe, Peter tried to stand up to Max, but in his anger Max grabbed Peter and throttled him. Peter settled his differences with Max and declared his love for Lauren
Peter Beale and Lauren Branning
Examples of other young forbidden couples - Amy Barnes and Josh Ashworth - Hollyoakes
- Sarah-Lou Platt and Todd Grimshaw - Coronation Street
- Bridget Parker and Declan Napier - Neighbours
The Never Do Well Character - A character who often gains sympathy from the audience, is the character who never seems to do well. No matter how hard they try to do well and do good deeds, things always seem to go against them and blow up in their face. Problems vary from financial issues to issues with love, whatever the issue, the watcher always feels compelled to just feel sorry for them. If a the character is male, they tend to lack the alpha male qualities, while the women tend to be a bit weird.
Billy Mitchell - No matter how hard Billy tries, he is always rthe weak link, wether it be within a relationship of his or within the Mitchell. He was bullied from the start of his life in a children's home. During the next few years, Billy fell in love with Janine, who used him until he found Little Mo. He then married Mo, before divorcing her after a tragic set of events. He then found Honey, but even this bit of luck was tainted when he found out his first child, Janet, had down syndrome. Billy and Honey later divorced after they had their second child, William. He was made homeless by his own family when Phil sold his house, and he was also blackmailed by Nick Cotton. He regularly came up with ideas to make his fruit and veg stall better, only to be thwarted by his boss, Ian Beale.
Billy with his adopted son Jay.
Examples of other Never Do Well Characters - Sam O'Brien (OB) - Hollyoakes
- Ashley Peacock - Coronation Street
- Toadie Rebecki - Neighbours
