1980's....
Up to the late 1970's daytime tv was rare until ITV created General Hospital which however later changed to a prime time slot. These daytime slots were later filled by a lot of Australian Soaps including 'The Young Doctors', 'Sons and Daughters' and then 'Neighbours' and 'Home and Away' which after gaining in popularity were given evening slots. In 1985, London based Soap, 'Eastenders' debuted and was an instant success.
1990's ....
The BBC also created 'Eldorado' in 1992 which alternated with 'Eastenders' filling the soap void of an evening for avid fans. It 
however was not a success and was cancelled only a year later. However, this setback did not hinder the ever increasing hold that soaps had on the nation, becoming the most watched genre and soaps throughout the 90's increasing the quantity of weekly episodes including 'Family Affairs' , the first five days a week soap. The 90's also saw the creation of 'Hollyoaks' , the first teen-targeting soap which broke natural Soap conventions.
2000's to Present ....
Since the 2000's new soap operas have sprung up everywhere all trying to capture the public and become a huge success to rival with the 'big guns'(Coronation Street and Eastenders). None how ever have been hugely successful. The BBC produced a day time serial, Doctors which is still in production however is still not popular enough for a prime time slot. A renewed version of Crossroads was created in 2001 with a fresh look on the old series. this however was not the success they had hoped for and was cancelled only two years later in 2003 along with ITV's other new drama released in 2001 ,'Night and Day'.'Family Affairs' which ran at the same time as 'Hollyoaks' was forced to rejuvenate the cast, style of filming and even location which did boost ratings and they won their first award in 2004. By 2005 it was cancelled. A spin off of ' The Royal', a popular sixties drama, was created by ITV called ' The Royal Today'. This however ended after its first series and was not recommissioned for a second series. The BBC ventured back into radio soaps in 2004 creating 'Silver Street' for BBC Asian Network. So it seems that although many have tried, the classic British Soaps are still top after creating the perfect formula for a captivating series and are set to continue for a very long time.
