How the best British soaps get millions of kettles boiling
WATCHING soaps and putting the kettle on go together like Stan and Hilda, Scott and Charlene, Frank and Pat…
Well, maybe not like Frank and Pat Butcher, who had more than their share of ons and offs (as well as that spinning bow-tie moment).
Still, there have been countless soapy surges – those magic moments when we’ve been glued to the screen only for an ad break to send us rushing to the kitchen to make a tea or coffee and spiking demand for energy.
The 1980s and 90s were a golden age for heartstopping soap opera scenes. From Coronation Street to Brookside, these were riveting dramas we couldn’t tear ourselves away from.
When the famous EastEnders doof-doofs kicked in, it was brew time up and down the country.
DIRTY DEEDS
Perhaps the most iconic soap set piece of all time came at Christmas 1986, when 30 million EastEnders fans tuned in and watched Dirty Den Watts serve his wife Angie with divorce papers.
The last straw had come when Angie pretended to be terminally ill to win his sympathy. Den found out and planned his revenge. “This, my sweet, is a letter from my solicitor… Happy Christmas, Ange!”
The EastEnders characters that have come closest to rivalling Den and Angie in terms of getting kettles (and tempers) boiling are brothers Phil and Grant Mitchell.
In 1994 when Grant’s wife Sharon confessed that she’d had a fling with Phil, the result was a full-throttle punch-up in the Queen Vic that was watched by 25 million people.
And who can forget the 2001 storyline “Who Shot Phil?”, EastEnders’ response to “Who Shot JR?”, the infamous 1980 plotline from the US soap Dallas. As Phil was left lying on the ground, this ratings-rocking cliffhanger left viewers wondering whodunnit. (Spoiler alert: it was Phil’s ex, Lisa.)
Over in Coronation Street, when Deirdre Barlow had an affair with cockney wide boy Mike Baldwin in the early 1980s, the scene was set for fisticuffs between the ruthless lothario and Deirdre’s husband, Ken.
It all culminated in a corridor confrontation that had the nation hooked.
Would Deirdre choose geezer Mike or safe bet Ken? After a tense standoff, she chose her spouse.
With no social media back then, the result was communicated to Manchester United fans via the Old Trafford scoreboard. At home, after all that aggro, many of us calmed down with a collective cuppa.
OFF THE RAILS
Corrie celebrated its 50th birthday in 2010 with a live episode that featured a spectacular tram crash. While it wasn’t exactly Hollywood, it was impressive for Weatherfield.
Poor Rita had to be rescued from the rubble of her shop, The Kabin. Well, she certainly needed a cup of tea after that – and so did we.
Coronation Street and EastEnders may have bagged the biggest ratings but Brookside on Channel 4 had its taboo-busting moments.
In 1994, the Liverpool-set soap featured the UK’s first-ever pre-watershed kiss between two women, Margaret and Beth.
The scene caused a stir (and not just in teacups) across the nation.
In Emmerdale one year earlier, a plane crashed into the village, with four characters among the death toll.
And in 2015, a passing helicopter crashed into the village hall during a wedding. So much for the rural quiet life.
Leaving behind muddy Yorkshire for the arid Aussie Outback, The Thorn Birds was another serious record breaker.
In 1984 the miniseries got pulses and electrical currents racing as millions in the UK watched the forbidden romance between Meggie Cleary and the original hot priest, Father Ralph de Bricassart.
When the saga of sun, sex and sheep shearing finally finished, with Father Ralph dying, the country did what the country does: made a cuppa. The rise in electricity use was 2,600 megawatts – around a million kettles being boiled.
Anyone for a cuppa?
As more of us watch our favourite shows on demand, our post-soap cuppa is putting less pressure on our energy supply.
But there are new challenges that our energy system must be ready for. With more of us moving to electric vehicles and heating, we’ll see new peaks – when we get home from work and plug in our cars, for example.
At the same time, we must find ways to make the most of our home-grown, renewable energy. And that means dealing with the challenge of the great, changeable British weather.
We need a modern, flexible energy system that can accurately measure how much energy we have and how much we need – and respond quickly.
Smart meters, which measure how much energy you’re using in near real-time, are an important part of that new system.
And you can play a part in the next big moment for Britain’s energy system.
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