Click for larger image Angels
1981
Click for larger image Julia Smith was responsible for Angels, the early evening BBC1 soap about Heath Green Hospital. Corking Alan Price theme tune, attention grabbing state of the art graphics, and look out for Rentaghost's former Mrs Mumford, Betty Alberge affecting a very poor Midlands accent, as the sweet little old lady fretting over her geriatric husband's brunchytisss.

Click for larger image The Bill
1998
Click for larger image The Bill is set around The Sun Hill police station in a fictional London borough of Canley in East London.
 
left clip complete with Channel TV ident


Click for larger image The Bill
2001
Click for larger image A graphics venetian blind effect for the titles in 2001

Brookside
1981 - 2003
Channel 4's long-running soap, created by Phil Redmond, which started on the channel's opening night.
 
(Mersey TV for Channel 4)


Coronation Street
1960
Click for larger image The classic Granada series made its debut in 1960, created by Tony Warren. These clips show (left) the very first episode, and (right) an edition from 1961.

Click for larger image Click for larger image Coronation Street
1975
Coronation Street
1984
Coronation Street
1986
Coronation Street
1993


Click for larger image Coronation Street
1999
Click for larger image Opening and closing credits from 1999

Click for larger image Coronation Street
2001
Click for larger image Opening and closing credits from 2001

Click for larger image Coronation Street
2002
Widescreen arrives to Corrie in 2002. Special effects were used in every shot of this sequence to give the illusion of the street appearing in a real community. High angle shots were taken of the Granada set whilst the same angles were shot in Salford and the two were matched, to create a seamless, totally believable environment. Brilliantly executed sequence produced by inhouse designers Paul Kearton and Sue Frost. 15 shots featuring a variety of weather conditions for the beginning and end of parts were also created, to complement different storylines


Crossroads
1969
ATV's famous soap opera began life in 1964, starring Noel Gordon as Meg Richardson, the manager of a Midlands motel. These titles and credits are from the last monochrome edition in 1969.

Crossroads
1970
More early titles and credits, this time from 1970 and in colour... Ah, the music is fantastic!

Crossroads
1985
Time has moved on in the Crossroads Motel. right clip - The closing credits from 1986.

Crossroads Kings Oak
1988 (Central)
In a final attempt to boost ratings, the soap expanded to include the goings-on of the villagers of King's Oak, where the Motel was based. But it wasn't enough, the same year the soap ended. Jill Chance drove off into the sunset with her new man, John Maddingham, and Crossroads had finished forever. Or had it?

Here's some photographs of The Ramada Jarvis Hotel in Sutton Coldfield where the exterior shots were taken


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Crossroads
2001
It's back, relaunched on ITV1 by Carlton, now the owners of Central. The end titles (right) come complete without a continuity announcer talking over them.

Crossroads
2003
ITV1 relaunched the soap again in 2003, deliberately camped up in an attempt to appeal to gay viewers. Dismal!

Click for larger image Eastenders
1987 / 1991
Click for larger image The original 1985 titles from EastEnders (left), plus a slight reworking of the theme using the same graphics in 1991.

Eastenders
1993
From 1993 there came new titles (left) and a new version of the theme, so unpopular with viewers that a more subtle update of the original theme was created for use in 1994 - as can be heard in the right clip.

Click for larger image Eastenders
2000
Click for larger image The titles are recreated to include the Millennium Dome and in widescreen

Click for larger image Eastenders
2007
Click for larger image Here's the full widescreen titles, featuring the O2 Arena the renamed Millennium Dome

Click for larger image Eldorado Coming Soon Promo
1992
Click for larger image A promotional trailer for Eldorado - the brand new BBC soap opera that would become a ratings flop. The series only broadcast for one year - July 6th 1992 until July 9th 1993.

Click for larger image Eldorado
1993
Click for larger image The last ever episode of Eldorado, including the end credits

Click for larger image Emmerdale
1998
Click for larger image Two sets of titles from 1998, when "Farm" was dropped from the name to include more of the village life.

Click for larger image Emmerdale
1999
Click for larger image Harry Hill made a brilliant parody of these titles in his TV Burb series

Emergency Ward Ten
1957-67 (ATV London)
British TV's first ever medical soap opera, set in the fictional Oxbridge Hospital, was shown twice weekly on Tuesdays and Fridays.
 
The cast included 21 year-old John Alderton as Dr Moore, and Richard Thorp as Dr Rennie - Thorp is now better known as Alan Turner in Emmerdale. Other doctors and specialists were played by Gabriel Woolfe and Desmond Carrington Among the patients were Albert Finney, Joanna Lumley & Ian Hendry. The clip is from a particular episode that caused a stir in the early 60s, containing British TV's first ever multi-racial kiss...
 
Meanwhile, the 60-second trailer was shown on ITV in 1957, with two members of the cast addressing the camera in character. A nurse tells us which patient annoys her the most, while a smug-looking doctor tells her to tell us not to miss the show. They don't make 'em like this anymore!


Click for larger image Howards Way
1987
Click for larger image OK, so Howard's Way is NOT a soap in the strict sense, just one of those Sunday night 'continuing drama' series. Point taken. But it affected soap glamour and sensation, ending up as a load of old soapy t** w***! Maurice Colbourne starred in it, giving the lead character Tom Howard a certain gravitas, but he was backed up by most of Equity's poorest....

Take The High Road
1990s
Produced by Scottish Television