You don’t tend to associate soap stars with being major celebrities, certainly not at the same heights as pop stars and movie stars anyway. Despite this we all have our own favourites when we flick on our guilty pleasures at tea time to help us relax.
Whether you’re a Corrie fan or you prefer EastEnders, a lot of us have grown up with soaps forming a major part of our lives because our parents used to watch them when we lived at home and we slowly but surely (even if not openly) grew to like them and the plots that unfolded before our eyes on a daily basis.
This would mean that we all have our favourite actors and actresses, the kind of people we either form a bit of a crush on or that we can form an attachment to because of their mannerisms, sense of humour or their fashion sense.
You would probably expect the favourites to vary between male and female stars, and depending on which particular soap you watch, but in a recent Great British Bingo survey to find out the best British soap stars, EastEnders actors – and males in particular – performed incredibly well in the popularity stakes.
The overall winner of the poll, which consisted of 191 people from around the UK, was Danny Dyer with more than 12% of the votes. The Londoner plays Mick Carter in EastEnders having joined the soap in December 2013, and he has become an instant hits with fans of the show even picking up a National Television Award in 2014.
Third on the list was Phil Mitchell, the East-End bad boy who has been in the show since…well, what seems like forever, and another EastEnders star, Shane Ritchie who plays Alfie Moon, came fifth.
Sandwiched between Phil and Alfie was Emmerdale’s own bad boy Cain Dingle, while William Roache who plays Ken Barlow in Coronation Street is also in the top ten.
In the modern era soaps tend to be associated with the younger generation who are attracted to the young stars who are making a name for themselves in the industry or through fashion and music; with many making the move over from one sector to the world of soaps in order to “make it”, with Kym Marsh a prime example in this case having previously been in the band Hear’Say before joining Coronation Street – a move former X-Factor star Shayne Ward has just made.
These young fans are often swayed by the events in the shows, praying that their favourites are not killed off in the next standout episode and then talking about it on social media – the new glossy magazine in which we used to get all of our soap news!
The soaps themselves, despite celebrating anniversary episodes, are showing that there is still life in the old dog yet and that the male stars could be the key to their ongoing success – especially if they can get the likes of Danny Dyer to ditch the big screen for our living rooms.
