SEX, LIES AND SOAPS
PROGRAMME 5: SCHOOL YEARS
OVERVIEW
While soaps have increasingly focused on their younger characters in a move to cement their popularity with a younger audience, they have rarely fully addressed the experience that occupies a substantial proportion of teenagers' lives – their school days. Of all British soap operas, the only ones to have featured in-depth storylines set in classrooms, with a central focus on teaching, learning and in-school relationships, are Hollyoaks and the, sadly, demised Brookside – both broadcast by Channel 4 and from the stable of Phil Redmond's Mersey TV. This isn't surprising, given that Phil Redmond was also the originator of the longest-running children's soap of all-time – Grange Hill – which starts its thirtieth series in January 2007, and is the only soap to actually be set in a school.
This programme investigates why British soaps, unlike their US and Australian counterparts, tend to underplay the significance of education, aspirations and the influence of schooling on the lives of their teenage characters. The OC appears to be relatively authentic in representing Californian school life as glamorous, well-endowed, and highly motivating for an exceptionally highly-motivated group of high achievers. However, UK soap teens are rarely seen in school, studying, or aspiring to professional careers; they tend to leave school early, work in the family business, and never leave the local area. And this in a political climate of 'Education, Education, Education', at a time when Britain's youth is amongst the most poorly educated in Europe.
As with so many aspects of soap representations, this is more a function of practical logistics and institutional pressures than intention or poor writing, as producers and writers admit. Schools mean sets, large numbers of pupils and massive costs if they are to be remotely authentic-looking. Hollyoaks uses a single classroom in a disused campus very ingeniously, but viewers are quick to spot the camera tricks and limited extras. Furthermore, educational opportunity means leaving home for university or occupational training, thus resulting in the loss of the characters most popular with the teen audience. Producers narrow the horizons of their teen characters in order to keep them on-set, even if this means lowering their aspirations or role-model potential. And as critic Grace Dent points out, the end result all too often is that working-class kids are kept in their place (and class) – street-sweeping, market-trading or bar-tending.
The teens in this programme are eloquent about the dangers of this situation. While they may envy the luxury of The OC's Harbour School, they understand the privilege and wealth it requires; while they critique the lack of realism in the exciting social lives of Walford teens, they're also aware of the stereotypes and under-achievement they can foster.
This is a complex area to unpick; the programme confidently demonstrates that soaps don't reflect the reality of school life, or the reality of young people's aspirations, but offers no real solutions. Whatever, it's a far cry from the glory days of Brookside, when not only did teens have affairs with their teachers, but regular characters retrained to be teachers, in authentic-looking school buildings, and engaged (albeit in soapbox mode) in real educational debates about teaching and learning, under-staffing, workloads and the narrowing of the curriculum.
