Family Affairs

This is a nice addition to the soap world by new channel Channel 5. It started out boring but has picked up since Brian Park joined the cast and wrote out an entire family (who were boring really). Me and my girlfriend religiously watch this. Doesn't compare to the big two (Eastenders and Coronation Street), but worth a look.

Since I started watching Family Affairs in November 2004 I've been hooked, I was honestly astonished to find such a fantastic show on a channel such as five. Story lines like Denise's rape, Pete's demise and Chrissy's cancer have kept me glued to my screen for these past 13 months and I for one am going to miss this fabulous soap a great deal when it comes to an end tomorrow night.

Many characters have left Charnham this year and the show has suffered huge losses but still struggled on, August 3rd was a dark day indeed when I was horrified to find Family Affairs had gotten the chop.

While Pete & Eileen Callan, Sadie & Pamela Hargreaves, Dave Matthews, Jake Walker, Lucy Day, Tanya Woods and Conrad Williams were very big parts of the show, It has somehow managed to still entertain me on a daily basis with the 10 new characters introduced these past 2 months - That takes something special that no other genre of television has, something that only soaps have. It seems, with this axing, the great British soap is dying a slow and painful death.

So, to Family Affairs! 2285 episodes on and finally coming to an end, We'll miss you!

Although soap is not a rare commodity in this world, occasionally some do stand out.

Having seen many many soaps over the years, and having dropped most after a few shows I can say that only a very few are both memorable and watchable.

Although this isn't the best of the three that would make up my complete list of good soap operas, I would say that it is the only one still in production.

What it takes to make a good soap opera is writing and although there are daily flaws in the writing of Family Affairs, over all it wins. It wins not only because the cast and the players are so heavily embedded within their part [hell they make five episodes per week they can't help it] but because of the perspective from which the writing takes place.

The writers Know they can't have a plane crash or and Ebola outbreak every week and so they make the smaller stories that do occur affect characters on a more intimate and personal level. Things occur to characters, the characters do appear to have lives. Admittedly on occasion just for viewing figures things go totally out of whack, but on the whole the writers do keep things based on the lives of the characters.

That's what makes this show great.

Oh and in case your wondering the other two shows are, A Country Practice [exceptional characters and writing, all under a limited budget] and Prisoner Cell Block H [yes it was more than just a bunch of ugly chicks doing each other, it had many of the same writers as A Country Practice but with harder stories].

Since i started watching Family Affairs which was around early 1998, i have been glued to it ever since, i only wish i'd watched it from the start, i couldn't believe it when all the Hart's were all wiped out on that boat, i feel that it deals with more real life issues, which is more than you can say about the big two (Eastenders & Coronation St), it's brilliant and underestimated and i can't wait for the omnibus edition on Sundays. It has all the basic ingredients of being a great soap up there with the big two give it a GO!

I know most of you would draw and quarter me for this but I would take this show anyday over Coronation Street and Eastenders.why? Because they do not have a villain so complex and evil as the incredible David Easter's PETE CALLAN. He is the England's answer to DALLAS' JR Ewing. A real son of a bitch but not without his own weakness' (ie kids) who revels in other people's misery and suffering especially when it suits his own agendas. This show really ought to be called the David Easter hour as every scene with his character is eagerly awaited. The shows brisk pace is excellent too and you will definately miss out if you forget a episode.The acting on this show is superior to most soaps and all cast and crew should take a bow. hell, and I usually don't even watch soaps!