Albion Market
A dangerous day at the market.
A threat, a bomb scare and an evacuation – Albion Market starts its series with a bang!
First broadcast in 1985 and set in Salford, Greater Manchester, Albion Market was a short-lived soap focusing on the lives of traders in an inner-city indoor market. In this first episode, market superintendent Derek’s day goes from bad to worse when he receives a threatening phone call. We’re introduced to various characters as the peril disrupts their daily lives.
At the time, Granada Television promoted Albion Market as a twice-weekly companion drama to Coronation Street, with viewers, offered a cast of characters more diverse than its cobbled counterpart. Its permanent purpose-built set with a working café at its centre and fresh produce on the stalls emphasised realism. Despite covering several hard-hitting storylines, audience figures never reached those of rival BBC soap Eastenders which began in February 1985. Albion Market was cancelled in September 1986.
Please note that the start of the programme contains one instance of outdated language to describe race and one outdated reference to a disability charity name (approx. 17:58).
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TV Soap: Selection Box
Continuing drama on the small screen: explore how TV soap has changed over the decades.
The UK is a nation of soap addicts, with programmes commanding audiences of millions every week. Since they first appeared on British television in the 1950s, British soaps have given us hundreds of memorably distinctive characters in many different settings. But while they take many forms, there are some common characteristics.
Where in the US soaps tend to favour glamour and frothy fantasy, here they typically centre on relatable communities and families and reflect life in (usually) contemporary Britain, exploring sometimes thorny social issues and attitudes to class, race, gender, sexuality and more. While originally steeped in real-life domestic conflict, soap marched into the new millennium with hard-hitting storylines, sensationalist plots and issue-driven narratives highlighting pressing matters of the day.
This collection showcases a variety of soaps; rural or urban, north or south and everything in between. Some were shortlived and are much missed, while others are longstanding favourites embedded in our collective memory.
So settle in and prepare for drama!
24 videos in this collection
1
2
General Hospital [19/10/72]
3
Garnock Way [01/04/76]
4
Emmerdale Farm [05/04/76]
5
A Stitch in Time
6
Coronation Street [14/11/77]
7
Crossroads (Promotion)
8
Pat Phoenix &Tony Booth (Live from Two)
9
Mary Whitehouse Reacts to Brookside Scenes
10
Emmerdale Farm [14/05/85]
11
Coronation Street[01/11/1961]
12
Crossroads [23/05/85]
13
Albion Market
14
Coronation Street [13/08/86]
15
Yorkshire Television
16
Brookside [13/04/87]
17
Families [14/01/91]
18
Family Pride [08/09/91]
19
Emmerdale [10/10/91]
20
Coronation Street [06/07/92]
21
Sus
22
Machair
23
Sus
24