Editing Soap opera (section)

===Television===
An early television serial was ''[[The Grove Family]]'' on the BBC, which produced 148 episodes from 1954 to 1957. The programme was broadcast live and only a handful of recordings were retained in the archives. The UK's first twice-weekly serial was ITV's ''[[Emergency - Ward 10]]'', running from 1957 until 1967.

In the 1960s, ''[[Coronation Street]]'' revolutionised UK television and quickly became a British institution. On 17 September 2010, it became the world's longest-running television soap opera and was listed in ''[[Guinness World Records]]''.<ref name="Corrie"/> The BBC also produced several serials: ''[[Compact (soap opera)|Compact]]'' was about the staff of a women's magazine; ''[[The Newcomers (TV series)|The Newcomers]]'' was about the upheaval caused by a large firm setting up a plant in a small town; ''[[United!]]'' contained 147 episodes and focused on a football team; ''[[199 Park Lane]]'' (1965) was an upper class serial, which ran for only 18 episodes. None of these serials came close to making the same impact as ''Coronation Street''. Indeed, most of the 1960s BBC serials were largely [[wiped]].

During the 1960s, ''Coronation Street''{{'s}} main rival was ''[[Crossroads (soap opera)|Crossroads]]'', a daily serial that began in 1964 and aired on ITV in the early evening. ''Crossroads'' was set in a [[Birmingham]] motel and, although the program was popular, its purported low technical standard and bad acting were much mocked. By the 1980s, its ratings had begun to decline. Several attempts to revamp the program through cast changes and, later, expanding the focus from the motel to the surrounding community were unsuccessful. ''Crossroads'' was cancelled in 1988 (a new version of ''Crossroads'' was later produced, running from 2001 until 2003).

A later rival to ''Coronation Street'' was ITV's ''[[Emmerdale Farm]]'' (later renamed ''Emmerdale''), which began in 1972 in a daytime slot and was set in rural [[Yorkshire]]. Increased viewership resulted in ''Emmerdale'' being moved to a prime-time slot in the 1980s.

''[[Pobol y Cwm]]'' (''People of the Valley'') is a [[Welsh language]] serial that has been produced by the BBC since October 1974, and is the longest-running television soap opera produced by the broadcaster. ''Pobol y Cwm'' was originally broadcast on [[BBC Wales]] television from 1974 to 1982; it was then moved to the Welsh-language television station [[S4C]] when it opened in November 1982. The program was occasionally shown on [[BBC One|BBC1]] in London during periods of regional optout in the mid- to late 1970s. ''Pobol y Cwm'' was briefly shown in the rest of the UK in 1994 on [[BBC Two|BBC2]], with English [[subtitling|subtitles]]; it is consistently the most watched programme each week on S4C.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://s4c.co.uk/abouts4c/viewing/e_index.shtml |title=s4c.co.uk |publisher=s4c.co.uk |date=2005-11-01 |access-date=2012-04-27}}</ref>