Editing Soap opera (section)

===1990s===
In 1992, the BBC made ''[[Eldorado (soap opera)|Eldorado]]'' to daily alternate with ''EastEnders''. The programme was heavily criticised and only lasted one year. Nevertheless, soap operas gained increasing prominence on UK television schedules. In 1995, Channel 4 premiered ''[[Hollyoaks]]'', a soap with a youth focus which initially aired only once weekly, but became week-daily in November 2003. When Channel 5 launched in March 1997, it debuted the soap opera ''[[Family Affairs]]'', which was formatted as a week-daily soap, airing Monday through Fridays.

''Brookside''{{'s}} premise evolved during the 1990s, phasing out the politicised stories of the 1980s and shifting the emphasis to controversial and sensationalist stories such as child rape, [[incest|sibling incest]], religious cults and drug addiction, including the infamous 'body under the patio' storyline that ran from 1993 to 1995, and gave the serial its highest ratings ever with 9&nbsp;million viewers.

''Coronation Street'' and ''Brookside'' began releasing straight-to-video features. The ''Coronation Street'' releases generally kept the pace and style of conventional programs episodes with the action set in foreign locations. The ''Brookside'' releases were set in the usual locations, but featured stories with adult content not allowed on television pre-watershed, with these releases given '18' certificates.

''Emmerdale Farm'' was renamed ''Emmerdale'' in 1989. The series was revamped in 1993 with many changes executed via the crash of a passenger jet that partially destroyed the village and killed several characters. This attracted criticism as it was broadcast near the fifth anniversary of the [[Lockerbie bombing]]. The storyline drew the soap its highest ever audience of 18&nbsp;million viewers. The revamp was a success and ''Emmerdale'' grew in popularity.

Throughout the 1990s, ''Brookside'', ''Coronation Street'', ''EastEnders'' and ''Emmerdale'' continued to flourish. Each increased the number of episodes that aired on a weekly basis by at least one, further defining soap operas as the leading genre in British television.