Editing Soap opera (section)

===Format===
British soap operas for many years usually only aired two nights a week. The exception was the original ''Crossroads'', which began as a week-daily soap opera in the 1960s but later had its number of weekly broadcasts reduced.

In 1989, ''Coronation Street'' began airing three times a week. In 1996, it expanded to four episodes a week.

''Brookside'' premiered in 1982 with two episodes a week. In 1990 it expanded to three episodes a week.

''EastEnders'' increased its number of episodes a week in 1994 and ''Emmerdale'' did so in 1997.

''Family Affairs'' debuted as a weekdaily soap in 1997, producing five episodes a week its entire run.

In 2004, ''Emmerdale'' began airing six episodes a week.

In a January 2008 overhaul of the ITV network, the Sunday episodes of ''Coronation Street'' and ''Emmerdale'' were moved out of their slots. ''Coronation Street'' added a second episode on Friday evenings at 8:30&nbsp;p.m. ''Emmerdale''{{'s}} Tuesday edition was extended to an hour, putting it in direct competition with ''EastEnders''. In July 2009, the schedules of these serials were changed again. On 23 July 2009, ''Coronation Street'' moved from the Wednesday slot it held for 49 years, to Thursday evenings. ''Emmerdale'' reverted to running just one 30-minute episode on Tuesday evenings and the other 30-minute installment was moved to Thursday evenings.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2009/jul/08/coronation-street-move-wednesdays |date=8 July 2009 |access-date=14 September 2020 |work=[[The Guardian]] |first=Leigh |last=Holmwood |title=Coronation Street to move from Wednesdays – after nearly 50 years}}</ref> ''Coronation Street'' later returned to a Wednesday slot, to air Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 19:30 and 20:30. ''Emmerdale'' airs at 19:00 every weeknight, and 20:00 on Thursdays.

Later, ''Coronation Street'' (which began airing two episodes on Monday nights in 2002) produced five episodes a week.

It was announced in June 2016 that starting from late 2017, ''Coronation Street'' would air six episodes a week.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.digitalspy.com/soaps/coronation-street/feature/a799753/coronation-streets-six-episode-week-a-treat-or-a-terrible-idea/|title=Corrie's 6 episodes: A treat or a terrible idea?|date=1 July 2016|author1=Daniel Kilkelly|author2=Sophie Dainty|work=[[Digital Spy]]}}</ref>

''Doctors'' aired five episodes a week until 2022, and four episodes from 2022 onwards, and is the only soap without a weekend omnibus repeat screening. ''Hollyoaks'' produces five episodes a week. The imported ''Neighbours'' screened as five new episodes a week. {{As of|2024}}, ''EastEnders'' produces four episodes a week.

UK soap operas are shot on videotape in the studio using a multi-camera setup. In their early years, ''Coronation Street'' and ''Emmerdale'' used [[16 mm film]] for footage shot on location. Since the 1980s, UK soap opera have routinely featured scenes shot outdoors in each episode. This footage is shot on videotape on a purpose-built outdoor set that represents the community which the soap focuses on.

''Hollyoaks'' and ''Family Affairs'' were taped on [[high-definition video]], and used the [[film look|filmizing]] process.