World Cup Qualification Round Rest of The World Soap Operas

[Angela Channing]

The final qualification round will be to select TWO "Rest of The World" soap operas to go through to the main contest. Any soap opera from a country other than the UK, USA or Australia will be eligible, past or present, daytime or prime time.

No soap operas have automatically qualified for this category.

Forum members are each asked to nominate ONE soap opera that they would like to see competing in the finals of The World Cup of Soap Operas. Once the nominations have been completed, I will collate them and post the final list for everyone to vote for the shows they would like to go through.

Nominations are now open for you to suggest the soap operas you would like to be part of the qualifying vote. It is helpful to give reasons for you nominations but this is entirely optional.

Nominations will close at midday Tuesday 13th August.

 

[Englishboy]

Radio Waves - short lived 1970s soap opera set in a commercial radio station in Auckland, New Zealand.

It is notable for having Alan Dale in its cast in his first major tv role who would go on to greater fame as the ill tempered Dr John Forrest in The Young Doctors and follow this as Ramsay street patriarch, Jim Robinson in Neighbours (the role for which he is probably most famous).

 

[James from London]

Great, now's my chance to nominate Red Rock!

This is what I wrote about the other week when I thought I'd missed my chance:

Red Rock: the Irish police station/crime family-based soap opera that's just come back to BBC1 in the afternoons for its final series. It's far soapier than The Bill ever was and much grittier than any 'afternoon soap' has a right to be (it aired in prime-time back in Ireland). It's got great plotting and top-notch acting with a real emphasis on its characters.

It's comparatively low-budget, but in a good way - it means it's lean and taut and focused.

 

[Willie Oleson]

For me it has to be WESTENWIND (1999-2003), a story about two dysfunctional, feuding families.

It did all the classic soap tropes like the Romeo & Juliet romance, the evil matriarch and her psycho grandson, lots of affairs and boardroom backstabbings.
It goes without saying that it had more gore and nudity than the American soaps.

 

[Victoriafan3]

Oh it’s a toss up between two...NZ’s only glamour soapie Gloss, which ran for three seasons from 88-90 it has Sullivan’s/Sons and Daughters Ilona Rodgers actress in the lead as the magazine editor. It also premiered McLeods Daughters lead actress Lisa Chappell as her daughter

Then there is NZs longest running soap Shortland Street, which is set in a hospital. It started in 1992 and is still going, 5 nights a week for half an hour. A lot of the Lord of the Rings cast debuted on here, most notably Karl Urban who had a kiwi soaps first gay kiss and Temuera Morrison of Star Wars fame. Every Christmas they usually have mass blood shed for the cliffhanger. Oh dear

Golly gee, decisions decisions.

I’ll go with Gloss this time...

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

Great, now's my chance to nominate Red Rock!

This is what I wrote about the other week when I thought I'd missed my chance:

Red Rock: the Irish police station/crime family-based soap opera that's just come back to BBC1 in the afternoons for its final series. It's far soapier than The Bill ever was and much grittier than any 'afternoon soap' has a right to be (it aired in prime-time back in Ireland). It's got great plotting and top-notch acting with a real emphasis on its characters.

It's comparatively low-budget, but in a good way - it means it's lean and taut and focused.

I came to nominate Red Rock thinking nobody else would've heard of it, so it's great to see it getting much deserved appreciation from someone else. It was such a good show in it's heyday. I kind of lost track after it moved post-watershed and they tried turning it into a Love/Hate clone but it was great while it lasted.

Then there is NZs longest running soap Shortland Street, which is set in a hospital. It started in 1992 and is still going, 5 nights a week for half an hour. A lot of the Lord of the Rings cast debuted on here, most notably Karl Urban who had a kiwi soaps first gay kiss and Temuera Morrison of Star Wars fame. Every Christmas they usually have mass blood shed for the cliffhanger. Oh dear

Shortland Street deserves a nod for this cliffhanger alone

Alas, I'm going to throw my support behind something a bit closer to home. My pick is Riviera. Not the Julia Stiles led trainwreck currently doing the rounds but the daily soap that ran for 260 episodes from 1991 - 1992 which followed the lives of a perfume dynasty in the South of France. This truly was an "international soap". Produced in France by a committee of pan-European production companies with some help from American writers & producers, it was filmed in English before being dubbed into various Euro languages with a view to it being sold across the continent in order to capitalise on the success of US soaps like Santa Barbara and The Bold and the Beautiful. It never took off though. In it's native France, it initially aired at 6pm before being relegated to 6am when ratings tanked. In the UK, it was picked up as cheap filler for ITV's late night schedule, usually washing up sometime around 4am. Randomly enough, all 260 episodes are available to watch online, albeit dubbed into Catalan.

 

[James from London]

I came to nominate Red Rock thinking nobody else would've heard of it, so it's great to see it getting much deserved appreciation from someone else. It was such a good show in it's heyday. I kind of lost track after it moved post-watershed and they tried turning it into a Love/Hate clone but it was great while it lasted.

@Canon tipped me the wink about it - as well as Love/Hate, which I also loved.

this cliffhanger alone

Wow.

before being relegated to 6am

I think there might have been a time when I would have got up at 6am specifically to watch a pan-European soap.

 

[Daniel Avery]

"Please tell me this is not your penis!"
"Of course not, dad...it's yours!"
[looks] "Aw, hell!"
"Reply All strikes again, eh dad?"

 

[Angela Channing]

It goes without saying that it had more gore and nudity than the American soaps.

This sold it for me.

 

[Angela Channing]

Shortland Street deserves a nod for this cliffhanger alone

Wow, almost as good as Who shot JR?

 

[Angela Channing]

My nomination is for Châteauvallon from France. I'll always have a soft spot for this soap opera as I used to watch it to help with my learning of French. In many ways it was Dallas à la française: there was a ruthless JR type character who ran a newspaper and his main rival was a Cliff Barnes type in the form of a Yugoslav immigrant who was trying to bring him down. I also remember there was a murder mystery storyline but I don't recall who was killed and who did it.

In the UK it was shown on Channel 4, I think on a Tuesday at 9pm dubbed into English and repeated on Saturday afternoon in French with subtitles. I used to watch on a Saturday and tried not to look at the subtitles and follow the dialogue. I probably only understood about half of what they were saying but that was enough to recognise it was a great show.

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

My nomination is for Châteauvallon from France. I'll always have a soft spot for this soap opera as I used to watch it to help with my learning of French. In many ways it was Dallas à la française: there was a ruthless JR type character who ran a newspaper and his main rival was a Cliff Barnes type in the form of a Yugoslav immigrant who was trying to bring him down. I also remember there was a murder mystery storyline but I don't recall who was killed and who did it.

In the UK it was shown on Channel 4, I think on a Tuesday at 9pm dubbed into English and repeated on Saturday afternoon in French with subtitles. I used to watch on a Saturday and tried not to look at the subtitles and follow the dialogue. I probably only understood about half of what they were saying but that was enough to recognise it was a great show.

It has a cracker of a theme song too. It's one of those shows that I really want to watch but my French is nowhere near good enough to have a clue what is going on. Excuse my ignorance also but what is the titular Chateauvallon? Is it the name of the town it is set in? Or the family estate?

 

[Angela Channing]

It has a cracker of a theme song too. It's one of those shows that I really want to watch but my French is nowhere near good enough to have a clue what is going on. Excuse my ignorance also but what is the titular Chateauvallon? Is it the name of the town it is set in? Or the family estate?

I agree, the theme is great.

Chateauvallon was a fictional region in France on the bank of the Loire River where the show was set. The family business was a newspaper called La Depeche Republican (The Republican Dispatch).

 

[Jock Og]

I nominate Glenroe. The show was set in a rural community in Co. Wicklow, Ireland and commenced in 1983, finishing in 2001 after the core cast diminished. The main stars were Joe Lynch R.I.P. (Dinny Byrne), Mick Lally R.I.P. (Miley Byrne), Mary McEvoy (Biddy Byrne), Geraldine Plunkett (Mary McDermott-Moran) and Emmet Bergin (Dick Moran). I remember fondly the soap opera being broadcast every Sunday night from September to May, on RTE at 8.30 p.m.

More often than not patriarchal Dinny got involved in a rumbly venture and he was at loggerheads with his son Miley, "well Holy God!" Glenroe was like Ireland's Emmerdale. During a 18 year run a priest became a permanent character, an English man, then there was a cranky old neighbour, a wife for Dinny who would later become the local pub owner and members of the 'Travelling Community' also joined as regulars. Glenroe was great escapism, the Irish way.

 

[Carrie Fairchild]

I nominate Glenroe. The show was set in a rural community in Co. Wicklow, Ireland and commenced in 1983, finishing in 2001 after the core cast diminished. The main stars were Joe Lynch R.I.P. (Dinny Byrne), Mick Lally R.I.P. (Miley Byrne), Mary McEvoy (Biddy Byrne), Geraldine Plunkett (Mary McDermott-Moran) and Emmet Bergin (Dick Moran). I remember fondly the soap opera being broadcast every Sunday night from September to May, on RTE at 8.30 p.m.

More often than not patriarchal Dinny got involved in a rumbly venture and he was at loggerheads with his son Miley, "well Holy God!" Glenroe was like Ireland's Emmerdale. During a 18 year run a priest became a permanent character, an English man, then there was a cranky old neighbour, a wife for Dinny who would later become the local pub owner and members of the 'Travelling Community' also joined as regulars. Glenroe was great escapism, the Irish way.

I may be looking back at it through rose tinted glasses, because I know it went off the boil towards the end, but I think RTE missed a trick by not expanding it to a few nights a week as I think it could still be running now as a key part of their schedules. Instead they threw their lot in with the awful (IMO) Fair City which isn't a patch on Glenroe in terms of writing, acting and location shooting.

 

[Canon]

I nominate Glenroe. The show was set in a rural community in Co. Wicklow, Ireland and commenced in 1983, finishing in 2001 after the core cast diminished. The main stars were Joe Lynch R.I.P. (Dinny Byrne), Mick Lally R.I.P. (Miley Byrne), Mary McEvoy (Biddy Byrne), Geraldine Plunkett (Mary McDermott-Moran) and Emmet Bergin (Dick Moran).

I may be looking back at it through rose tinted glasses, because I know it went off the boil towards the end, but I think RTE missed a trick by not expanding it to a few nights a week as I think it could still be running now as a key part of their schedules. Instead they threw their lot in with the awful (IMO) Fair City which isn't a patch on Glenroe in terms of writing, acting and location shooting.

Glenroe ticked along nicely and every now and then could be quite great, mostly because of a really good core cast of actors. Especially Geraldine Plunkett and Emmet Bergin who created probably the greatest soap couple on Irish TV. Towards the end they did a two hander episode and I remember thinking that this was something special, I'd really like to see that episode again - I can't find anything online to prove that it even happened!

 

[Canon]

Glenroe was like Ireland's Emmerdale

Emmerdale was apparently partly inspired by Glenroe's predecessor The Riordans. YTV even came to Ireland in the early 70s to see how the countryside location filming was being done.

@Canon tipped me the wink about it - as well as Love/Hate, which I also loved.

Still pissed as to how Red Rock was treated. Made on a small budget and still looked great, I thought it had much more life in it. The final two episodes were held back and have yet to air, I was hoping this may have been a reprieval but seems unlikely now. It will be interesting to see if the final two episodes air on Amazon Prime and the BBC before here.

 

[Falcon Crest I]

Gotta be Shortland Street from the Kiwis and still going strong 27 years later.

 

[Karin Schill]

I nominate the Swedish soap opera "Rederiet" (1992-2002).

It is a story about the Dahlén family who owns a shipping company. They arrange short passenger cruises on the Baltic sea between Stockholm and Helsinki mostly. They have three children. Rolf, Renate and Rebecca. Rolf is captain of the ship. Renate is the ambitious sister who wants to run things and work hard. Rebecca is the little sister who is a bit irresponsibe. Then there is a bastard son named Tony who works on the ship "Freja". The story also follows the staff on the cruise ship. Like the bartender Joker.

It is a prime time soap opera that has 318 episodes. It's one of the most successful Swedish ones that has also been exported to a number of countries abroad.

Also since we can only nominate one I struggled whether to nominate this, "Varuhuset" or "Tre Kronor."

Also I think the German show "Die Schwarzwaldklinik" is also worth a nomination.

But in the end I decided to go with Rederiet.

 

[Karin Schill]

It has a cracker of a theme song too. It's one of those shows that I really want to watch but my French is nowhere near good enough to have a clue what is going on. Excuse my ignorance also but what is the titular Chateauvallon? Is it the name of the town it is set in? Or the family estate?

Yikes just checked out the theme on YouTube and it is like 1 minute 50 seconds long. It also had some unusual stuff in the opening credits like a hot and heavy love scene and a funeral car. I like the 80s fashion /vibe to the show though.