Settings in soaps are very important in terms of deciding which characters to place within the set and whether they would fit the surroundings and the storylines they are based in. A soap can be based anywhere that consists of people as all soaps use characters to portray events that could occur within that particular environment. However, the sets are usually in a strongly identified area in which the characters would be suited to their area by their accents or mannerisms. From using this technique the viewers can be attracted from all areas as the people familiar with that area would watch in order to see how they are portrayed whereas people from outside the area would watch to find out what the people from that area are aparently like. e.g EastEnders is set in the East End of London whilst Emmerdale is setin the countryside etc.  The street that the Coronation Street set was based on. The EastEnders set - the EastEnders set is based in a town called Walford where all the characters live around a square. In the set there are all the facilities that the characters could need in their life to live including a pub, a launderette, a cafe, a newsagents, a park and a train station. All these buildings would be expected to be in a town to provide people with what they need so they are particularly placed in order to be available for the characters. Particular places such as the pub, the cafe and the train station are often sets for important storylines including the murders in the pub and the sad farewells from the station. |  The Emmerdale cast in the set based in the countryside. Typical settings for soaps include, towns, villages and roads which the creator can base a range of characters within and define the relationships between them. The sets are usually domestic, unromantic, middle class sets so that the majority of the audience can relate to the characters and their life. The sets usually include leisure places such as parks, pubs, cafes and small shops so that the characters are centred on the leisure time in their life rather than the worklife. Pubs in soaps are usually iconic places within soaps and are usually hosts of major storylines as all characters are familiar to the place and all congrugate in that area. e.g Soaps include The Rovers Returns in Coronation Street and The Queen Vic' in EastEnders (shown below)
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