Last night saw a slightly new arrangement of the sad theme of EastEnders being used as the residents of Albert Square mourned the loss of Bradley Branning. The sad theme is better known by the title of “Julia’s Theme”, so named after the soaps co-creator Julia Smith, and has been used over the years to mark sad or poignant occasions. Here we look at those times when “Julia’s Theme” has been used and when controversially it hasn’t. 

Tonight will mark the first live episode of EastEnders in the soaps 25 years on-air. Tonight millions of viewers will discover just which Albert Square resident killed Archie Mitchell on Christmas Day. Was it Roxy? Was it Ian? Was it Tracy the barmaid? You'll have to wait until tonight's live episode to find out! EastEnders isn't the first soap to go live so we've re-uploaded a feature from last year which looks at other soaps and drama's that have also aired live episodes in recent years.

[Originally uploaded on 15th September 2009]

Following on from our look at the Law & Order franchise and the Super-Soaps of the 1980s we look at the Beverly Hills franchise of the 1990s/2000’s which spawned Beverly Hills 90210, Melrose Place, Models Inc and more recently the revival spin-offs 90210 & Melrose Place.

Late last year it was announced that a revival of Dallas was on the cards as TNT and Warner Brothers considered producing a new version of the classic 1980s soap for a whole new generation of television audiences. Dallas was one of several so called ‘super-soaps’ of the 1980s which captured mass audiences with a mix of over-the-top storylines and larger than life characters. We take a look back at Dallas and its fellow super-soaps of the 1980s such as Dynasty and Falcon Crest.