Soap Settings

Soaps share universal conventions regarding their settings, themes characters and other various elements of the genre.

Setting plays a very important role in a soap, as usually, the setting reflects the community and characters in the soap.
Typically, a soap will be set in an area that can have a small community, an example being a square or commune, like Albert Square from EastEnders, or a suburb of Chester for Hollyoaks. 

The purpose of this is that small areas allow the characters to mingle and communicate with each other more effortlessly, but it also allows the show's writers to write the drama much more seamlessly, with less characters to focus individual plots on.
The setting of the soap also consists of various locations that add to the realism of the settings, and allows for the writers to produce many differing social contexts for any particular scene.
A typical setting in a soap that seems to be a convention in itself is a social hub where much of the show is based at, with the pub "The Queen Vic" for EastEnders and "The Student Union Bar" in Hollyoaks, which also reflect the typical age range of an average viewer of each show, as adults can relate more to a pub than teenagers can, making EastEnders an ideal show for an older demographic, and many of the social hubs in Hollyoaks are clubs and bars and therefore is geared toward a teenage demographic.

The Student Bar (Left) juxtaposed with The Queen Victoria (Right)

The reason that these venues are popular in soaps is because it is a good place to gossip, and as of such, can act as an invaluable location to reveal plot points and set up tensions between characters, adding to the drama.

Another popular (and somewhat obvious) location for all soaps are the individual homes of the characters, these settings can act as locations where characters can discuss private things between their families and close friends, and also to add to the realism that soaps strive for.

Finally, another common setting for soaps are the workplaces of the characters, be it a local shop, a newsagents or the social hubs. These locations act more to add to the realism then to progress stories, although occasionally plot points and character developments can be revealed in these places.