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| How to kill off a soap star | How to kill off a soap star |
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| By Denise Winterman BBC News Magazine Ashtrays, trams, shop freezers, plane crashes - all have been used to kill off soap stars. Vera Duckworth is the latest to make a big exit and how she goes is anyone's guess. What makes a good soap death? | By Denise Winterman BBC News Magazine Ashtrays, trams, shop freezers, plane crashes - all have been used to kill off soap stars. Vera Duckworth is the latest to make a big exit and how she goes is anyone's guess. What makes a good soap death? |
| Statistically speaking, Vera Duckworth is one very lucky lady. | Statistically speaking, Vera Duckworth is one very lucky lady. |
| She's spent 34 years living in Coronation Street and hasn't been in savagely beaten with a crowbar, cracked on the head with one of her ornaments or locked in a freezer at local supermarket Freshco. | She's spent 34 years living in Coronation Street and hasn't been in savagely beaten with a crowbar, cracked on the head with one of her ornaments or locked in a freezer at local supermarket Freshco. |
| MOST DRAMATIC SOAP DEATHS Trevor Jordache, stabbed by estranged wife (Brookside)Richard Hillman, drowned (Coronation St)Steve Owen, car crash (Eastenders)Half the cast, plane crash (Emmerdale)Maxine Peacock, murdered by Hillman (Coronation St) Source: Radio Times Great soap matriarchs Maxine Peacock, Charlie Stubbs and Anne Malone weren't so lucky - all with fatal consequences. | MOST DRAMATIC SOAP DEATHS Trevor Jordache, stabbed by estranged wife (Brookside)Richard Hillman, drowned (Coronation St)Steve Owen, car crash (Eastenders)Half the cast, plane crash (Emmerdale)Maxine Peacock, murdered by Hillman (Coronation St) Source: Radio Times Great soap matriarchs Maxine Peacock, Charlie Stubbs and Anne Malone weren't so lucky - all with fatal consequences. |
| Soapland is not a safe place to inhabit and surviving for more than three decades is some feat. But after a good innings, the nation's favourite battleaxe - with a heart of gold - will be killed off in tonight's episode. | Soapland is not a safe place to inhabit and surviving for more than three decades is some feat. But after a good innings, the nation's favourite battleaxe - with a heart of gold - will be killed off in tonight's episode. |
| How she goes in Friday's episode is shrouded in secrecy. Soap characters have been killed off in plane crashes, fatally hit by irons, ashtrays and trams - even shot by gun-toting revolutionaries in Dynasty. | How she goes in Friday's episode is shrouded in secrecy. Soap characters have been killed off in plane crashes, fatally hit by irons, ashtrays and trams - even shot by gun-toting revolutionaries in Dynasty. |
| One thing's for certain, it has to be good. Viewers expect nothing less than television gold and tears galore. Vera is soap royalty, one of the genre's best-loved characters and one half of its most endearing - and enduring - couples. | One thing's for certain, it has to be good. Viewers expect nothing less than television gold and tears galore. Vera is soap royalty, one of the genre's best-loved characters and one half of its most endearing - and enduring - couples. |
| Tender moments | Tender moments |
| But while many soap deaths are memorable, often it's not for the right reasons. Some make for classic viewing but others are laughed-out-loud funny for their sheer silliness - the Freshco freezer incident being one. So what makes a good soap death? | But while many soap deaths are memorable, often it's not for the right reasons. Some make for classic viewing but others are laughed-out-loud funny for their sheer silliness - the Freshco freezer incident being one. So what makes a good soap death? |
| MOST EMOTIONAL SOAP DEATHS Ethel Skinner, euthanasia (Eastenders)Jamie Mitchell, run over (Eastenders)Alma Halliwell, cancer (Coronation St)Dennis Rickman, stabbed (Eastenders)Matthew and Emily Farnham, car crash (Brookside) Source: Radio Times It's all about emotional resonance, say soap scriptwriters. Regardless of whether the character is good or bad, the audience has to connected with them in some way - for or against, but never indifferent. | MOST EMOTIONAL SOAP DEATHS Ethel Skinner, euthanasia (Eastenders)Jamie Mitchell, run over (Eastenders)Alma Halliwell, cancer (Coronation St)Dennis Rickman, stabbed (Eastenders)Matthew and Emily Farnham, car crash (Brookside) Source: Radio Times It's all about emotional resonance, say soap scriptwriters. Regardless of whether the character is good or bad, the audience has to connected with them in some way - for or against, but never indifferent. |
| "If that bit is right it will get the best out of the audience and the actors, they will all feel it," says Simon Ashdown, former scriptwriter for Eastenders and responsible for killing off Tiffany Mitchell (hit by car), Ethel Skinner (euthanasia) and Arthur Fowler (brain haemorrhage). | "If that bit is right it will get the best out of the audience and the actors, they will all feel it," says Simon Ashdown, former scriptwriter for Eastenders and responsible for killing off Tiffany Mitchell (hit by car), Ethel Skinner (euthanasia) and Arthur Fowler (brain haemorrhage). |
| "You want to get every last drop of emotion out of all of them. Tiffany's death on Eastenders is a good example. The audience liked her and were hooked into her storyline, they really cared what happened to her. It was also really well acted, when she was dying there was a close up of her face and you could almost see the life go out of her eyes." | "You want to get every last drop of emotion out of all of them. Tiffany's death on Eastenders is a good example. The audience liked her and were hooked into her storyline, they really cared what happened to her. It was also really well acted, when she was dying there was a close up of her face and you could almost see the life go out of her eyes." |
| Often deaths involve fire, explosions or crashes. But while there has to be something "epic" about the scene, that doesn't necessarily mean it has to be visually spectacular. It's about balance. | Often deaths involve fire, explosions or crashes. But while there has to be something "epic" about the scene, that doesn't necessarily mean it has to be visually spectacular. It's about balance. |
| "A bad soap death is one that's so over the top, the spectacle overshadows what should be a tender moment," says author Andrew Collins, the former Eastenders scriptwriter who killed off Nick Cotton's son Ashley (motorbike accident). | "A bad soap death is one that's so over the top, the spectacle overshadows what should be a tender moment," says author Andrew Collins, the former Eastenders scriptwriter who killed off Nick Cotton's son Ashley (motorbike accident). |
| Emotion can make just as much impact as a huge explosion, as the death of the Ethel Skinner in Eastenders showed. Voted the most moving soap death in a recent Radio Times poll, the intimate episode featured only Ethel and her best friend Dot, who helped her commit suicide. | Emotion can make just as much impact as a huge explosion, as the death of the Ethel Skinner in Eastenders showed. Voted the most moving soap death in a recent Radio Times poll, the intimate episode featured only Ethel and her best friend Dot, who helped her commit suicide. |
| "That was a gentle death," says Ashdown, who wrote it. "It was about the love of two friends. I thought that was powerful enough." | "That was a gentle death," says Ashdown, who wrote it. "It was about the love of two friends. I thought that was powerful enough." |
| Resurrection and life | Resurrection and life |
| And while people do tune in to view attention-grabbing stunts, they often only boost ratings for one night. A stunt won't necessarily make them tune back in the next night or the night after. A good death will pull viewers back in because it won't be the end of a story, just a new chapter. | And while people do tune in to view attention-grabbing stunts, they often only boost ratings for one night. A stunt won't necessarily make them tune back in the next night or the night after. A good death will pull viewers back in because it won't be the end of a story, just a new chapter. |
| Hatch, match and dispatch is what soaps are all about Gareth McLean "The best deaths are those that are the climax of that character's storyline, but crucially have ramifications for those left," says Gareth McLean, television critic with the Guardian newspaper. "They send other characters on a new journey." | Hatch, match and dispatch is what soaps are all about Gareth McLean "The best deaths are those that are the climax of that character's storyline, but crucially have ramifications for those left," says Gareth McLean, television critic with the Guardian newspaper. "They send other characters on a new journey." |
| An element of surprise is also a winner, but it's increasingly difficult in the crowded soap marketplace, where storylines often get out long before the event itself. | An element of surprise is also a winner, but it's increasingly difficult in the crowded soap marketplace, where storylines often get out long before the event itself. |
| The build-up to Vera Duckworth's death has been well handled because there have been no obvious hints in the running storyline about how it will happen. This maintains surprise and builds suspense, says Craig Batty, senior lecturer in scriptwriting at Portsmouth University. | The build-up to Vera Duckworth's death has been well handled because there have been no obvious hints in the running storyline about how it will happen. This maintains surprise and builds suspense, says Craig Batty, senior lecturer in scriptwriting at Portsmouth University. |
| "We know Vera and Jack are looking forward to a new life in Blackpool. The writers are building up their excitement and that is in contrast with the audience knowing something bad is going to happen but not what, which builds their excitement." | "We know Vera and Jack are looking forward to a new life in Blackpool. The writers are building up their excitement and that is in contrast with the audience knowing something bad is going to happen but not what, which builds their excitement." |
| But possibly one of the most important elements is that the storyline is true to the character. If it isn't you are "breaking a pact with the audience and they don't like it", says Mr Batty. | But possibly one of the most important elements is that the storyline is true to the character. If it isn't you are "breaking a pact with the audience and they don't like it", says Mr Batty. |
| The festive season is particularly deadly in soapland"The death should always be character driven. You have to believe they would do what the scriptwriters make them do. If it isn't right, it feels like a disservice to the character." | The festive season is particularly deadly in soapland"The death should always be character driven. You have to believe they would do what the scriptwriters make them do. If it isn't right, it feels like a disservice to the character." |
| But this is soapland after all and characters sometimes pull off what mere mortals can't - resurrection. | But this is soapland after all and characters sometimes pull off what mere mortals can't - resurrection. |
| Writers say the biggest mistake when it comes to soap deaths is bringing the person back to life, like Den Watts in Eastenders and Bobby Ewing in Dallas. | Writers say the biggest mistake when it comes to soap deaths is bringing the person back to life, like Den Watts in Eastenders and Bobby Ewing in Dallas. |
| "Hatch, match and dispatch is what soaps are all about," says McLean. "If you take away the finality of death you are messing with one of the fundamentals of soap. The show loses credibility and the audience lose faith. | "Hatch, match and dispatch is what soaps are all about," says McLean. "If you take away the finality of death you are messing with one of the fundamentals of soap. The show loses credibility and the audience lose faith. |
| "Soaps pride themselves on social realism, so to play with it is a huge mistake. It took Eastenders a long while to come back from the Den debacle." | "Soaps pride themselves on social realism, so to play with it is a huge mistake. It took Eastenders a long while to come back from the Den debacle." |
| But coming back from the dead seems unlikely for Vera. The decision to kill the character off was made by actress Liz Dawn and the show producers, rather than have her drift in and out with occasional guest appearances. | But coming back from the dead seems unlikely for Vera. The decision to kill the character off was made by actress Liz Dawn and the show producers, rather than have her drift in and out with occasional guest appearances. |
| So tonight almost certainly is goodbye Vera and the end of an era. | So tonight almost certainly is goodbye Vera and the end of an era. |
Add your comments on this story, using the form below. | Add your comments on this story, using the form below. |
| An unforgettable way to die? Perhaps she chokes on a fish bone. At a school outing to the Glasgow Exhibition in 1938 one of my school friends very nearly did. I have never forgotten it. Just a thought.JP Ward, Vlaardingen, The Netherlands | |
| I think Vera will die in her sleep. With all the excitement of going, and half of her not wanting to go, it gets all to much for her, and her heart just can't take it. Hazel Press, London | |
| The recent car-crash scene in Eastenders is the perfect example of what Craig Batty was talking about: the whole stolen car storyline was utterly ridiculous and was one of the worst story threads the soap has had. The only ray of sunshine of the whole thing was that Phil Daniels won't be inflicting his horrible overacting on us any more.Geoff Winkless, Leicestershire, UK | |