From Coronation Street to EastEnders, the most impactful soap storylines that changed the lives of Metro’s team

Soaps are more powerful than many give them credit for. With characters spanning, in many cases, over half a century, we build relationships with them like no others in film or TV.

While the genre loves to camp things up, shows like Coronation Street, EastEnders and Emmerdale also thrive on being relatable, whether through reaching out to viewers with scenarios that hit home, or by addressing topical and often hard to explore real-life issues.

The team at Metro live and breathe soap and, though we love dealing in spoilers and gossip, our bond with the shows we cover runs deeper.

Here, we explore the storylines that had the biggest impact on us.

Duncan Lindsay, Soaps Editor

I had rarely seen any effective portrayals of suicidal ideation in men in what I had watched, or at least many that I felt spoke directly to me.

But as I sat in the screening room at a press preview for Coronation Street’s episode centring on the aftermath of Aidan Connor’s (Shayne Ward) suicide, my eyes were streaming and my heart was both broken for what I had witnessed and full with relief that it was being tackled so openly and bravely.

Thankfully, the team at Corrie left the lights off for some time while everyone had their private moments to collect themselves.

My own private moment was a reflection of attempts I had made on my own life some years ago. Like Aidan, I often exhibit a carefree exterior and, in particular, I use humour to paper over cracks.

I had addressed my depression and suicide attempts before, taking the scary step to write about it in the past.

But nothing vindicated my journey quite as much as watching Aidan’s subtle indications of struggle, his masking, and the signs that a decision had been made such as gifting possessions and seeming lighter and ‘freer’. Of course, that feeling of ‘relief’ when planning suicide is grossly misplaced, but the darkness at the time didn’t let me – or Aidan – see that.

Unlike Aidan, I am now in a place where I can see it, having been granted another chance.

The episode lives on in my mind rent-free and always will – I can practically quote word for word the speech from Helen Worth in character as Gail Platt, as she reflected on the loss felt by the community, and life going on obliviously around it.

Since then, through talking, I have found myself with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder and everything has made a lot of sense since – those symptoms such as making jokes about everything, trying desperately to be liked, endless self doubt and crushing depression are all relatively under control.

The diagnosis was a relief; I had an explanation other than what my brain was telling me which was, ‘you’re mad’.

I have also trained as a mental health first aider and went on to be hired into a welfare role within my current job; I often spend time talking to those struggling, no matter what may be on their mind.

And, just last month, my own situation and past hit home hard again when I, with the help of another, pulled a teenager from attempting to take her own life near a bridge.

Her agonising despair was crushingly familiar but I felt like my subsequent experience of finding the right words and conveying my own personal experience might have made a small difference. Of course, I will never know.

I am certainly a different person after sitting down and watching that Coronation Street episode and, while I have since sought out other representations of male mental health – something which is thankfully being talked about more and more – Aidan’s story remains up there with the most powerful and life-changing for me.

Stephen Patterson, Deputy Soaps Editor

There have been quite a few soap moments over the decades that have resonated with me but if I think back to the one that really kickstarted my love affair with this genre, it has to be Richard Hillman’s reign of terror in Coronation Street.

I can’t really remember a time when I didn’t watch the soaps. They were staples of my household growing up, with almost every member of my family gathering around the telly each night to find out what happens next.

I was nearly ten years old when Richard started claiming the lives of various residents of the Street and I remember being absolutely hooked by how compelling it was.

I was particularly invested in super sleuth Audrey’s role in the story and how she was the only one who could see the killer for who he truly was. I remember cheering her on, desperately hoping she would succeed in catching him out all the while praying that she too didn’t fall victim to the ruthless killer.

This storyline was very much my entire personality for the duration of its run. I would talk about it at every opportunity, debriefing with my twin brother, my friends at school and pretty much anyone who would listen. I would whip out an old VHS and tape the episodes to re-watch and I would run back from the bathroom during the ad breaks to make sure I didn’t miss a single second of the drama.

The culmination of the storyline, which saw Richard drive the Platts into the canal, was truly spectacular. I remember gasping in shock and the agonising wait that followed as little nine-year-old me – long before he knew what a spoiler was – desperately wanted to know if Gail, David, Sarah and Bethany would survive.

Little did I know at the time that this storyline – and the conclusion of it – would have such an impact on my life. I still talk about it to this day. If I’m not singing along to the Wannadies ‘You and Me Always’, I’m quoting Richard’s chilling final words: ‘This is it! I love you!’.

It’s one of the first times I truly remember being invested in a storyline or TV series of any genre and my appreciation for long-form storytelling and character-driven content just grew from there.

My love of soap never wavered. I vividly recall being enthralled by Mad Maya’s reign of terror the following year and, in EastEnders, Dirty Den’s demise had me hooked in 2005, as did GP May’s troublesome antics in 2007. I remember shedding tears as Peggy Mitchell strode out of the Square in 2010 and loving every second of the Carters debut in 2014.

I recall sobbing my heart out when Charity Tate rode out of Emmerdale in 2005, the way I was obsessed with Steph Stokes’ villainous stint around that time too and Diane and Jack’s wedding is a moment that still remains in my heart.

Flash forward two decades and little has changed – other than swapping out aforementioned VHS’ for Sky + or boxsets, of course! I am now working in a job that I love, helping to showcase this wonderful genre and interviewing people who unknowingly played such a key role in my childhood. That is, for me, quite literally the definition of living the dream.

Calli Kitson, Soaps Reporter

In 2018, Casualty’s Michael Stevenson took centre stage in a powerful storyline that saw his character Iain Dean struggle with his mental health.

At the same time, I was approximately two-years into a battle with my mental health that only really got better because of Iain’s storyline.

I was about 20 years old, depressed, consumed with anxiety, and unaware the reason I was barely leaving the house was because of agoraphobia.

I don’t recall being a huge Casualty fan before watching Iain’s journey – I remember paramedic Jeff dying, of course, who doesn’t?! – but it was something about watching Iain silently struggle with constant negative thoughts in his mind that felt so real to me.

As Iain ventured down the difficult road, I continued on it. The reasons for our poor mental health were not the same, but they didn’t need to be. I grew to love Iain because I was right in the middle of experiencing everything I was watching on my TV.

I was never really aware of why Iain’s storyline was so interesting to me at the time, perhaps it was because I was too focused on trying to get out of the hole I had fallen into. It was only reflecting on it that I realised.

I was watching a character snap at his friends because he couldn’t articulate what was going on in his head, someone who felt lonely and lost most of the time. It was a dark and intense storyline, but it – as odd as it sounds – brought me so much comfort to see someone going through something similar to me.

As the months ticked by, I was slowly becoming stronger. Alongside watching Iain on my TV I had started therapy and was also occupying my mind in a positive way by writing articles about the soaps for Metro.

When editor Duncan Lindsay then asked me if I wanted to interview Michael Stevenson about his portrayal of Iain, I was stunned. I had started writing because I enjoyed it – interviewing the person I had watched every Saturday evening for almost a year was on a completely different scale.

But I did it. I spoke to Michael and asked him questions about Iain and when the call ended, I felt so much joy run through my veins. It was adrenaline from the nerves as well, obviously, but the happiness I was experiencing in that moment after the call was something I hadn’t felt for years.

And I wanted more of that.

Iain’s road to recovery will hold a special place in my heart not only because of the incredible storytelling, but because it ultimately marked a point in my life where I really started to heal.

Who knows where I would be today without it.

Maisie Spackman, Soaps Reporter

From the moment I realised I was a lesbian in 2017, I knew that I would one day have to ‘come out’. As a teenager who used to cry in bed at night at the thought of liking girls, I knew this wasn’t going to be an easy feat.

It took a long time for me to accept myself, let alone consider allowing others in on my gigantic secret.

Fortunately, with the help of close, trusted friends, strangers on the internet and sapphic representation in the media, I was able to get to a place where I was happy with who I really was.

However, the issue of coming out to my family still remained. How on earth was I supposed to reveal this huge secret?

Cue Nina Lucas (Mollie Gallagher) and Asha Alahan’s (Tanisha Gorey) love story in Coronation Street.

I spent a long time wondering how I was going to tell my family that I liked girls. I’m not the sort of person who could just sit them down and come out with it. I considered sending a text so I wouldn’t have to face the reaction firsthand, or even waiting until I’d found a girlfriend to introduce to them.

Fortunately, Corrie chose to air a storyline that saw Asha and Nina fall in love. I had seen all the spoilers and was thrilled that the ITV soap was giving representation to a sapphic love story featuring girls my age.

When the time came for Nina and Asha’s first kiss, my mum and brother decided it would be the perfect time to start a conversation about something entirely irrelevant.

It’s important to note that this was in February 2021, and I’d been locked in the house with these people for over four weeks. At the end of my tether, I shouted at them to stop talking over Corrie, which received a surprising response from my mum.

‘Why, are you a lesbian?’ She asked.

It felt like a huge weight had been lifted as soon as I said yes. All the worries I’d had about being accepted or judged dissipated immediately, and my mum swiftly turned into the Spackman version of Sally Webster (‘My daughter’s a lesbian, you know.’) – as she herself freely admits!

Over the next few days, grandparents were informed, my university housemates were in the know and I made no attempt to hide the truth from my friends on social media.

I was finally free to be the real me.

Just over a year later, as my time at university was coming to an end and I was panicking about what I was going to do after graduation, Asha and Nina’s story would change my life again.

When Duncan Lindsay asked on Twitter/X if anyone would be willing to share their story in a piece for Metro Soap’s pride takeover, I jumped at the chance – and the rest is history.

I’ve been on the soaps team for two and a half years now, and I am loving every second. I’m living the dream, and it’s all thanks to Coronation Street’s lesbian love story.

Michael Adams, Soaps Reporter

The revival of Waterloo Road last year has proved a roaring success for the BBC, once again managing to captivate the youth demographic that craved its return during an eight year hiatus.

It’s the show that’s never been afraid to tackle tough subjects that effect teenagers across the country, and while I’m now well out of that age-range and in my mid-20s, I still managed to resonate with new pupil Luca Smith’s (Danny Murphy) introductory story.

Danny is the show’s first Deaf actor, and Luca is only the second student in the school-based drama’s 18 year history to be shown with loss of hearing.

The star also has his own YouTube channel where he documents his life as a fifth-generation Deaf person, and also makes skits and parody videos with his friends and family.

Upon arriving at the academy from a school for deaf children, it became immediately clear that Luca felt isolated from the other youngsters who didn’t speak his first language – British Sign Language (BSL).

I’ve never struggled with hearing loss, so you may be wondering why I felt a connection with the story. I also felt a great deal of regret as I watched it.

I attended a very close-knit primary school – the smallest in my area – and at one point there was only 15 people in my class. 20% of my peers had special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and there were children in the building who also needed extra support.

Throughout my time there we learnt, communicated, played and sung in Makaton, which is a sign language system that helps hearing people with learning or communication difficulties.

There are vast differences between Makaton and BSL, but I saw first-hand the positive impact it had on my friends who would have struggled with inclusion without it.

As learning the signs had been a constant throughout those seven years, I’d never considered there to be any difference between myself and those who relied on it. It was the norm for me, and I wish it was for everybody else.

I’m a firm believer that BSL should be mandatory on the national curriculum. After all, it’s just an extension of English that would have been far more useful than the French GCSE I stumbled my way through.

After officially being recognised as a language last year, I was glad to see the Government announce that it will finally be available to GCSE students from next September.

Had it been introduced earlier, I wouldn’t be sitting here today regretting the 14 years that I let it slip. Following Luca’s first Waterloo Road instalment, I was inspired to enrol on an online BSL course.

I may not find myself in a daily situation where it would be required, though I would like to be in the position where if I am, I’m able to. I can’t help but think back to the many times it would have been useful in the past, which is why I’m now so eager to take action moving forward.

Sue Haasler, Soaps Reporter

The moment that really spoke to me among all the serial killers, whodunnits, cliffhangers, stunts and drama in recent years in the soaps came during the Christmas Day episode of Emmerdale in 2022.

The Dingles were gathered around the dinner table at Wishing Well – apart from Cain (Jeff Hordley) who was in prison, and Chas (Lucy Pargeter) who’d been and gone and wasn’t welcome because of her affair with Al Chapman (Michael Wildman) which was the reason Cain was in prison.

Liam (Jonny McPherson) arrived to partake in one of a series of comedy dinners he had to enjoy/endure throughout the episode. He tried to commiserate with Vinny (Bradley Johnson) who was grieving the very recent death of his wife, Liv (Isobel Steele), but Vinny was at first a bit too raw to take any advice.

Then, in a touching scene, Vinny toasted the people who were missing from the table – Zak (Steve Halliwell)’s wife and Belle (Eden Taylor-Draper)’s mum Lisa (Jane Cox), Liam’s daughter Leanna (Mimi Slinger), Cain and Chas’s mum Faith (Sally Dexter), his wife Liv, and Lydia (Karen Blick)’s baby who was stillborn.

‘And here’s to all of us who have been so lucky to have had them in our lives,’ he concluded.

That was a hugely poignant moment, but it was the bit straight afterwards that really touched me. Charity (Emma Atkins), Mackenzie (Lawrence Robb), Sarah (Katie Hill) and Ryan (James Moore) arrived at Wishing Well with big bags of presents for the family and everybody excitedly wished each other a merry Christmas as Mandy (Lisa Riley) and Lydia dished out more food for the new arrivals.

It all reminded me so much of my childhood Christmases at my grandparents, with my parents and sister, all the aunties and uncles and cousins arriving, lots of presents, lots of food, lots of laughter and fun (and a few arguments, obviously).

Sadly (because I’m rather ancient), a lot of those people are no longer around and Christmases now are very different, although still lovely. But I love it that Emmerdale brought back that memory of those noisy, northern family Christmases.

Emmerdale was my parents’ favourite soap, the one that they would watch faithfully every evening after the washing up was done. On the last Christmas Day we had with my dad in 2015, he wasn’t up to taking part in much of the festivities – but he still wanted Christmas Emmerdale on.

So Emmerdale has a special place in my heart and, although that Christmas 2022 scene wasn’t something that moved the story forward or gave us any surprises or high drama, that little moment, with the Dingles getting sentimental and Charity arriving with the presents, felt totally precious.

For me, that’s what soaps do best. It’s about families, communities and continuity, characters we know the history of and care about almost like members of our own family.

To echo Vinny’s words: we’re very lucky to have them in our lives.

Ash Percival, Soaps Reporter

As a lifelong EastEnders fan, I’ve seen the show tackle so many issue-based storylines in the 36 years I’ve been watching. 

From Little Mo and Trevor Morgan’s hard-hitting domestic abuse plot, to the groundbreaking relationship between Syed Masood and Christian Clarke, the BBC soap has a long and rich history of pushing boundaries and making its audience stop and think.

When I was asked which of those had resonated most with me personally, my mind started whizzing through the Albert Square archives, before I remembered a particular plot involving Lee Carter (Danny Hatchard) from 2015. 

Introduced as the oldest Carter sibling, Lee arrived on the Square some months after the rest of his on-screen family, having been away serving in the army. But as he settled into life at The Vic, it soon started to become apparent that Lee was struggling with his mental health. 

The former soldier felt unable to turn to his family, who were dealing with the aftermath of his mother Linda’s (Kellie Bright) rape at the hands of Dean Wicks (Matt Di Angelo). Over several months, Lee spiralled into depression and continued to bottle up his feelings. After contemplating suicide in scenes played powerfully by Danny, fans eventually saw Lee open up and accept help. 

Around the start of the storyline, I interviewed Danny for another publication. Looking back on that chat, I realised it was perhaps the first time I’d ever had a conversation out loud about young men’s mental health. 

Nearly a decade on, the landscape has thankfully changed, encouraging people to start discussing the topic from a much younger age (although, of course there is still so much more to do).

However, I credit that storyline with helping me reframe not only how I thought about my own mental health, but how we might not always realise what our mates are going through in their own heads, too – especially when it can be masked with banter and bravado. 

As a result, I learned to regularly check in with those around me, asking not just how they are, but how they really are. I’m lucky that we’ve learned to be comfortable enough to have those open and honest conversations, free from stigma and judgement. 

Sure, this storyline might not have been the most high-profile – or indeed got everything right – but overall, I think it quietly pushed the needle forward on an important and previously little-discussed topic.

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