JACI’S SOAP OSCARS 2020

The year 2020 is one no one will forget, either in real life or soapland. Emmerdale and Eastenders were forced to come off the air, having run out of episodes during Covid restrictions, and when filming resumed it was with masks and social distancing – no great trauma for Emmerdale, who always have masks at the ready, owing to their many kidnapping plots. Coronation Street, with many episodes in the bag, made it through, and the Rovers bar has never been cleaner as Jenny still wipes almost all of it away with her cleaning routine. No virus is going to survive that counter.

It was the year of male transformation – and not in a good way. In Corrie, the amiable hospital radio host and part-time magician, Geoff, turned mental torturer and drove his wife Yasmeen to hit the bottle – well, hit him with the bottle – and her nightmare finally came to an end with the monster’s death. Eastenders found another abuser in Gray, while Emmerdale turned Jamie from a lovesick man into a manipulative, lying creep – and almost killer, albeit accidental.

There was still room for some light-heartedness amid the chaos. Corrie’s Sally acquired a hot tub in a garden that is fast becoming a Homebase showroom, Emmerdale’s Harriet gave the vestry a good seeing to (and not in a Covid cleaning kind

of way), and Eastenders’ Ben’s failure to turn the Mitchells into the next Corleone family continues to delight (#Mafialite).

Let’s all pray for a safe 2021. In soapland, happy would be too much to hope for. ■

Winner, Best Female Actor, Jane Danson