Have downbeat TV soap operas lost the plot?

I AGREE that TV soaps are going down the drain thanks to outlandish plots (Mail). It used to be a treat to get in from work, have your tea, sit down and watch your favourite soap. There would be drama, a bit of humour, sometimes a little sadness, but it was harmless. Now it’s a different story with murder, rape and endless violence. Is it all really necessary? My 21-year-old daughter says she can’t watch soaps and she is part of the new generation of viewers. Unless the scriptwriters return to the old approach, soaps could be axed.

BAz ROBINSON, St Austell, Cornwall. DO We really need to have more doom and gloom in Coronation Street? If TV bosses think that’s entertainment, they’ve got it wrong. Bring back the laughter.

V. GREGORY, uxbridge, Middlesex.

NO WONDER Coronation Street is haemorrhaging viewers. In the past few weeks, we’ve had sexual grooming, rape, child abuse, drugs and the harrowing portrayal of a young mother with terminal cancer. I thought soaps were meant to be an opportunity for escapism. There can hardly be a family that has not been touched by cancer, so we do not need to be reminded of it. Any more dark storylines and I am afraid that this soap is in danger of losing me, a lifelong viewer.

ROGER WINDSOR, Chigwell, Essex. MY HUSBAND had chemo for lung cancer for over a year, but thanks to anti-nausea tablets, we did not suffer from vomiting. So for Coronation Street to have a character who wants to stop chemo because of this distressing sideeffect is misleading and irresponsible.

Mrs S. THORKILDSEN, Cornhill-on-Tweed, Northumberland.

THE only soap I still enjoy is Neighbours. It always holds my interest and there is no foul language.

YVONNE LACEY, Rye, E. Sussex.