Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
HOLLYWOOD Q&A
Q: Soap opera characters are always drinking wine that looks genuine, but is it? I can’t imagine producers allowing them to do so on set.
A: For the most part it’s not genuine, but according to “Young and the Restless” and “Days of Our Lives” star Eileen Davidson, that hasn’t always been the case.
Davidson has played “Y&R’s” Ashley Abbott, off and on, for 34 years, and in an interview on Bravo’s “Watch What Happens Live,” she said the ‘80s were a decade of decadence on soap sets. Stars did cocaine and got frisky with each other in their dressing rooms, and they sneaked real alcohol into the prop glasses that were supposed to hold water or some other booze stand-in.
Note, however, that it really was sneaking. The generally accepted, and followed, rule has always been to use some kind of fake. And not just because they’re told to — soap stars are on set for long hours doing numerous takes, often of the same scene. If you had to do a few takes of wine-drinking in the morning and used real wine, you wouldn’t make it to the evening.
Prop masters have a range of tricks for faking various drinks, from simple solutions such as cranberry juice for wine or straight fizzy water for gin and tonics, to more complicated ones such as root beer with Mentos mints dropped in and then sprayed with hair spray to stand in for a foamy beer (the hairspray preserves the foam so it lasts for more than one take).
As you can imagine, the stakes are particularly high on a soap like English institution “Coronation Street,” which is basically built around a bar — the famous Rover’s Return.
John Michie, who played Rover’s bartender Karl Munro from 2011 to 2013, said that it’s doubly hard to pretend to sell pretend alcohol.
“It’s taking the drink order, pulling the pint, getting the ice in the vodka and tonic, checking the till, taking the money, giving the change — and on top of all that getting all your lines out. I’d say that’s been the big challenge for me. It’d maybe be easier if you got to drink real booze.”