Long Lathering In The Soaps (UK Edition) Quiz

Answer: Ken Barlow

Ken Barlow was played by William Roache in the Manchester-based soap "Coronation Street".

He was there when the soap first aired on 9th December 1960, going on to become the longest-present character in a soap opera worldwide.

Ken Barlow was the first in his working class family to go to university. He became a teacher and returned to work at a school near his home. He was to have other jobs, including taxi driver, community development officer and editor of the local newspaper.

He was an erudite person, with more high-brow interests than his neighbours and relatives.

He married three times and had five children, one of them adopted.

Ken Barlow often appeared as a boring person and the actor once sued a newspaper for suggesting that he was as boring in real life as the character. A jury found for him, but since he had turned down a settlement offer from the paper, he walked away without a penny and had to pay both sets of legal costs.

In 2014, Roache was charged with criminal offences including rape and sexual assault, but was cleared by a jury.

Ref: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/10621400/Bill-Roache-found-not-guilty-of-rape-and-assault-charges.html
and http://www.independent.co.uk/news/coronation-street-star-william-roache-sues-over-libel-bill-1149362.html

Answer: Eric Pollard

Eric Pollard was played by Chris Chittell and first appeared in the Yorkshire-based "Emmerdale Farm" on September 30, 1986.

He went on to become the longest-present character in the soap.

Pollard was at times a businessman, particularly dealing in antiques, chef and owner of a bed & breakfast business.

Many of his practices were dodgy and he often treated women badly - particularly abandoning one who was pregnant. Their son turned up years later and they became family.

In later years, Pollard mellowed and he settled into a stormy relationship with a new wife, Valerie Blackstock. She was to die after a helicopter crashed onto the village hall, mirroring the death of his second 'wife', Elizabeth when an airliner crashed down on the village. (Pollard was still married when he tied the knot with Elizabeth.)

Answer: Ian Beale

Ian Beale was played by Adam Woodyatt and first appeared in episode one of "EastEnders" on February 19, 1985. He went on to become the show's longest-running character.

From an early age, Beale was passionate about cooking and ran several catering businesses. He was also passionate about women, marrying four of them - one on two occasions. He also had several other relationships.

In 2001, Beale was was voted one of the top five television characters "we most love to hate" in a Channel 4 poll.

Answer: Gail Rodwell

Killed; divorced; drowned; drowned; and left to die unaided from a heart attack were the fates of her husbands

Helen Worth played Gail Tilsley-Platt-Hillman-McIntyre-Rodwell (née Roberts) in "Coronation Street" from April 1974.

Gail did not have an easy life. Her first mother-in-law hated her, and her first husband was knifed to death in a street fight. She then married a younger man and they had a daughter, who herself became a mother at the age of 13.

After divorcing her second husband, she married a man who turned out to be a serial killer and who drowned while trying to kill her and other family members by driving into the canal.

Husband number three was a conman, who set out fake his own suicide, but only managed to drown himself as Gaile watched on helplessly.

Husband number four was a gentle man, but unfortunately one who had a weak heart and who got on the wrong side of the local baddie. In a confrontation, he had a heart attack and the baddie watched him die, rather than get help.

Answer: Tony Hutchinson

Tony Hutchinson was one of the original characters in the Liverpool-based "Hollyoaks".

He was at various times a chef, taxi driver, spa manager and club owner.

He was married three times - "thrice wed" as newspaper headline writers like to put it - and had affairs, including sleeping with an underage girl.

Nick Pickard first appeared as Tony Hutchinson in 1995 and went on to become the longest-running character in "Hollyoaks".

Answer: Sally Metcalfe

Sally Dynevor first played Sally Metcalf, formerly Webster - twice - and née Seddon in "Coronation Street" in January 1986.

Sally Seddon was a teenager when she arrived on Coronation Street and made a splash on local mechanic, Kevin Webster. They married and had two daughters.

They divorced after 13 year, only to remarry for another 10, before divorcing again.

Sally had ideas above her station and was often brought back to earth with a bump. She went through many difficult times, though, including being the victim of domestic violence, and being diagnosed with breast cancer.

Answer: Marlon Dingle

The Dingle family were the ne'er-do-wells of the Yorkshire village of Emmerdale. Poaching and thievery were among their fortes.

Marlon was different, Brought up in a far away branch of the family, he arrived in the village as an adult but was quickly subsumed by the passions and intrigues of the rural community and became the chef at a village pub, The Woolpack.

He was a hopeless romantic, loving all three of his wives, although probably never got over the tragic death of his first. He had two children, one born after his second wife left home, and the second in an affair with a woman who went on to marry his best friend - although they all remained best friends - as you do in soapland.

Mark Charnock first appeared as Marlon Dingle in "Emmerdale" in October 1996.

Answer: Charlie Fairhead

Charlie Fairhead was one of the original characters when "Casualty" was first broadcast in 1986.

Although the actor took several lengthy breaks during the show's successful run, the character was not written out.

At various times the character has been shot; run down; trapped in a car deliberately driven into the sea; and had three heart attacks.

Charlie Fairhead was played by Derek Thompson in "Casualty" and its spin-offs "Holby City" and "Holby Blue".

In 2017, it was revealed that Thompson was the highest paid actor on any BBC-produced soap show. His earnings were said by the BBC to be more than £400,000 a year.

Answer: Dot Branning

When she first appeared in "EastEnders" in 1985, Dorothy "Dot" Cotton had a con-man for a husband and a thuggish criminal son. Her attempts to rehabilitate him were to be a constant theme.

Her first husband, Charlie Cotton, died in a road crash and her second, Don Branning, had a stroke and was moved off-screen for care with relatives. (In reality the actor playing him died.)

June Brown played Dot from 1985-1993, 1997-2012, and returned in 2013. Some of the gaps were due to her disapproval of decisions by the show's producers.

Answer: Rita Tanner

Rita Tanner was one of those characters who became the 'glue' necessary for any successful soap.

She had many key storylines, some of them harrowing.

A true romantic, she was married three times, losing her spouses to a traffic collision, a brain tumour, and wanderlust.

Barbara Knox played Rita Tanner in "Coronation Street" from December 1964.

At the time this quiz was written in February 2018, eight of top 10 in the all-time longest-running characters in British soap operas list had been in "Coronation Street". Rita Tanner was number three on that list.