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Originally taking place in the fictional town of Charnham in Kent, the series has since been redefined as being located on Stanley Street, near the equally fictional Charnham tube stop in West London. |
Originally taking place in the fictional town of Charnham in Kent, the series has since been redefined as being located on Stanley Street, near the equally fictional Charnham tube stop in West London. |
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Previously the action took place in a series of suburban flats and homes whose geographic relation to one another was not clearly defined by the series, and the primary meeting place for characters was Pete's slick and modern riverside bar/cafe The Lock. During 2000 Pete sold the Lock and bought an older-style traditional [[pub]] named The Black Swan. Incredibly, despite the fact practically all of them despised the villainous Pete, the show's characters all followed him to become regulars at Pete's new pub. The Swan became the primary meeting-place for the show's characters and The Lock would not be seen again. In addition to this it soon became apparent that the homes of several of the characters, along with Yasmin's mini-market and her upstairs flat, and Cat's hairdressing salon, were coincidentally located on the same short street - Stanley Street - where The Swan was located. Previously the mini-market and salon were frequently seen, but we rarely saw the exterior of the buildings. In addition, despite earlier location shooting that indicated her home was located in a spacious modern suburban housing estate of similar dwellings, Sadie's home was revealed to now be in a cosy corner of Stanley Street surrounded by narrow terrace houses, Victorian buildings, shops and cafes. From this point the series began to more closely resemble established shows like ''[[Coronation Street]]'' and ''[[EastEnders]]'' in that the geographic location of a busy and hectic inner-city community with a mix of houses, flats, cafes and small businesses became the focus; from this point on any established characters in the show not already living on the street would soon move there, and new families would be introduced into the storyline by moving into the street. |
Previously the action took place in a series of suburban flats and homes whose geographic relation to one another was not clearly defined by the series, and the primary meeting place for characters was Pete's slick and modern riverside bar/cafe The Lock. During 2000 Pete sold the Lock and bought an older-style traditional [[pub]] named The Black Swan. Incredibly, despite the fact practically all of them despised the villainous Pete, the show's characters all followed him to become regulars at Pete's new pub. The Swan became the primary meeting-place for the show's characters and The Lock would not be seen again. In addition to this it soon became apparent that the homes of several of the characters, along with Yasmin's mini-market and her upstairs flat, and Cat's hairdressing salon, were coincidentally located on the same short street - Stanley Street - where The Swan was located. Previously the mini-market and salon were frequently seen, but we rarely saw the exterior of the buildings. In addition, despite earlier location shooting that indicated her home was located in a spacious modern suburban housing estate of similar dwellings, Sadie's home was revealed to now be in a cosy corner of Stanley Street surrounded by narrow terrace houses, Victorian buildings, shops and cafes. From this point the series began to more closely resemble established shows like ''[[Coronation Street]]'' and ''[[EastEnders]]'' in that the geographic location of a busy and hectic inner-city community with a mix of houses, flats, cafes and small businesses became the focus; from this point on any established characters in the show not already living on the street would soon move there, and new families would be introduced into the storyline by moving into the street. In this move it abandoned its original unique selling point of being suburban-based and moved more closely to the territory of its rivals, whilst still remaining clearly distinctive. |
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With the establishment of the new Stanley Street identity, Roy Farmer coverted Cat's hairdressing salon to an internet cafe while the Warrington family -strangers to the other characteers- moved in to the street. The street progressively gained new retail establishments as new and existing characters opened businesses such as a sandwich bar (later destroyed by the runaway car that killed Fern), a second-hand store and later a restaurant and another beauty salon. A money-lending firm and mini-cab office have also featured. These businesses invariably go on to employ other regular characters from the show. |
With the establishment of the new Stanley Street identity, Roy Farmer coverted Cat's hairdressing salon to an internet cafe while the Warrington family -strangers to the other characteers- moved in to the street. The street progressively gained new retail establishments as new and existing characters opened businesses such as a sandwich bar (later destroyed by the runaway car that killed Fern), a second-hand store and later a restaurant and another beauty salon. A money-lending firm and mini-cab office have also featured. These businesses invariably go on to employ other regular characters from the show. |
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Family Affairs is a British soap opera. The flagship soap on five, it first aired on March 30, 1997, the channel's first night and has aired five episodes every week since, the first British soap to air five episodes regularly every week.
OnAugust 2, 2005, five announced that they would not be renewing Family Affairs for another year and that shooting would cease in October, meaning that the last episode will air in December.
It initially focused on the Hart family consisting of parents Chris and Annie, adult children Duncan, trainee solicitor Holly, and Melanie (played by Cordelia Bugeja), a police constable. The youngest child was Jamie, a school boy. There were also Annie's parents, Jack and Elsa Gates, and Chris's father Agnus. Associated characters were Duncan's friend Roy Farmer (Miles Petit), Chris's business associate Nick Trip, Annie's friend Maria Simons, Melanie's friend Claire Twomey. Later in 1997 Maria's ex-husband, the villainous Pete Callan (David Easter), arrived. With the much-needed villain in place storylines became more varied and Pete quickly emerged as a dominant figure in the series.
Within a brief period of time in late 1998 the Gates were killed-off, and in January 1999 all the Harts (except for Duncan who had already left the series) were killed in a boat explosion. Roy was also aboard the boat and was the only survivor of the blast. Thereafter a more varied bunch of new characters emerged such as the boozy Cat Matthews (Nicola Duffett) her unreliable husband Dave Matthews (Richard Hawley), Yasmin McHugh (Ebony Thomas), Declan Byrne, Gabby Johnson, Sadie Hargreaves (Barbara Young), Siobhan Jones, Clive Starr, Fern Derwin (Belinda Sinclair), Gemma Craig, and later Nikki Warrington (Rebecca Blake) and her various family members. Duncan would briefly return to the series, but played by new actor Jonathan Wrather, while Roy's father Vince Farmer (Stephen Yardley) appeared for a lengthy stint during which he married Fern.
During 1999 and the early part of 2000 the departures of Claire, Nick and Maria left Roy Farmer as the show's only remaining original character. However Claire later returned for a lengthy period spanning 2000 to 2003.
The boat explosion was an infamous cast purge designed by new producer Brian Park - famous for revamping Coronation Street with a cast reshuffle that had included the departures of key characters Derek and Mavis. Park had been brought in specifically to do a similar revamp with Family Affairs. After the departure of the Hart family the series quickly settled into its new style which has largely been maintained ever since. Subsequent developments have followed a similar pattern of new families moving in on a fairly regular basis, and the occasional catastrophe to clean out characters who have exhausted their storyline potential. Indeed in 2003 as the Costello and Boulter families moved in one established family, The Webbs, emigrated and an out-of-control car killed two residents, including long term character, Fern Farmer. Original cast member, Roy Farmer was killed off soon after, making way for the departure of wife Nikki Warrington and her children.
By late 2003 constant cast reshuffles left just a handful of old characters on board, with Pete, Sadie, Yasmin, Cat and Dave as the only old characters remaining in the show. Pete Callan was now the show's longest-serving character.
The Costello family, with members portrayed by such television veterans as Kazia Pelka, Kate Williams and Gary Webster, have become some of the show's central figures. Family Affairs went on to cover some stories that were considered groundbreaking for British soap operas, including a paedophilia plot in which ten year old Chloe Costello (Leah Coombes) accused nineteen year old family friend, Bradley Foster (Harry Capehorn) of sexually abusing her. This storyline won the show a British Soap Award for Best Storyline in 2005. The plot also received huge amounts of critical acclaim from both critics and numerous child protection charities. Kazia Pelka also won the award for 'Best Dramatic Performance' at the British Soap Awards 2005. These were the shows first soap awards, which were championed and welcomed by both the show and soap experts.
In mid 2005, the characters of Sadie Hargreaves and Pete Callan, two of the shows longest-serving and most popular characters, were sensationally axed by new producer Sean O'Connor, leaving long term fans furious and disappointed.
Several actors from Family Affairs subsequently moved into higher-profile programmes. Several actors currently in The Bill, including Anna Acton (DRO Rochelle Barratt), Beth Cordingly (PC Kerry Young), Tanya Franks (DCI Morrell) and Cyril Nri (Supt Adam Okaro) had previously been in Family Affairs. Rupert Hill went into the role of Jamie Baldwin in Coronation Street after leaving Family Affairs. Laila RouassofFootballers' Wives had also earlier appeared in Family Affairs.
Originally taking place in the fictional town of Charnham in Kent, the series has since been redefined as being located on Stanley Street, near the equally fictional Charnham tube stop in West London.
Previously the action took place in a series of suburban flats and homes whose geographic relation to one another was not clearly defined by the series, and the primary meeting place for characters was Pete's slick and modern riverside bar/cafe The Lock. During 2000 Pete sold the Lock and bought an older-style traditional pub named The Black Swan. Incredibly, despite the fact practically all of them despised the villainous Pete, the show's characters all followed him to become regulars at Pete's new pub. The Swan became the primary meeting-place for the show's characters and The Lock would not be seen again. In addition to this it soon became apparent that the homes of several of the characters, along with Yasmin's mini-market and her upstairs flat, and Cat's hairdressing salon, were coincidentally located on the same short street - Stanley Street - where The Swan was located. Previously the mini-market and salon were frequently seen, but we rarely saw the exterior of the buildings. In addition, despite earlier location shooting that indicated her home was located in a spacious modern suburban housing estate of similar dwellings, Sadie's home was revealed to now be in a cosy corner of Stanley Street surrounded by narrow terrace houses, Victorian buildings, shops and cafes. From this point the series began to more closely resemble established shows like Coronation Street and EastEnders in that the geographic location of a busy and hectic inner-city community with a mix of houses, flats, cafes and small businesses became the focus; from this point on any established characters in the show not already living on the street would soon move there, and new families would be introduced into the storyline by moving into the street. In this move it abandoned its original unique selling point of being suburban-based and moved more closely to the territory of its rivals, whilst still remaining clearly distinctive.
With the establishment of the new Stanley Street identity, Roy Farmer coverted Cat's hairdressing salon to an internet cafe while the Warrington family -strangers to the other characteers- moved in to the street. The street progressively gained new retail establishments as new and existing characters opened businesses such as a sandwich bar (later destroyed by the runaway car that killed Fern), a second-hand store and later a restaurant and another beauty salon. A money-lending firm and mini-cab office have also featured. These businesses invariably go on to employ other regular characters from the show.
The show generally concentrates on family-based storylines and marital upsets. More extreme storylines involving murder, rape, prostitution, blackmail, drug use, and brother-sister incestual relationships have also occurred. It has featured several gay and lesbian characters, and also many troubled youngsters having their first brush with the law.
