So I go to IMDB.com. What to plug in? There are hundreds of characters whose first name is Nicholas. Then I plug in "Home and Away," which was one of the big soaps in Oz (don't know if it is now) along with "Neighbours." Even Heath Ledger was in "Home and Away." I scroll through the list of actors, but nothing rings a bell. Then I plug in Australia as a country of birth. Well, as you can imagine the list is REALLY LONG. But the first name I clicked on -- Simon Baker -- it's him! I couldn't believe it! And what do you know? He was in "Home and Away" in 1994 (by that time I was watching it in Scotland), but I hadn't noticed his name the first time around because I hadn't clicked on the full list of actors, only the most recent ones. The list is extensive. I think I know him more from a short-lived Australian series called "E Street."
In Canada I don't think we're into the homegrown soaps. They just don't fly here -- if people watch soaps, they're usually American and so far-removed from everyday life we might as well be watching a Mars web cam. Australian, British, and American soaps are VERY DIFFERENT from each other. In Britain most of them are pretty gritty -- the lighting isn't always particularly flattering, and it's more fly-on-the-wall. Depends on the soaps, but the longer-running ones like Coronation Street and Eastenders (which I used to watch quite religiously) had plots with dialogue that the average person could relate to, with people in average jobs, like cafeteria workers or street vendors. Most of the people are fairly ordinary-looking and not glamourized for the camera. I believe the longevity of the British soaps depend on how closely the audience, who are regionally very distinct, can connect with the characters on a localized level. In American soaps it is the exact opposite -- everyone is a glamorous high-flyer who emerges from a full night's sleep wearing makeup with every hair in place. The more outrageous the plotline, the better. Australian soaps, on the other hand, are a hybrid of the American and British soaps, with elements of the everyday workaday life but with characters who are conventionally attractive. For example, I don't associate Natalie Imbruglia with pop songs -- I remember her as "Beth" on the Aussie soap "Neighbours." I even remember her hair, dress sense, and her squeaky-clean character. (IMO, Natalie is an beautiful creature, but her main facial features -- her eyes and lips -- seem so exaggerated she's like a caricature. I didn't get this impression when she was "Beth," but the magazines featuring her as a pop star really overdo it.)
I think in Canada we're more into our homegrown political satire, like "This Hour Has 22 Minutes" or "Airfarce." If there's a government to skewer, whether it's municipal, provincial, or federal, we'll make it into a TV show. And if we ever run out of Canadian material, we barely need to cross the border for more. I used to listen to Airfarce on the radio with my brothers on CBC every Sunday; even now that there's a TV show, I am still reminded of the radioshow.
