VisionTV is keen as mustard to announce that top-rated British soaps EastEnders and Emmerdale will premiere on Monday, September 20, expanding the channel’s prime time BritBlock to two hours.
The winner of industry honours in spades, including a 2007 Banff World Television Award and a 2008 BAFTA for Best Continuing Drama, EastEnders celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2010 and follows a close-knit, multi-cultural cast of characters who live and work by London’s Albert Square. The show’s critically acclaimed storylines blend all of the soap opera staples – breakups and bankruptcy, marriages and murder – with the hard-hitting, realistic depiction of social issues, from domestic violence to mental illness.
Fans who previously followed EastEnders on BBC Canada can Keep Calm and Carry On. The series will resume on VisionTV precisely where it left off the telly last June starting September 20, Mondays – Fridays at 9pm ET/6pm PT.
And if you miss an episode, don’t get your knickers in a knot! Full episodes are available online at VisionTV Video on Demand: http://video.visiontv.ca/.
Just the ticket, EastEnders will be followed by Emmerdale, one of the longest-running and most successful soap operas on British television. The half-hour serial will also debut on September 20 and air Mondays – Fridays at 9:30pm ET/6:30pm PT.
Emmerdale has been sound as a pound since its first broadcast in 1972. The series tells the ongoing story of a small but seldom peaceful community in picturesque rural Yorkshire. The winner of over 20 British Soap Awards, Emmerdale regularly attracts as many as 9 million viewers on ITV, making it one of the UK’s most-watched programs.
On VisionTV, Emmerdale’s storyline will take up as Cain Dingle (Jeff Hordley) sets up yet another car scam with his wife Charity (Emma Atkins). But their well-laid plans start to unravel when their unsuspecting victim turns up at their local pub, The Woolpack. VisionTV will run approximately six months behind the UK. This episode first aired in April 2010.
EastEnders and Emmerdale will follow VisionTV’s popular BritCom Block, which airs on weeknights from 8 pm to 9 pm ET. The BritCom lineup includes classic entertainment that’s cheap as chips such as Keeping Up Appearances, Bless Me Father, and Last of the Summer Wine and new additions including the hysterical Absolutely Fabulous starring Joanne Lumley and Jennifer Saunders and Reggie Perrin starring Martin Clunes.
For the best in British soaps, comedies and dramas, tune in to Vision Telly weeknights starting at 8 pm ET/5 pm PT. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy and Bob’s your uncle.
LIFE CAN BE ALL BEER AND SKITTLES … AT LEAST ON VISIONTV, WEEKNIGHTS FROM 8 pm – 10 pm ET
Birds Of A Feather
Mondays, 8 pm ET / 5 pm PT
Sisters Sharon Theodopolopodos (Pauline Quirke) and Tracey Stubbs (Linda Robson) thought they had nothing in common – until the day their husbands were both convicted of armed robbery. Sharon, a common, large and loud-mouthed character moves into her wealthy sister’s home in Chigwell so the two can give each other support. So begins Birds of a Feather, one of the most smashingly successful BBC comedies of the 1990s that follows the pair as they struggle to get on with their lives.
One Foot In The Grave
Mondays, 8:30 pm ET / 5:30 pm PT
This classic British sitcom follows the misfortunes of cantankerous old grouch Victor Meldrew as he rails against the injustices of the world around him. A five-time winner of Top BBC Sitcom, the series stars Richard Wilson (Victor Meldrew), Annette Crosbie (Margaret Meldrew), Angus Deayton (Patrick) and Janine Duvitski (Pippa).
EastEnders (250 x 30’) Network Premiere
Monday – Friday 9:00 pm / 6 pm PT beginning September 20
EastEnders is consistently one of highest rated programs in the U.K. attracting 5-7 million viewers for each episode since its launch 25 years ago. The series examines the domestic and professional lives of the culturally diverse residents around Albert Square in the East End of London.
Emmerdale (259 x 30’) Network Premiere
Monday – Friday 9:30 p.m. ET / 6:30 pm PT beginning September 20
Emmerdale is one of Britain’s best-loved and highly viewed long-running drama soaps. Set in the beautiful countryside of the Yorkshire Dales, this realistic down-to-earth drama superbly chronicles the joys and heartbreaks of a tightly knit countryside community. Over 5000 episodes of this soap have been produced since 1972. It is one of TV’s longest running series.
May to December
Tuesdays, 8 pm ET / 5 pm PT
It was a day like any other for 50-something widower Alec Callendar (Anton Rodgers), a small-town solicitor with a passion for Perry Mason and old Broadway musicals. That is, until Zoe Angell (Eve Matheson) walked into his life: a bright young gym teacher looking to divorce her unfaithful husband. The sparks would fly, and to their mutual surprise – not to mention the dismay of friends and family – Alec and Zoe soon find themselves in a relationship. But can love really span the age gap?
Chambers
Tuesdays, 8:30 pm ET / 5:30 pm PT
So you think lawyers are rats? Well, this acclaimed BBC comedy series won’t exactly change your mind. Based on a popular BBC Radio 4 series, Chambers is a stinging satire of the legal profession, starring John Bird (Absolute Power) as John Fuller-Carp, a morally impaired careerist who’s never met a principle he wouldn’t compromise. James Fleet (The Vicar of Dibley) and Sarah Lancashire (Coronation Street) also star.
Reggie Perrin (12 x 30’) Network Premiere
Wednesday 8 pm ET / 5 pm beginning September 15
Reginald Perrin (Martin Clunes) is a middle-aged project executive for “Groomtech”, a manufacturer of male grooming products, where he is in charge of disposable razors. He leads a comfortable existence, but is depressed by his marriage to his wife Nicola (Fay Ripley), the daily commute, the office grind and the general monotony of modern living. On the verge of a midlife crisis, he yearns for escape and finds a fantastical distraction in his colleague, Jasmine Strauss (Lucy Liemann).
My Husband and I
Wednesdays, 8:30 pm ET / 5:30 pm PT
The beloved Mollie Sugden, one of British comedy’s greatest gifts to the world, plays Nora Powers, the officious head of personnel at a prestigious advertising agency. Nora’s personal and professional lives collide unhappily when her husband George – played by Sugden’s real-life husband, William Moore — joins the company as chief doorman.
Absolutely Fabulous (32 x 30’)
Thursdays 8:00 p.m. ET
Best friends Edina Monsoon (Jennifer Saunders) and Patsy Stone (Joanna Lumley) are two immature, prosperous but preposterous substance-abusing, fashion and fad-obsessed Londoners who value fame and style over substance. Saffron (Julia Sawalha) Edina’s disapproving adolescent daughter provides the persistent voice of reason.
Keeping Up Appearances
Thursdays, 8:30 pm ET / 5:30 pm PT
Hyacinth Bucket can’t stand people who pretend to be superior. After all, their pretensions “make it so much harder for those of us who really are.” Smug, social-climbing, status-obsessed and tyrannical, Hyacinth is a walking indictment of British snobbery – and one of the most indelible creations in the history of television comedy. In Keeping Up Appearances, the award-winning BBC Britcom, Patricia Routledge brings the monstrous Hyacinth to life in all her terrifying glory.
Last of the Summer Wine
Fridays, 8 pm ET / 5 pm PT
Last of the Summer Wine is the longest-running comedy series in television history, with 29 seasons and 278 episodes – and more on the way. The show’s original starring trio consists of Bill Owen as the scruffy Compo, Michael Bates as the Sergeant Major-ish Blamire and Peter Sallis as the meek but sensible Clegg.
Father Ted
Fridays, 8:30 pm ET / 5:30 pm PT beginning September 17
Father Ted Crilly (Dermot Morgan), Father Dougal Maguire (Ardal O’Hanlon) and Father Jack Hackett (Frank Kelly) have been banished to Craggy Island – a remote island, off the Irish west coast – by Bishop Len Brennan (Jim Norton). The three priests live in the parochial house with their slightly crazed and tea-addicted house keeper, Mrs. Doyle (Pauline McLynn). Dougal isn’t the brightest, Ted has a knack of getting into awkward situations, and the less said about Father Jack the alcoholic swear machine the better. Despite being in the middle of nowhere, the trio finds plenty of ways to cause chaos and confusion.
