■ Gareth McLean is a journalist who specialises in soap operas, and also a screenwriter who has written for Coronation Street, Emmerdale and, recently, Waterloo Road.
GETTING THE CALL
When I was writing my soap column for Radio Times, I regularly used to talk to producers. Louise Sutton, who was then assistant producer of Coronation Street, asked, “Have you ever fancied working on one of these shows rather than just writing about them?” Next thing, I was moving to Manchester to work as a storyliner.
THE WRITE STUFF
Coronation Street is very writer-led. The story office comes up with a three-week story where, for example, Bethany Platt discovers she’s pregnant at the end of those three weeks. Then it goes to the writers. Each episode of Coronation Street has an A story [the main story], B story, C story and two D stories for a total of 22 story beats per episode. Each story beat usually lasts less than a minute on screen.
STORY TIME
For Waterloo Road, there was a story conference six months before the episodes were divided up. About 15 to 20 writers pitch ideas. The producers then decide what stories run. It’s such a big show and there’s so much continuity that needs to be adhered to. You’re told what stories to tell and which characters you have to use in your episode, but it’s a very
