The tart-with-a-heart, the mother figure and the pregnant teenage mum are all stock characters in TV soaps.
But actress Jacquetta May was slightly out of the mould. She's best known as career women Rachel, the feminist lecturer, in Eastenders. Darren Little is one of the Coronation Street writers and has written a book on the soap's female characters.
They tell Jenni why women always get the best roles in soaps. Looking at Class: : Film Televistion and the Working Class in Britain, edited by Sheila Rowbotham & Huw Benyon, Rivers Oram Press/Pandora List; ISBN: 1854891219, £14.95
