When Characters Die For real?

[Hopes]

Hi there all,

I was sitting the other night thinking about when soap characters die in real life and have to be unexpectedly written out of the soap they are in, like when Seth Armstrong in Emmerdale died. Take Bill Roache (Ken Barlow) for example, now i know he's in his early 70's i think and he could well live for a long time yet, but he always insisted that he would stay with corrie for as long as they wanted him and quite frankly im very pleased with that as i like him a lot. But just say that he did die for real, how do you reckon they would explain his disappearance from the soap, i mean would they kill him off or just not mention him again, which i can't see how they would do that as he is one of the main characters and obviously one of it's biggest stars, so my guess is that if he were to suddenly pass away in real life they might say that he is away to the library (as he sometimes does) and deirdre would get a call saying that he has had a heart attack in the library perhaps, or i can't think of what else they could do to explain it, i know people would know he was dead for real but they would still expect an on-screen explanation, what is your thoughts on this and how do you reckon they would go about it.

[alnatcam]

They would have to write them out off screen. A good example is Stan Ogden dieing in hospital and Hilda crying holding his glasses. But yes, saying he had a heartattck in the library or crashed the car would be the way round it.

[Luna]

i think they would have to kill him off but then again when sandy (i think that was her name) in holby died suddenly they had her win the lottery and go off somewhere hot...although dont think that would work with ken

[Kim]

i think they would have to kill him off but then again when sandy (i think that was her name) in holby died suddenly they had her win the lottery and go off somewhere hot...although dont think that would work with ken

Me neither. Firstly, because he's been there so long and it wouldn't do the character justice, and Coronation Street are good at doing characters justice. Also, because of the personality of the character and the situations he is nearly always in the middle of, he wouldn't just up and leave.

[Richie_lecturer]

A good example is Stan Ogden dieing in hospital and Hilda crying holding his glasses. But yes, saying he had a heartattck in the library or crashed the car would be the way round it.

Bernard Youens' health had been in decline for a while, and in 1984 he had a bad stroke, which led to his legs being amputated. During this time, I remember Corrie kept refering to Stan, as if he had never gone away - Hilda often called to Stan who was apparently upstairs most of the time. After Bernard died in real life, Stan was taken ill into hospital, against Hilda's wishes, as she thought he would give-up without being with Hilda. She was of course right, and he died in hospital. Then of course we had the heartbreaking scene with Hilda on-return to her house* with Stan' belongings from the hospital, sobbing as she held his glasses.

*For more recent Corrie viewers, the Webster house was previously owned by Stan and Hilda. Sally and Kevin were Hilda's lodgers in 1986 when they were going out together, and they bought the house shortly before Hilda left the following year.

[Richie_lecturer]

There are older characters than Ken though. Betty is nearly 87 ( :eek: ), Emily is nearly 77.

In Emmerdale, Seth was written out when the actor was ill (went to Australia to visit Kathy and co), and when he died, Seth had a heart attack on the flight back to the UK. They did wait almost a year though between Stan Richards' death and Seth's written-out death.

[LostVoodoo]

i was gonna say the woman who plays Betty is pretty old, but then again she isn't in it too much, so they could just say she died at home. but yeah, what if someone was in the middle of a big storyline and they had a heart attack or something like that scary though!

[Chloe O'brien]

When William Roach (ken Barlow does dies) I think Corrie will do him justice as they will with Emily, Rita and Betty as they have been in the soap for so many years they deserve a proper tear-jearker of a send of.

[Jojo]

Lets not forget Blanche either - Maggie Jones was born in 1919, making her 87 this year :eek:

[parkerman]

When Big Ron in Eastenders died suddenly he was give a big lottery win and sent off to ?Spain (I think). But then he was hardly a central character.

[Katy]

theres all different ways that they are written out, its usually the character dies if there older but another way if there younger and more unexpected. . Barbara Knox must be getting on a bit now, but Bettys 87 your right, but i mean it was only a few years ago she gave up her pub.

[Richie_lecturer]

Lets not forget Blanche either - Maggie Jones was born in 1919, making her 87 this year :eek:

No that's a mistake from other sites. Maggie Jones is only 70.

Funny you should mention Blanche though. The actress who first played her in 1974, committed suicide after just a couple of episodes. They immediately recast and Maggie Jones was the successor.

Also Mark Fowler I in the 80s jumped off a cliff, apparently struggling to cope with fame. They didn't recast for a while, a couple of years, when they decided to bring Mark back, this time played by Todd Carty in 1990.

Barbara Knox is early 70s, so not ancient.

[DaVeyWaVey]

I remember when Laura Sadler died, and she was playing Sandy in Holby City at the time, it was very sad and i remember they wrote her out by saying she had won the lottery and left Holby leaving some of her winnings behind for her friends.

[Chris_2k11]

I remember when Laura Sadler died, and she was playing Sandy in Holby City at the time, it was very sad and i remember they wrote her out by saying she had won the lottery and left Holby leaving some of her winnings behind for her friends.I don't watch Holby but remember reading about that.

[Katy]

i do as well, that was really sad especially as she was still in the show so a happy exit storyline was appropiate. It was odd though as she died the same way as her character did when she was in Grange Hill.

[Chris_2k11]

Didn't she fall over a balcony or something? I can't really remember much now

[Katy]

yeah she did she fell off a balcony whilst on holiday i think?

[LostVoodoo]

yeah she did she fell off a balcony whilst on holiday i think?
she fell off a friend's balcony at a party i think was the story. but there were rumours she was on drugs as well. not good. although yes, her character fell out of a window and died in Grange Hill, uber-creepy...