Soap operas are a curious form of dramatic beast. While audiences take them for granted, they demand a huge amount of behind-the-scenes effort. Maintaining that effort, and striving for equilibrium between solid storytelling and remaining socially relevant, is the delicate balancing act all soaps have to attempt. When it fails, they implode spectacularly (Albion Market and Crossroads anyone?). In recent months, our own Fair City has shown signs of the kind of makeover that signifies a shift towards righting that sense of balance. And comparing Fair City now to its first incarnation provides an insight into the changing nature of soap opera.
There are some industry insiders who believe the RTÉ show is in danger of becoming an EastEnders clone. They point to what they see as a more aggressive tone, and a style of drama that is not inherently Irish. Ex-series editor Kevin McHugh stresses he hasn't seen the show recently, but he understands the fears of some of his contemporaries and cites the experience of the late Anthony Clare who articulated the uniquely Irish method of confrontation when he returned to Ireland years ago: "He said he was shocked by the suddenness in the change of culture. He found that people here negotiated a bit more, and he made an analysis based on the fact that it was a throwback to colonialism or something like that. He noted that Irish people were less overtly confrontational." It was this mode of "language and energy" which McHugh says the creative team put into Fair City in the past. "What we used to do was try and tell Irish stories about Irish people. We'd find the language of the story and the way people would react to it in an Irish context."
The person responsible for Fair City's change of pace and tone is new executive producer Brigie De Courcy. De Courcy was originally Fair City's script editor before heading to the UK several years ago to work on Emmerdale, followed by a stint on EastEnders. In that context, if anyone could be accused of anglicising the show, it's her, but she sees the metamorphosis in a more pragmatic way.
She talks about "increasing the quantity and the density of story" and talks about the recent storyline revolving around Floyd's terminal illness, which was condensed into six weeks, when in the past it might have taken a year – a year in which a certain degree of monotony and misery would have dominated.
De Courcy doesn't accept that Fair City is starting to resemble EastEnders, particularly in terms of tone and structure. She cites a scene in a graveyard with Floyd and his father (Christy) discussing Floyd's funeral which was played with some warmth: "In EastEnders, that would have been a really bleak scene, whereas ours was actually quite funny." She also believes Fair City – which averages audiences of 500,000-600,000 per episode – allows for more time and dramatic space.
"We have approximately 18 scenes per episode, which allows every scene to breathe, people can talk through them. Our audience can follow a moral argument in a way that you wouldn't be allowed to do on EastEnders. In EastEnders, they could have up to 40 scenes in an episode, which means that nobody is actually talking about anything, it's quickie things rather than an article, it's snapshots, and that means it's very exciting… we don't do that at all, we actually take the time to discuss things."
The rock upon which Fair City has occasionally foundered in recent years is also uppermost in her mind, and it concerns issue-driven drama. She wants to avoid the foregrounding of issues to the detriment of drama and character.
David Kavanagh, chief executive of the Irish Playwrights' and Screenwriters' Guild, says he is not so sure the changes in Fair City's storytelling are as dramatic as some are claiming: "And I don't think that the story content is shifting away from Irish issues," he says. "It has had the capacity to be speaking about issues which were current in social debate in society at the time, and speaking about them in a way that helped and encouraged the debate." He sees the raising of the euthanasia debate as a return to form in that regard.
Pat Nolan, who plays the long-suffering Barry O'Hanlon, has been with Fair City since its first episode in September 1989. "Doreen Keogh played my mother," he says. "She was in the early days of Coronation Street and she told me that it literally takes years for these things to click." Ironically, considering recent criticism, he remembers EastEnders co-creator Tony Holland being drafted in to help with the inception of the series. "He gave a very English spin on it even in terms of the way we worked rehearsal-wise. It was a completely different format to Glenroe."
Nolan also talks about the inevitable process of the series finding its feet, and of the inevitable lulls that soaps are prone to. "Fair City went through a transition at the beginning with this new mode of urban drama, and I think they found themselves in the middle of something a couple of years into it where they wondered 'where do we go from here?' But fair play, people persisted, members of the cast and the behind-the-scenes people honed it all down and revamped it, and that saved the day when it could have gone either way."
Looking back over its 19 years – and with another facelift due shortly involving a new title sequence, and new actors, writers and directors – you wonder about the core relevance of Fair City. Is it fair to burden a drama programme with the weight of being a barometer of Irish society? Or is it just half-hour chunks of unpretentious entertainment?
De Courcy is clear on what is central to her role and that of the show: "It's my remit to entertain, and to draw the audience in. In a way they're looking at people's lives and sitting back comfortably on their sofas and buying into the characters' lives, enjoying their lives, investing in their lives, but also saying in another way, 'Oh lord, I'm glad things aren't as bad as that.'"
In recent years, it could be argued that Fair City suffered from inertia and a style that lacked assertiveness, but despite the reservations of some, it seems De Courcy has taken what she has learned from British soap opera and applied it successfully.
For all the debate, soap operas have one driving purpose. De Courcy acknowledges this, and she talks about the "water cooler moments" she and her team are attempting to create.
Says David Kavanagh: "The key to soap is audience response and the fantastic thing about soap is that it is so popular, and that audience response is so key. And the winning argument of those in favour of changing Fair City at the moment is that it's getting increased audiences – and that's a kind of unanswerable argument for soap."
If merely increasing audience figures is the barometer of success, then why not have Failte Towers on four times a week? Whatever failings Fair City had until recently, it had more characters you warmed to, it pandered less to sensationalism, and it felt Irish. The present trend is for unbelievable, ridiculous storylines and overly-melodramatic performances, with characters changing overnight from being decent to being touchy and spiteful. The whole thing feels like an empty biscuit-tin banging about the street. It's just making a lot of noise.