The Soap From The Box podcast, which features soap stars past and present, recently ended its first series, but host Lee Salisbury says he has “some amazing guests lined up” for the next series.
The podcast kicked off last October with Shayne Ward, who played Adrian Connor in Coronation Street and ended the series run in December with Sammy Winward, Katie Sugden from Emmerdale. In total, 22 cast members of various soap operas appeared across the series.
Soap From The Box host Lee knows his stuff when it comes to soaps – he’s an award-winning director who has worked on all of the UK’s leading soaps including Coronation Street, Eastenders and Emmerdale.
Lee says that the great thing about his podcast is that it revisits soap stars who have left and that’s what listeners love to hear, the nostalgia and what they’re doing now.
In a recent interview with the Daily Star, Lee spoke about some of the insider secrets about soap legends he reveals in his podcast.
Lee told the newspaper: “There’s a snobbery around soaps, but they are full of icons who have had a bigger impact on British culture than many Hollywood A-listers.”
He says that many actors can’t cut the punishing schedules of working on a soap, but he’s been lucky enough to have workd with some “true legends who have shown exactly why they are British TV royalty”.
During the interview, Lee reveals that he was drafted in by BBC bosses to direct the exit of Peggy Mitchell following Barbara Windsor’s decision to leave Eastenders after 16 years. During the final scenes, which involved a fire at the Queen Vic, there was a power cut and Walford was plunged into darkness. He says: “Barbara just looked up at me and said, ‘Oh that’s Him up there saying that I shouldn’t be going’.”
At Coronation Street, Lee describes Barbara Knox, who plays Rita Tanner, as “Queen of the Cobbles”, he says; “She’s an enigma, there is an aura around her which is hard to explain, but she has this presence.”
Having directed some of the biggest moments in soaps over the years, Lee believes they are down to the senior ladies who rule the roost. “However, soaps are sadly getting to a point where they are losing the big matriarchs because they are all of a certain age,” he says.
Of course, the legends, the stories and the gossip continue in the podcast, with series two of Soap From The Box due from late February.
Lee doesn’t want to reveal too much but says the first two episodes of the new series will be released together with Sue Johnston (Royale Family, Brookside, Downtown Abbey and Corrie) and Billy Price from Hollyoaks featuring.
There will be at least another 15 big stars on the rest of the series including Deena Payne who was Viv in Emmerdale and she hasn’t done an interview for years!
In case you missed it, the whole of series one of the Soap From The Box podcast is available to download.
