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BUPA prove they really have got nothing to do...

The march of the nanny state continues unabated, but this time, it's not Labour taking the lead. According to Al JaBeeba; "Soap characters with unhealthy lifestyles should be shown reaping the consequences, say doctors. Private healthcare firm Bupa has released its 'top ten' unhealthiest characters, arguing they could be used to hammer home health messages. It said heavy smoker Dot Cotton, from Eastenders, should appear breathless, with heavy drinkers in soaps having broken veins."

I know it's Christmas and there's next to nothing in the way of proper news around, but this is daft. Don't these wankers at Bupa have anything better to do than watching third-rate soaps? Still, nice work if you can get it, I suppose. I think that EastEnders writers should ensure that Dot Cotton lives until she's around 235 just to annoy these whingers.

Where is this evidence that people copy everything that they see on television? The other night, I watched a classic episode of South Park - but I didn't feel like exterminating the Jews afterwards. I didn't feel the sudden urge to go on a shooting spree when I saw someone with a gun on the telly either. Why was that? Might be something to do with me having a brain...

Over to you.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    They do make a point though. You watch thousands of TV shows and see people smoking, drinking to excess, taking drugs in some circumstances,

    yet you rarely if ever see the negative side effects. To someone our age I doubt it's a problem, but you have to remember young kids watch tv shows like this and are influenced by them.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Whowhere wrote: »
    They do make a point though. You watch thousands of TV shows and see people smoking, drinking to excess, taking drugs in some circumstances,

    yet you rarely if ever see the negative side effects. To someone our age I doubt it's a problem, but you have to remember young kids watch tv shows like this and are influenced by them.

    Bollox.
    Most smokers i know really don't have viens sticking out their heads.
    Most pot heads i know have very ordinary lives.
    Most lager drinkers work hard and raise a family and live to a ripe old age ...but no ...don't show the people this!
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Bollox.
    Most smokers i know really don't have viens sticking out their heads.
    Most pot heads i know have very ordinary lives.
    Most lager drinkers work hard and raise a family and live to a ripe old age ...but no ...don't show the people this!


    A significant proportion of smokers die from smoking related illnesses. Others suffer from them.

    A rising proportiong of pot smokers are suffering from extreme psychosis PLUS the problems above.

    You're right, a significant majority of people are responsible drinkers. A large number aren't. Nothing bad ever seems to happen to them on TV, but it does in real life.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Soaps are supposed to reflect real life. People drink and smoke too much in real life.

    It's bad (if bad is the right word) than there is no swearing on soaps, as far as credibility goes. You know characters like Frank Butcher would be effing and blinding every other word. If they sanitise it further by pretending working class geezers don't like a drink and a smoke, the likes of Corrie and Eastenders would be about as realistic a portrayal of life in Britain as Star Wars.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    if they want to make it realistic could they one day have an ex-squaddie who isn't a pyschotic (ie Grant Mitchell, Sean Slater, Jim McDonald)
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Does the actress who plays Dot Cotton smoke in real life? I'm guessing she does, in which case, her natural state and natural voice are presumably a pretty accurate reflection of what happens to you as a smoker. It irritates me when people attempt to use soaps as campaign vehicles for whatever bollocks cause they can think of. If you want to campaign for something, make your own fucking film, don't interrupt other people's films.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Do that many people really watch soap operas in the UK? The soap operas here in the US... the only people that watch them are old people... though even my granma gave up on them like a decade ago... and women without jobs or kids. Let them be fake... nobody watches it anyways!
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Do that many people really watch soap operas in the UK?
    Coronation Street and EastEnders are regularly the most watched programmes in the UK, if that helps. Both are shit, (although EastEnders is slightly worse) but that doesn't stop people watching them. I think they do it simply for a bit of escapism, to be honest - to escape from their own problems for a little while.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I don't tend to watch soaps for their informative information.
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