Soaps 'encouraging binge drinking'
TV soaps were criticised today for encouraging binge drinking over Christmas and the New Year.
New research found alcohol was shown on peak-time TV every eight minutes, according to British-based charity Alcohol Concern.
It said drinking scenes in soaps have almost doubled in the past 20 years - from 3.9 an hour in 1983 to seven an hour in 2003.
The charity said the soaps made excessive drinking appear “normal, expected and unproblematic” without using storylines which show the “more problematic side of alcohol”.
Pubs – the Queen Vic in EastEnders, Rovers Return in Coronation Street and The Woolpack in Emmerdale – were often a focal point for the soaps, it said.
The charity’s chief executive, Eric Appleby, said: “At the moment, portrayal of alcohol is almost completely one-dimensional.
“The message that comes across is that drinking is the norm and getting drunk carries no adverse consequences. This simply stokes the binge drinking culture in this country.”
He added: “Plenty of young people watch these prime time shows – and recent figures tell us that drinkers under the age of 16 are drinking twice as much today as they did 10 years ago.”
The charity cited figures showing that alcohol cost up to £6.4bn (€9.1bn) in the workplace, up to £1.7bn (€2.4bn)on the health service, and up to £7.3bn (€10.4bn) in crime and public disorder.
