Eastieoaks is an independent UKTV site run by me, Darren Hilbert – a long-time soaps fan who started writing because I couldn’t find one place that kept up with everything happening from Cwmderi to Summer Bay.
I found Pobol y Cwm quite by chance while channel hopping on what was my first ever trip to Wales when I randomly decided one day I’d get a coach to Newport with no plan and very little money.
As ‘Eastieoaks,’ the very first event I attended was in Leeds in 2019, when Channel 4 invited me to the launch of Ackley Bridge Series 3, where I also happened to meet one of the nicest friends I have known in the last 10 years.
Onto Corrie, and there was no greater ‘pinch me’ moment than being on those cobbles for the first time in 2022, walking around the corner past Audrey’s salon and the iconic Rovers Return being in front of me. Imagine seeing for real the very place you’ve watched on TV for the better part of 30 years? That is why I say – there is always a story to tell. If you ever get a chance to do one of the Corrie tours, go for it.
Then we have Emmerdale, another long-time watch of mine since the late 90s. The storm of 2003/2004 remains a highlight to this day, and while Emmerdale has been battered in more ways than one in the past 20 years, I struggle to say that this was topped.
I’ve never owned a passport and I am very unlikely to ever get one and travel to Australia, but there is something about the location of Summer Bay that drew me in and kept me hooked. Channel 5 lunchtime off school watching Home and Away in the early 00s – who remembers the Sutherland family?
Then came Doctors, and boy was this a gem in the daytime listings. Each episode was a little different from the last, and be sure to tune in as you never knew what was going to happen next. Much like The Bill and Holby City, the format was something I spent years enjoying, as quite often you’d be playing a game of spot the guest star.
I was always into soaps growing up, and for many, many years, I would tape every Sunday omnibus version of EastEnders – yes, I am that old that I used VHS tapes. I even had a 30-year collection of Inside Soap magazine at one point.
Got a lot of love for Rownd a Rownd as well as Pobol y Cwm. I don’t speak Welsh, but these little gems have been going for more than 30 years (50 in the case of the Cwmderi residents) and pack a lot of drama into 20-minute episodes. Never dull; that one thing you can be promised.
Over the years, I’ve covered soaps as a freelancer, visited sets and spoken with cast and crew from Corrie to Cwmderi.
You can find me on Muck Rack and past work for Metro.co.uk where I covered Doctors for a short time.
If you’d like to get in touch – whether it’s press releases, interview requests, or general inquiries – you can reach me through the Contact page.
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