Over the past year or so HAA has become much more of a drama series than a tea time soap, do you think the series would benefit from a later time slot, not so much in the way of ratings though that would be a major factor I guess, but more in terms of developing stories and characters etc?
Asked by FletchCoral and I have both worked hard to make the show more of a drama series than a teen soap. Frankly because it's the way we tell stories. Neither of us want to tell stories the other way - it just seems shallow and pointless. And I think it is disrespectful to teen viewers to assume they're not interested in drama as distinct from soap. It was also a conscious decision to try to give the adult viewers a stronger reason to tune in, by giving the adult characters more of their own stories.
Re the thought of a timeslot shift - we could certainly tell some more adult stories in a more real way in a later time slot (say "rape" for example not "attack" - have teenagers use somewhat stronger language as they do in real life - show violence a little more realistically - deal with some grittier social issues). But maybe if we did that, the show would lose its innocence. I think a lot of viewers come to H&A to have their faith in the world restored - maybe they are happy to come to a world that is not entirely as the world is but as they would like it to be.
Both Coral and I tried to edge a bit more adult/real world stuff in, but you have to be careful you don't upset viewers by doing so. Take for example the recent Beth/Rhys/Shelley storyline. I thought it was a very interesting adult study of a man who loved two women for two entirely different reason - his first great love who made him feel passion and the wonderful woman who brought warmth in to his life. And he had to choose between passion and comfort. He tried to do the right thing by the good woman, but in the end she told him to go - as Beth tells Rhys "I will be your wife, but I won't be your jailer". A lot of the fans did not like this story - but to me it is a very real, human and adult one.
The other story that upset some fans because I told it in an adult way, was Shelley hesitating in giving Kirsty her kidney, because she knew that doing so would spell the end of her relationship with the scar phobic David. The psychology of live organ donation is very complex and many unusual choices are made by family members - and trust me that includes mothers - in real life. This story was taken by the way from our research and is based on a real life incident. But many of the fans didn't buy it because it wasn't the usual H&A primary - the mother figure makes right choices - style of storytelling. So, although the early time slot hampers our storytelling to a certain extent, I think we still have a fair degree of liberty to tell interesting stories, as long as the fans are prepared to come in to a world of interesting grey behavior (morally and emotionally complex), rather than just wanting to see black and white.
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