Emmerdale is 'booziest' soap, study suggests

Emmerdale won best soap at this year's Inside Soap awards

Emmerdale is the "booziest" British soap, according to a study on the depiction of alcohol consumption and healthy habits on TV soaps.

Emmerdale, EastEnders, Coronation Street and Hollyoaks were examined over a two-week period.

The study also looked at exercising, drinking water and healthy eating.

Emmerdale characters managed to consume 46 alcoholic drinks during the research period, with Coronation Street not far behind on 40 beverages.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Emmerdale said it was a "small community", adding: "Characters regularly meet in the pub where the focus is on story as opposed to alcohol intake. We present a balanced view of alcohol as we take our responsibilities for portraying alcohol consumption seriously."

Hollyoaks was named the healthiest UK soap overall, while EastEnders came second, followed by Emmerdale in third and Coronation Street in fourth spot.

Stars of Coronation Street were pictured enjoying a tipple back in 1974

In total, 48% of activity in Hollyoaks was considered healthy, with EastEnders on 36%, Emmerdale on 18%, and Coronation Street on 15%.

The Hollyoaks characters were the most active, with characters sitting down for just 15% of the episodes compared with Coronation Street's cast, who spent 31% on the couch.

EastEnders characters enjoyed the most nights out, with 11 in total, while there were no evenings out on the town on Coronation Street.

'Play hard'

Corrie's characters also consumed the most takeaways, while Emmerdale consumed the least.

A spokesperson for Coronation Street said: "We present a balanced view of alcohol consumption, healthy eating and the lifestyles of our characters as we take our responsibilities for these issues seriously. Characters do frequent the pub but we also see them engaging in exercise and we have explored lifestyle related health issues through many different storylines."

Lee Matthews of Fitness First, which conducted the study, said: "While studying Hollyoaks, we saw that despite there being three big nights out, there were zero instances of smoking shown on screen. In comparison there were 13 instances of jogging, walking and playing a sport.

"Hollyoaks has demonstrated perfectly that we can play hard and still incorporate healthy habits along the way."

The show is aimed at a younger audience than the other soaps, which is reflected in its earlier broadcasting timeslot.