Talk:List of longest-serving soap opera actors

About time
Many thanks to AJ21SW for creating this list, as the information was overkill in the main article Soap opera. I have removed the equivalent lists from that article here. However, I have also updated this article to reflect the same information in that main article, because I know it has been debated in regards to the number of years found to be significant/number of actors on the lists. &mdash; TAnthonyTalk 17:48, 8 August 2008 (UTC)
 * Also huge thanks to Ooh for adding much-needed references to many entries.&mdash; TAnthonyTalk 18:10, 4 February 2010 (UTC)
 * Thanks, I'll get round to doing the rest when I have time. Ooh, Fruity (talk) 21:42, 4 February 2010 (UTC)

Frances Reid
The death of Frances Reid this week creates an interesting issue regarding the execution of this list. She died in 2010 but her last appearance on the series was in 2007, and there is no evidence (or likelihood) that she was on contract until her death. Technically I would think her end date for the series is 2007, what does the community think? Quotes from obits that she was on the series for 45 years are nice and all, but they should not determine how Wikipedia calculates these things.&mdash; TAnthonyTalk 18:10, 4 February 2010 (UTC)
 * In my opinion it's last appearance that counts. It baffles me why American soaps keep long-servers in the cast list even when they appear so infrequently. I've tried changing Helen Wagner's dates too, which are wrong, but they're always reverted back so I gave up. Ooh, Fruity (talk) 21:41, 4 February 2010 (UTC)

As the World Turns
Is there any point leaving the year ranges open for all current cast members. The show is definitely ending in September. If any news to the contrary came then we could always revert. Ooh, Fruity (talk) 21:58, 10 March 2010 (UTC)

Australia
Why is Pippa Ross from Home and Away listed so high, her later appearances lasted no more than a month, added all up they would only make an additional year to the 8 Debra Lawrance served up. She never returned permanently, just made occasional appearances. Tom Oliver who plays Lou carpenter in Neighours only appeared once in 1988, then from 92 onwards, so I changed that. All claims on the page in whole need a source. RAIN the ONE  (Talk) 19:49, 24 May 2010 (UTC)
 * It's an unfortunate problem with the format that one-off appearances should be classed as a year to count at all. I suppose we could change it to include single years only when significant? For instance only counting her initial eight years, but that would mean she'd drop out of the list if we still want to keep it trimmed down to rounded numbers. Regarding Lou, that was probably only changed recently, and nobody noticed. Ooh, Fruity    Ooh, Chatty  21:34, 24 May 2010 (UTC)
 * Yeah. I noticed you corrected it, I just made a quick edit because it was misleading. :) So do you think that the list should go by full years served, the list suggests that all characters are constantly in the series, therefore given the tag long-serving. It would be quite easy to replace those who would be removed from the list. Just a case of who wants to do it though.  RAIN the ONE  (Talk) 22:50, 24 May 2010 (UTC)
 * I'll do it later when I have the time. I won't remove the year ranges, but rather just change the duration column. In the grand scheme of things it's a rather minor change really, it only affects these actors:
 * US - Rachel Ames (-1), Patricia Bruder (-1), James Mitchell (-1, delisted)


 * UK - Barbara Knox (-1), Anne Kirkbride (-1), Bryan Mosley (-2), William Tarmey (-1), Sue Nicholls (-3), Julie Goodyear (-2), Stan Richards (-1), Thelma Barlow (-1), Jane Rossington (-1), Sheila Mercier (-3), Mark Wingett (-1), Lynne Perrie (-1), Ronald Magill (-1)


 * AU - Tom Oliver (-1), Norman Coburn (-3), Debra Lawrance (-8, delisted), Ryan Moloney (-1), Kym Valentine (-2), Stefan Dennis (-1), Lyn Collingwood (-1), Judy Nunn (-1)


 * NL - Sabine Koning (-1), Ferri Somogyi (-2) Ooh, Fruity    Ooh, Chatty  14:18, 25 May 2010 (UTC)

Ken Barlow number of years
Because he started in december when the soap started i think that a year should only count on the 9th of december. Main reason for this is because unlike other members on the list his start date only left less than a month in the year. The List is updated in the new year but because he started in december his ranking for most of the year is almost a year in front. For Example new year 2010 everyone was updated including him but he did not complete 50 Years until the 9th of december — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2.99.31.117 (talk) 15:22, 23 October 2011 (UTC)


 * This list is not accurate, it is one year out of touch on many characters. Ken first appeared in December, it has had him down as 51 years serving, when he hits 51 years next week. Many more are in the same boat... Rain the One  BAM 03:48, 3 December 2011 (UTC)


 * It would be better if it was based on the number of days, because actors returning for one episode in a single year does not count as a year's tenure. It wouldn't be difficult - for example:
 * Ian Beale - 14374 days days
 * Dot Cotton - days
 * Phil Mitchell - days
 * – anemone projectors – 17:47, 29 December 2013 (UTC)
 * However, I don't know how to convert that into years and days, which would be better than just days. – anemone projectors – 11:45, 5 January 2014 (UTC)


 * This still needs fixing. It says Pam St Clement was in EastEnders for 26 years, and June Brown for 25 years, but as of today, Brown has been in it for 9386 days, and St Clement was in it for only 9334 days. – anemone projectors – 11:37, 28 June 2015 (UTC)

"The Bill"
"The Bill" wasn't a soap opera! It was a police series. I know it acquired soapy tendencies when it went to the one hour format, but that's simply subjective comment. A "soap opera" (a phrase I hate) is an open-ended serial. Though the production companies, in their publicity, blur the distinction - anything is flagged up as "New Series" when what it means is "new programme".

Rogersansom (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 13:25, 4 December 2012 (UTC)

Lieke van Lexmond (NL)
Lieke van Lexmond shouldn't be a part of the list since she claimed herself that she only played Charlie Fischer for 8.5 years. Wikigirl 2 (talk) 12:27, 14 August 2013 (UTC)

Canadian Soap Operas
I have noticed that nothing about Canadian soap oepras --210.48.190.38 (talk) 01:54, 5 April 2014 (UTC)

Ryan's Hope
Link: Ryan's Hope. Nobody from this soap opera is mentioned in the US listing. The soap was on for fourteen years and several actors were on the show for most or all of this time. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.190.165.70 (talk) 17:43, 26 July 2014 (UTC)

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Poland: Matysiakowie
If you count radio soap operas in first table, you should place there Ludmiła Łączyńska-Dobrowolska, who acts in "Matysiakowie" soap opera from 1957. 89.66.66.207 (talk) 18:31, 25 January 2016 (UTC)

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Toyah Battersby
Is missing from the UK list. She has been there since 1997. Someone needs to add her to the list!

June Spencer
This list has June Spencer down as the third longest-running soap actor, but on the news tonight (June 11 2019), it was claimed that she is THE longest serving soap actor. Vorbee (talk) 17:31, 11 June 2019 (UTC)

Changing to all actors instead of just soap opera actors?
Perhaps other actors could be added? Thurl Ravenscroft, as Tony the Tiger, 1951-2005. Mel Blanc, as Porky Pig, 1937-1988. Caroll Spinney as Big Bird. Anthony Daniels as C3PO. Leonard Nimoy, as Spock, 1965-2013. Desmond Llewelyn, as Q, 1963-1999, 36 years. EdPeggJr (talk) 20:38, 27 June 2021 (UTC)

Page changes
I think that all durations should match those on the character pages. For example; Ken Barlow's duration on this page is listed as "1960–2013, 2014—" whereas on his actual page it is listed as "1960—". There should be no reason for these durations to be different. Also, I think it is time to make the cut-off point in the Longest serving soap opera actors by country section to 15 years (if not 20), as more and more actors are getting beyond 10 years so the lists are becoming too long. Connorguy99 (talk) 15:05, 1 January 2022 (UTC)

I disagree. This page is specifically counting the time the actors have actually been on their show, so it’s entirely false to say Bill Roache has been on the show for the entire time when he was off for 16 months, which by any measure is a significant gap. If these gaps are not observed, it opens the door to the possibility that someone could appear in a single episode in each year over the period of a decade and still make the list, when they are just not relevant. By the same token, it also opens the doors to other dramas which could sit in the soap opera bracket but are seasonal rather than year-round (such as Dallas for example).

As for the long lists, it’s a difficult one. While ten years is a long period in many countries, it’s not so much in the UK and US, so if we applied a higher cut-off, a lot of countries would be cut out or significantly cut down. I don’t know whether that’s fair really and not sure why a long list is even a bad thing. Ooh, Fruity  @  Ooh, Chatty  15:35, 2 January 2022 (UTC)

Sort keys
If someone has a bit of spare time it would be good to fix these tables so that sorting on character or actor names, or programme titles, works better. At present the people sort by first name: if you change June Spencer to June Spencer, the column of names sorts right; similarly, change The Archers to The Archers and it sorts under "A", not "T". (But, despite WP:SOFIXIT, I'm not volunteering: I'm trying to have a wikibreak). Pam D  18:52, 8 August 2022 (UTC)