Soap opera began airing a recap sequence at the beginning of each episode. With the exception of "Hollyoaks", soap operas in the UK also lack incidental music, although "EastEnders" would sometimes feature music that plays over an ending scene if it was dramatic, with an alternative "EastEnders" theme known as "Julia's theme". Australia has had quite a number of well-known soap operas, some of which have gained cult followings in the UK, New Zealand and other countries. The majority of Australian television soap operas are produced for early evening or evening timeslots. They usually produce two or two-and-a-half hours of new material
Indian soap opera soap operas are also broadcast in South Asia, Southeast Asia, Central Asia, the Middle East, North Africa and francophone Africa. India's first soap opera was "Hum Log", which first aired in 1984 and concluded with 154 episodes, was the longest running serial in the history of Indian television at the time it ended. It had an audience of 60 million. Every episode was about 25 minutes long, and the last episode was about 55 minutes. At the end of every episode, veteran Hindi film actor Ashok Kumar would discuss the ongoing story and situations with the audience using Hindi couplets