Soap opera soap opera "Guiding Light" (originally titled "The Guiding Light" until 1975) started as a radio drama in January 1937 and subsequently transferred to television in June 1952. With the exception of several years in the late 1940s, during which creator Irna Phillips was involved in a dispute with Procter & Gamble, "Guiding Light" was heard or seen nearly every weekday from 1937 until 2009, making it the longest story ever told in a broadcast medium. Originally serials were broadcast as fifteen-minute installments each weekday in daytime slots. In 1956, "As the World Turns" and "The Edge of Night", both produced
Soap opera mid- to late 1970s. "Pobol y Cwm" was briefly shown in the rest of the UK in 1994 on BBC2, with English subtitles; it is consistently the most watched programme each week on S4C. Daytime soap operas were non-existent until the 1970s because there was virtually no daytime television in the UK. ITV introduced "General Hospital", which later moved to a prime time slot. In 1980, Scottish Television debuted "Take the High Road", which lasted for over twenty years. Later, daytime slots were filled with an influx of Australian soap operas such as "The Sullivans" (aired on ITV from 1977),