Soap opera funeral in 1997 (32.1 million viewers) which were transmitted on both BBC One and ITV. An early television serial was "The Grove Family" on the BBC, which produced 148 episodes from 1954 to 1957. The programme was broadcast live and only a handful of recordings were retained in the archives. The UK's first twice-weekly serial was ITV's "Emergency - Ward 10", running from 1957 until 1967. In the 1960s "Coronation Street" revolutionised UK television and quickly became a British institution. On 17 September 2010, it became the world's longest-running television soap opera and was listed in "Guinness World Records". The
Franco (General Hospital) "General Hospital" and the soap opera genre. In 2009, James Franco sought out a soap opera role. Sharing the same agent as Steve Burton, who played Jason Morgan on "General Hospital", he went to that series for his request. Franco signed on for a series of 20 episodes that he filmed in three days. He was credited as a special guest star, and first appeared on November 19, 2009. His scenes aired through February 2010. He returned on June 30, 2010 for a summer-long storyline. He next appeared on February 25 and February 28, 2011, bookending his co-hosting job of