Featured Image Credit: BBC/ITV
Topics: TV and Film, Celebrity, Money
Joe Harker
Whether you're a former fan who fell out of the loop, a loyal long-time viewer who can remember what's been going on since the 1970s, or just somebody who absorbs the major plot details through Gogglebox, you surely know what a soap is.
They're the staple of the weekday evening TV schedule for the BBC and ITV, and no doubt you've heard their theme songs a thousand times.
The big three in Britain are EastEnders, Emmerdale and Coronation Street, and while their stars don't get paid quite as much as the biggest names from the movies some of the soap stars responsible for your favourite characters do make a decent living from it.
According to the Mirror, two soap stars are tied for the top spot with annual earnings of £250,000 from their time on the show, while a whole bunch are making £200,000 or more.
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Do you recognise any of this bunch?
He plays Ken Barlow, king of the cobbles, having done so since the first ever episode of the UK's longest-running soap Coronation Street.
He's got the Guinness World Record for being the longest serving actor in a TV soap show, but he actually isn't the longest serving soap star in the world.
That honour goes to Patricia Greene, who has been on radio show The Archers since 1957, while Roache started plying his trade on Corrie in 1960.
One of Roche's Coronation Street co-stars shares the highest paid honour with him, with Shepherd having played the role of David Platt from a very young age.
In that time he's been through all sorts, including nearly being murdered by Richard Hillman (Brian Capron), lying to try and cover up a murder and pushing his mum Gail (Helen Worth) down the stairs.
Apparently the character has mellowed out a bit since then.
The highest-paid woman in soap, Claire King has played Emmerdale's Kim Tate since 1989, though she's also dabbled in other major national soaps after appearing in Coronation Street and Hollyoaks.
Like many iconic soap characters, Kim ended up in prison at some point before being released in 2018 to get wrapped up in a whole load of new and dramatic plotlines.
Such is life in soapland, if there weren't interesting things going on, nobody would be watching.
While the top three might earn north of £200,000, there are several soap stars who reportedly earn that amount on the dot for lending their time to being on the small screen.
EastEnders stars Steve McFadden and Adam Woodyatt, famous for playing Phil Mitchell and Ian Beale, both make about this amount of money for tripping the light fantastic across Albert Square.
Hopping up north, Coronation Street stalwart Barbara Knox is paid £200,000 for her role as Rita, queen of the Corrie cobbles and the Kabin.
Meanwhile, over in Emmerdale, the trio of Chris Chittell, Emma Atkins and Jeff Hordley are also members of this club, and it seems as though the key to being paid a lot to be on the show is to be on the soaps for a lengthy period of time.