With the soap opera Neighbours ending, insurance provider Urban Jungle has analysed some disasters which hit the settings of Neighbours, Eastenders, Coronation Street, Hollyoaks, Emmerdale, and Home & Away to find the safest soap town to live in based on home insurance claims over the last 30 years. It estimated costs based on location and size of property affected.
Neighbours’ Erinsborough has come out on top, as Ramsay Street residents would have claimed a total of £376,104 over 30 years, mostly due to two storms that hit the fictional Australian suburb. Coronation Street came in second with a total insurance claim of £384,000 including a house fire and sinkhole. Home & Away made the top three at £863,156 from a house fire and three storms among other fictional disasters.
The most severe disasters tended to hit soapland businesses and community hubs – think fires in the Queen Vic and Corrie’s Underworld factory roof – though these incidents would have had an impact on nearby residential property as well.
Looking at disasters directly affecting soap residents’ homes, EastEnders’ Albert Square would have seen the most home insurance claims – approximately £1.7 million based on four house fires. Six house fires and three farmhouse outbuilding explosions in Emmerdale would have resulted in claims totalling £1.54 million.
Urban Jungle noted that Emmerdale suffered more large-scale disasters than any other soap, including the famous Beckindale airplane crash. However, with the programme set in rural Yorkshire, house rebuild costs were calculated to be considerably lower than Albert Square or London, assuming the right cover in place.
“We hadn’t realised that everyone’s daily soap was such a good advert for why you need home insurance, though what you see on the soaps actually pretty well mirrors real life,” said Urban Jungle CEO Jimmy Williams. “Whether it was the big storms in February or the fires from the recent heatwave, we’ve been helping our customers with plenty of real-life drama. By having your home insurance sorted, hopefully everything can be that little bit less dramatic!”
