British Academy Television Award for Best Soap and Continuing Drama
The British Academy Television Award for Best Soap and Continuing Drama is one of the major categories of the British Academy Television Awards (BAFTAs), the primary awards ceremony of the British television industry, presented by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Eligible drama series must be transmitted for at least 20 episodes a year. Only one episode of no more than an hour may be entered, and the episode selected must not be a special, as it must be fully representative of the series. The award was first  given in 1999, for soap operas transmitted in 1998. Its title was changed from Best Soap to Best Continuing Drama in 2003, and to Best Soap and Continuing Drama in 2012. , the award has been won by "EastEnders" nine times, "Coronation Street" six times, "Casualty" four times, "Emmerdale" three times, and "The Bill" and "Holby City" once each. Eligible programmes. Former eligible shows were "Crossroads", "The Bill", "Brookside", "Take the High Road", "Family Affairs" and "Night and Day" and "The Royal Today".