Who is the UK’s richest soap character? New research reveals how much EastEnders, Emmerdale and Corrie favourites would be earning in real life

RAKING in a tasty £70,000 per year as head of a London property company, James Wilmott-Brown has been declared the highest earner in soapland, according to new research into the earnings of soap characters.

Only returning to Albert Square in September, Wilmott-Brown’s meddling business empire, which also includes family members Fi, Luke, Josh and Hugo, would make enough profit to leave him a salary seven times that of market inspector Robbie Jackson (£10,000).

The research from online lottery platform Jackpot.com also reveals that the average earnings between the characters of Coronation Street, EastEnders and Emmerdale is £1,145 less than the national average wage.

Other high-fliers in the world of soaps include, Lawrence White (owner of Emmerdale’s Home Farm) on £58,300 and Coronation Street’s Sally Metcalfe and Peter Barlow. The pair would pick-up £53,000 and £50,000 in their roles as Mayor of Weatherfield and the Rovers Return Landlord respectively.

Several business owners earn upwards of £30,000 from their enterprises, including farm owner Moira Barton and B&B owner Eric Pollard (both Emmerdale) and Streetcars boss Tim Metcalfe (Coronation Street).

The research, which looked at average salaries according to the National Careers Service and analysed similar roles posted on online job boards, such as CV-Library, found that the top earners in soapland are:

1. James Wilmott-Brown (EastEnders), CEO of property company – £70,000
2. Lawrence White (Emmerdale), Land Owner – £58,300
3. Sally Metcalfe (Coronation Street), Mayor of Weatherfield – £53,000
4. Peter Barlow (Coronation Street), Pub Landlord – £50,000
5. Paddy Kirk (Emmerdale), Veterinary Surgeon – £45,000

With her money worries widely covered in the show, one of Albert Square’s newest residents, Karen Taylor, receives just £16,622 in her role as a cleaner, which is stretched to provide for her five children and two family pets.

Several Coronation Street characters also feature low down on the list. The factory workers would have been taking home just under £17,000 per year before the business went Under(world).

With 20 key characters being analysed for each of Britain’s three main soap operas, Emmerdale’s residents have been named as the wealthiest, with an average annual salary of £28,094, ahead of EastEnders characters (£25,934) and those in Coronation Street (£24,653).