Mostly all TV soaps have an ensemble of different characters –father, mother, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, niece, nephew, mother-in-law, father-in-law, etc, etc. If the serial is well etched each character has a definite role to play. And if it’s not, then often you end up with characters who are either bumped off as the story progresses or are side lined ( sent abroad, sent to jail, etc) as they didn't have any thing to do with the story anyways.