Running Through Soap Operas’ Love on the Run Stories

General Hospital‘s Luke and Laura may not have invented soap operas’ “love on the run,” but they certainly put it on the map. When Luke and Laura took off during the summer of 1980 to bring down Frank Smith and his mob (remember when mobsters were actually considered bad guys in Port Charles?), it set off a trend soaps are still dipping into when they want to wrap their couples in peril — and romance.

Criminal Minds

Before Luke (Anthony Geary) and Laura (Genie Francis), soap operas had their action take place in the kitchen — maybe, if you were feeling fancy, the living room, and eventually, the bedroom. After this couple came onto the scene, soaps hit the road!

No sooner had L&L hid out in Beecher’s Corners not to mention stopped an evil weather machine on Cassadine Island, than Tom (Justin Deas) and Margo (Margaret Colin) were fighting a homicidal dwarf in a booby-trapped castle on As the World Turns, Phillip (Grant Aleksander) and Beth (Judi Evans) were running off to New York (and meeting St. Nick!) on Guiding Light, and Erica Kane (Susan Lucci) herself was fighting off a bear on All My Children. Danger makes the heart grow fonder!

Still the One

Daniel (Michael Graziadei) and Lily (Christel Khalil) may have recently rekindled their romance on The Young and the Restless — at least until his ex, Heather (Vail Bloom) put a kibosh on that. But they initially connected as teens, when Daniel was accused of contributing to Cassie’s (Camryn Grimes) death, and Lily went on the run with him.

When Nicole (Arianne Zucker) was desperate to hold onto her baby, Holly (Ashley Puzemis), on Days of our Lives, Brady (Eric Martsolf) grabbed Tate (Jamie Martin Mann), and the two played family under fake names. And who can forget all the romantic road trips super couples like Bo (Peter Reckell) and Hope (Kristian Alfonso), Steve (Stephen Nichols) and Kayla (Mary Beth Evans), and Jack (Matthew Ashford) and Jennifer (Melissa Reeves) took away from Salem.

Looking Ahead

So who will be the next travelling dynamic duo on soap operas? Will Trina (Tabyana Ali) and Cameron (William Lipton) go looking for a missing Spencer (Nicholas Alexander Chavez)? Marlena (Deidre Hall) and John (Drake Hogysten) take off on a quest to retire The Pawn? Chelsea (Melissa Claire Egan) is always running off someplace. Is it time for Billy (Jason Thompson) to join her? Who would you like to see follow in Luke and Laura’s footsteps? Let us know in the comments below.