Brookside

Like so many people I eagerly waited for the 1st episode on the new TV channel 4. Quickly I became a fan of the great story-lines and strong characters. "Brookside" boasted a number of fantastic soap characters (Barry Grant was my favourite). It even had a "Hollyoakes" like ability to attract some good-looking female actresses. But what I really liked was the realistic stories and the way "Brookside" was so different to the much more camper offerings like "Eldorado" offered by other channels. It pushed boundaries and broke new ground. However by the late 90's the soap was a pale shadow of its former self. Gone were the interesting, likable characters and compelling stories and in were boring irritating families with completely stupid plots. I no longer watch "Brookside" and will not miss it when it ends this year.

Brookside was one of Britains best soaps/shows before it was axed in the 21st Century......izzit, izzit? Yes it was. Having story lines that were equal to Corrie or an (up to 2003) Eastenders. Unfortunately, Channel 4 did not see it this way. Putting it on at completely the wrong time of day proved to be the death of what could have been Britain's bestest hit soap. Whilst Brookside was equally as good as what today are known as Britains's most popular, they hired fantastic actors, story lines that one can easily compare with, and is sorely missed to this day. I would love for this soap to be brought back by c4, ditching crappy hollyoaks for some real story lines worth watching.

I started watching Brookside in 1982. I last watched it at the end of 2001. I don't know what is has been like in 2002 but I can tell you how I felt about it from 1982-2001.

My favourite soap was always Emmerdale Farm (now Emmerdale). I liked it because it didn't need fancy gimmicks to gain temporary ratings increases. Emmerdale had good characters which made the soap what it was.

Brookside was a different kettle of fish. To be fair, some of the characters were good but Brookside preferred gimmicks such as explosions and shootings.

In it's favour, there were some good stories for Brookside. Two of my favourite ever characters were Sinbad (real name Thomas Sweeney) and Mick Johnson. Sinbad left the show a couple of years ago. His last storyline had him accused of child abuse and it was powerful stuff. Mick Johnson also had some great stories, particularly one where he was in court for euthanasia.

Jimmy Corkhill was also a good character but by the time I stopped watching Brookside, he had lost all credibility. He had been a drug addict, a schizophrenic, a crook and a fake teacher-there was nowhere else for him to go really.

A couple of things I didn't like about Brookside were it's long drawn out stories and gimmicks. Some storylines lasted for an eternity, especially the one where Nikki Shadwick was raped by a mystery suspect. It lasted just over a year. As I stated earlier, Brookside seemed at times to rely on gimmicks such as explosions, plagues and the like. I feel it could have done more to develop characters because in a lot of cases, some characters became caricatures after awhile.

As I write this, Brookside may be axed in 2003. I know the show has a lot of fans and I thank Brookside for providing some entertainment and addressing a lot of taboo issues but maybe it has run it's course and 2003 will be the right time to lay it to rest.

The (not so) everyday life of the residents of a Liverpool Close. Brookside has been known to break the 'taboos' of life and include stories that no other soap had been brave enough to do before. Throughout the 80's and early 90's, stories of rape, domestic violence, homosexuality, incest and murder earned the soap high ratings. This was because Brookside wasn't afraid to push the barriers of soap stories. In fact, most people would say that Brookside helped pave the way for other soaps to be so extreme.

In it's heyday 10 million viewers regularly tuned in. This was in 1993, with one of the most controversial storylines to be on TV at the time. From that point on things began to go downhill. Though remaining popular, the 10 million viewers gradually decreased to around 1.5 million. Thus, in 2002, Brookside was moved to a Saturday afternoon slot, then to a late night Tuesday slot. It was eventually axed, and the last episode runs tonight.

So what went wrong? I was a fan up until around 2000. Up until this point the stories had been as exciting and controversial as ever, but maybe it was so exciting that it was unbelievable?

Most soaps have long, drawn out stories that gradually develop, and these are few and far between. While this is dull for some, it can at least relate with the everyday life of people. These long stories allow for character development, so people will become familiar with people on screen and feel as if they 'know' them. Brookside had none of this. Within the space of a few years we had a virus that killed off half the cast, the incestuous relationship of a brother and sister, a man killing his mother-in-law to get rid of her cancer pain, a drug-rape (which did drag for over a year, but became boring), a man purchasing a shotgun and killing a burglar, a couple of bombs/explosions, racist thugs that came from nowhere, a schoolboy killing and, to top it all off, a seige that trapped the close for three weeks.

Whilst these all sound good on paper, most of these characters and stories came and went in the space of a year, hauling tonnes of emotional baggage (that we hadn't seen develop) with them. Viewers didn't feel as though they knew the characters.

There was also no continuity. With other soaps, they all have at least one character that has been there all along, and most have lasted the majority of the show's life. Brookside has just one remaining character that has made it past the fifteen year mark. The rest have came and gone in very little time. Other soaps have familiar pubs and shops (ie the Cabin, Queen Vic, Woolpac, Rovers Return) Brookside has no familiar 'mascot' as such.

So it ends tonight. The thing is, since it was moved to a late night slot, it has became brilliant viewing. I have since heard that this was the way it was supposed to be as of last year, but the movement to an afternoon slot made it impossible to show what they wanted to.

I'll be watching tonight, as will the 1.5 million left. Maybe more since the final episode has had some surprisingly good news coverage.

"Brookie"-1982-2003

Once upon a time, Brookie was the best thing on telly. It had deep, believable, real characters. Motivations were drawn out over years, stories not rushed through and integrity on show. In the mid-nineties, attempts for each storyline to out-do the previous one and characters arriving with masses of emotional baggage to unload before we even knew who they were, all managed to undermine Brookie's place as the most controversial, and the ultimate soap.

Later on, the need to shock, married to tacky stories and two-dimensional characters turned the series into self-parody.

One of the best things on British TV, until approx. 1995.