Trivia

The last resident to leave Brookside Close, Jimmy Corkhill, added the letter 'd' to the word 'Close', symbolically signalling the end of the soap.

In the final few episodes a drug dealer named "Jack Michaelson" moved into Brookside Close. This is a play on the name Michael Jackson, the Channel 4 controller who had canceled the soap.

In 2000, the character Matt Musgrove (played by Kristian Ealey) transferred from the show Brookside to Hollyoaks (1995), the first time this had been done in England. Both shows were created by Phil Redmond.

Sue Johnston and Ricky Tomlinson played popular couple Sheila and Bobby Grant from the show's inception in 1982 until Tomlinson's departure in 1988. They would in 1998 go on to play another married couple, Barbara and Jim Royle, in the hugely-successful BBC comedy The Royle Family.

The series was filmed on a real estate in Liverpool. Mersey TV owned all the houses one of which was used as a production office and never actually filmed in. To get a realistic look for the series when developing it, creator and producer Phil Redmond opted to record the program in real buildings rather than studio sets. He opted to buy six houses on a development on Lord Sefton's old estate in Liverpool. After meeting the builders and seeing the plans, he decided one road stood out. It had a brook running alongside it, hence the name 'Brookside'. The builders were supplied with a list of the characters and their profiles so they could be tailored to them. For the sets the production had: One bungalow One four-bedroom house and four three-bedroom houses.

Three other houses were bought for office space, three more for technical equipment and one was equipped as a canteen. They were bought for 25,000 each. After the initial outlay for the houses, in the long run the program would be cheaper to record on the one site instead of building, storing and knocking down studio sets. The buildings were not heated for the first year, as it was thought that the filming lights would heat up the buildings, but as soon as recording commenced newer improved lights that were significantly cooler were introduced so the production team and actors suffered as a result. Three garages were added to the properties for additional equipment stores.

The shopping parade was opened in 1991 to coincide with the 1000th episode. The building was incorporated into the old college building that formed the administration offices of Mersey Television. The fluorescent lights in the shops were designed specially for use in television. The flowers in the florist were silk, not real flowers, so they did not have to be replaced.

When the series was cancelled in 2003 the houses were renovated and are now used for the interior scenes in Hollyoaks (1995). The only exterior scenes are shot around the front doors.