Evelyn Mason wrote:Just seemed to me like a Liverpool variation of Eastenders or Coronation Street.
In fairness, Brookside started three years before EastEnders. Arguably, all soaps are much of a muchness; but one thing that set Brookside apart from its more southern counterparts was its use of real houses on a real street rather than studio sets with a missing wall.
Brookside was repeated on Sky Living and Sky One in the '90s and '00s. There are several episodes of Brookside on 4oD, including the first and last episodes.
R.I.P. Bernie Nolan. I quite liked the Murrays before they did the usual soap thing of not allowing any family to remain happy! The way they killed off her character was a real shark-jumping moment as I recall.
Canadanne wrote:R.I.P. Bernie Nolan. I quite liked the Murrays before they did the usual soap thing of not allowing any family to remain happy! The way they killed off her character was a real shark-jumping moment as I recall.
So sad to hear. Yeah used to love Brooky before it went downhill.
Despite being a fairly low-traffic thread, it hasn't escaped my attention that this thread has a number of different conversations in it, and so may be worthy of being converted to a sub-forum like for Dr Who.
Oh excellent, I've been monitoring YouTube for ages in the hope that Rayner's episode might be uploaded - nice to see some clips at last! Thanks for letting us know about it! (Amused that someone with the surname "Dooris" has left a comment, too.)
During the course of Brookside, the character of Barry (played by Paul Usher) lost his brother and the character of Jimmy (played by Dean Sullivan) lost his son. Both actors have recently experienced the kind of tragedy that should not have followed them into real life, made all the more tragic by doubly twisted irony: Dean Sullivan has lost his brother, Paul Usher has lost his son, and they were named Barry and James respectively. Condolences to Dean, Paul and their families. There is more information here.
I learnt of this double tradegy in the last 24 hours. Dean has been recently performing in a WW1 tribute style show. My thoughts and condolences go out to both families.
Dean's on screen relative 'Aunty Val' aka Pauline Fleming is currently directing me and others in another commerative piece at a local British Legion. Lest we forget in both circumstances.
Our Bev Dixon that was has joined our cast as Pauline's hitherto referred to 'professional actress mate Sarah'! She's certainly down to Earth and in her first impov session the words sausage and dangling somehow worked their way into the dialogue!
That is good news. I hope you have continued to enjoy working with Sarah White. I didn't realise she was still acting until I saw her in ITV sitcom Edge of Heaven earlier in the year. More recent sitings of Brookside alumni in sitcoms: Sandra Maitland (Mandy Jordache) in Uncle; Michael J. Jackson (Ollie Simpson) in a repeat of Bread, with a Scouse accent.
As for the British Legion: Brookside was where I first heard of it. I remember one scene in which Bev was a runner-up in a talent contest at "the Legion" but the compere, who just happened to be her then-admirer Ron, announced her as the winner.
The plague mentioned by Robin the title of this thread refers to a storyline where a mysterious virus struck the Brookside residents, forcing them to cordon off Brookside Close. Episode 1544 from that unfortunately prescient storyline was transmitted 25 years ago today; you may be able to find it on a certain video sharing website.
Another chapter of Brookside's history is now forever closed off as Dean Sullivan, aka the inimitable Jimmy Corkhill, has passed on at the age of 68. Whilst I never worked with him directly he came to offer support and encouragement in the 2014 piece below and did an acclaimed turn in Talking Heads when it was performed in Birkenhead some years ago. More info: https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/b ... caf8&ei=11 and https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-67575906
Arguably, all soaps are much of a muchness; but one thing that set Brookside apart from its more southern counterparts was its use of real houses on a real street rather than studio sets with a missing wall.
I quite liked the Murrays before they did the usual soap thing of not allowing any family to remain happy! The way they killed off her character was a real shark-jumping moment as I recall.
