[James2001]

Was the omnibus edition running in 1982, or did it start later? I'm wondering if it was, was it edited or not? Considering they were pushing the boundaries of what you could get away with even at 8PM (and ended up toning it down), surely there's no way some of the language we've seen in these episodes would have gone out uncut on a Saturday afternoon.

[Larry the Loafer]

Is anyone else using Fire TV and getting the same issue as All4's 4:3 content, where it's stretched to 16:9 but pillarbox bars hide the sides of the picture?

[TheRealWB]

Though we do have a fair amount set in locations away from the close with other characters in these early episodes, I don't think that was really the case during the last few months in 2003.

Perhaps more than you might imagine. I think there were whole 90 minute editions which didn't feature the Close or Parade at all, or hardly at all - by this point the interiors of both were being used by Hollyoaks, which continued for some time after Brookside finished (hence the Close only turning up on the market 5 years or so later). It's possible there's still some Parade heritage in some of Hollyoaks sets? I believe La Luz/Bar Brookie became some sort of student union bar?

Not sure on the interiors but you can still clearly see some of the blue paintwork from the parade above what I believe is now the A&E in the show if you're local to the area and know where to look.

youtu.be 

Not the best video but you can kind of get an idea of were the parade was here, the basic outline of the buildings is still there, with some sort of garden area where the petrol station was. This was also in 2018, so things might have changed since. I'm tempted to get up there with my own drone and see what's what - potential project when I'm off work next week

[James2001]

The houses we never see anyone living on screen create a very bizarre narrative problem. Of course in reality they were used for various facilities for the production, but having several houses whose occupants we never see and seemingly never interact with the other residents, even when all these major incidents like explosions and killer viruses are happening, just seems strange!

[TheRealWB]

The houses we never see anyone living on screen create a very bizarre narrative problem. Of course in reality they were used for various facilities for the production, but having several houses whose occupants we never see and seemingly never interact with the other residents, even when all these major incidents like explosions and killer viruses are happening, just seems strange!

Yeah that always baffled me a bit. 

On a side note if you fancy being one of those 'other' residents, the house next door to the Grant's that I believe was the canteen is available for rent....

www.belvoir.co.uk 

Untitled

  Source: www.belvoir.co.uk

[James2001]

Sadly I don't have £925 a month, or anything approaching that, to spare!

Gordon with his ZX81 in episode 13, the height of technology

[Alf Stewart]

Must be quite fun living somewhere like there!

Watching these episodes has been a real treat. I was only 4 when Brookside started so don't remember the early years at all and was a very, very casual viewer in the 90s so looking forward to being able to watch how things progress.

Thing that strikes me is the criticism EastEnders got (and still gets) for being depressing. These first 20 episodes we've had so far have hardly been a barrel of laughs and I don't recall it being a laugh a minute as time went by. Yet Brookside doesn't seem to receive nearly as much flack. The majority of the flack it got was in the latter years when it went bonkers.

[WillPS]

Sadly I don't have £925 a month, or anything approaching that, to spare!

Gordon with his ZX81 in episode 13, the height of technology

It really annoys me that they keep calling it a "mini" computer. It's a micro!

---

Must be quite fun living somewhere like there!

Watching these episodes has been a real treat. I was only 4 when Brookside started so don't remember the early years at all and was a very, very casual viewer in the 90s so looking forward to being able to watch how things progress.

Thing that strikes me is the criticism EastEnders got (and still gets) for being depressing. These first 20 episodes we've had so far have hardly been a barrel of laughs and I don't recall it being a laugh a minute as time went by.  Yet Brookside doesn't seem to receive nearly as much flack. The majority of the flack it got was in the latter years when it went bonkers.

I dunno, all the characters feel unbalanced at the moment - the number 9 residents are almost entirely comedic. I'm guessing as they all take their turn with serious, very serious and less serious storylines it'll balance out.

[James2001]

Maybe it didn't get as much attention for being miserable as it wasn't as mainstream as the other soaps were.

Interesting to compare it to other soaps from the early 80s and just how different it looks at feels, must have seemed revolutionary at the time. Corrie especially was very claustrophobic and studio based at the time, you'd often have episodes that were entirely in the studio and you never saw the street, whereas large chunks of Brookside are filmed away from the close. Even when EastEnders began it was rare to have scenes shot away from the outdoor set (though of course they had more locations like the Vic, cafe, shop and laundrette, which Brookside lacks), though it wasn't as studio based as Corrie was.

[Alf Stewart]

Fair point James2001. I don't know what the viewing figures were like for Brookside at launch.

But as you say perhaps the focus was more on how different it was in comparison to Coronation St, Emmerdale Farm and Crossroads at the time which, looking back, were all very formulaic in style.

Still, I'm bloody loving it and, as I say, very much looking forward to seeing how it all plays out. Looking forward to some more new characters moving into the close soon too.