[James2001]

Had to appreciate now how different Brookside must have been at the time when the other soaps became more like it as the years went by. EastEnders was probably the most like Brookside in style during the 80s, though that didn't begin until a couple of years after Brookside.

[Si-Co]

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.

It started straightaway on 6th November 1982, but I’ve no idea if some of the language was cut or bleeped out. The only reference I ever heard to an omnibus edition being censored was the one featuring Sheila’s rape, and this was after complaints were made about the weekday episode. 

By the way, I emailed STV regarding the autoplay issue and the end credits, and their reply (which the forum won’t let me paste here) basically contained an apology and that they were looking into a feature that allowed autoplay be to be disabled on some platforms. Perhaps this is already being rolled out as James suggests? I haven’t checked yet.

[Si-Co]

Comparing early episodes of Brookside with the early episodes of EastEnders and the other ongoing soaps, it was the only one that lacked any sort of social setting like a pub or market place where the characters could meet or bump into each other and interact, ie gossip or involve each other in storylines. Because everyone is new to the Close, there are very limited opportunities for interaction - they are not yet at the “borrowing a cup of sugar” stage - so each family’s business seems very much their own. This isn’t necessarily a negative thing, and as viewers it allowed to us to get to know each family’s storylines which can be cleverly contrasted - the juxtaposition of Paul Collins’s and Bobby Grant’s political views and the very different conversations these families have at the dinner table.

At the moment we only have four houses occupied out of the six in the cul-de-sac itself - it’s about six months before anyone moves into the bungalow (no 6) and almost a year before anyone snaps up no 7 next door to the Collinses. The fact that notwithstanding the above, Brookside was able to successfully depict life in a suburban street says a lot for its creator and writers.

[James2001]

We have to wait nearly a decade until the show gets its own social spaces and businesses with the parade!


Though they make up for that by having a lot more set away from the close than the other soaps did away from their own main settings, pretty much every episode so far we've seen something, Bobby's factory, the train station, the school, Barry's workplace (with Terry before he looked like a poodle) etc.

Watching the early EastEnders on Drama, the first scene set away from the square, bar a couple of short scenes with Tony and Kelvin carpenter walking around a lake (which had terrible picture quality) in, I think, the third episode, was a scene with Ian and Ethel walking down a high street around 3 months in. It was very few and far between to leave the square in those first couple of years.

I'm wondering if the scenes we saw with news crews in episode 11 were using the same cameras and video equipment that was used to record Brookside itself, with cameras attatched to separate VTRs. They wouldn't have been able to make Brookside the way they did until that sort of more lightweight equipment became available.

[Alf Stewart]

Brookside proving itself to be very popular on STV player

www.radiotimes.com 

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  Source: www.radiotimes.com

[Brekkie]

Will be interesting to see how long it holds up - getting a nostalgia fix and making a weekly commitment are two different things.

Looks like at the moment all episodes released so far have an expiry of 31st Jan 2024 so be interesting to see how that develops. Suspect it's a one year deal initially but with an option to renew.

[James2001]

The soap repeats on the broadcast channels have got enough viewers to keep going for years, so I can't see why this wouldn't.

[James2001]

Now I'm back home, I can say there's no "watch credits" option on the Roku app yet, like there was on the Samsung one, hopefully there will be soon. The autoplay countdown at least doesn't seem to kick in until later in the credits than it did before.

[James2001]

According to this, Phil Redmond himself was actually blocking the repeats of the early Brookside episodes until recently because of the early technical issues, but was persuaded to allow it by the relatives of some deceased cast members:

www.liverpoolecho.co.uk 

Brookside's Sir Phil Redmond explains why he can never return to the iconic Clos…
The creator of the iconic show exclusively told the ECHO why he was initially ag…
  Source: www.liverpoolecho.co.uk

[WillPS]

According to this, Phil Redmond himself was actually blocking the repeats of the early Brookside episodes until recently because of the early technical issues, but was persuaded to allow it by the relatives of some deceased cast members:

www.liverpoolecho.co.uk 

I call BS. The first episode has been available for 15 years on and off on 4OD and its successors, as well as a DVD release.

The episodes were all aired on UK LIving in the 90s too.

I can well believe it's just been sat on the shelf until some enterprising STV commissioner made some calls. In any case, why would Redmond be the point of contact for such a deal? He sold the production company off years ago.