[Stuart]

Actually, the main point of my question was whether or not the episodes were shown later in the evening on account of the nature of the story arc.

Perhaps C4 were still in their risqué period, or was this acceptable content for 8pm in 1985?

My comment about the darker background for the end credit sequence was perhaps misleading, as I usually just click green for the next episode as soon as I hear the music at the end, so don't watch it.

[James2001]

The VHS release of the siege episodes only had a PG rating, so it doesn't really seem anyone considered there to be anything that strong content wise in the episodes.

The VHS only looks like it had the middle three episodes though, so you wouldn't have got the start, or the end where they reveal the outcome, which would make it quite annoying to watch!

[WillPS]

The VHS release of the siege episodes only had a PG rating, so it doesn't really seem anyone considered there to be anything that strong content wise in the episodes.

Yeah, it went out in the normal daytime slot on UK Living a few years later too. Can't be certain on original airtimes but I'm sure I read somewhere the later editions came later on in the show's run, maybe in to the 90s?

FWIW I didn't find anything particularly shocking (or risqué) about it... I think the biggest shocker so far was the sudden death of Gavin early on, including the visual of him dead in the marital bed. I'm not even sure this would make the top 5 so far...

[Brekkie]

The VHS release of the siege episodes only had a PG rating, so it doesn't really seem anyone considered there to be anything that strong content wise in the episodes.

The VHS only looks like it had the middle three episodes though, so you wouldn't have got the start, or the end where they reveal the outcome, which would make it quite annoying to watch!

God, people bought that? Well I guess it was pre-internet.

[James2001]

I guess it was the only way to see it again if people wanted to, if they hadn't taped it at the time anyway. Though missing the first and last episodes of the siege would have made it worth a lot less.

Someone's actually uploaded the contents of the video here:

www.youtube.com 

As you can see, it ends at the end of episode 289 as you hear the gun go off- so you never find out what the resolution is! Not sure why they didn't put epsiode 290 on there too, it's like releasing a movie without the final act!

Also notable is that they put the 1987 version of the title sequence on there (so you have the Corkhill's bizarre garage that would be imposible to actually get a car into, which hadn't been built yet in 1985)- and also they run the end credits for all three episodes separately at the end (in reverse order), with what sounds like a different mix of the theme tune to usual (and a very extended version at that).

[WillPS]

A particularly poor example of a cynical 80s home entertainment TV release

> low effort
> episodes edited together to suit the weird belief that everything had to become a movie-type feature
> despite the above makes no sense as a standalone feature with references to ongoing plots
> anything to save 25 minutes of tape length (pennies difference by this point, on something which they wanted £15-20 for)

[James2001]

Yep, I've seen a fair few 80s VHS releases that were like that, I remember a Young Ones one, which cut off the end credits to two of the three episodes, which means you lost the final joke and punchline to Oil entirely!

Even into the 90s, I remember the Animals of Farthing Wood videos which condensed each series into 3 volumes, each of which was an omnibus edition with a fair amount of material edited out (equivalent to around an episode's worth per series), not to mention the start and end points were mid-episode so it was all very disjointed, so they were still doing it occasionally even then. They clearly couldn't even spare the extra 7 or 8 minutes per tape that would have meant they didn't need to cut anything!

Apparently the original release of the Last Of The Summer Wine series 1 DVD included the "omnibus" version of the first 3 episodes made for VHS release in the 80s rather than the individual episodes for some reason (though they did later re-release it properly).

[James2001]

As there's 2915 episodes of Brookside, this week's batch makes us 10% of the way though the show's run.

[James2001]

Having to laugh at someone on the DS Brookside thread who's adamantly arguing that the chip pan fire Harry puts out in episode 293 was real because "there was no health and safety back then" and "you can't see anywhere for a crew member to hide to turn the flames on and off" 🤣

I think an uncontrolled chip pan fire would be a great way to send your cast and crew to hospital and burn the close down! Imagine if Bill Dean had slipped and knocked the contents of the pan all over him! Nothing like giving your cast some third degree oil burns for the sake of super realism.


Minor mod note: For future, can we please can we keep commentary and opinions about what DS Forum users are saying to the DS Forum, thanks.

[James2001]

Some very odd sound issues on episode 318, some scenes are fine, some are very tinny, and sometimes it changes during the scene.