[James2001]

Just seen this on Screenocean, which wasn't there last time I looked, an episode from March 2000 based around the opening of the new look parade- opened by Graham Norton and the Nolan Sisters, with Bernie curiously absent- which even gets mentioned as her not being there because she has "another job" (someone who looked suspciously like her but went by the name of Diane Murray moved onto the close literally 4 episodes later)

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Brookside | Screenocean
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[James2001]

Also Bev comments she doesn't know who Graham Norton is because she doesn't watch Channel 4.... I guess you can't watch it when you're on it

Also strange to hear "real" music in this episode after only hearing the same few fake songs over and over on the STV episodes, this episode would only have been 4 months after they started using commercial music.

[Brekkie]

Didn't Hollyoaks use commercial music from the start in 1995?

[James2001]

Possibly, though it's not a show I've ever really watched. I've only ever had a quick look through the old episodes that are on All4.

According to the online episode guide, November 1999 was when Brookside started using it. Seems strange it took 17 years, I can understand in the early days, being a new channel, new show, new production company and not wanting to spend the money on licencing when you don't know if the show will even take off. But by the late 80s and 90s when it was Channel 4's most popular show I'm sure they could have afforded it, and it would have added to the realism.

Not that the lack of it hurt the show admittedly, but only ever hearing the same few songs (the "running from the law" song and that one we've seen Annabelle and Michelle doing exercises to seem to be the most common ones) and library music does stand out compared to watching the repeats of the other soaps and continuing dramas which all use commercial music heavily.

According to Wikipedia, they weren't even able to use the Free George Jackson song on the show due to it being released as a single, even though it was actually made by the production team!

[WillPS]

Possibly, though it's not a show I've ever really watched. I've only ever had a quick look through the old episodes that are on All4.

According to the online episode guide, November 1999 was when Brookside started using it. Seems strange it took 17 years, I can understand in the early days, being a new channel, new show, new production company and not wanting to spend the money on licencing when you don't know if the show will even take off. But by the late 80s and 90s when it was Channel 4's most popular show I'm sure they could have afforded it, and it would have added to the realism.

Not that the lack of it hurt the show admittedly, but only ever hearing the same few songs (the "running from the law" song and that one we've seen Annabelle and Michelle doing exercises to seem to be the most common ones) and library music does stand out compared to watching the repeats of the other soaps and continuing dramas which all use commercial music heavily.

According to Wikipedia, they weren't even able to use the Free George Jackson song on the show due to it being released as a single, even though it was actually made by the production team!

I'd imagine it was just decided that it wasn't needed. Phil Redmond was/is a savvy operator and didn't spend money willy nilly. Indeed one of the reasons he bought actual houses instead of building sets and hiring/buying a studio was so that they could be sold off when and if the plug was pulled...

In fairness, of all the criticisms that I've seen of late 90s Brookside, I'm not sure lack of licensed music was among them.

[James2001]

Anyone else on Virgin having trouble? The last couple of days when I try to watch an episode (or anything else on STV Player), all I get is the STV Player sponsored by McDonald's ident, then it freezes then goes black after around 30 seconds. I've tried logging out and signing back in and rebooting the box and it didn't fix it.

It still works normally on the browser and on Roku (whose STV app still has the old interface), but Virgin seems borked.

[Stuart]

I noticed with the Brookside episode drop this week on STV Player that the end credits had become an evening/sunset scene of the close. I don't know whether it was because of the subject matter of all those episodes.

They are listed as being originally broadcast in early August 1985, so was that story arc shown later in the evening?

I don't think they would have been suitable for 8pm on one of only 4 analogue channels in existence at the time, let alone the afternoon omnibus edition at weekend.

[WillPS]

I noticed with the Brookside episode drop this week on STV Player that the end credits had become an evening/sunset scene of the close. I don't know whether it was because of the subject matter of all those episodes.

They are listed as being originally broadcast in early August 1985, so was that story arc shown later in the evening?

I don't think they would have been suitable for 8pm on one of only 4 analogue channels in existence at the time, let alone the afternoon omnibus edition at weekend.

It's the same still that has been used since they stopped using the solid blue (around ep 100)?

Note how none of the cars are on the Close any more (except Heather's 2CV, which isn't Heather's any more...).

[James2001]

Not to mention no garage on Heather and the Collins' house (though you can't see the latter on the credits... though you can in the opening titles) and no post box. Both the opening titles and the credits are out of date now.... and we're still 2 years away from them being updated.

[WillPS]

Not to mention no garage on Heather and the Collins' house (though you can't see the latter on the credits... though you can in the opening titles) and no post box. Both the opening titles and the credits are out of date now.... and we're still 2 years away from them being updated.

Yes, having previously watched through the 90s series - when they updated the titles sometimes several times a year to make sure they represented the Close and Parade accurately - it's quite surprising how 'stale' they allowed them to get.