[chrisdafur]

The opening titles and break captions in both of those episodes look fine, so it suggests that it's something that was done during the production of those two episodes, rather than anything to do with degredation of those tapes or something set up wrong during a more recent transfer.

I did go back and have a quick look at the credits, both episodes seem to be directed by the same guy. I guess the might have been trialing a new technique. Some of the filming angles did look different to usual too.

[James2001]

The opening titles and break captions in both of those episodes look fine, so it suggests that it's something that was done during the production of those two episodes, rather than anything to do with degredation of those tapes or something set up wrong during a more recent transfer.

Unless they've done similar to the 'Doctor Who restoration team' approach where they do a really good quality restoration of those reused elements and then swap the source material out each time? That would imply a level of 'remastering' which I simply don't believe is taking place however, like I said previously there have been very obvious video tape errors which could easily be massaged out but haven't been, so I'm quite certain nothing is happening other than digitisation.

I think it's very fair to say the sort of restoration that goes into Doctor Who (and other old BBC programmes) is far too time consuming and resource intensive to be used on something that's having to deliver 5 episodes a week, and only on a comparatively minor streaming service.

[Si-Co]

A least Alan Partridge has turned up now so a bit more variety to the residents. Is it long before we get any more?

I think Harry & Edna cross appear soon... though as the Brookside Episodes website has been down for the best part of a week, which I'd been using to track what was happening, I'm not sure exactly when (keep hoping it comes back, if only just for long enough for me to download the zip file... which I should have done in the first place. I wouldn't be suprised if increased interest because of the STV streaming has caused the site to go over its bandwidth limit). Petra vanishes and her sister and her family move into number 10 in her place around the same time too.

Petra’s last episode is Episode 80. 
Harry and Edna move into the close in Episode 107. 

IMDB can be a handy tool - it has brief synopses and cast lists for the first few years of episodes - for the most part these are accurate. 

m.imdb.com 

Brookside (TV Series 1982–2003) - IMDb
Brookside: Created by Phil Redmond, Colin McKeown. With Alexandra Fletcher, Dean…
  Source: m.imdb.com

[Gary Baldy]

What’s interesting is that while Classic Corrie and Emmerdale appear dated now, Brookie has stood the test of time.

[James2001]

It felt the same watching the earlier episodes of The Bill, they felt a lot less dated than the Corries and EastEnders from the same era.

[WillPS]

Unless they've done similar to the 'Doctor Who restoration team' approach where they do a really good quality restoration of those reused elements and then swap the source material out each time? That would imply a level of 'remastering' which I simply don't believe is taking place however, like I said previously there have been very obvious video tape errors which could easily be massaged out but haven't been, so I'm quite certain nothing is happening other than digitisation.

I think it's very fair to say the sort of restoration that goes into Doctor Who (and other old BBC programmes) is far too time consuming and resource intensive to be used on something that's having to deliver 5 episodes a week, and only on a comparatively minor streaming service.

No doubt, but that is what "remastering" is - I'm not saying Brookside should get that, merely that it clearly hasn't (even to a lesser extent).

[James2001]

"Remastering" is such a generic and meaningless phrase which can mean loads of things. it doesn't even have to mean something has had any attempts to improve the quality, literally just transferring from one format to another is technically "remastering", which is why it's pretty dubious many of the times it's claimed something's been remastered, far too often the "remastered" version can be worse than it was before. It's a word that's used to give an impression things have been changed or improved, but it doesn't have to mean that.

[WillPS]

"Remastering" is such a generic and meaningless phrase which can mean loads of things. it doesn't even have to mean something has had any attempts to improve the quality, literally just transferring from one format to another is technically "remastering", which is why it's pretty dubious many of the times it's claimed something's been remastered, far too often the "remastered" version can be worse than it was before. It's a word that's used to give an impression things have been changed or improved, but it doesn't have to mean that.

Wikipedia disagrees: Remaster - Wikipedia

Remaster - Wikipedia
Jump to content Main menu Main menu move to sidebar hide Navigation Main pageCon…
  Source: en.wikipedia.org

Improvement is subjective.

[James2001]

I think this week's episodes were the first time the show filmed outside of Liverpool and its immediate surroundings. Apparently the Isle of Man scenes were only filmed a week ahead of broadcast.

Scenes in Belfast to come later in 83, and in Spain in early 84.

[Brekkie]

Nice set of episodes - though no Mr and Mrs Collins at all and the Huntingtons only in the last episode.

Still always seem to get one of the five appear in the wrong ratio each week (usually the 3rd or 4th), and then noticed in the 5th the credits were pages rather than a roller.