Brookside

1 9 8 2 - c u r r e n t (UK)

Brookside exploded onto British TV screens on 2 November, 1982 - the day that the new network, Channel 4, began transmission. The resulting blast changed British soap opera for ever. Phil Redmond (creator of Grange Hill) was the man behind Brookside. Shunning Coronation Street techniques, forgetting studios and plywood houses Redmond bought a set of newly built houses in Liverpool, installing the latest TV equipment in them.

He wanted realism and got it. Real people also lived in Brookside Close (divided from the soap opera people by a barrier and security men). Only the post box was fake. But Redmond's fictional characters were too real for comfort. They spoke unashamedly in thick Liverpool accents. The kids were obsessed with sex and had respect for nothing. and they swore. They said everything you've ever heard, and more.

Viewers turned off in droves. Shortly after launch, Brookside faced its smallest audience with just 250,000 viewers. Redmond changed direction. The swearing stopped (sort of), in came a few comic characters and 'Brookie' became a bona fide soap opera. Brookside was here. It was a Monday, Tuesday and Saturday Omnibus institution. Ratings rose. Every sort of despair seemed to be there. Unemployment was its constant backdrop.

Contraception, AIDS, loss of virginity, rape, homosexuality, drug addiction, prostitution - all were subjects discussed over breakfast in Brookside Close. And yes, it did feel more realistic for being shot through a hand-held camera on real driveways and through the windows of proper homes with lavatories, dustbins and cornflakes packets on the table.

The writing style was low-key but the action was often fast and furious. Only once did they resort to absurd melodrama, with a ludicrous siege complete with gunman and double death. It put ratings up over 8 million. There were plenty of other deaths. Gavin, Petra, Harry's wife Edna, Matt's wife Teresa, drug addict Nick, Laura and Damon. Viewers accepted it all. 

The cast were, and still are, local heroes, mobbed and feted in Liverpool wherever they go. And at Mersey Television in England, it was widely believed that if the soap was to be shown on the main ITV network rather than Channel 4, it would near the top of the ratings and be a serious challenge to Coronation Street and even to EastEnders (the soap they claim to have inspired). 

GLOSSARY
Antwacky Old-fashioned - "them kecks are dead antwacky"
Bevvied Drunk
Bizzies The police
Cabbaged Confused
Divvy Idiot
Jacks Detectives
Jangling Gossipping
Kecks Trousers
Minted Rich, well-off
Off your cake Mad
Scran Food
Wooly Backs Northerners who do not live in Liverpool