Brookside is back!

[RocksOff]

It was strange about Karen, they could have made an excuse rather than not being able to contact her at all

Did anyone else notice how Claire nearly got whacked on the head as Bobby carried her from the kitchen to the lounge?.
Poor girl!

 

[minnieminx88]

Its a bit slow going. I never watched these early ones first time round so was mid 90s for me too.

 

[LennyBriscoe]

That was a great cat fight between Sheila and Marie!!!

Oooh I’ve fallen a bit behind so that’s something to look forward to Marie has great hair for grabbing

 

[HowlOwl]

Adrian Mills, who used to be one of Esther Rantzen’s ‘boys’ on That’s Life, was on in this weeks episodes during the football match

View attachment 2368594

I thought it was John Bishop, at first.

 

[RocksOff]

Too much Sinbad in this week's episodes, roll on when the new neighbors arrive!!
Can't understand Mick putting up with Josie ( she'll always Tess in casualty to me!)

Agree to both of your points @Maid22!

Is it just me that cannot get over Billy's hairy neck??
It makes me feel a bit ill
Especially when he has an open necked shirt!
It seems to just be treading water til the new families arrive, which is ok, no need for massive drama every minute, but it does seem a bit flat at the moment

Oh! And how the heck would Jimmy and Kath get a mortgage?

 

[Sh1tRollsDownHill]

I've just found this thread and surreal as it is, I was the actress that played Claire . thanks for the mentions! I didn't think anyone would remember me and I don't even remember the scenes being posted haha

Our Claire!!! Brookside royalty you were the first born in a storyline. Obviously you know that! I say this because when we first started watching at ours we mentioned the Grant baby storyline as one we remembered. Are you watching the old episodes?
Can't remember, did you have any lines in later episodes?
So many questions are you in touch with any of the original cast? Have you done any more TV work since? What are you doing these days?
I'll be reporting back to my husband later

 

[Maid22]

Loving the arrival of the Corkhills, they just slotted right in! Julia and her clippity shoes going across the close!
Worst ones are Pat and Sandra, awful actors, so is Heather, though she has lovely hair!

 

[Cupid_Stunt]

Are they skipping episodes. Mine went from marie’s dad at the door at the end of one to him sleeping on the sofa in the next. No in between. Hadnt he been awol for years?? And now he wants the house? Has he rights?
---
Caught up now. Theres a Will

Brookside was shown on Monday & Wednesdays in 1984. What feels like a jump in storyline where you think you’ve missed an episode is because of the big gap between the Wednesday and the following Monday’s episode. Events have probably happened off screen so life on the Close has carried on in those intermittent days so you have to fill in some of the gaps yourself.

Presumably Marie (and Michelle) had a catch up with their dad in those missing days

 

[Maid22]

Ooooh can't wait to start this. I have virgin, not sky, wonder can i get it on there. I was so young when Brookside came out, but still remember the nightclub bomb and the helicopter crashing into the garage

I'm looking forward to rewatching, saving it for the weekend, used to love it!
I downloaded the STV player app to watch it on

 

[Maid22]

The woman who plays Pat’s girlfriend Fran, from the band, turns up again 11 years later as Margi Shadwick, the mum of the Shadwicks

I didn't know that, i think there's been a few who have reappeared as different characters over the years.

 

[RocksOff]

Not sure if baby Claire is still reading here but there was lots of front and centre acting in these episodes!

I always wonder with really young child actors if they have to sit and totally explain that it's make believe. It must be so confusing when they say things like: "There's Daddy". In one of these episodes Sheila is asking Claire what she'd like for lunch and I always wonder if the child actually then gets that! Also there's such a lot of conflict and rowing and even if they explain the pretence of it do very young children get upset in those moments?

I came here to post exactly this!
How funny, the same thoughts were going through my mind when I was watching these episodes.
How well baby Claire coped with it was amazing

 

[twinkleunicorn]

Anyone still watching??

Yes, I’m catching up on this weeks episodes

 

[Incognito_burrito]

Seen this weeks episodes and Sheila told Billy that someone called Paddy was Barry’s real Dad. I thought it was Matty. I googled a while back for a refresher on the episodes as I couldn’t remember a lot. Does anyone know if it is actually Matty or was google lying to me

 

[Maid22]

I agree. Petra’s acting has indeed been awful.
When Gavin died she did this over the top shaking thing ALL the time. And the bit in the supermarket with the biscuits. My god.

I read somewhere on line, the actor who played Gavin wanted to quit after a short while, shame, I loved him winding Roger up!!

 

[Incognito_burrito]

Sinbad is really annoying in the repeats at the moment, has he been like this since he arrived?

Yes been annoying from his first appearance

 

[Maid22]

I have now

Lol, me to!!

 

[Cupid_Stunt]

Jamie, Tracey’s boyfriend, has his last scene in this week’s batch of episodes. The scene where he’s eating the trifle and Tracey throws the trifle bowl at him was his last episode

According to a thread on DS, he left due to a dispute over a jumper

McKee was fired from Brookside following an argument with a director, Nick Lauchland. McKee refused to wear a jumper that Lauchland had chosen for him and when Redmond got involved, McKee told him to "stuff" his job and he was instantly dismissed.

 

[AdsB]

Great to see it back on TV! I never knew that Amanda Burton was in it and I cannot stand her for some reason! Made worse at the moment because I am watching Waterloo Road and last year's Silent Witness - she is in the episodes I am watching just now in both shows! My wife is watching The Commander which stars Amanda Burton... and today I put on Brookside and there's bloody Amanda Burton!! I'm scared to go into work tomorrow in case we have a new start and it's Amanda Burton!

We've watched the first episode and it really is a blast from the past. It's a shame STV haven't made a month worth of episodes available at a time, at the five episodes a week pace we'll be watching for 11 years!

I probably won’t watch until the end anyway. It went downhill for the last couple of years of its existence

 

[Cupid_Stunt]

Has anyone noticed that apart from once when there was a scene of DD in the kitchen talking to someone (I think it was Patricia), we’ve not seen the inside of the Dixon’s house. All of their scenes so far have taken place outside the house, mostly on their front lawn or in the road

I wonder in real life if the production were making some changes to the interior

 

[HowlOwl]

He was a kid's TV presenter!

View attachment 3021547

As for attractive, it's got to be Barry Grant!

That rings a bell now, actually.

Oh yes, Barry - he had lots of female fans!