Now caught up
I know there's a warning about some language used at the time but was still shocked they let those disgusting words in in that scene with Nisha.
I think this became the issue with Brookside in the 90. For me, it was about shocking the audience, for shocking’s sake.
The incest storyline is an example.
Brookside was groundbreaking in 1982, as it was nothing like other soaps - but then it felt like they needed to continue to be controversial, at every turn.
The writers also experienced a form of amnesia, forgetting who the characters originally were. The early storylines featuring Sheila, were centred on her catholic faith (Bobby’s vasectomy, Karen using contraception), but then they decide years late - that Matty was Barrie’s father. I found it quite ridiculous.
The stereotypes were heavy too. We had both Sheila and Theresa, as catholic women - their faith important to them.
I grew up in Liverpool in the 70s and 80s, in a catholic family with many friends / neighbours also catholic. Most of us not in any way strict, but the stricter catholics I knew, were nothing like Sheila and Theresa.
They went to mass every Sunday and had holy communion, but other than that - lived very “modern” lives. Living together before marriage was to be frowned upon, but not forbidden - and contraception was certainly not taboo.
I always found the characters of Sheila and Theresa quite extreme in that respect, and found them hard to relate to.
