Brookside

[ReggieKrayDoYouKnowMyName]

Unashamedly uncool thread.

Was in Liverpool for a few days last week and fulfilled a long held ambition to visit Brookside Close. Husband and kids didn’t get it, but it made my week.

Anyway, had an afternoon to myself today and have been watching old episodes on YouTube and wondered if there are any fellow former Brookie fans on Mumsnet who wanted to chat about it.

My favourite era was mid-nineties with the body under the patio and all of that, I LOVED Anna Friel and definitely had some confusing feelings about that lesbian kiss (I was about 10 at the time).

I also had a long time crush on Max Farnham and was very happy when he married Jacqui Dixon in the early noughties. The peak of my young life was when the actor who played Max was appearing in a play in London and I happened to be on the same tube as him one evening. He was with a fellow actor and I plucked up the courage to speak to him. He was very charming and kissed me on the cheek, was marvellous! Sadly it was before camera phones, so this thrill of my girlhood exists only in my memories 😆

What are your favourite Brookside memories?

The builder who built the street also built our street, so some of the houses are exactly the same. Ours was the same design as the incest house

Remember the last episode when they hung the bad guy out the window?? Was a bit much!
I loved Tinhead. Damon's stabbing was when I was quite young. I remember the spinoff Damon and Debbie, did he get stabbed during that?

LOVED Brookie! Rod the Plod he's just popped in to my head for some reason. Add me to the Barry Grant crush list. Sammy Rogers was the epitome of pretty at the time. Beth Jordache's sister Rachel is now in the building society Top Cat advert - poor girl (well at least I think it's her!) Max Farnham was a bit of posh totty, I'm glad somebody mentioned Patricia in the Unforgotten - I could recall seeing her recently as a dishevelled slightly bonkers woman at a tribunal, but couldn't remember where!

Was it Owen Sammy had a baby with? She left him/her at the shops or something.

The patio was the best scene ever, when that rubbery hand popped out I actually screamed! Is there anywhere it can be watched from the start? Happy memories.

I loved brookside! It's one of my ambitions to go to Liverpool and brookside will be on my list of things to do! The other will be to see if I can experience the time slip 😂.

This is the postcode of the street: L12 0BA

I drove there whilst on the way back from the Lake District. It's a lot smaller than it looked on TV!

Google Street View doesn't go into the actual close part, but you can see it from the air on Google Earth and there's nothing to stop you actually driving in (I didn't bother anyone, just drove in and out, utterly amazed that I was driving into Brookside Close!) The street itself is simply called Brookside.

I’m remembering so many great things as a consequence of this thread: the Brookside Ebola that got them all quarantined, David “Bing” Crosby and his Residents Association, Owen who was hot as hell, Mick and his “worried” face, the rubbery hand of Trevor Jordache and Sammy Rogers becoming an alcoholic. Oh yeah and the lynching of Jack Michaelson at the end in 2003! Grim. Oh and of course Loonoon those magic bunnies. That was a retained memory of 20 years but I immediately knew what you were talking about!

I used to love this and had a serious crush on Damon. I thought Karen was so cool. I did my PGCE in Liverpool and remember going into a pub one night and there was a bloke there who i thought I knew so I started chatting to him. It turns out I knew him from Brookie- he played Frank Rogers. I also remember being terrified by villain Tommy McArdle and was gutted when George Jackson was wrongfully jailed. I also remember thinking that Sammy Rogers was the most beautiful looking girl I had ever seen and would have loved to have looked like her (dream on!)
I thought it was quite ground breakng in many ways- it did get bomnkers towards the end though.

The storyline where Tracy Corkhill slept with a teacher on a school skiing trip was pretty racy for the time. After it all came out, Tracy, who wanted to be a model, was invited to do a photo shoot and was shocked to discover that the (female) photographer wanted her to do topless stuff instead of fashion. Stay away from teacher romances!

And, just remembered, Tracy’s mum Doreen Corkhill (‘Do’) was the subject of an indecent proposal from her dentist boss. She nearly spent a night in a hotel with him for money but got cold feet at the last minute. The escandalo of the Corkhill family!

It's one of those programmes that I'd love to see on repeat, right from the very beginning. Channel 4 need to get onto it. Loved it!

We still call a fry up a Brookside Breakfast!

I remember it really tickled us for ages when (I think it was jimmy corkil?) filled a coffin with Bings turf! I don't know who's coffin it was supposed to be but we still call turf "bings" turf.

I was also scared of Tommy Mcardle!!! He was a villain and a half, or at least he seemed so in my younger years.

I absolutely loved Brookside.

I visited the street once but they were using the set for Hollyoaks at the time and wouldn't let us in. I believe the houses fell into disrepair shortly after.

I really want to go back now that people are actually living there, although I think they've changed the houses quite a lot.

What was it like op? Was it as good as I imagine?

I so wish that they'd bring Brookside back, given that the houses are still there, and rented out by a former Brookside fan, it is a possibility.

Does anyone remember Ron Dixon's moby?

God I loved Brookside up until the date rape storyline. It went on for too long and was horrible to watch.
Used to watch the omnibus on a Saturday before I went to work or was going out. Anyone remember when Bev had chickens? I'm sure one of them was called Kiev
And Jimmy calling everyone soft lad. Brilliant

Breakfast at the Corkhills was like Toast Fuelled Carnage .

Loved Bev especially when she rolled up years later loaded with money in a pink limo.

The storyline with Terry/Barry and the Nanny who wanted to stay in the UK and Terry was going to marry her if she had Barry's baby , really well done , built up over a period of weeks.
When Eastenders did similar it was Phil goes out somewhere randim, meets Nadia , she wants to stay in UK, he marries her for no particular reason .......it just didn't work.

Do you remember Brookie always had a resident posh family? The Collins were first (with Gay Gordon who was very fond of the bunnies on the telly!), the incredibly dull Mr and Mrs Gordon-Davies - she was electrocuted by faulty wiring - and the Farnhams.

Mr&Mrs Gordon-Davies must've been really dull, I cannot remember them

Were they the family where the Mother was a Headteacher and the son was Peter (the one who Rod's wife Diana had a fling with)
Or were they the parents of Nat and the sister (incest)

There was the couple with the baby , he was a GP, she was his sister (I think his wife had died)

Heather the Accountant (who had dreadful taste in men) as soon as Multi-Millionaire Tom had the huge diamond on her finger and started talking about babies she was off him. She ended up marrying the bloke from "PictureBox" but he was a wrong'un. I think she had a thing with Barry.

Jackie Dixon and the Protection Raquet that ruined her business.

There was the storyline with Ron and Patricias dad and Diane Keen. Ron was trying to win her over but thought she was a gold digger.
She turned out to be a wealthy widow and Patricas Dad was invited to live with her .

When they did the annual Christmas special they had all the actors and production team waving over the end credits, which always made me cry

Watched it from start to finish over 22 years.

I remember Sheila being dragged into a bush to be raped as quite shocking for 1986 and the aftermath was brilliantly acted by Sue Johnston. Many years later, I think Claire Sweeney handled her rape story well too.

I also remember when Doreen Corkhill came back after a few years and confronted Billy and Sheila. I wonder if that's on YouTube.

The Jordache story is of course legendary and I remember practically shouting at the screen for Trevor not to start molesting Rachel like he did with poor Beth.

I can't believe I'm going to admit this but I went to the Museum of Liverpool recently and had tears in my eyes when I finally saw the original Brookside Close sign that's on display!

I need to go to the actual close soon...does anyone know if you can get there by public transport?

The Gordon-Davies were a couple of lawyers called Jonathan and Laura. They were quite dull but had some good clashes with Barry Grant etc. Their exciting storyline was having AIDS tests before they got married “because we both got around a bit”. After she died falling down the stairs, his secretary, Coral, kept trying to fix him up with other women until he got fed up and moved away.

When Rod Corkhill had his 18th, Doreen was keen to have all her ‘ornaments’ on display until Billy said, “remember your 21st, Do?”, at which point she said, “I want this house stripped”.

I liked it when Damon’s mates Gizmo and Ducksie were in it. Gizmo tuned up chez Grant once having been thrown out of home for “burning me brother’s bed on the bommy (bonfire)”. Brookside went a bit boring after the first few years.

I only started watching it from the Jordache trial. Sounds like I missed the best bits.

Ooh I loved Brookside.
Remember when Bing and Jean were in a lottery syndicate with Eddie and Rosie Banks? Rosie forgot to pay one week and Bing and Jean won it, wouldn't split the winnings so Rosie became addicted to scratchcards.

Katie joining the cult with weird Simon.

The euthanasia storyline with Mick's MIL.

Owen becoming paralysed after the car crash.

Jimmy Corkhill dealing heroin, killing Jaqui Dixon's Australian boyfriend.

Ron's son Mike being the father of Bev's son Josh.

I loved it.

i loved brookie.... never missed it.