Brookside reruns - Part two

[Famua]

A second thread for Brookie watchers….

I’m loving the on location club 18-30! That waiter - yuck! I sense some stereotyping of Greeks coming up!

brookside still isn’t up to where I watched it the first time. I’m really puzzled when and how I began watching… I would have said I was school but it must have been university holidays and for a much shorter period of time
than I remember.

I watched it pretty much from the beginning but there are loads of storyline, s i dont remember at all
In 1990 i had just left school. And was at college

I watched from the start - it was big excitement in Merseyside! But was probably not watching every episode in the 90s

Yes, it was exciting. Remember the phrase
’north south divide’? I know there was already coronation street but I think people in the area were glad to be represented and see some of the local issues (unemployment) gain visibility.

The earlier years contain lots of footage shot on location. It’s very bittersweet to see that now.

Also if you lived in Merseyside you were constantly watching out for them mentioning where you lived! The car crash with Owen and Sammy was just up from where I lived.

Just caught a bit of Hollyoaks for the first time
in years. Jacqui Dixon has aged quite well considering Brookside ended over 20 years ago.

It's a daft little thing but it's annoying me - on the synopses that tell you about each episode they always call Geoff Rodgers 'Growler' and none of the cast does. Maybe his mate says it now and again, but it's not his character's name.

I think when they first moved into the close Katie said something like this is our Growler referring to Geoff but I dont think it's been used since plus it's a bit of a childish nickname Geoff,s about 15/16 now.

Yes, and it comes across as adults trying to be 'down with the kids' when it's part of the synopsis.

All the young boys seem to have silly nicknames, it’s the same now Tony Dixon and his chums are in it

How does Mick manage to talk with his teeth clamped firmly together all the time? 😀

Does anyone else find Tony really really annoying?!!

Yes! The storyline with them gathering stuff for “the bommy” went on way too long!

Yes and i dont understand why his mates were saying something like they were brookside gang when its only Tony that

Lives there !
I am loving Max and patricia,s new technology though 😂

another who thinks he is well annoying! I think Brookie is getting to the cusp of where I started watching in the 90s. I remember Jackie Dixon as all bright blond hair and boldness. The character seems underdeveloped at the moment.

I forgot Jackie was into her swimming originally (not that her parents seem to have any involvement in it!). Funny as now I have a DD (not Brookie one!) who is a competitive swimmer and can’t imagine her going off to the pool on her own first thing

Crikey so many memories. The tyranny of the catologue. Kay’s was a key one but Next
was Catalogue based late 80s and 90s. I remember sixth formers getting an account as soon as they could at 18 running up debts. In the 80s my Mum refused to have one and I was so jealous of my friends who had new clothes paid off at a weekly rate! I just couldn’t see the problem 😂

and Josie kicking Patricia! Brookie is a reminder of how prevalent casual violence was!

Ooh Next was the one to dream of! They had little fabric samples with each of the items.

I can remember the scene with Josie kicking Patricia. I’d have only been around 7 but Brookside was always on in our house. It’s funny because I can remember incidents like this between neighbours. We lived in a cul de sac and some of the kids were squabbling and one of the mums went round and slapped the other mum round the face in the street.

Catalogues, loads of people had them early 90s. We probably wouldn’t have had Christmas without one, the catch was that everything was so expensive compared to just going to the shops.

I could be wrong but I feel like in the 80s/90s, clothes, toys and electrical were almost as expensive as they are today.

It’s only been since the mid 00s that cheap clothes and electrical goods became so easily available. It seemed to come with online shopping, and the likes of Primark and supermarkets selling cheap clothes.

Yes, wasn't Jimmy showing Tracey a knock-off tee shirt he wanted £40 for? That would have been a lot in those days, specially for something off the back of a wagon.

lol! I’m at least 15 years older and I remember neighbourhoods rows but never fisticuffs!

and yes, consumer goods were so much more expensive then. Try searching up old Argos catalogues or woolworth Christmas adverts.

I always say that today you can afford the things you want (clothes, consumer goods) but not the things you need ie an education at uni and a house! It is interesting to note that the Brookside houses came with no central heating an in the early episodes there is talking about not being able to afford to get it installed. All kept the purchase price down though.

My mum and Dad bought a similar type house in 1978,although that estate was built in rhe early 70,s they had central heating put in before we moved in .

I have an old Look Again catalogue from the mid 90s and prices are about the same for clothes then as they are now

How are you all watching? I have the STC app on a Fire stick, and it is the worst app ever. You have to scroll through a million programmes to find Brookside, then faff about to find the episode selection bit and click along to the end, then hope to be able to select the most recent ones without it crashing. The episodes don't roll over, so you have to go through the whole rigmarole every time one finishes. Half the time there is 'trouble retrieving the content' so you have to reset everything and start again. I have a Roka TV upstairs and it's only slightly less frustrating on that. You have to search alphabetically for it, then scroll along through all the 'B' programmes, but at least the episode roll over so once it's set you're done.

They keep suggesting I pay for the ad-free version, but that won't happen until they bring the app into the 21st century.

Anyway, isn't Max annoying? And Patricia is so selfish it's comical. Margaret must be driven mad working for them, but I don't suppose she had much choice when unemployment was so high.

Can’t you watch stv on the tv? I just go to the search options.