Brookside DVD released today
After years of campaigning by Lee Brady today sees the fan-effort finally pay off. From today you can buy a collection of classic episodes of Brookside on DVD for the first time in Brookside: Most Memorable Moments.
Brookside began on Channel 4’s first night, November 2nd 1982, and became Britain’s first gritty-serial which broke new ground with its vision of how British soap should be produced.
Headed by former ATV, BBC and Southern TV writer Phil Redmond CBE the show became Channel 4’s flagship programme running for 21 years and proving popular with millions of viewers.
The Channel 4 DVD is to look back at the ‘Best Storylines’ in the new release which covers classic plots and stars such names as Anna Friel, Ricky Tomlinson, Sue Johnston, Dean Sullivan, Claire Sweeney and Amanda Burton to name a few from the series’ long and eventful two decades.
“On the launch night of Channel 4 in 1982, a brand new soap began. An instant hit, Brookside’s endless list of controversial issues made it ground-breaking drama and had viewers hooked for 21 years. Now, for the first time, watch the drama unfold from the very beginning with Brookside’s Most Memorable Moments.
Packed with all the classic moments from Liverpool’s infamous Close, this brand new ultimate 2 disc DVD includes 16 full episodes; featuring the most iconic stories in soap history and a whole host of familiar faces such as Hollywood starlet Anna Friel (Limitless, Land of the Lost), Sue Johnston (Waking the Dead, Coronations Street), Ricky Tomlinson (The Royle Family), Amanda Burton (Silent Witness, Bronson) as well as never-seen before DVD extras! “ 4DVD state in their publicity.
Speaking in February Lee Brady, who has spearheaded the DVD idea, told us,
“With [Channel 4’s anniversary] being right next to Christmas this could be an amazing seller.” Adding, “21 years of classic storylines which broke boundaries and paved way for EastEnders and other programmes should be granted a special DVD to relive the classic moments.” Lee has been campaigning for the past five years for a DVD release, “We have worked very hard to get to this point since 2007 and we have full support from a lot of the cast and so many Brookside viewers.” He added.
Disc One contains: The First Episode – transmitted 2nd November 1982, The Siege 1985 – transmitted 5th August 1985, Sheila Grant’s rape – transmitted 8th July 1986, Aftermath of the rape – transmitted 14th July 1986, Sue and Danny fall from the scaffolding – transmitted 4th October 1991, The Jordache Murder -Mandy Stabs Trevor – transmitted 7th May 1993, Jimmy Corkhill on drugs – Frank Rogers’ wedding day – transmitted 4th November 1993, The Lesbian Kiss – transmitted 14th January 1994.
Disc Two contains: Jimmy on drugs – Tony Dixon’s Funeral – transmitted 16th February 1994, The Cult Suicide Pact – transmitted 28th October 1994, The Jordache Murder – The body is discovered – transmitted 30th January 1995, Nat and Georgia’s incest – transmitted 4th October 1996, Start of Gas Explosion – transmitted 13th April 1998, End of Gas Explosion – transmitted 17th April 1998, Antony kills Imelda – transmitted 13th March 2002, The Siege 2002 – Helicopter crash – transmitted 14th November 2002.
Redmond says that Channel 4 changed, and Brookside fell out of flavour.
“It’s hard to look back and pin an exact date on when this happened but we probably began to sense it at Brookside sometime in the mid-1990s, ironically when the Jordache saga, and Brookie itself, was at its height. The storyline aroused so much interest that one of the US networks sent a news crew over to investigate what we Brits were ‘pioneering’ in primetime TV. Yet, it was the lesbian kiss… that got almost as many headlines.
“This probably signalled the fundamental shift in direction for C4. The social remit was going to be replaced by the quest for ratings. Primetime was going to be more like the US. What I dubbed “Mary Poppins TV”: don’t upset the kids or frighten the horses. Both Brookside on C4 and Grange Hill on the BBC were casualties of the same thing, a changing media landscape that witnessed an onslaught of so-called reality TV that is, in reality, as planned and produced as any drama.” Remond told The Big Issue magazine earlier this month.
As we reported in October the DVD sleeve shows iconic images from key storylines along the top, with a photo of the famous cul-de-sac below. Brookside: Most Memorable Moments is available from all good retailers from today.
