From little Closes do Cults and Plagues grow...BROOKSIDE!
-
During the course of Brookside, the character of Barry (played by Paul Usher) lost his brother and the character of Jimmy (played by Dean Sullivan) lost his son. Both actors have recently experienced the kind of tragedy that should not have followed them into real life, made all the more tragic by doubly twisted irony: Dean Sullivan has lost his brother, Paul Usher has lost his son, and they were named Barry and James respectively. Condolences to Dean, Paul and their families. There is more information here.
-
I learnt of this double tradegy in the last 24 hours. Dean has been recently performing in a WW1 tribute style show. My thoughts and condolences go out to both families.
Dean's on screen relative 'Aunty Val' aka Pauline Fleming is currently directing me and others in another commerative piece at a local British Legion. Lest we forget in both circumstances.
-
STOP PRESS:
Our Bev Dixon that was has joined our cast as Pauline's hitherto referred to 'professional actress mate Sarah'! She's certainly down to Earth and in her first impov session the words sausage and dangling somehow worked their way into the dialogue!
-
That is good news. I hope you have continued to enjoy working with Sarah White. I didn't realise she was still acting until I saw her in ITV sitcom Edge of Heaven earlier in the year. More recent sitings of Brookside alumni in sitcoms: Sandra Maitland (Mandy Jordache) in Uncle; Michael J. Jackson (Ollie Simpson) in a repeat of Bread, with a Scouse accent.
As for the British Legion: Brookside was where I first heard of it. I remember one scene in which Bev was a runner-up in a talent contest at "the Legion" but the compere, who just happened to be her then-admirer Ron, announced her as the winner.
-
How sad, the actor who played Matt Musgrove has died unexpectedly aged 38.
-
The sadness of this news is slightly offset by seeing Tiffany Chapman a.k.a. Rachel from Brookside in the new Halifax advert.
In this making-of video, she says she's never worked with a cartoon co-star before. What about all those scenes with Sinbad?
For good measure, there's a Knightmare-related surname in the video too.
-
The plague mentioned by Robin the title of this thread refers to a storyline where a mysterious virus struck the Brookside residents, forcing them to cordon off Brookside Close. Episode 1544 from that unfortunately prescient storyline was transmitted 25 years ago today; you may be able to find it on a certain video sharing website.
-
Another chapter of Brookside's history is now forever closed off as Dean Sullivan, aka the inimitable Jimmy Corkhill, has passed on at the age of 68. Whilst I never worked with him directly he came to offer support and encouragement in the 2014 piece below and did an acclaimed turn in Talking Heads when it was performed in Birkenhead some years ago. More info: https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/brookside-star-dean-sullivan-dies-aged-68/ar-AA1kLMNo?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=3c6ff1c5a1f740dcb5b2ea30debdcaf8&ei=11 and https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-67575906
-
While They Were Famous: Celebrity appearances on Brookside. From the Pope to Lily Savage, there was something to suit all tastes.
There is now a video online with clips of all those celebrity appearances.
In November 2003, days after Brookside had ended on Channel 4, I made a post on this forum in which I imagined a continuing version of Brookside Close where Brookside characters interacted with visiting characters from another series (namely Knightmare).
Last month that's exactly what happened via a crossover within Hollyoaks (and Hollyoaks Later). If I tried to use exclamation marks, one wouldn't be enough, so I'll restrict myself to full stops.
This one-off return, with original actors filmed at the original Brookside Close location, is comparable to Knightmare's one-off return in YouTube Geek Week 2013 with original actors filmed in the studio where Knightmare was made, including a bearded character who appeared from the first episode onwards.
Hello! It looks like you're interested in this conversation, but you don't have an account yet.
Getting fed up of having to scroll through the same posts each visit? When you register for an account, you'll always come back to exactly where you were before, and choose to be notified of new replies (either via email, or push notification). You'll also be able to save bookmarks and upvote posts to show your appreciation to other community members.
With your input, this post could be even better 💗
Register Login