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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

The Brookside Facebook page performs an excellent nostalgia service by posting clips and images from the episodes. Today's are of particular interest.

Any thoughts?

R.I.P. Bernie Nolan. I quite liked the Murrays before they did the usual soap thing of not allowing any family to remain happy! The way they killed off her character was a real shark-jumping moment as I recall.

So sad to hear. Yeah used to love Brooky before it went downhill.

Just seemed to me like a Liverpool variation of Eastenders or Coronation Street.

In fairness, Brookside started three years before EastEnders. Arguably, all soaps are much of a muchness; but one thing that set Brookside apart from its more southern counterparts was its use of real houses on a real street rather than studio sets with a missing wall.

Brookside was repeated on Sky Living and Sky One in the '90s and '00s. There are several episodes of Brookside on 4oD, including the first and last episodes.

Tried to say, saw a few episodes including I believe the final one from around 10 years ago, but was never a fan of the show. Just seemed to me like a Liverpool variation of Eastenders or Coronation Street. I do remember some famous storylines and incidents that occured. But never seen this put on any retro or vintage channels for some reason ?

Two updates of note here however;

1. I attended a recent 30th birthday celebratory event (for Brookside not CITV) at a Liverpool Museum a few weeks ago. In attendence were Dean Sullivan, Clare Sweeney, Phil Redmond and a writer whose name has now escaped me. For an hour or so there was a lively discussion moderated by Pete Price. An enjoyable afternoon excursion.

2. The DVD referred to has now been out a few months and is already now availiable for only £7 for those that haven't as yet and tempted.

Today is 30 years since Brookside began. The Memorable Moments DVD will be out in a few weeks.

I'm now haunted by the knowledge that I missed an opportunity to see Brookside and Knightmare meet on the pantomime stage. I wonder how many in-jokes there were in the script.

You may be interested to know that Edmund Dehn and Barbara Hatwell (who played Anthea Dixon in Brookside) are currently starring together in a London Theatre production called "Sleeping Dogs" - it runs up until Saturday next week.

Full info can be found here:

https://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/sleepingdogstheplay?sk=info

I'm now haunted by the knowledge that I missed an opportunity to see Brookside and Knightmare meet on the pantomime stage. I wonder how many in-jokes there were in the script.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UG6rDc4XQOQ

A very peculiar oddity here.

Despite my best efforts, including buying the DVD which featured this performance (not Mike Read as the description says but Mike Yarwood, a charming TV impressionist who was extremely skilled, widely watched yet now sadly forgotten), I've been unable to find out more about the song itself. I can't even confirm its title.