Therefore, introductory episodes concentrated on the development of the anchor Grant family, with Sheila (Sue Johnston) and Bobby (Ricky Tomlinson) who had moved up the social ladder to a big, four-bedroomed house on the 'middle-class' Brookside Close from a run-down council estate.

Low class newly-weds Gavin (Daniel Webb) and Petra Taylor (Alexandra Pigg) moved into number 10 during very early episodes, memorably selling stolen cookers from the front lawn, infuriating their new neighbours.

Bobby's short temper and frequent visits to union picket lines opposite Sheila's staunch Catholic faith and traditional family values made compelling viewing for many viewers, as did the antics of their children Barry, Karen (Shelagh O'Hara), and Damon (Simon O'Brien).

In another British soap opera first, a controversial storyline aired in 1985 saw their teenage son Gordon (originally Nigel Crowley, later Mark Burgess) coming out as homosexual when his copy of Gay Times was delivered to the neighbouring Corkhills by mistake.

[26] At this point, the show was only in its third year and number 7 Brookside Close was then home to young nurses Sandra Maghie (Sheila Grier) and Kate Moses (Sharon Rosita), and former hospital porter Pat Hancock (David Easter).

The Rogers comprised truck driver Frank (Peter Christian) and his wife Chrissy (Eithne Browne) along with their three children Sammy (Rachael Lindsay), Katie (Debbie Reynolds, Diane Burke from 1989) and Geoff (Kevin Carson).

Many storylines revolved around them, including the bullying of Katie at school and a spectacular stunt, staged in October 1989,[38] when Sammy and her boyfriend Owen Daniels (Danny McCall) were involved in a horrific car accident as a result of joy riding.

To launch Brookside Parade in 1991, and coinciding with the soap's 1000th episode, the writers (now led by senior producer Mal Young)[46] developed the controversial storyline of the double-murder of pregnant Sue Sullivan and baby Danny.

He was joined by his estranged wife Jackie (Sue Jenkins), who appeared from 1991 working at Dixon's Trading Post, and his elder children Little Jimmy Corkhill (George Christopher) and Lindsey (Claire Sweeney) were initially seen as recurring characters.

[48] Mersey Television made full use of its former technical college buildings in Childwall and writers introduced headmistress Barbara Harrison (Angela Morant), who moved into number 9 Brookside Close in December 1991 with her recently retired husband John (Geoffrey Leesley).

After several attempts by the pair to poison him failed, Mandy stabbed him in the kitchen of number 10 and, with the help of Beth and Sinbad, buried him underneath their patio, where his body remained until January 1995, when neighbour Eddie Banks (Paul Broughton) dug him up whilst investigating a leaking water pipe.

A religious cult headed by Simon Howe (Lee Hartney) brainwashed Terry Sullivan and Katie Rogers, taking over and then blowing up number 5 in a suicide pact during 1994,[53] and a mysterious 'killer virus' saw the close quarantined and the deaths of guest characters George (Brian Murphy) and Audrey Manners (Judith Barker), and garage owner Gary Salter, in the middle of 1995.

This storyline culminated in another hostage situation where Ollie, Eleanor, Louise and Danny are held at gunpoint by a deranged Marcus in a secluded hideaway, after which all four characters were abruptly written out and number 9 was sold to a returning Lindsey Corkhill.

[55] She was arrested at Bangkok Airport with Mike Dixon after vengeful Gary planted drugs in one of Kylie's teddy bears, developed an on-off relationship with an increasingly deranged Barry Grant before his 1998 departure, and entered into a very short marriage to philandering hairdresser Peter Phelan (Samuel Kane).

The character eventually settled into life in the close at number 5, but endured relentless racism, several disastrous relationships, became addicted to steroids and suffered unemployment and depression – but it was a euthanasia storyline in 1997 that saw Mick shockingly facing murder charges.

[55] Although initially happy and starting up their own successful business together, Great Grannies, this marriage also ended in divorce when Anthea refused to lie in court after Ron shot dead Clint Moffat (Greg Pateras) whilst being held hostage in the kitchen of number 8.

A gas cooker destroyed much of the Brookside Parade and left Ben O'Leary (Simon Paul) permanently paralysed in 1998,[55] and a bomb detonated in the Millennium Club killed off both Jason (Vincent Price) and Greg Shadwick in 1999.

Mick Johnson also had a visit from his long-departed former wife Josie (Suzanne Packer), although staying true to form, she didn't stick around for long, this time taking her daughter with her after Gemma's experimentation with the illegal clubbers' drug Ecstasy.

The Liverpool 'scally' aspect, always traditionally at the heart of Brookside, was still strong at this time with eldest Murray son Steve (Steven Fletcher) teaming up with Tim 'Tinhead' O'Leary (Philip Olivier), who had married the rejuvenated character Emily Shadwick (Jennifer Ellison) who had been transformed from a shy, quiet, schoolgirl to a teenage, sexed-up vixen.

[69] Although to a small degree Brookside's terminal ratings slide since its 1995 peak had been temporarily halted, plots started going around in circles before finally being resolved with Nikki Shadwick's date-rape storyline, Diane Murray's infatuation with pregnancy, and the long drawn-out breakdown of Jimmy and Jackie Corkhill's marriage being good examples of this.

This became a successful 2000 'Whodunnit' plotline which involved jilted former-lover Mick Johnson (Louis Emerick), vengeful Emily Shadwick (Jennifer Ellison) and returned former husband Max Farnham (Stephen Pinder) are all put in the frame when it is discovered that Susannah may have been pushed to her death.

Mick Johnson, played by Louis Emerick for over 12 years, then fled the close after a suicide attempt, and Jimmy Corkhill descended into madness, eventually being diagnosed bipolar, but these were storylines which, to viewers and critics alike, obviously demonstrated the writers were running out of steam and there were serious questions about the lack of direction the soap was now heading.

But, as Alan (John Burton), Debbie (Annette Ekblom) and their four teenage children settled into life on the close, also running the petrol station on Brookside Parade, the comparisons to the earlier and popular Grant family were obvious, but their arrival did absolutely nothing to halt the rapid ratings decline.

Just as Phil Redmond had promised in his vision of the new-look Brookside, characters were once again seen debating political and environmental issues of the time, and the Gordons were often seen discussing topics over the dinner table, much like the Grant family in the early years.

The announcement coincided exactly with the 20th anniversary of Brookside, and it was something of a blow considering the programme was celebrating the milestone on-screen a brand new look: a post-production film-effect was added, a new title sequence launched with an updated theme tune – and all this started with a highly dramatic multi-episode story arc that saw the return of Lindsey Corkhill for a guest stint, not surprisingly arriving just as armed drug dealers sped onto the close, hotly pursued by police.

This approach, once again, did nothing to improve the ratings, having now fallen well below 400,000, although during the final six weeks, a rawness and energy previously captured in the very early years made a surprising return with a new character, the despised drug-dealer Jack Michaelson (Paul Duckworth), who moved into the recently vacated number 8.

Encouraged by the return of Barry Grant, Tim O'Leary, Steve Murray, and the remaining Gordon lads were all seen contemplating killing Jack, and whilst Jimmy Corkhill was also aware there was a plan, the only male resident in ignorance of what was happening was Ron Dixon.

In the last part of the episode, Phil Redmond had his final say in a rebellious scripted rant criticising religion, urban migration, public ignorance and the prohibition of drugs, which was voiced by Brookside's longest-running character, Jimmy, sat in an armchair on the front lawn of number 10.

Brookside: The Women: released in 1994, this video brought together the most popular female characters in the soap, including Mandy Jordache (Sandra Maitland), Sue Sullivan (Annie Miles) and Deborah 'D.D' Dixon (Irene Marot).

Here, we are able to view Lindsey Corkhill's (Claire Sweeney) 'missing' journey to her wedding to Peter Phelan (Samuel Kane), as well as another appearance from Sheila Grant (Sue Johnston) and a cameo from Harry Cross (Bill Dean).