Close encounters reach a dead end

Steve Pratt, a disillusioned fan, charts the rise and fall of a soap sensation.

Phil Redmond was a man with a mission to change the face of soap opera in Britain. He wanted to tell it how it was, warts and all, without the wobbly sets or cosy nostalgia of existing shows.

His soap would be about real people living in real houses with real problems that viewers would know and recognise. Brookside, the everyday story of residents of a Liverpool cul-de-sac, was born.

Redmond was proud that people told him: "It's different from other soaps - it's more real, it's like the news or a football match."

Without it, EastEnders would never have existed, at least not in its present gritty form, and Coronation Street wouldn't have been forced to drag itself into the 21st century.

Now, Brookside is ending because of falling audiences. It has been a slow death. The three weekly episodes were axed, leaving only the Saturday omnibus which was then shifted to a late night weekday slot. Finally, the death sentence was passed. After 21 often controversial years, Brookside's final episode will be shown on Tuesday.

Redmond hopes to continue the story with special episodes on video. Perhaps he should simply accept that his creation has had its day. I'll shed no tears as the final credits roll. After being a dedicated viewer from day one - November 2, 1982, when the first episode was screened on Channel 4's opening night - I lost interest several years ago. The soap just didn't have the stories and characters to grip you in the overcrowded soap market.

I wasn't the only one to reach for the off button. Viewing figures have slumped dramatically in recent years. Brookside has never been in the same league as East Enders or Coronation Street ratings-wise. But stories, characters and actors have always attracted huge publicity out of proportion to the size of the audience.

Redmond had the idea of producing a drama serial set among residents on a new housing estate long before C4 came along, submitting an outline to the major ITV companies and the BBC as early as 1973, but without success.

His school series Grange Hill on the BBC was a hit, but his next series, County Hall, was axed after one series. He moved to the independent sector, set up Mersey Television and sold the idea of Brookside - then called Meadowcroft - to C4's first chief executive Jeremy Isaacs.

The fact that the new channel didn't have much money to spend suited Redmond's determination to break the mould and do what previous soaps hadn't done - be realistic.

Look and content were the key. He bought the houses and bungalows in a planned cul-de-sac on a new housing development in Liverpool. Properties not occupied by characters housed wardrobe and make-up units, dressing rooms and a canteen. The whole area was cabled so that moving from scene to scene could be achieved quickly. Being a cul-de-sac, the public could be kept away during shooting.

No soap had ever filmed on location like this. Lightweight cameras were employed, instead of the multi-camera set-up used in other TV programmes. This served to keep the budget down as well as give a grittier, more realistic look. He cast unknown actors in leading roles. Young characters didn't come from stage school, but were raw talent off the street.

The content was equally revolutionary as he vowed to tackle issues such as rape, abortion, drug addiction and teenage alcoholism that previous soaps had ignored. Over the years, such touchy topics as child abuse, religious fanaticism, AIDs, homosexuality and incest have been added to the list.

Issues we take for granted in today's soaps were first aired in Brookside, often causing a violent reaction from viewers or TV watchdogs. Swearing caused most complaints during the first months on screen.

The day after the first transmission Redmond realised the soap was already making an impression after seeing how much space the national media was devoting to the new programme. "I sensed then that if they were making so much fuss about the language, there was obviously more scope to challenge the then accepted social mores," he recalls.

It was a difficult few months, as The Sun kept count of the number of swear words, clean up TV campaigner Mary Whitehouse condemned the show, and Private Eye dubbed it Bogside.

Gradually, viewers were won round. Redmond made a few compromises, cutting down the swearing and introducing some comic characters. Brookside - shown twice, and then three times, a week with a Saturday omnibus - became the channel's most popular programme.

Redmond wanted residents to mirror the current mix in society. The first occupants were the working class Grants, the snooty Collins family, and two young couples, Roger and Heather Huntingdon and Gavin and Petra Taylor.

Redmond kept an overview, with revamps every few years to ensure stories and characters kept pace with changes in the real world. Brookside pioneered what might be called soap events - major storylines that generated massive publicity. People talked about them even if they didn't watch the programme itself.

There was the Free George Jackson campaign, the murder of Sue Sullivan and her young son, Sheila Grant's rape, a siege and gay Gordon Collins coming out. A storyline involving a mother-of-four who couldn't read or write was used to spearhead a literacy campaign. A lesbian kiss between Beth Jordache and nanny Margaret was a TV first, so was the explicit depiction of a brother and sister incestuous relationship.

The storyline that resulted in the biggest public reaction and most headlines also involved the Jordaches, as long-term domestic abuse led to a stabbing and the body-under-the-patio scenario.

Brookside made stars of actors like Ricky Tomlinson, Amanda Burton and Sue Johnston. Two producers have gone on to bigger things - Mal Young is a BBC drama boss and Paul Marquess, restored the fortunes of The Bill, created Footballers' Wives and is now head of drama at Thames. Scriptwriter Jimmy McGovern went on to write Cracker and Hillsborough.

Redmond is reluctant to pick favourite moments from 21 years of Brookside. "My fondest recollections are having people coming up to me and thanking me for including some issue or concern they were involved in," he says.

"We are expected to entertain people, but we can do that using all the tricks, smoke and mirrors in television's armouries. It's really special when someone comes up to you and says, 'thanks, you really helped there'.

"It might sound a bit trite, but that's the bit I will miss the most - that good old fashioned public service ethos."

* The final episode of Brookside is on C4 on Tuesday at 10.40pm.