James from London
International Treasure
Oh and it’s nice to see Nick’s relationship with Heather blossoming at last. It looks like all that studying he did as a younger man is starting to pay off.
This period of Brookside, specifically what’s going on with the Grants, really reminds me of Knots Season 4. While the characters are still recognisably the same people we’ve been watching for the past few years, it’s like the heat’s been turned up under each of them
an enormous part of the pleasure of this era is seeing the writers and actors rise to the challenge of making these soapy contrivances not only plausible but compelling (again, just like Knots Season 4).
Bobby’s conflict with George Williams is the first indication that his brand of socialism is gradually falling out of step with the times.
Meanwhile, Sheila involving herself in Sally Dinsdale’s and Matty’s marriages is the first time she’s really got worked up about anything that doesn’t directly affect her own family.
It feels like Brookie’s political pencils have been re-sharpened recently
How combustible might a Barry Grant/Katrin Cartlidge-era Lucy coupling have been!
Whereas Petra’s (admittedly funny) scene was part of something darker and ultimately tragic, Lucy’s post-James behaviour has mostly just been a laugh.
Even though the whole Lucy 2 story has been really satisfying and well-executed, I could never quite shake the feeling that Lucy 2’s personality and behaviour (while never less than plausible) was moulded to fit the storyline, whereas Lucy 1’s stories grew organically out of the character.
Mrs James sees her as a stupid, deluded little girl — which essentially is what she is. This is in contrast to a similar storyline in EastEnders circa 1989-90 where Michelle Fowler likewise gets involved with a married man. As with Lucy, we aren’t introduced to the wronged wife until late in the story and again the marital set-up is very different to what the mistress has been led to believe by her man. When Michelle’s bloke’s wife finds out about her husband’s bit on the side, she casually concludes that Michelle must be a typical hairdressing airhead from the East End. Insofar as Michelle is a hairdresser at the time (and an East Ender), she’s right, but what she doesn’t know and the viewer at home does is that Michelle is about as far from an airhead as you can get. With Lucy, there isn’t that extra layer of complexity; she is exactly what James’s wife thinks she is. If she’d said it about Katrin Cartildige’s Lucy, however, it wouldn’t have been the full story.
Michelle’s most famous illicit liaison was, of course, as a barely legal teenager with a much older man in a position of authority over her (technically, Den was her employer at the time as she was shampooing the Vic carpets to earn some extra pocket money). And the audience didn’t find about their fling until after the fact. Same situation for Tracey and Mr Montague, of course, and both situations came to light at around the same time: late ’85-ish.
Fascinatingly, in both cases, the man’s predatory behaviour is pretty much glossed over in a way that would be inconceivable today.
Who knows — maybe in a decade or two, there’ll be yet a further layer of nuance to add.
Paula's habit of delivering self-deprecating wisecracks while looking like a million dollars was one of the many things that made her so genuinely beguiling.
What a joy it is to be able scroll through Pat’n’Sand’s scenes so cleanly and quickly. None of the over-fast-forwarding-then-having-to -rewind-again like in the old VCR days. Thank-you again, STV Player.
Oh and it’s nice to see Nick’s relationship with Heather blossoming at last. It looks like all that studying he did as a younger man is starting to pay off.
I've been meaning to say that Rosie Banks/Bookie's Assistant has been causing quite a stir in the Whoniverse over the past couple of months, which I don't think anyone had on their bingo card for 2024.Susan Twist - later Rosie Banks in dire Nineties Brookie - is the bookie’s assistant who gets sacked for trying to help and is now doing all she can to assist Harry. It’s a small role, but she fits in well to this era. I find Susan endearing as she reminds me very much of the mum of a schoolfriend when I was young.
I've been meaning to say that Rosie Banks/Bookie's Assistant has been causing quite a stir in the Whoniverse over the past couple of months, which I don't think anyone had on their bingo card for 2024.
In fact, if one were conspiracy-minded enough, one could probably draw a connection between one Brookie-Twist character working in a bookies and the other winning the pools. (At least, I think it was the pools they won.)Who fans seem far more dedicated to this kind of thing, otherwise we'd have a lot more wildly speculative threads here trying to create a canonical explanation for some of those recurring faces in soaps over the years.
Yes it really is.Anyway - lovely that Susan is having a moment.
Billy said:Bet you any money there’s carrots.
This reminded me of the moment a few earlier when Petra and Barry "just happened" to see Roger and Diane McAllister together while they were out and about. Of course, this the kind of thing that occurs all the time in a regular soap, but because the characters in Brookside live in a version of the real world as opposed to a self-contained one, it paradoxically feels extra soapy when it happens here.There’s more soapiness when Karen sees Matty and Mo together and debates whether or not to say anything to Sheila
One of my least favourite things in a soap (and Enders is especially guilty of this on occasion) is scenes involving a couple of central characters surrounded by a bunch of extras all acting "spontaneously", i.e., like a herd of mute sheep. It just sucks the energy of the whole thing. A party where almost none of the guests have a speaking part should be a prime example of this, but Brookside totally get away with it here by presenting a series of beautifully observed, almost-but-not-quite frozen tableaus of drunken teenage carnage and its aftermath for Billy and Doreen (not to mention poor little Tracey) to react to. (To my mind, this was a far better deployment of extras than the tiresomely comedic subplot a few episodes later involving Harry, Ralph, a disability badge and a mute traffic warden, which was like something Benny Hill might have done about ten years earlier.)Rod’s 18th felt completely authentic, with Billy moving furniture and knick-knacks upstairs to avoid them being damaged or desecrated while Doreen objected because people wouldn’t see her lovely stuff. Her sharp change of tune as soon as Billy reminded her of her own 21st (she gravely told them to strip the room) reminded me very much of that scene in Jaws where Ellen suddenly calls the boys in from the boat upon seeing a painting of a shark ramming a hull... moments after telling Martin he was worrying over nothing.
The music thumping over the house and the entire Close. The teens pairing off and finding bedrooms. The booze and spills and throwing up. It all perfectly captured a moment, thanks to Jimmy McGovern’s writing. The newly-liberated Billy is surprisingly cool-headed when he and Doreen walk in to the devastation and have to climb over a chair and a heap of horny kids to get to their own bedroom.
Of course, this the kind of thing that occurs all the time in a regular soap, but because the characters in Brookside live in a version of the real world as opposed to a self-contained one, it paradoxically feels extra soapy when it happens here.
A party where almost none of the guests have a speaking part should be a prime example of this, but Brookside totally get away with it here by presenting a series of beautifully observed, almost-but-not-quite frozen tableaus of drunken teenage carnage and its aftermath for Billy and Doreen (not to mention poor little Tracey) to react to.
(To my mind, this was a far better deployment of extras than the tiresomely comedic subplot a few episodes later involving Harry, Ralph, a disability badge and a mute traffic warden, which was like something Benny Hill might have done about ten years earlier.)
Perhaps it's significant that there seems to be less of an age gap between the Corkhills and their kids than there is between the Grants and theirs (Barry excepted).
I just watched a similar scenario to Rod's party in EastEnders in Jan 1991. Here it's Diane Butcher's 17th birthday do, and the concerns are the same: should Frank and Pat stay upstairs just in case things get out of hand and risk cramping the birthday girl's style or go out and leave her and brother Ricky to it? The outcome's not dissimilar to Brookie's, only the kids manage to conceal most of the mess from the grownups. There's some funny stuff at the party (Ricky drunkenly trying to find common ground with Diane's art school friends is probably the highlight), even if it lacks the authenticity of Rod's do. This being a more conventional soap, there's more emphasis on developing ongoing storylines involving the party guests than in presenting a totally realistic slice of teenage life.
A year before this it felt the air was filled with portent that foreshadowed the siege This summer, too, the air has been thick for some weeks with an atmosphere suggesting that something is around the corner.
Matty is willing to throw Teresa and his children, driven by his passion (or lust) for Mo, and is driven to repeated aggression towards Sheila for her interference. This has been quite a stretch for me given the Matty we know. But the series uses this to compound Sheila’s horror at his personality switch (and Bobby’s earlier disbelief when initially told of the affair with Mo). It may be out of character, but as a recurring character Matty is also peripheral enough for us to buy there could be more to him than we realise.
I can no longer tune out a Pat-ism that I realise has actually been there for a while: the tendency to start most lines by sharply turning his head away from the person to whom he’s speaking, instead looking at the floor for half a line before looking back (the camera placement seems to inform this as the turn is usually in the direction of the camera).
"it started in violence and it’s ending in violence” she grimly reflects
Sally Dinsdale is a cypher, and we know even less about her husband.
It’s just occurred to me that Sheila’s drive for independence through education coincides with Heather - Brookie’s poster child for that very thing - finally tying the knot onscreen.
One of the police officers in these episodes, incidentally, is played by an actor named Sebastian Aberini. Out of curiosity I did a little search which confirmed my suspicion that he's the brother of Daniel, who could be concurrently seen in Return To Eden, the latter episodes of which were first transmitted in the summer of 1986.
On paper, a rape whodunnit reads as highly tacky and salacious. I don’t know why this feels particularly taboo, since most whodunnits focus on serious crimes and could be viewed as trivialising murder or attempted murder or whatever. But taboo it feels.
The execution is another matter entirely.
spending time in the Grants’ household after Sheila returns home, with Karen and Damon processing with the news that their mother has been assaulted and this is as intimate as it gets. It was actually Karen’s frozen horror that got to me more than anything as I watched.
Harry and Ralph have also been brought to the periphery of the current main storyline as observers and interested parties. Harry learning to drive tied in to this in an episode where we watched him pretending to drive from the comfort of his living room using two chairs with books as pedals. After Pat’s physical fight with Sandra, Harry and Ralph watch Pat race into the van and screech carelessly off at speed, prompting Harry to tut “I don’t think much of his clutch control”.
When the police are questioning neighbours, Harry gives them the rundown on the entire Close from the Corkhills (“council estate mentality”) to the Collinses (“too uppity”), naturally saying all the incriminating things about the Grants and his tenants. After describing every character but himself, he’s asked where he fits in. “I keep myself to myself”.
here’s also quite a chilling moment where Harry and Ralph read about a “mother of four” who has been raped, not knowing it’s their neighbour. Harry scoffing that she’d probably left her young kids at home then led on her boyfriend at the pub was a fascinating study of human cynicism and of media intrusion. Contrasting the dehumanised “story” with the reality of Sheila’s ordeal (and her distress upon seeing the story in print) is another thing I don’t recall seeing too often.
I’m curious to know how much the audience knew ahead of time regarding Sheila’s rape.
As we watched last night, someone asked if Brookie had received any awards or official recognition for this storyline. I wasn't actually 100% certain. I know it's extremely highly regarded even now, but suspect it wasn't the era where this kind of work was rewarded to the extent it deserved.
Before the rape aired, two women complained in the Video Box that exactly a year after a female (not to mention the show's only Black) character had been murdered, yet more female characters (Sheila, Sandra, Sally) were once again the targets of male violence, with the explicit references to Kate's death adding fuel to the fire.
Brookside's response, as it usually was on Right to Reply, was, "Keep watching and it'll all become clear."
What also helps explain Matty's behaviour for me, as well as Teresa's, is the backdrop of long-term unemployment. That, as much as his feelings for Mo, fuels his desperation to find an escape, if only into a romantic fantasy, which of course turns into anger and hatred towards Sheila once that fantasy is taken away.
I thought the actress who played Mo (who reminded me of Julie Walters in one of her less comedic, more flinty-eyed roles) also did a brilliant job of bringing to life what was only hinted at in the script: her own reasons for needing to find love with Matty and then to end the affair once the bubble had burst.
In a storyline chockfull of highlights, the final scene between her and Sheila was one of the best -- one of those cases of two enemies unexpectedly reaching an understanding, like in the final scenes between Sheila and Marie, Lou Beale and Pat Butcher, even Sue Ellen and Mandy Winger.
It's kind of interesting how uninterested Brookside ultimately is in Sally. I think it's to the writers' credit that they don't make some simplistic attempt to get inside her head.
Perhaps one could say that, for better or worse, Mandy Jordache will be Sally Dinsdale Revisited: the same situation told from a different point of view.
I do think it's fascinating that Heather's promotion at work, aka her victory, the goal she's been after since the series began, happens entirely off screen and is treated almost casually. The thing that has defined her character on screen all along -- her ambition, her determination to succeed on her own terms -- is no longer the thing that defines her character on screen.
The way I've heard Jimmy McGovern describe it (and it was his idea, I believe), this was very much a calculated response to "Who got MIchelle pregnant?" on EastEnders. a way to get people talking about the series and to keep Sue Johnston interested in playing the part.
If I recall correctly, Cracker also features a rape whodunnit which, again, could easily have been crass and cheap but instead is powerful and devastating.
Another parallel with the Enders story: in both cases, there is a clued-up younger woman, Karen on Brookie; Michelle on Enders, on hand while the victim is being interviewed by the police, who is ready to pounce on any hint of a suggestion that she has brought this on herself. It's probably the most "messagey" both storylines get, and both Karen and Michelle make very credible mouthpieces.
I'm missing Madge in Harry and Ralph's scenes.
It feels a bit wrong to include it in the Soapy Headlines thread, but ultimately my need for completion overrides any sense of taste and decency.
I'm fairly certain we knew nothing. In fact, I didn't realise she had been raped, which might just be my own naivety, until the next episode. It didn't occur to me, although I remember my mum was pretty sure that's what had happened.
It was so real, and soaps were so looked down on. you almost didn't think about the acting, which made it all the more powerful. You couldn't go on Twitter straight after and say "Bla Bla deserves a BAFTA", you just had to try and make sense of what you'd just seen in your own head.
I think possibly the most powerful scene of this bunch of instalments is the one a couple of episodes later where Sheila's in bed and Bobby's trying to question her about Alun Jones, and she ends up turning away from him. It's just so real, so claustrophobic, I almost have to make a mental effort to remind myself to that they're acting.
Funny you mentioned Jimmy Mac coming up with this storyline.
I think one would have been some kind of love affair with a priest, which McGovern later adapted for Priest and then The Lakes, and which Brookside itself watered down and gave to the Farnhams' nanny Margaret and DD Dixon's brother, once J McG was out of the picture.I'm already very curious to know what other three ideas were mooted to keep Sue Johnston interested.
I think one would have been some kind of love affair with a priest, which McGovern later adapted for Priest and then The Lakes
the only way to watch Priest in full appears to be on the Netherlands DVD complete with Dutch subtitles.