If you're a hardcore Brookside fan, you probably know by now that the hit soap is back on our screens after 20 years.
The Channel 4 show, affectionately known as 'Brookie,' was based in Liverpool and first hit our screens over 40 years ago on November 2, 1982. By 2003, the Liverpool-based soap was axed - but now, 20 years on from the last episode, the series has finally returned to screens on the free streaming service, STV Player.
Brookside had its fair share of memorable storylines in its 2,915-episode run. Many will remember when sweethearts Damon Grant and Debbie McGrath, played by Simon O'Brien and Gillian Kearney, helped Channel 4 make history by starring in Britain's first mini-series spin-off from a soap opera.
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In November 1987, the three-part series, Damon and Debbie, hit our screens and followed the sweethearts leaving Brookside and deciding to elope, heading to York for a better life. Written by Frank Cottrell Boyce, things didn't go smoothly for the young couple, with Damon being stabbed and dying in Debbie's arms in the final episode.
But Damon and Debbie weren't the only Brookie couple to get their own spin-off. The following year in 1988, Tracy Corkhill and Jamie Henderson, played by Justine Kerrigan and the late Sean McKee, also starred in their own 'soap bubble.'
In November 1987, the Liverpool ECHO reported: "Brookside’s Tracy Corkhill is to star in her own TV series. The Close’s trendy teenager will head for London with her boyfriend Jamie in the latest spin-off series from the Channel 4 soap opera.
"After the success of Damon and Debbie, which ended this week with Damon Grant’s death, Mersey Television chiefs are keen to launch another of their soap bubbles. Justine Kerrigan and Sean McKee, who play the young couple, will start work in January on the two-part series to be screened in March."
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The mini series, later named South, was first screened to schools on March 14 and March 21 as part of an educatory series. Later airing on Channel 4, it followed the unemployed couple who moved to London after Jamie's cousin tells them there are lots of jobs down there.
When they arrive, they find she has got off with the rent and they end up staying with the housemates she had been living with. Tracy gets friendly with a kissogram girl and gets on the club circuit, but Jamie has a hard time looking for jobs on building sites and finds London is not all it's cracked up to be.
The show tackles themes of unemployment and harsh living conditions in London, which sees the pair decide to head back to Liverpool. But when they board the train, Tracy changes her mind and stays.
Similarly to Damon and Debbie, South was created by Phil Redmond and written by Frank Cottrell-Boyce. These images, courtesy of our archives, Mirrorpix, show Justine Kerrigan and Sean McKee on a train and at a platform at London Euston train station in February 1988 after shooting South.
But Brookside fans will also remember singer Morrisey made a famous cameo in the spin-off. In 2019, the Daily Star reported: "He was originally supposed to star in Brookside as a prospective house buyer in the area, but after that was scrapped he had a brief cameo in the spin-off Brookside South in 1988, where he met Tracy Corkhill (Justine Kerrigan) in a hospital waiting room. After Tracy says: "I know who you are," Moz flatly replies with "so do I."
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Later that year, it was reported how the actors had struck up a relationship in real life. But today, many still remember their on screen characters and the Brookie storylines they were part of.
Sean McKee started his screen career in Willy Russell’s 1983 TV drama One Summer, which also starred fellow young Liverpool actors David Morrissey and Ian Hart. Other screen appearances included Jimmy McGovern’s drama Legal and roles in Nice Guy Eddie, Dead Man’s Cards, Justice, and as a ‘bitter blue’ in Dave Kirby’s short 15 Minutes That Shook the World.
In July 2015, tributes were paid to the former Brookside and Liverpool 1 actor who died after suffering an epileptic fit at home, age 54. He had recently filmed Outlander for Sony and was more recently cast by Nina Gold to appear in BBC mini-series London Spy with Ben Whishaw.
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Justine Kerrigan has reunited with her former cast mates over the years to relive their Brookie days. In 2012, the ECHO reported how Justine attended a reunion to celebrate 30 years since Brookside first hit our screens and in 2019, Justine and cast mates like Suzanne Collins and Alex Fletcher enjoyed a night of nostalgia at Liverpool's Hilton Hotel.
On social media, Justine's Twitter bio reads: "Ex brookie, proper foodie and dog lover. most proudly NHS 22 years service." It is now possible to relive the Brookside drama and stream the soap from the start for the first time ever on STV Player.
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