What I did today.

I loved Whishaw in the telly Richard ll. Best I've seen in that role. He seemed to make sense of every line and made everything the character said sound fresh-minted.

I missed that as well . He is one of those actors that I will go out of my way to see. His dark, poetic looks have nothing to do with it . I think...

I've decided I want try writing tv scripts in my retirement. Probably comedy. I spoke to charming young man at the BBC today and am going to a BBC event in Sheffield on Saturday morning aimed (I think) at encouraging and informing possible new writers. And I've gone to the station and bought my train ticket. So I'm committed!

Then I'm travelling on to Liverpool to attend a Brookside reunion. Always a bit nervous about reunions. Will I remember people, yet alone recognise them? Will anyone remember or recognise me (it was all 30 yrs ago!) I have to go thinking Yes to all that. Also not everone got on, so it may not all be sweetness and light. But they were very happy times working in telly in the early 80's so I'm going very much in that spirit. Busy times.

It was brilliant. I only realised that when I went through a divorce and there was an affair/divorce storyline going on in Brookside. Things that happened and things that were said were like a mirror image of what was happening in my life. Had I watched it years earlier I would have thought it too far too removed from reality. It's probably the only soap I've ever followed [although I missed the early years]. A friend of mine used to write for Dr Who. When he died I was given a dvd with a pilot show he'd written. Doug Naylor was in it playing an alien, as was the guy who became Mr Blobby! It never made it to the telly, unfortunately . It's so bad it's good ifyougetwotimean....

isthis - I loved Brookside! It was seismically ground-breaking with such a multitude of controversial themes and a lot of humour. Shame it had to end, but saying that, it probably did end at the right time.

Hey I love the comments about Brookside. I'll pass them on on Saturday. The early years definitely the best I think. Strong characters, especially the Grant parents, and real, biting storylines. It probably ran two or three years past when it should have ended. But with different handling, couldn't it still be running?? The other big soaps survive and survive the odd dip. Brookside for some reason didn't.

Any theories why?

btw one of the best things for us working on it, including the actors, was that it was so innovative behind the cameras. As well as genuinely groundbreaking scripts. All other soaps were (and still are) shot mainly in studios on 3-wall sets. Brookie we shot in real houses on a real close. And PR (Phil Redmond) wouldn't allow walls to be removed or camera hatches to be cut. The rooms were tiny, especially the bedrooms, but we had to stage scenes and shoot in them somehow. Very demanding (and therefore very rewarding) for camera crew, sound, lighting. It made a big difference to the way the show looked. Phil was totally right. And it was all shot with a single camera, like a film. Not multi camera like a sit-com. And liberal use of Stedicam, unlike any other telly show I've ever directed. All that tecchy side could have continued as cameras, and now lights too, have got smaller and smaller. New writers would have come forward. More of them women, more of them non-white.

So. Why didn't Brookside survive when other soaps have??

Shall I start another thread? This is off topic. Or are there only a vert few of us interested and it'll fizzle out? How to know?

I think other soaps carried on where Brookside left off but they are now full of murders, kidnappings, fires etc etc [I'm only going by what I see in the radio times as I don't watch them].And it was Brookside that started those sort of stories [bodies under patios I seem to remember]. Not sure that soaps cater for non sensational storylines any more. Maybe Brookside did carry on but as series like The Street?

Isthis, I don`t have any explanation as to why Brookside ended, all I can say is I wish it hadn`t. I never missed a single episode from start to finish. Got a shock seeing Dean Sullivan (Jimmy Corkhill) on TV the other week, if they hadn`t said who he was I wouldn`t have recognized him! And Ray Quinn was adorable as little Anthony Murray.

End of Brookside off-topic.

There's now a proper Brookside R.I.P. thread.

Migrate there please all ye Corkhill-stalkers & Grant-ghouls! Yet alone Harry-hoverers.

Enough. Ed

Which was your favourite story-line?

Which bit of "Enough" do you not understand? Ed

I have suceeded in uploading (or is it downloading? Never quite sure) a picture of Greatnan and me against the background of Lake Geneva and the Chateau de Chillon - taken by Granjura and I thought I had a photo of her, but can't find it. Also uploaded a couple of pics of the NW meet-up

Sorry, that should read juragran.

Feeling much less hasseled (?can't spell that) after I sat down and thought properly about what I intend to feed my DS. & girlfriend and DD & SiL when they all come over in early December. Before I did this I was getting so stressed trying to work it out. Another case of making a list instead of mulling it over and over in my head. Off to bed and weather permitting off to see baby DGS again tomorrow. night all.

I am probably the only person never to have seen Brookside.
Today has been another long childminding day, left the house at 7.30am and returned at 7.30pm. GD is an angel but these dark days leave me feeling tired.

annodomini huge respect for showing those photos.

But ...... am I the only one that likes not putting a face to a screen name? I like the chatting in anonymity aspect of a forum, ie all that matters is the topic, light or heavy. Not what she's wearing, or that haircut, or these ear-rings. Just my feelings. Many/most may disagree. [devil emoticon, modified version]

Still got the remains of an "upset stomach" (euphemism!) And a cold and sore throat. Be daft to go for my Friday morning Senior Swim session. Boo! But All Things Will Pass. I'm an impatient old thing Not my best trait, I know!

isthis I hope your 'upset stomach' wasn't caused by one of those supermarket bargains you've been road-testing!

isthis such fond memories of Brookside the houses that it was filmed in where built by the builder i worked for at the time and we had our showhome just before you came into The Close we had such good times People watching when the filming was taken place everyone was so friendly,I knew a few of the cast before the start of the series as they lived near to us on The Wirral in fact Dean still lives down the Rd from us now and is involved with a campaign to save the recreation fields near to Tranmere Rovers.Enjoy your week-end meeting up with all your pals.

Ana I hadn't thought of that! I have been tucking in to Aldi Marinaded Venison Steaks with gusto. Not much of a bargain if you're suggestion's true are they??

Hi glammanana I've cut'n pasted yr very interesting comment across the new dedicated thread *Brookside R.I.P." Please continue there.

I don't want to feel I'm hijacking this "done today" thread. Not good manners at all, is it?

isthis give it a year and you might find anonymity is not as important as it is just now. When the notion of some of us meeting up was mooted last year, quite a few of us said we preferred our anonymity, so didn't want to meet. A year on and we were pleased to meet each other face to face, as we had shared so much by that time. Since meeting, we still relate to each other in much the same way on here, and there are Gransnetters I haven't met, yet feel I have got to know them quite well, too.

Interestingly, at the north-west meet-up the other day, a few of us raised the issue of 'cliquey-ness' and expressed our distaste for such behaviour, which we were content to dismiss. We've got to the stage of being able to enjoy the company of others with whom we have so much in common, and that will do for us

whenim you know, you're very probably right! I guess time will tell.

I agree, When. If you'd asked me, even a few months ago, I wouldn't have considered meeting up. But as time has gone on, I feel much more comfortable. As I've got to know people in the virtual world, I've become curious about the 'real' people behind the screen name, and meeting them face to face was lovely!

Hi Hummingbird there's another booking for December on the meetings thread, if you're able to join us next time

Harrigran your not the only one. I avoid soaps as I am hooked on Eastenders and can't/couldn't have coped with another one.

Isthis I feel like that about meeting up but I was quite envious when there was the Brum meet up so might venture forth if there is another one.

Today, between lessons, I popped to the loo and then thought I heard giggling; when I came downstairs two minutes later a friend had been in my house and left something for me on the dining room table. Good job I have nothing much that's worth stealing!