Don’t miss Hollyoaks, Hollyoaks Later and the crossover with Brookside from Monday 20 October on E4 at 7.00pm
Brookside has, and still holds, a very special place in the heart of fans new and old—helped no end by STV Player here in the UK bringing it back from the very first episode and making it available to a new audience more than 20 years after it ended. Synonymous with the series are the Grant family and Bobby (Ricky Tomlinson), Sheila (Sue Johnston OBE), and Barry (Paul Usher). Thanks to Hollyoaks’ crossover with Brookside for the 30th anniversary, fans can enjoy these characters once again.
Ricky Tomlinson (played Bobby Grant, 1982-1988)
Do members of the public still talk to you about Brookside?
I know people still come to the Close from all over the place. Sue Johnston (who played Sheila Grant) and I did some filming here for another show recently, there was a group of fans waiting by the Brookside sign who’d come all the way from Scotland. They didn’t know Sue and I were going to be there, they saw us and one girl said: ‘Can I ask for a photograph?’ we said: ‘We’d be disappointed if you didn’t!’ She was made up.
Viewers loved the Grant family, why were they so popular?
I think a lot of it was down to the fact we got on as people, we became a family in real life. The chemistry was amazing and has lasted to this day. I still see Sue regularly, people think we’re married in real life especially since we later played husband and wife in The Royle Family!
How do you remember Bobby as a character?
He was working class. His son Barry was a handful but was just a typical teenager, I’d seen many of them in real life. Bobby and Sheila had a decent relationship at first but Sheila was very committed to the church which caused friction. But me and Sue got on like a house on fire.
Would you have been friends with Bobby in real life?
Yes and I probably would’ve had loads of arguments with him! I saw a lot of myself in him, I was a political prisoner in the 70s which was pretty rough. Brookside talked about trade unions and politics, I still get the odd letter from different unions that are on strike asking for letters of support, which I do. The dispute I was involved with in the 70s is part of trade union history, the strike did so much to alter the amount of fatalities in the building industry.
Sue Johnston OBE (played Sheila Grant, 1982-1990)
How was the character of Sheila first described to you?
I connected with the character immediately; she was the kind of woman that I knew from growing up in Prescot in Lancashire. The matriarch. She was feisty and I liked that. Those big fight scenes with Marie Jackson out in the Close were great to do.
Do you remember meeting Phil Redmond for the first time?
Yes, very vividly, at the interviews which were held in Matthew Street in Liverpool. He was talking about trade unions and things, trying to find out what my feelings might be from how I responded.
When Brookside started, did you think it would become as successful as it did?
Before the first episode went out, Amanda Burton (who played Heather Haversham) and I went shopping to Lewis’s department store in Liverpool. We were in the changing room and she suddenly said ‘Do you think we’ll be able to do this in the future without getting recognised?’ Neither of us had thought about that. I said ‘No, we’ll be fine!’ I suppose I got more people wanting to talk to me after Sheila’s rape storyline.
What are your memories of that powerful story?
I was very nervous to do it because I’d been attacked myself in London a few years earlier, coming home on the tube in the early evening in Gunnersbury. I had to fight for my life. I’d never really spoken about it. When they marked out the scene of this guy coming out behind Sheila, which is exactly what happened to me in real life, I was worried how I’d react and thought I might lose control. But it was like drama therapy, I released something. Then I started to talk about it openly. We got involved with Rape Crisis who were very helpful, I later wrote about it in my book. It helped me.
Were you aware how groundbreaking Brookside was at the time in terms of the issues it tackled?
Yes, I was aware of its importance. Id’ worked in theatre in education for 11 years and loved it, I was very socially inclined so Brookside slotted straight into that. It felt perfectly natural for Ricky Tomlinson and I to get involved with the miners’ strike and go on the picket line, we were from the same stock.
What other storylines stand out?
The death of Sheila’s son Damon was a memorable one for me. It was hard to play that grief, I still remember looking through the window when the police come to the house to tell her he’s dead. I think a mother would have the knowledge of what was about to happen.
Were there any funny moments during filming?
There was one that was actually connected to Damon’s death. We had the mass with his coffin in the house with the priest and everyone stood around. I rang Simon O’Brien, who played Damon, and asked if he wanted to hide in the coffin and jump out as a prank! Took the 1st assistant director into my confidence. Simon sneaked in and hid underneath, he couldn’t fit in the coffin, and when the priest was speaking it started to rattle and Simon jumped out! Honestly, it nearly gave people a heart attack!
Sheila’s marriage to Bobby ended, how did you feel when she got together with Billy Corkhill?
Before Bobby went, one of my favourite episodes was written by Jimmy McGovern. of course, about a girls’ night out for Sheila and her friend Kathy who lived with the Corkhills. They got home and found Billy asleep on the couch, and they tied a ribbon round his head! When I went back to the Grants’, Bobby was fuming – the marriage was very bad at that point. They had a terrible fight and Bobby hit her. That episode sowed the seed of Bobby’s anger against Sheila’s growing affection for Billy.
Were you pleased Sheila and Billy got a happy ending when you left together in 1990?
Yes. John McArdle and I were doing a play in real life, called Two, at the Young Vic in London. It looks like Sheila and Billy have had a nice life together, and are still happy, which is nice!
What is Brookside’s legacy?
That’s a big one. It’s amazing how its stuck in the memory. A lady serving me in the supermarket the other day was so excited about this crossover, she said Brookside was her youth – maybe that’s it, so many people grew up watching it. Then Hollyoaks was born out of Brookside, and has taken over the mantle.
Paul Usher (played Barry Grant, 1982-2003)
Did you ever think you’d play Barry again?
When they told me Ricky Tomlinson (Bobby Grant) and Sue Johnston (Sheila Grant) were doing it, that made me say yes because we don’t get to see each other as often as we’d like. I’ve got a lot of really good friends from Brookside days so to come back and be with them, it puts the bow on top of it. I’m pleased I said yes now.
How did it feel to be filming on the Close again?
Weird. I was in what used to be the Grant house with the people who actually own it now, and just walked into the kitchen like I lived there. Standing round the back, a scene from maybe 35 years ago suddenly came into my head. Seeing the house that we used as the canteen made all the memories and laughs come back. It was reminiscing, live as it happens!
Were you excited when you got the part back in 1982?
Work was thin on the ground back then, so the fact I actually had a job was just amazing. The show was made on good will, we were all learning on the job and it was rough and ready. It was a very slim crew, but by the time we got to the third or fourth year the show really kicked in and we started to do some good stuff.
What were your highlights?
You never really went on location, but twice we went to Southport beach. The first time was when Barry and his mate Terry Sullivan had to sink a car for the insurance. Then the other time when Barry murdered Terry’s wife, Sue. Barry and Terry went to the beach and Barry made his big confession, that was great. We had so many lines to learn, we used massive cue boards like Marlon Brando, and the wind kept blowing them around. I was really proud of those episodes, they came out well.
Barry was a tormented character, was that hard to play?
It could be draining. One thing I developed here is how you can be laughing and joking before a take, as soon as they say action you’re in that place – but don’t ever take it home with you. It will fry your brain. Playing the intense stuff is good to do, it takes you somewhere else, it’s not often in life you get to be as angry or aggressive as the character allows you to be.
What reaction did you get from the public?
I never got knocked out, but I had to duck about 20 times. Blokes went for me, mostly because their girlfriends really fancied Barry. Fellas would get wound up after a few bevvies if the girls they were with saw me out somewhere. You ended up having a sixth sense for it, you knew it was coming – so you’d either vacate the premises or run!
Who was your favourite character?
Sinbad, because I love Mickey Starke. We had loads of comedy bits together when Barry would be having a go at Sinbad which was great, because we’d just ad-lib and go totally off. Mickey is even funnier in real life, they couldn’t write the things he comes up with. It was just a joy to be around him and lovely to see him again.
What was your relationship like with Sue Johnston?
Barry loved his mum, but doesn’t every lad? When we started, we’d be working 12, 14-hour days then at the weekend we’d go to Sue’s for Sunday dinner. She’d do all the cooking and look after us, we really bonded. I have a lot of respect for her, there’s not a bad bone in her body. Brookside was a big, happy family, we were all on a mission together. We’d come in at 7am, work until 7pm, then spend the evening in the pub together, and be back to start again the next day.
Did you realise Brookside was making a difference?
We were very proud of what we were doing, the fact we were making something that was real. In those days.
Will we see Barry again, maybe in Hollyoaks village?
That’s not up to me…