Could Brookside Return As An Online Soap?

Thirteen years after it was cancelled, Brookside creator Phil Redmond has renewed hope that the soap could return at some point in the future.

The Channel 4 drama debuted in 1982, but was sadly axed in 2003 despite undergoing a revamp for its 20th anniversary.

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The show famously aired the first lesbian kiss on British TV.

Speaking to Digital Spy, Phil, who also created Hollyoaks and saved Emmerdale from the chop, admitted that the show could return in a slightly different form.

He explained: “It could come back in some form - never say never. I think what you would do is go and find some of the old characters, find out where they’re living and pick it up from there.

“I think there is a place for a soap like ​that, but doing it online would be the best way to do it. If I was starting now, I’d be going round talking to BT, Amazon, Netflix and saying: ‘Why don’t we do this online?'”

Copyright [Fiona Hanson/PA Archive/PA Images]

Asked if he thought the show could’ve survived if he’d been able to see all the revamp changes through, Phil revealed: “Oh yeah - Brookside was fixed. We’d spent a million pounds revamping it. They cancelled it the same week they put the billboards up across Britain saying that it had all changed!

“I think Brookside should just have been moved out of early evening television and put on at 10pm.

“The problem is that all of television changed in the late '90s and early '00s. Channel 4 wanted to have Big Brother, reality, and all those daft shows.

“A big slug of social reality just didn’t fit and we knew that. But instead of sitting down and talking with us, they just panicked and the rest is history.”

But would you like to see Brookside return?