Brookside - Scheduling

Scheduling

From its launch in 1982, Brookside was broadcast between 20:00 and 21:00, although some episodes would occasionally be shown at 21:00 or after for scheduling reasons. In Wales, S4C always screened Brookside at 22:00. The Omnibus was broadcast on Saturday evening, usually at 17:00–18:00.

During weekdays, Brookside was always broadcast from 20:00, first on Tuesday & Wednesday, then Monday & Wednesday, with a few special five-nighters, with these episodes always airing Monday to Friday.

On 1 July 1990, Brookside gained a third weekly episode which saw a regular broadcast pattern of Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 20:00. The serial's timeslot was far more consistent in the 1980s and early 1990s, however, from the mid-'90s, the schedules did keep changing. In 1994, when the BBC's soap EastEnders started broadcasting three nights a week, the third weekly episodes was broadcast every Monday at 20:00 which clashed with Brookside. This forced Channel 4 to move Brookside to Tuesdays at 20:00 (initially up against ITV's The Bill). The final weekday schedule, from 2001, was Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at 20:00.

From 30 November 2002, as a consequence of declining ratings, it was removed from its traditional weekday timeslots and reduced to a 90-minute edition broadcast once a week on Saturday evening, usually from 16:30.

On 27 July 2003, Brookside was moved to its final broadcast time of Tuesdays, usually from 23:00, but some episodes did not start until on or after Midnight for scheduling reasons. The final episode was extended and screened slightly earlier, from 22:30–00:20.

1982–1990: Twice a week (30 minute episodes)

  • Tuesday & Wednesday: Week commencing 31 October 1982 – 17 November 1984
  • Monday & Wednesday: Week commencing 18 November 1984 – 29 December 1984, 31 July 1988 – 30 June 1990
  • Monday & Tuesday: Week commencing 30 December 1984 – 30 July 1988

1990–2002: Three nights a week (30 minute episodes)

  • Monday, Wednesday & Friday: Week commencing 1 July 1990 – 30 April 1994
  • Tuesday, Wednesday & Friday: Week commencing 1 May 1994 – 15 December 2001
  • Wednesday, Thursday & Friday: Week commencing 16 December 2001 – 23 November 2002

2002–2003: Once a week (90 minute episode)

  • Saturday: Week commencing 24 November 2002 – 5 April 2003, 13 April 2003 – 19 July 2003
  • Thursday: Week commencing 6 April 2003 – 12 April 2003
  • Tuesday: Week commencing 27 July 2003 – 8 November 2003

Repeats

  • Living (then called UK Living, and now known as Sky Living) repeated Brookside from episode 1, commencing in 1996 until the end of 2000. Originally, episodes were screened at 09:00, and repeated that evening at 21:00,later moved to 22:00. By 2000, however, it was only being aired in a morning slot, usually at 09:30.
  • Sky One took over the repeat rights to Brookside in 2001. It was shown at 10:30 and started with episodes that originally aired on Channel 4 in 1994. However, in 2002 this was changed to an early-morning 03:30 timeslot, before being dropped completely in June, ending with episodes originally shown in 1996.
  • No episodes from 1997, through to the final episode in 2003, have ever been repeated on any British TV channel.

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