Storylines
Jimmy first appeared in Brookside when brother Billy had moved in and was in the process of building the extension to no. 10. His first scene in the close featured Billy and Paul Collins, another close resident, who was the architect responsible for designing the extension.
Jimmy came and went for a couple of years as a sporadic character whilst the Corkhill family were introduced. His first big storyline involved an insurance 'job' on Billy's house. For a year or so, Billy Corkhill had been in dire financial straits and Jimmy talked him into what he thought was a surefire winner. So on a day when Rod Corkhill - son of Billy - graduated from Police college, Jimmy did the insurance job (in daylight) - and totally trashing the Collin's house in the process for good measure, to make it look a bit more convincing to the police and the insurance company. However, once Billy returned from the graduation later that day, he was mortified at the amount of damage Jimmy had done to his house and for a while it put a strain on their relationship.
In the early to mid 1990s, Jimmy Corkhill became an integral part of the storylines. First he suffered from a drug addiction which nearly destroyed his relationship with Jackie Corkhill. He had numerous jobs including a barman and bouncer at "Bar Brookie", working for Mick Johnson in his pizza takeaway, a cleaner in a school and ultimately a history teacher at his local school. In November 1993, Jimmy's contacts were starting to get arrested and he decided to flee the close. When driving, he took a hit of cocaine to steady his nerves however this seriously affected his driving and he caused neighbour Frank Rogers to swerve off a road and crash. Frank, who had just married Lyn Matthews, was badly injured and died just after arriving in hospital. His passenger, fourteen-year-old Tony Dixon (who Frank had offered a ride to in order to get him away from his constantly arguing parents), suffered a fractured skull and spent three months in a coma before dying. Jimmy initially rallied around the Dixon family and helped with fundraising events to try and help Tony recover, but Tony's life support machine was switched off in February 1994 when it became obvious there was no hope of him ever regaining consciousness. At the request of Tony's father Ron, Jimmy was a pall-bearer at Tony's funeral but finally cracked under guilt at the graveside and confessed that he had caused Tony's death.
A short time after, his son "Little Jimmy" became a heroin addict; later being murdered by drug dealers. Jimmy started taking ecstasy tablets in 1994, and actor Dean Sullivan urged Brookside producers to kill off his character in a bid to warn youngsters about the dangers of taking drugs. But he was not killed off.
In January 1995, Jimmy and Eddie Banks found the body of Childbeater Trevor Jordache (Bryan Murray), who had been killed two years earlier, by his wife Mandy Jordache, and his daughter Beth Jordache then buried him under the patio - the storyline was called 'The Body Under The Patio' plot. Incidentally, the storyline that lead up to it, which involved an alcoholic, abusive and incestious father (Trevor Jordache) was of Brookside's most moving storylines (the body under the patio discovery scene remains Brookside's most well known and is rated as one of the most memorable in UK soap history).
1995 also saw Jimmy turn up to the D-Day commemorations dressed in a Gustapo uniform, which did not go down too well in the close. He was also accompanied on frequent occasions during 1995 with his pet, a pitbull called Cracker.
Tragedy struck the Corkhills in November 1996 when Little Jimmy was murdered by drug dealers. There was a brief respite for Jimmy and Jackie in July 1997 when, both in their forties, they had a third child William. More bad news was to come for Corkhill as he was eventually rumbled at his job at the school for falsifying certificates, which he had enlisted the help neighbour Danny Simpson to do so. After a few months in the job, wife Jackie became sick of the pretense of it all, mainly because Jimmy was really starting to believe his own hype. She spilled the beans at a dinner with two of his fellow teacher colleagues, who took a dim view. Jimmy was fired soon after. Following this he developed manic-depression (bipolar disorder) and began experiencing hallucinations and delusions. He then got up one morning, convinced he was still a teacher and arrived at the school to teach a lesson clad in odd shoes. This culminated in him locking his pupils in his classroom where he shook tables and starting ranting and screaming. A boy in his class protested about this and called him a "weirdo". This led to the boy having a bloody nose as Corkhill grabbed him and smacked his face on a table. Consumed with guilt he ran out the class and went up to the roof where he was ready to commit suicide. His daughter Lindsey Corkhill and a neighbour Ray Hilton heard about this and tried to convince him not to kill himself. The police were also informed and rushed to the scene, two policemen went up to the roof and were standing behind Corkhill. Corkhill jumped off the roof but was saved just in time by one of the policemen. After this he was advised to go to his GP and he was put on anti-depressants.
In 2001, his marriage to Jackie ended in separation after many years. After the siege neighbour Nikki Shadwick began to see Jimmy as a father figure, however her feelings turned to infatuation and the two slept together in 2002. Jimmy Corkhill remained in the series until the show ended in 2003. He starred in the show's final scenes which included him painting "Game Over" on his house and adding a "D" to the street-sign so it read "Brookside Closed." He then went to live with his son-in-law, Barry Grant and daughter in their mansion in Blaydon, Tyne and Wear. The final scene of Brookside saw Jimmy winking at the camera.
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