I was at the big Brookside reunion and was touched by what I saw

Ryan Paton reflects on the biggest gathering of the Brookside cast and crew since the show ended

The big Brookside reunion photo captured by the ECHO's Iain Watts(Image: Liverpool Echo)

Two weeks ago today saw a moment that will go down in Liverpool history as the biggest gathering of the Brookside cast and crew since the show ended. The Merseyside set drama went off the air in 2003, but it remains part of the fabric of Scouse culture and is dearly missed to this day.

I was just nine years old when Brookside came to an end and was too young to fully follow the show or get invested in the storylines. Despite this, Brookside references, characters and storylines are emblazoned in my consciousness. To be in Liverpool at this time meant you absorbed what was happening on Brookside so you can't claim to have grown up in the city without having some sort of knowledge of the exploits of Jimmy Corkhill, Sinbad or Tinhead.

This was why it was so special to be on the set for a momentous day last year when camera crews returned to the iconic close for one day only. The buzz around Brookside's one off return for the Hollyoaks crossover episode has brought all the emotion about what made the show so special back to the fore and inspired January's emotional reunion of the cast and crew.

Only a handful of actors were able to return to Brookside last year for filming of the episode and three of those put the wheels in motion for a bigger gathering of all the people who made it special. Suzanne Collins, Philip Olivier and Louis Emerick were chatting in the green room of Hollyoaks when they decided to organise the bash.

Suzanne Collins, Philip Olivier and Louis Emerick put the wheels in motion for the Brookside reunion(Image: Liverpool Echo)

Suzanne set up a WhatsApp group and Philip provided the venue as his Royal Daffodil boat, permanently moored on Canning Dock, provided apt surroundings. The Tim "Tinhead" O'Leary star told the ECHO ahead of the event: "When I got the boat in 2018 I didn't realise that the Royal Daffodil is on the opening credits of Brookside so it's like full circle. [For the party] The cast and crew are coming home." He quipped: "But only because their houses [on the L12 Close] aren't there anymore."

I interviewed Philip ahead of the party beginning and waited as the famous faces who made the show so special arrived. However, it wasn't just the stars of the screen as so many of the crew were also in attendance on the boat.

I was taken in by the obvious camaraderie on show, which illustrated the real family atmosphere fostered on the set of the Channel 4 soap. Lindsay Corkhill star Claire Sweeney put it best as she was emotional talking about the impact some of the people in attendance at the party had played in her life.

Claire Sweeney at the Brookside reunion(Image: Liverpool Echo)

The Coronation Street star said: "Words aren't enough to sum up how special this show was. This show just meant so much to a lot of people. Everyone has travelled from all over the country [to be there].

She added: "Nicky Higgens, one of our producers, got me through a really bad break-up with someone who I really loved. It was not only a work thing, it was a personal thing too. People cared. [Showrunner] Sir Phil Redmond cared."

Anthony Murray star Ray Quinn echoed these words and shared a similar sentiment, as he said: "Brookside is a huge piece of history.

The cast and crew at the emotional Brookside reunion (Image: Liverpool Echo)

"Not just for me, but for the city where I'm born and bred. I'm massively proud to be part of it all. I'm buzzing to be here. I heard about this a few weeks ago and the chats been going crazy about a thousand messages I didn't even see.

"It's so nostalgic to walk into a room and see faces that I haven't seen for 25+ years. Seeing some of the crew, the makeup people, the set people, floor managers. It's a wonderful thing and I'm made up to be here."

The excitement among this group of people was perhaps best illustrated when ECHO photographer, Iain Watts, was arranging the big reunion shot. Faces who hadn't seen each other for years were crossing paths on the deck of the Daffodil and it was a genuinely emotional moment to see how happy they were to catch up.

After the photograph was taken, a spontaneous chant of "bring it back" broke out among the cast and crew and it was hard to not get behind the three word message. Whether that's in a new guise as a series of feature length episodes as mooted last year or a full reboot as soap, it's clear a community of Liverpool creatives working together could never be a bad thing.

© Liverpool Echo