More Brookside episodes to stream free as New Year's treat for fans

Rather than the usual five, fans will be treated to 10 episodes on Monday 1st January, with STV's managing director of digital Richard Williams describing it as a "Brookie Bonus".

"Becoming the first streamer to bring Brookside back from the very start has been one of the highlights of our year," he explained.

"Seeing the joy it has brought to the show’s passionate and dedicated fandom – many of whom campaigned for years for its return – has been very rewarding, so we’re delighted to be offering a Brookie Bonus this New Year and dropping extra episodes."

He added that 2024 would be an exciting year for fans of the soap, "with some huge storylines and game-changing arrivals" from years gone by making their way to the service.

"So let’s kick it off with a bang!" he added.

Since the show started streaming on STV player in February, viewers have now reached episodes from March 1985 – meaning they’ve watched the equivalent of two and a half years of the show’s original timeline.

After it was first added, it became the fastest show to ever reach one million streams on the platform, and has continued to prove successful, receiving more than 12.7 million streams so far.

Set in Liverpool cul-de-sac Brookside Close, the show was conceived by Grange Hill and Hollyoaks creator Phil Redmond, and produced by his company Mersey Television (later renamed to Lime Pictures) before it ended after a 21-year run in 2003.

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