Post by Taxigirl on Nov 5, 2003 18:53:23 GMT
Two million viewers watched the finale of Channel 4 soap Brookside on Tuesday night as the show ended after 21 years.
The final instalment saw drug dealer Jack Michaelson (Paul Duckworth) die in an attack of mob justice.
He was hanged from his bedroom window by a lynch mob that included Jimmy Corkhill, Steve and Marty Murray and Tim O'Leary.
The episode saw the return of Barry Grant (Paul Usher) and Lindsey Corkhill, played by Claire Sweeney.
The episode drew overall ratings of 1.9 million, with an audience peak of two million during the show.
It attracted four times the average recent ratings for the show, which had fallen from a peak of eight million to just 500,000.
The killing of Michaelson was spurred by the return of onetime Brookside bad boy Barry, who had been living in a mansion near Newcastle with Lindsey Corkhill.
Barry did not take part himself, but instead went out to mete off-screen justice to two men, released from prison that day, who had killed his brother Damon 15 years before.
The episode closed with Jimmy Corkhill (Dean Sullivan) leaving the close, which was bought by a company building an incinerator.
Corkhill daubed a D on the street sign, so it read "Brookside Closed".
The soap, which began in 1982 as part of the newly launched Channel 4, was devised by producer Phil Redmond.
"I'd like to thank them for sticking with the show, especially in its later days when it was being moved around the schedules," he said.
"With the last episode, I'm saying 'This is just for you, guys'."
Redmond's Mersey TV, which made the soap, is now beginning work on a daily courtroom drama for the channel.
Mr Redmond said he wanted the show to live on and planned to release episodes on DVD three or four times a year.