This official companion to the pioneering Channel 4 television drama series "Brookside" chronicles its background, the original aims of the series, and its evolution since being launched in 1983. It was the first soap to tackle such issues as rape, abortion, drug addiction and teenage alcoholism, and the book profiles characters past and present, and presents a month-by-month plot summary and a detailed look at how the show is made, together with a study of press and public reaction.