An extra from Brookside has lifted the lid on what it was really like to appear on the iconic programme.
Fans rejoiced after it was revealed this week the Liverpool-set soap was making its long-awaited return to our screens. It has been more than 20 years since the Corkhills, Dixons and Grants bid goodbye - and viewers will now finally be able to watch the original batch of episodes for the first time on STV player.
Brookside fever has well and truly returned to Merseyside and the ECHO has been catching up with some of the people involved in the hit show. Soap fans may not be familiar with Chris Bebbington, but he was a part of some of Brookside's most famous moments.
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The 44-year-old partied at Mick Johnson's stag do, was called to arrest Anthony Murray and has even been in jail with Tim "Tinhead" O'Leary. Chris now works in the civil service and he told the ECHO how he looks back on the period of his youth with a smile. He said: "I played a very small background part in it, blink and you'll miss it, but it makes me laugh anyway."
Chris' acting journey started when he saw an advertisement in the ECHO looking for a group to be extras in Dream Team. He said: "Me and my mates went down there to put our names in to have a go. Nothing came of that but not long after I got a call to see if I wanted to take part in Hollyoaks."
Chris soon landed his first Brookside gig having a drink in the background outside Bar Brookie. The Ainsdale native explained why it was a "great time" to be a part of the show.
He said: "It was one of the hit shows and everyone was watching it. The storylines were getting bigger then because they were looking to try and outdo the other soaps. Because it was from Liverpool, you just wanted to be a part of it.
"I just remember being in awe and thinking this is amazing. The best thing was waiting a couple of weeks and then being able to see yourself on the telly." Chris played characters on both sides of the law and provided the ECHO with a glimpse of the "surreal" experience of filming the show.
He said: "As you walk in on the set you could see all the signage still up for Grange Hill. It was like some kind of multiverse. You're in Brookside, then all of a sudden there's a sign for Grange Hill and then over the road there was Hollyoaks."
Chris' favourite storyline to be a part of was the dramatic plot when Tinhead found himself behind bars. Chris was an inmate in the prison and he explained why the role of an extra is more difficult than it appears.
He said: "They could ring you up and ask 'could you be in Childwall tomorrow morning at 7am?' So you'd have to be there and you wouldn't know what it was you'd be doing until you got there. I think I was mainly cast as either coppers or criminals. I must have just had one of them faces."
Chris looks forward to being able to show his seven-year-old son scenes from the programme now it is available to watch again. He joked: "The only thing with that is I'll have to get through 20 years of Brookside to get to where I am."
Chris' role in Brookside led to an opportunity to appear in the film 51st State before he eventually quit the industry to move abroad. However, Chris still fondly recalls the joy of being able to pick up a cheque after a gig appearing on Brookside.
He said: "I'd cash it in in the Lloyds Bank by the Blob Shop and I'd feel like a weekend millionaire. I was in my early 20s getting some cash so I was made up.
"Even talking about it now, you kind of forget about the long days, long hours and cold weather. It makes me want to try and give it another go but it's not really the role for someone with a full time job."
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