Brookie bond: Five characters and one fatal fall... but who killed Susannah?

CRIKEY. Here I am, in TV's very own house of horrors, home to some of Britain's most famous TV moments. The address, number ten Brookside Close, is synonymous with trouble. Neighbours say its jinxed. Cursed. And it's easy to see why.

In the 18 years since Channel 4 first let us through the keyhole into the lives of the characters of the Mersyside cul-de-sac, death, suicide, murder, abuse, robbery and drugs have brought despair to the families at number ten.

The most compulsive storyline was the murder of Brookie's meanest baddie, Trevor Jordache, who beat up his wife and raped his daughters. They stabbed him to death in the kitchen and buried him under the patio.

And here I am. In that very garden. In that very kitchen... and about to take tea with current residents, the Corkhills: ex-con dad Jimmy, despair-ridden wife Jackie and wayward daughter Lindsey.

"Remember their real names," whispered a PR from Channel 4 as I crossed the threshold into number ten - which is not a set but a proper suburban semi, just like all the others on the show.

In large letters, I scribble in my notepad Dean Sullivan (Jimmy), Sue Jenkins (Jackie) and Claire Sweeney (Lindsey), in a desperate effort to help me separate fact from fiction.

But it's hard. After all, I'm sitting in the Corkhills' front room, visited by more than four million people three times a week. Many Brookie fans will be more familiar with the goings on in this family than in their own.

What makes it even harder is that our trio are dressed just like their characters and sound just like them, except Sue, who is posher in the flesh.

And I can't help but stare at Claire. For years people have told me we are lookalikes. I don't see it myself, and nobody else is commenting on it, so I don't mention it - not even when I ask for a photo of us together.

Instead, I ask Sue what it's like playing someone who has to cope with so many bleak goings-on in her TV role? Does she go home miserable?

"No, but it does become quite exhausting, always coping with despair and tragedy. Happily, when I go home, my life could not be more different," says Sue, who is married with three children.

Claire has faced a challenge of her own in recent months: her character Lindsey, mum to Kylie, has embarked on a lesbian affair with interior designer Shelley. Does she believe that Lindsey could be gay?

"I do believe it could happen with Lindsey and as long as you can find truth in it, that's fine. But she's not gay. She's straight, but she's found herself in a situation with a very attractive woman who listens to her and talks to her."

As Jimmy Corkhill, Dean has created one of Brookside's most popular characters. An ex-con, former drug addict, imposter teacher, now suffering a mental breakdown, he's managed to play the part with a mix of passion and humour, endearing himself to millions of fans along the way.

With so many great story lines behind him, I wonder if there's a risk of Jimmy running out of steam.

"When I go to sign up for another year, I always ask: what's the story? I love it when you go in to meet the producer and he says what is going to happen, and the hairs go up on the back of my neck: that's what you want as an actor."

Storylines are closely-guarded secrets, and are often not revealed to cast members until the scripts are issued every few weeks.

Next, I call in on the Dixons at number eight, and find patriarch Ron (Vince Earl) with his third wife Anthea (Barbara Hatwell), son Mike (Paul Byatt) and his young wife Rachel (Tiffany Chapman). Oh, and more tea.

I feel immediately at home, as if visiting old friends, but again have to remind myself that I'm on a TV set with actors.

I have to smother a smile each time the actors call Ron by his proper name. That's not Vince, I'm thinking, that's Ron Dixon.

And it seems I'm not alone. Fans have displayed equal difficulty in separating Brookie from real life.

"People stop me in the street and say they don't like me," reveals Vince, whose character Ron is Brookie's resident bigot.

Over the years, Ron has been a naughty boy too, most notably cheating on wife DiDi with busty Bev. Vince recalls one piece of fan mail. "Somebody wrote to me saying I was carrying on behind DiDi's back and if I didn't tell her they would!"

Over at the Parade (which on TV appears but a stroll away from the Close, but is in fact a half-hour drive away) Vickie Gates who plays bad-girl barmaid Leanne Powell recounts an amusing incident while out in Man-chester.

"I was standing in the queue for the loo when this girl went: 'Ooo, it's Leanne'. I smiled and began chatting, then she started going: 'Be Leanne, be nasty.' I just said: 'No, I'm Vicky and I'm not at work'."

In the flat next door is Sarah White who plays Bev McLoughlin, the owner of the local wine bar, ex of the Dixon family and now on her third comeback into the series.

Tacky and tactless, blunt-talking Bev is one of the funniest characters in the soap. Tac-tastic is the most apt description of her Brookside flat, complete with pink chaise long, animal print bedspread and full-size china leopard statue. Sarah, looking very un-Bev-like in a smart and trendy brown leather jacket and camel trousers combo, explains the allure of the character. "She's good fun to play - happily she is far removed from me."

Sarah echoes the other cast members in insisting that making Brookside is fun, but damn hard work. Tight filming schedules include night and weekend shoots.

"It's hard graft. Most dramas shoot five minutes a day. We shoot 12 minutes a day. People within the industry are quite respectful of what you do and appreciate the huge work load that goes into producing one and a half hours of drama every week.

"I've had taxi drivers saying to me: 'When you leave Brookside, would you like to be an actress'. People are not being horrible, they just don't appreciate how much work goes into telly."

As the day draws to a close, I'm sitting in the reception area of Mersey TV waiting for my taxi.

Suddenly a familiar face catches my eye. It's Max Farnham - or rather Brookside actor Steven Pinder - and he's heading my way. "Claire, Claire," he says, stopping suddenly as he gets closer. "I'm so sorry - I thought you were Claire Sweeney and I was going to ask you about your boyfriend!"

I smile, telling him other people have commented on the resemblance.

Then I wonder if back on the Close at number ten, the Corkhills are having tea and talking about how that nice, young lady journalist was 'our Lindsey's' double.

Karen Drury tells MAXINE GORDON why it's time to kill off her Brookside character Susannah Morrisey.

AS endings go, it couldn't be more dramatic. Susannah Morrisey lies at the bottom of her stairs, clutching a teddy bear, her dressing gown as crumpled as her body.

Susannah's death - to be screened on Friday night ahead of a five-night whodunnit Brookside special next week to mark the soap's 18th year - signals a farewell to one of the Channel Four soap's most popular characters.

But it marks a new beginning for actress Karen Drury, who is looking forward to returning to theatre and to life back in London.

Commuting from her homes in London and Stratford-upon-Avon to the Brookside set in Liverpool has taken its toll.

Also, says Wetherby-born Karen, it's time to explore new horizons.

"I felt as a character, Susannah has gone as far as she can go," says Karen, who over her nine years in the show has had more than her fair share of gripping storylines.

Who can forget the trauma of her two children dying in a car crash in which she was the driver, or the heartache and hope surrounding the birth of her surrogate child to neighbour Jacqui Dixon, or the utter betrayal of husband Max Farnham who cheated on her for 20 years?

In recent months, Susannah has become the Close man-eater. There was an affair with married next-door neighbour Greg Shadwick who died in a bomb blast. More recently her engagement to Mick Johnson has been undermined by her fling with Darren Roebuck, the local GP.

Needless to say, over the past year or so, Susannah has created several enemies.

Following her gory exit on Friday night, the week-long special focuses on the five suspects who might have killed her.

Darren, Mick, Jacqui, Greg's vengeful daughter Emily and ex-hubby Max Farnham are all in the frame.

If anyone on the set during my visit actually knows who the killer is, they are keeping their mouths firmly shut.

Karen is clearly enjoying all the attention of a big Brookie send-off.

"It's the most brutal story line to leave on and I was quite excited by it. When I read the script, there were a lot of twists and turns."

But playing the scenes - involving lots of confrontations with the five suspects - affected the actress.

"I had nightmares" reveals Karen. "I thought everybody hated me and nobody would come to my leaving party because everyone was shouting at me and beating me up."

Karen admits even she was shocked by the storyline chosen for Susannah's goodbye.

"She has gone through so much, I never thought they would do something horrible to her. She's a survivor. But as an actor, you want wonderful story lines... and this way, everyone knows she is gone."

The murder rules out any possibility of a comeback for the character, which suits Karen.

She would like to do classical theatre and has commissioned a play, in which she will have a leading role.

Test your Brookside knowledge with this fun quiz, put together by Channel Four and drawing on storylines over the past 18 years. Scroll down the screen for the answers:

1. How did Gavin Taylor die?

2. What sport did the young Jacqui Dixon excel in?

3. What did Sammy and Owen call their baby?

4. What did Kylie Corkhill say she wanted to change her name to?

5. Name all the children Max Farnham has fathered.

6. What was Ron Dixon's nickname for David Crosbie?

7. What was Sinbad's real name?

8. Who did Sheila Grant reveal to be Barry's biological father?

9. Where did Jacqui and Rachel spend their hen week?

10. Although not blood relations, Katie and Bev are linked through marriage. How?

1. From a brain haemorrhage.

2. Swimming.

3. Louise.

4. Lourdes.

5. Matthew, Emily, Thomas, Alice, Harry and Emma.

6. Bing.

7. Thomas Sweeney.

8. Matty Nolan.

9. Benidorm, Spain.

10. Katie's father Frank married Bev's sister Lyn.