- Brookside hits streaming milestone just one week after launching on STV Player
- STV Player adds more new episodes this week due to popular demand
- Brookside star Alex Fletcher: “It doesn’t surprise me at all – I’m proud as punch”
Brookside has become the fastest show ever to reach 1 million streams on STV Player – just one week after the iconic series was launched on the free streaming service.
Fans of the Liverpool-based soap rejoiced last month when it was announced that STV Player would become the first streaming platform to air Brookside from the very start, with the first 10 episodes landing on 1 February.
Since then, the show has been streamed over 1 million times, with more than 130,000 users having watched one full episode or more. The previous record was held by psychological mystery series Blood, starring Line of Duty’s Adrian Dunbar, which launched on STV Player in August 2022.
65% of all Brookside streams have come from outside the STV broadcast channel’s central/northern Scotland broadcast region – reflecting STV Player’s move to become a standalone, UK-wide streaming service following its UK rollout in 2020.
In response to the overwhelming popularity of the series so far, STV Player has added 10 new episodes this week instead of the previously-announced five, meaning the first 20 episodes of Brookside are now available to stream.
Reflecting on the success of Brookside’s return on STV Player, Alex Fletcher, who played Jacqui Dixon on the show for 13 years, said: “It doesn’t surprise me at all. I’m delighted and proud as punch that viewers’ loyalty and love for the show still remains after all these years.
“People grew up watching Brookie, and that’s why it’s so nostalgic. It was real life and it told real stories, all of which were – and still are – so relatable.”
STV Player acquired the Lime Pictures-produced show after striking a major deal with distributor, All3Media International.
Early episodes star veteran actors Ricky Tomlinson, Sue Johnston and Amanda Burton in some of their earliest roles, with storylines rooted in gritty realism and themes explored such as unemployment, the cost of living, and industrial action.
Blockquote open We brought Brookside back to screens because we knew there was still a deep affection for the series from viewers across the country, but we’ve been overwhelmed by the extent of the response since relaunching the show last week.
Richard Williams Managing Director of Digital, STV
“It’s testament to the immense talents of the writers and actors involved that viewers are still flocking to the show in their droves, four decades after it originally started. With streams on the up across our catalogue, we’re delighted that Brookie is also helping thousands of new viewers discover all the fantastic free drama available on STV Player.
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ENDS
Media Contact:
Stephen Innes, STV – stephen.innes@stv.tv