Damon & Debbie

Damon and Debbie episode 1

Episode One – broadcast 4 November 1987 at 10pm

The first episode of three-part drama, a new concept in soap operas in which two characters from Brookside are explored in a deeper way than is possible in the twice-weekly serial.

Damon and Debbie, on the run from Liverpool find themselves in York. The romantic medieval city becomes the backdrop to their love affair – where Damon enters a world of Dick Turpin and fast food to support Debbie’s education. But when Debbie finds new and exciting friends on the campus, the runaways begin to drift apart.

Damon and Debbie - episode 2

Episode Two – broadcast 11 November 1987 at 10pm

The couple visit Morecambe , with Goth Papadum-packer Jenny (Michelle Holmes), whom Debbie had met at the open day, and her husband, computer programmer Kirk (Ian Ormsby-Knox). They then move to Bradford, where Damon works as a groundsman at the Valley Parade football ground (reflecting, in an interior monologue, upon the fire there a year earlier). In Bradford, they stay with friends Patrick (Lyndam Gregory) and Apala (Seeta Indrani). In a montage they are seen visiting what was then the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television.

Throughout the episode, Debbie, who has kept her diabetes secret from Damon, tries to locate a pharmacy to obtain insulin, having left her own supply on the boat in York. When she finds her medical bag and injects herself with her medicine, Damon wrongly concludes that she is a drug addict, and he leaves the house.

Damon and Debbie - episode 3

Episode Three – broadcast 18 November 1987 at 10pm

Debbie’s uncles continue their search for the couple, finally tracking them down after they return to York. The series concludes when, after a mock marriage in a hotel room, Damon is stabbed by an unknown assailant on a dark riverbank and dies in Debbie’s arms.

Damon Grant – Simon O’Brien
Debbie McGrath – Gillian Kearney
Lettuce – Siobhan Mayer
Mr McGrath – Nick Maloney
Nick – John Basham
Barbara McGrath – Annie Tyson
Lonnie – Neil Caple
Tone – Geoff Atwell
Zoe – Jaye Griffiths
Jenny – Michelle Holmes
Kirk – Iain Ormsby-Knox
Patrick – Lyndam Gregory
Apala – Seeta Indrani

Script – Frank Cottrell-Boyce
Designer –
Brian Henry
Director – Bob Carlton
Producer – Colin McKeown
Executive Producer – Phil Redmond

A Mersey Television Production