|
|
| Meols Shops |
The Meols local shops are located in Station Approach,
close to the Meols Merseyrailway station at the bottom of Cleveley and Derwent Roads.
McColl's store, managed by Eric and his good
lady,sells Newspapers, Mags,Food, Sweets and anything else that you may have forgotten to buy.
Simply Drinks is as the name suggests, the
local off licence.
Something in Store sells gifts,cards and
plants.
Regal is the local chippy, where Connie always
wears a big smile.
Severns Restaurant is a small and cosy restaurant.
The last shop in the parade is now being fitted out to be a Pharmacy
and is due to open in the summer of 2006.
Carr Farm Gardencentre, is located on Birkenhead Road (Meols Stretch)
|
| Brenda and Malcolm |
Meols was famous in the late 1980's for being the
venue for a very popular Granada (ITV) series called Watching. The series ran from 1987 to 1993 and Starred:
Paul Bown, Liza Tarbuck, Emma Wray
Brenda and Pamela Wilson were sisters whose idea of fun is to go out to their
local pub, the Grapes, and watch men, trying to guess their backgrounds, how old they are, what religion and what job they
have. Into the pub walks Malcolm Stoneway, a watcher of a different kind: he's a keen ornithologist. Unaware of this, Brenda
manoeuvres him into asking her out, and for their first date he collects her in his motorcycle sidecar and heads out into
the country with his binoculars. She hates every minute of it, thinking of him as 'a 14-carat wimp'. And yet, against all
odds, a relationship develops.
Thus was born one of ITV's most durable sitcoms of recent years.
Not merely based in but veritably governed by Liverpool, its environs, people, humour and values, Watching
came over as a cross between The Liver Birds and Letter To Brezhnev.The writer of all 56 episodes of Watching was Hitchmough
and his scripts were dialogue-rich, perhaps extending to twice the word-count of most half-hour sitcoms.
The Wilsons live in Liverpool. Brenda is a very vocal Scouser, out
for a slightly dangerous life. Exuding coarse manners, she's every inch a rough diamond. Pamela drinks ale and is similarly
hewn. Their mother, Joyce (seen regularly from the fifth series) wants rid of all her offspring ('I like to think of my children
having a good time...somewhere else') because they interfere with her own social life. This extends, even, to Brenda and Pamela's
much younger brother, the super-sharp-witted Gerald.
The Stoneways lived in the upmarket Meols (pronounced mells).Mrs
Stoneway, mother of the slow-witted Malcolm, is more welcoming and accommodating, but would rather her son went around with
someone she perceives as having their more refined class and standing. But Brenda and Malcolm fall in love,
and while the relationship is fraught with difficulties they end up sharing a flat together. Pamela, too, settles down, marrying
David Lynch and giving birth to daughter Zelda, but theirs is an even more tempestuous relationship. Malcolm was also married,
at the end of the fifth series - but not to Brenda: their relationship had stuttered to a halt and he was immediately wooed
and won by a nursing sister, Lucinda, someone much more suited to his mother's taste. In an episode reminiscent of The Graduate,
Brenda raced to the church to interrupt the wedding but arrived too late. All was well in the end, though: Malcolm and Lucinda
broke up, he reunited with Brenda and they headed for the altar in the final episode.
In addition to its wit and enterprising storylines, Watching
was blessed with good acting performances, particularly from Liza Tarbuck (Jimmy's daughter) as Pamela, and
Emma Wray (real name Jill Wray), who was appearing in her first TV role, cast as Brenda.
To buy a DVD of the Watching Series, just click here
|
