Mid-Term Report

by Phil Redmond

A candid, insightful, and humorous memoir from the creator of Grange Hill, Brookside, and Hollyoaks

Lancashire, just outside Liverpool. Camera high to show the swirling streets of a post-war council estate. It swoops lower across the neat privet hedges and gardens, front and back. Past the grandfatherly figure pushing a mechanical lawn mower. Through the open door of the scullery with bathroom attached. Through the living room past the assembled aunts and cousins. No men in sight. Up two flights of stairs to an attic room. The midwife turns. The baby cries. It’s a boy. . . . And so began my life.

It was a normal beginning, typical of its time. But the lessons Phil Redmond learned during his modest upbringing in Huyton, Merseyside—and at his comprehensive school a bus ride away—would lead him to create three of Britain’s longest-running and most popular television dramas: Grange Hill, Brookside, and Hollyoaks. Over the past 35 years, Phil’s groundbreaking programs have gripped and entertained audiences of millions, and made household names of countless characters, from Tucker Jenkins and Gripper Stebson to Tony Hutchinson and Ruth Osborne, beside Barry Grant and Jimmy Corkhill, not to mention casting a certain Royle couple more than 15 years before the BBC caught up. Known at various times as "a TV Genius," "the UK’s only hyphenate," and a "long-haired git from Liverpool," Phil is one of Britain’s most influential media personalities, whose work is an inspiration to viewers, media students, and entrepreneurs alike. His innovative, pioneering approach has brought him numerous fans and accolades—along with almost as many complaints from the television regulators. In Mid-Term Report, Phil retraces the roller coaster journey which took him from growing up on a housing estate to buying one, from comprehensive school dinners to a CBE and lunch with the Queen, describing with candor, insight and humour the unforgettable lessons that he’s learned and taught, along the way.

560 pages, Hardcover

First published October 25, 2012

Reviews

[Norman Revill · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's obviously a lot more to come from Mr Redmond, which is why he's titled his autobiography 'Mid-term Report'. But then, considering the hard-nosed, control-freak that leaps out of these pages, he's probably already signed a multiple-book deal with his publisher, the small-print no doubt carefully vetted by his wife Alexis. And why not? Phil Redmond's achieved more in his mid-term than most tv writers/executives have in a whole lifetime. He not only created Grange Hill, Brookside and Hollyoaks and wrote most of their early scripts, but he produced them too, latterly from his own unique production base, Mersey TV. And he owned the leafy Liverpool suburb in which they were filmed too. If you want a succinct and opinionated rundown of how he did it, then this book is for you. In fact, every budding tv writer should read it; producers too. There's no great secret. Just sheer hard work, knowing what the tv market needed at the time, and most importantly, owning the idea once he'd come up with it, a valuable lesson he learned in his early years as a sketch writer from Doctor In The House writer/creator Richard Gordon.

Phil's no fool and he doesn't suffer them either. Early training as a quantity surveyor and then a sociology degree as a mature student gave him a unique understanding of human behaviour and its cost, especially in relation to the most effective ways to make tv that people actually want to watch, as opposed to tv that's foisted on them by highly-paid aloof executives with their own agendas, who think they know better and all too frequently don't, which is why the long-haired Scouser was able to build his empire - he always knew how to get the ratings. Hence Michael Grade's ultimate accolade at an industry banquet, which unashamedly, Phil Redmond quotes several times: "Say what you like about Phil, he always delivers." He did, whether as cost-effective, ratings-grabbing tv drama, or ensuring his home city Liverpool scored as the best ever Capital of Culture in 2008. Presumably, he now has the rewards to match?

Not that you would know from reading this. Phil's very discreet, so you learn about the Honorary Degrees and Fellowships and the Directorships, but little else. He's had some tasty motors, but nothing more outré than a BMW 323, and of country pile or city penthouse there are no details. We learn that Phil hates ties and cricket, but little else. There's precious little gossip either, it's just not that kind of book. The Phil Redmond who eyeballs you in his open-necked striped shirt on the front cover is a no-nonsense workaholic who has written a detailed account of how he became one of the most successful tv writer/producers of the last forty years. But if you want to know more about Phil the man, you'll have to wait for the next volume. This is only a mid-term report.