Mersey TV

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Mersey Television is based in Liverpool and currently produces HOLLYOAKS for Channel 4 and GRANGE HILL for BBC1. Other projects currently in production include The Outsiders and Bonkers for ITV, as well as HOLLYOAKS: In the City for E4.

Mersey Television became part of the All 3 Media Group in June 2005. Its Chief Executive is Carolyn Reynolds, and its Managing Director is Sean Marley.

The company was founded in 1982 by Phil Redmond to produce Brookside for Channel 4. The very first episode of the soap opera formed part of the channel's opening night on air. Production continued uninterrupted for 21 years and over 2900 episodes.

Initially the company was based in premises adjacent to Brookside Close in the West Derby area of Liverpool. However, the business soon outgrew this location. In 1990, coinciding with an increase in the number of Brookside episodes from two to three per week, it moved to Campus Manor, a former further education college site in the Childwall area of the city.

HOLLYOAKS began in 1995, initially as a teen soap airing just once a week. It has been a stalwart fixture of Channel 4's teatime schedules ever since, steadily increasing its episode count until reaching five nights a week in 2003.

The BBC contracted out the production of GRANGE HILL to Mersey TV in 2002, and the first series to be made in Liverpool aired in spring 2003. The BBC has since renewed its contract with Mersey TV, covering production of GRANGE HILL through to its 30th anniversary in 2008.

Alongside its core base of soaps and recurring drama serials, Mersey TV has a long track record of producing numerous stand-alone drama series and programmes. These have included primetime police action series Waterfront Beat (BBC1, 1990), 1960s period drama And The Beat Goes On (Channel 4, 1996) and innovative daytime soap opera The Courtroom (Channel 4, 2004). In addition, Mersey TV has also produced a host of HOLLYOAKS and Brookside tie-ins including late-night specials, commercially released videos and DVDs, and fully-fledged spin-off serials including Damon and Debbie in 1987 and HOLLYOAKS: Movin' On in 2001 - both for Channel 4.