Billy Corkhill
Billy Corkhill is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Brookside and Hollyoaks, played by John McArdle. The character debuted on-screen during the episode broadcast on 27 August 1985. Billy was introduced as part of the show's new family, the Corkhills, consisting of Billy, his wife Doreen Corkhill, and their teenage children, Rod and Tracy Corkhill. Billy is characterised as the reluctant husband of Doreen, an aspiring woman who wants the Corkhills to own their own home. Her mission to present a good image for the family is marred by her secret spending which gets the family into debt. Writers explored their debt issues throughout Billy's early tenure. They portrayed him as desperate to provide, tampering with the electricity and committing fraud with the help of his brother Jimmy Corkhill.
Writers portrayed Billy having a mental breakdown in which he drives his car over his neighbours' front gardens. McArdle has said it was his favourite storyline as Billy. Doreen's over spending and Billy's crime of armed robbery eventually end their marriage. Producers then paired the character with Sheila Grant and they later marry. Doreen returned to the series but Billy decides to remain loyal to Sheila. Billy was well received by viewers, especially for his representation of unemployed men in British society during the 1980s. Television critics have praised on McArdle's portrayal of Billy. Allan Crow from Fife Today branded Billy a "legendary soap character" and Andrew Bullock from the Daily Express opined that McArdle was an "integral" cast member "in Brookside's heyday". The character also became subjected to controversy when the Independent Broadcasting Authority investigated Brookside after an episode depicted Billy holding durex condoms. The regulator later retracted their complaint and praised the show. McArdle reprised the role of Billy in 2025 in several special Brookside and Hollyoaks crossover episodes as part of latter's 30th Anniversary.
Casting
McArdle was performing in a play which he thought was so awful he wanted to quit. The director convinced him to stay with the promise of helping secure further work. In the play, McArdle put on a Scouse accent and a Brookside producer witnessed his performance which resulted in an audition. The director was then hired by Brookside and they helped McArdle secure the role of Billy. Kate Fitzgerald was hired to play Billy's wife Doreen. Jason Hope and Justine Kerrigan were then cast as their children, Rod and Tracy respectively. In an interview about his casting, Hope recalled that he had to meet with McArdle and Fitzgerald to ensure they "could pass of as family members." Kerrigan branded McArdle a "brilliant actor and a lovely man" and praised the casting dynamic of the Corkhills. She added that McArdle "was another delight to work with John would take you by surprise with the energy he put into everything, he kept you on your toes. He would start off in some scenes and I would have no idea where it would go, he was amazing at that."Development
Introduction and family
Billy's profession is an electrician and the Corkhills move to Brookside Close from a council housing estate. Billy is characterised as a devoted husband who loves his wife Doreen enough to risk financial ruin by purchasing a home of their own. Despite being an electrician by trade, Billy works at a processed food factory. In the book Brookside: The Official Companion, Billy is described as a "be-denimed Derek Hatton look-alike" who has lived most of his life on a council estate. In his backstory, Billy had been led astray by his "villainous" brothers but his marriage to Doreen proved a "stabilising influence". He is portrayed as the reluctant husband to "aspiring" wife Doreen. Writers pitted the Corkhills against their more socialist neighbours, the Grant family. Billy has to contend with Doreen's "shopaholic" tendencies, as she competes with the Collins family and presents a "good image" of the Corkhills, an image she portrays despite knowing Billy's family have a "shady" side.Billy's plight resonated well with viewers, especially those facing hardship in 1980s Britain. McArdle started to receive letters from male viewers who believed that Billy's story was identical to their own experiences. McArdle's performance also blurred fiction and reality with some viewers. The actor received job offers from businessmen and a young viewer sent their £2 pocket money to the Brookside set to help Billy. So convincing was Billy's character that a gangster approached McArdle in a bar offering advice how to commit better robberies. McArdle felt that Billy's unemployment story was his "hardest" story. He told Richard Johnson from TV Guide that "I've been in trade unions, I've been on picket lines - for me that was the very hardest thing I had to do."
A controversial story for the Corkhills was created when Tracy begins a romance with her geography teacher Peter Montague. After the pair return from a skiing trip, Billy goes to the school and punches Peter. Billy is arrested for assault and later given a three month prison sentence, suspended for a year. At the time, Lucy O'Brien from The Guardian described it as the "most dramatic analysis" of child abuse on television. She added that "pugnacious Billy" had to face the fact his "wayward daughter" was in love with her teacher; the story subsequently played out over a "tense month". From this producers developed an issue lead story for the Corkhills, as they deal with the problems that arise from debts. Billy is sacked from his job at Pollocks because his court case garnered negative publicity. The Corkhills mounting debts result in their utilities being cut off and their television is repossessed. Billy tries to help his family out of debt by tampering with the electricity supply. This causes problems with his son Rod, who is training to be a police officer. Writers continued to develop the story into 1987. Billy's brother, Jimmy Corkhill convinces him to allow him to stage a burglary at his home but Jimmy also steals from the Collins family to make it appear genuine. This upsets Doreen and she discovers the stolen property and the bank begin repossession proceedings. After all of Billy's crimes, McArdle told Johnson that "at one time I thought I couldn't live next door to Billy Corkhill." He added that the supermarket robbery would continue to be an issue for Billy, adding that the writers "can bring that up at any time."
Mental breakdown
Writers created one of the show's "significant moments" when they created a large hole in the middle of Brookside Close. The hole was actually dug into one of the back garden sets as it was impractical to dig into the actual road. Camera trickery was used to make character interaction with the hole appear authentic. The significance of the hole in relation to Billy was that other characters drove over his front garden lawn to avoid the hole. Billy's unemployment cause him much stress and his neighbours' disregard for his home results in Billy having a breakdown. Billy retaliates by going on a rampage in his car, driving all over the other front gardens on Brookside Close.McArdle told Graham Kibble-White, the author of 20 Years of Brookside, that his character reacted badly because he suspected Doreen of having an affair with her work boss at the dentists. Doreen had not had an affair with her boss but he could not believe she was willing to have sex with him in exchange for money. McArdle told Johnson that "Billy just felt like a total failure - that his wife had nearly turned to prostitution because of him being unemployed. He smacked her. She threw the key in the mud." Billy subsequently felt like his "whole word his whole family were falling down." Kibble-White believed that the car scene perfectly demonstrated the desperation that Billy. He felt like a "non-person" whose neighbours disrespected him for being a "dole-ite". Ken Horn, who directed the episode added that it was a well-remembered Brookside moment and credited its success to McArdle and Fitzgerald's "terrific" acting. McArdle was allowed to perform the driving stunt himself. He added "it was a gift to get material like that and to be able to actually do it." After the scenes were broadcast, viewers sympathised with Billy's plight and told him that he had "exorcised" all of their feelings on-screen. Billy's breakdown was filmed in one take because McArdle wanted to capture the emotion. He added that the crew were sensitive and rehearsed without McArdle and Fitzgerald until the final take. McArdle added that too much rehearsal would have "diminished" the authenticity of the scene.
The debt story culminated in the break-down of Billy and Doreen's marriage. He becomes desperate for money and participates in an armed robbery at a supermarket. Billy drives the getaway vehicle but the supermarket manager is injured. Doreen decides to leave Billy, but keeps his involvement a secret from Rod. She leaves in November 1987 and in February 1988, Billy travels to Bristol to find Doreen. Doreen's departure from the series occurred because Fitzgerald was exhausted and unhappy with the role. Doreen and Billy "had been going through fairly painful emotions", which won Fitzgerald and McArdle weekly praise from television critics. Fitzgerald told Anthony Hayward from TVTimes that she and other actors disliked the Corkhill's backstory because "it was a nonsense in the first place". She explained that Billy and Doreen met at a young age and she put all of her energy into her family from then on. Fitzgerald believed it "out of character" for Doreen to put her family into debt, but she praised the writers who "worked hard" to "make it believable." In 1997, McArdle said that the breakdown was his "favourite storyline of all time", adding that "it was absolutely fantastic to do".