physcgoth
The guy Below or above ha-ha Is full off .... Open all hours was finished when this was over so your trying to say that a 20ep show got a 100 ep soap canceled what did they do re run it 10 times over lol... I have studied the show and it was very well acted the only problems was its time slots aka the Graveyeard slots where people where doing what ever lol....... All shows are axed due to low ratings that dose not mean there crap it just means no one is watching at that time maybe if it was a daytime soap who know a good replacement for take the high road at the time lol the only time this show might have had a chance was day time (limited story line pre watershed) or put on the same time as eastenders and ITV bosses where nice and didn't want to do that
Andy B
A very sad tale this. Albion Market, like EastEnders, was inspired by the revolutionary 1982 Channel 4 soap Brookside, which shook up the UK soap world with a gritty, in-your-face approach, real houses and controversial issues. Albion Market was created by Andy Lynch (Brookside scriptwriter) and Peter Whalley (Coronation Street scriptwriter) and began as a curious melding of Coronation Street-style characters and Left Wing Brookside style story-lines, with a little Corrie-style humour mixed in. It bombed. And it was dreadful. Another problem was the screening nights - people liked the pub on a Friday night in those days, and Sunday was not a night viewers yearned for soap. Only around 25% of UK households had a VCR in those mid-1980s days, and so that was not a lot of help. Viewers' attentions had also been grabbed by EastEnders, which began in early 1985 (Albion Market launched in the August) and the Market characters were nowhere near as abrasive and dynamic as some of the original Albert Square residents.The BBC stuck with EastEnders through ratings teething problems (it was initially beaten by Emmerdale Farm!), but the ITV Network was a different kettle of fish and dropped Albion Market into even more disadvantageous time slots when it failed to take off initially. The show was shaken up and became far more intriguing with the introduction of a corrupt new market boss, but ITV had already decided to scrap it before the changes could properly take effect. Granada TV provided closure to the show's story-lines by dispatching the new villainous boss-man and bringing back the original, so viewers were able to leave Albion Market without too many threads left dangling.
glenn-aylett
Albion Market must be the most hyped up flop of the eighties( barring Sigue Sigue Sputnik, who were around at the same time). ITV were badly rattled by the success of Eastenders and decided to launch their own market based rival with an expensive round of promotion and a boast from its producer that Albion Market would last at least 25 years and be a massive ratings hit. Unfortunately the cheap looking set, depressing story lines and hopeless acting, not to mention Albion Market being shown opposite the ratings hit Open All Hours, meant Albion Market sank without trace and struggled to attract 2 million viewers in its peak time slots. Some ITV regions, embarrassed at the soap's terrible ratings, moved it out of peak time slots and a massive campaign in the TV Times to promote the soap failed to halt the complete apathy to the show. Even a move away from the grim up North story lines to a glossier yuppy style approach, which saw Helen Shapiro appear in the soap, failed and Albion Market was cancelled with no comment after 100 episodes. Truly a flop if ever there was one and a cautionary tale about believing your own hype too much.
Chris Abbott
It was well acted, had some great characters, warmth, humour... but it failed. Why? "Albion Market" was supposed to be a companion soap for Granada's other Lancashire-based drama "Coronation Street", but somehow the setting did not inspire. And, although characters were often likable, the show often felt bitty and disjointed as it flitted round the market, the café, certain characters' houses and the market superintendent's office.Perhaps a large, central family group may have made a difference? Favourite characters included Jewish crockery sellers Morris and Miriam Ransome, Peggy at the market café and her daffy assistant Carol, fiery Lynne Harrison, and long-suffering Derek, the market superintendent, and his gormless side kick Keith.It was certainly grim. An abandoned baby was found in the back of a traders' van and an unemployed man attempted suicide. There was no sign of the glitzy side of 1980s life at first.As "Albion Market" failed to impress viewers, shoulder pads and blonde highlights for several of the male characters were imported, and 60s singer Helen Shapiro arrived as market hairdresser Viv.But before we could see if these new ploys would work, the show was axed. It had lasted one year.
