Albion Market - Soap Opera Of The 1980s, Car Park Of The 1990s...

A visit to Manchester in 1995, and a stroll along the bank of the River Irwell for me and the Mrs, found us lurching through a time warp... back ten years to 1985... What does the sign on that building say?!

We hadn't set out to do it, but we had discovered the set of the short-lived Granada Television soap Albion Market - which we'd both enjoyed in the mid-1980s. I can still recall transforming myself into a Miami Vice reject on Fridays back then - splashing on the Mandate, twisting in the hair gel, pushing up the jacket sleeves - ready for a big night out, whilst following Albie's plot by dialogue and occasional glimpse of the screen. On Sundays, feeling jaded after the excesses of the weekend, I'd settle back in my armchair for the latest episode.

In 1995, the cast, production team and technical paraphernalia had long departed and the old set was a car park. Sad. Just before our departure from Manchester, waiting for the train at the station, my wife darted off to get us a cuppa each, and I saw actress Noreen Kershaw, Lynne Harrison in the show. She stopped for a chat, as friendly and down-to-earth as Lynne herself, and seemed surprised that I remembered her from Albion Market as she'd done lots of other things since those days.

And, of course, she's done even more since 1995!

We'd gone to Manchester primarily to experience the Granada TV Studios Tour, but our visit, from seeing the old set to chatting to a cast member, had had an unexpected Albion Market dimension.

Excellent!