First Avenue

First Avenue is a soap opera broadcast on the Network Six schedule, produced by Emoa Productions. It follows a street in a council estate of Newcastle, North East England, and the general day to day, often dramatical lives of the inhabitants.

Original series
The first series ran from 1 April 2006 to March 2007. Originally produced by Neptune Television, First Avenue served as "in the can" productions for the induction of Emoa Borders on April 1. Although Neptune's studios were situated in Carlisle, the programme still adopted a North East ethos and including North East actors. Production was moved to NETV's North East studios in August 2006. It originally aired three times weekly at 7pm on NETV and GTV.

Sets and areas

 * The White Duck is the name of the local public house, where a lot of the drama takes place. It is situated just outside the council estate, and is owned by landlady Agnes (Aggey) Phillips and has been since 1974, where her, her daughter and two sons have all occupied at some stage in life.
 * The Crown is a neighbouring public house, ran by Mike Evans and his family. The pub is reknowned for its roudy nature and placing stiff competition against The White Duck. Occasionally seen on screen.
 * STAR (ploy on SPAR) is the local convenience store, run by Laura Cooke and her husband Luke Cooke. The couple have also acquired over the years the laundrette, café and chip shop in the area.
 * Beeches Surgery is the local doctor's surgery. Managed by nosy and headstrong widow Mary Crump, many find the doctor's an excuse to catch up on local gossip. John Phillips, one of Agnes Phillips' two sons, is the cheif doctor in the surgery.
 * JJ's Chippy is the the local fish and chip shop, also owned by Laura and Luke Cook who run the STAR store. Alice Roberts and Mike Evans staff the counter, after the death of Joseph Jacobs in 2006 when the business was sold by the family to Laura and Luke Cook.
 * Stardust Café is the local café and sandwich bar, acquired by the Cooks in 2002 when the previous owners were forced to close due to hygeine issues.
 * Metalbox is often mentioned yet never seen in the programme. A large commercial employer in the area which specialises in producing car parts. Over 100 jobs were lost in the last re-orgranisation, and current employees fear for their positions as the company divulges itself in overseas labour.

Key characters

 * Aggey Phillips - roudy pub landlady who has owned The White Duck since 1974. Previously married to Marvin Phillips, who died in 1998.
 * John Phillips - one of two sons of Aggey Phillips, employed in the Beeches Surgery as the cheif doctor. He currently lives in Ferndale Park, a private housing estate five miles from the surgery.
 * Timothy Phillips - the second of Aggey Phillips' two sons, currently living and working in Portugal.
 * Sam Phillips - daughter of Aggey Phillips, currently living in privately-owned number 24 with Irish fianceé Jamie Bell.
 * The Higgins' Family - occupying number 16. Consisting of 40's couple Borris and Desdemona, plus teenage children Elise, Daniel and Sarah. Previously home to Thomas Higgins, 23, who left the family due to sexuality issues, and is now living with partner, Ian, in Middlesborough.
 * The Sampson Family - occupying number 51. Consists of late 20's couple Steve and Sharon, and their 2 year old daughter Jayne.
 * The Roberts Family - occupying number 27. Home to 62-year old Pauline and tempoairily her 31 year old daughter, Alice, currently employed in JJ's Chippy. Widowed in 2000 when partner Jim passed away.
 * Mike Evans - occupying number 30. Batchelor, moved into the street from neighbouring Third Avenue after divorce. Employed in JJ's Chippy.
 * The Cook Family - currently living nearby. Laura and Luke, both aged 32, own the local convenience store, laundrette, café and chippy after a series of acquisitions after inheriting money from deceased family. Not well favoured by many in the village due to the couples' poor employment standards and short-term contracts. Luke is rarely seen in the area.
 * The Crump Family - occupying number 5. Consists of 53-year old Mary Crump and her husband David Crump. Mary has married three times in the past, and "would gladly have her leg over any man who takes her fancy" according to locals. Mother to Danny Taylor, currently at university.

Series 2 (March 2007-January 2008)
After a breif break, First Avenue resumed as a national networked programme on the Network Six schedule for 2007. First Avenue was assigned a 5pm slot on Tuesdays and Thursdays, however Emoa continues to repeat the programme in later slots throughout the week. Additionally, GTV has also began contributing to certain, often more outdoor, scenes of the programme.

Changes since the first series

 * Neighbouring pub, The Crown, has been closed down. In reality its (occasionally used) set was predominately shared with that of The White Duck albeit with a few modifications, and as such to prevent confusion and to save on costs, Emoa Productions took the decision to remove it from the plotline. Mike Evans has been removed from the programme.
 * Elise Higgins has left the programme after actress Katie Waugh took her career elsewhere. In the programme, Elise moved away with her boyfriend to Sunderland.
 * Alice Roberts leaves her mother's home and now occupies number 13 with her pet dog.
 * Thomas Higgins returns more frequently to the programme and now occasionally with his partner, yet still looked down on by a lot of the Higgins family.
 * Mary and David Crump have been forced to leave their home due to fire damage and now occupy a nearby flat. In reality, June who plays Mary has been forced to leave production due to a medical problem.
 * The role of the Beeches Surgery has been drastically reduced due to studio restrictions and cast problems.
 * The Stardust Café has been sold and is now "The Village Café", owned and staffed by Louise and Robert Walker, occupying number 37.

Series 3 (January-November 2008)
First Avenue was continued onto the January 2008 Network schedule, however was moved to Tuesday/Thursdays at 14.10, later repeated at the traditional 5pm.

Changes since Series 2

 * Alice Roberts was murdered by an ex-fiancé over Christmas 2007. Her house remained empty and was set on fire by arsonists on January 2008.
 * The Stone Family joined the line-up, living in number 5, consisting of 39-year old mum Melanie, fiancé Kieran Baker, her 68-year old mother Janet Stone and 15-year old son Kyle. Mel's ex-husband was imprisoned for 10 years in 2001, and father Harry Stone is known to have died a few years ago. She is lively and loud, and is regularly with neighbour Desdemona Higgins
 * Mary Crump has started to make re-appearances after actor June has re-gained her health. Mary is still known to work at the Doctor's surgery, and so far is known to make 4 re-appearances in this series, regarding her will and robbery of the surgery. David Crump will not appear in this series
 * Laura Cooke is known to have an affair with the now-returned Mike Evans, and Luke looks to divorce her and split their shared businesses.
 * References to "The Crown" have generally been removed.
 * A Polish family now occupy number 19 and have caused confrontation among some of the local residents.
 * The local STAR convenience store now employs Janet Stone and JJ's Chippy is currently up for sale.

Series 4 (November 2008-)
Series 3 covered both schedule periods of January and June as a single long series, and Series 4 started in November 2008 with new-look titles and remixed theme tune. Its timeslot on the national schedule was moved to 14.30 on Tuesdays/Thursdays, along with the repeat at 17.00.