The British soap opera Brookside ended with its final episode airing on November 4, 2003. The show's concluding storyline featured the residents of Brookside Close coming together to murder a drug dealer named Jack Michaelson, who had been terrorizing the street. Jack was lynched and hanged from his bedroom window by a group of unidentified neighbors, an act of mob justice. The identity of who exactly killed him was never revealed, implying collective responsibility among the residents. The last episode ran for 100 minutes and also included a memorable scene with Jimmy Corkhill delivering a rant about modern society and how reality TV was killing traditional British drama. This episode marked the end of the show after over 21 years, with the program shifted to a late post-watershed time slot as it wound down. The final scenes showed the residents vandalizing the abandoned houses as they prepared to move on, with Jimmy Corkhill moving to Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

This dramatic and controversial ending reflected the show's shift from its original gritty storytelling to more sensational plots over the years. Though the show had its loyal fans, declining ratings led to its cancellation by Channel 4 in 2003.