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Grange Hill
Format	Children's television series
Created by	Phil Redmond
Starring	See cast below
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of episodes	579 and 2 Christmas specials (March 2007)
Production
Camera setup	Multiple camera (1978-1998); Single camera (1999-)
Running time	25 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	BBC
Original run	8 February 1978 – Present
External links
Official website
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Grange Hill is a British children's television drama series made by the BBC. The show began in 1978 on BBC One and is one of the longest running on British television. It was created by Phil Redmond, who was also responsible for the Channel 4 dramas Brookside and Hollyoaks; other notable production team members down the years have included producer Colin Cant and script editor Anthony Minghella.

Contents 1 Plot of the show 2 Issues covered 3 History of the show 4 Modern perception 5 Spin offs 6 Trivia 7 Cast 7.1 Pupils 7.2 Staff 8 Spin-offs 9 Books 10 DVD Release 11 External links 12 References

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The drama is centred on the fictional comprehensive school of Grange Hill in the (equally fictitious) borough of north London called "Northam" (although when filming moved to Liverpool in 2003, it ceased to have any specific location), and follows the lives of the children as they progress through school. It has been said that Phil Redmond based the show on his experiences of working at Grange Park High School, Thatto Heath, St Helens which is coincidentally at the top of a hill. For its first 25 years it was produced in-house by the BBC, but the show is now made independently for the corporation by Lime Pictures, the production house formerly owned by Redmond (and formerly known as Mersey Television) which is the reason for the production move.

The programme has covered many controversial storylines ranging from students throwing benches into the swimming pool (1978; as a result of which, following letters of complaint from teachers and parents, the episode was withdrawn from the repeat season), to rape (2001), heroin addiction, and attempted suicide (2005), prompting many complaints from viewers. Grange Hill broke new ground by the inclusion of a gay teacher, Mr Brisley, who was in the cast from 1992 to 1999.

Since 2003, Grange Hill has been aimed at an increasingly younger audience, and it has been announced that from 2007, Grange Hill will cut back on the harder hitting issues and concentrate more on the early years of secondary school, to fit in with CBBC's redefined target audience of 6-12 years.^[1]

Grange Hill's golden period was undoubtedly the middle to late 1980s. This period attained the highest ratings in the show's history and one of the most popular storylines was of fans' favourite Zammo and his addiction to heroin. This storyline ran for two series (1986-87) and focused on Zammo's descent into drugs and his strained relationship with his girlfriend Jackie and friend Kevin.

The show's other favourite characters during the golden period were Gonch and Hollo played by John Holmes and Bradley Sheppard. Gonch was the Bilko of Grange Hill and during his time at the school (1985-89) partook in many money making schemes. Most of the time these schemes were unsuccessful. There was a comedic element to the duo's relationship that worked well and contributed to the success of the programme.

Some fans of Grange Hill during this period feel the 1990s marked a steep decline in the quality of the programme - believing producers failed to adequately replace established characters from the 1980s who had left the show. Similarly, the show was accused of pandering to political correctness in 1994 with the introduction of two characters with disabilities, Denny (Lisa Hammond), who suffered from dwarfism, and Rachel Burns, who had cerebral palsy (Francesca Martinez). Both characters were presented as "one of the gang" and hated any special treatment because of their circumstances.

Interest in Grange Hill renewed in the late 1990s and the series celebrated its 20th anniversary with the introduction of sinister Scottish bully Sean Pearce (Iain Robertson), who carried a knife and slashed the face of a female classmate. By 2001 the series was almost entirely issue-led and the decision to tackle the subject of rape upset some parents. But when Phil Redmond took over production of Grange Hill in 2003, his plan was to get the show back to its roots and the issues were toned down as Redmond skewed the show towards a younger audience.

In early 2006, it was announced a film of Grange Hill was to be released in late 2007 focusing on the lives of former pupils.^[2] Nothing else has been heard since.

Grange Hill will return in early 2008 with a new series. It was announced in July 2007 that the most recent series, shown earlier this year on the CBBC Channel, would not be repeated on BBC1. This is the first time since Grange Hill began that it has not been shown on the BBC's flagship channel and has raised fears for the future of Grange Hill after Series 31.

Most recently it has been reported that Grange Hill will return to the original channel. Some children took part in the BBC news school report, gathering enough material to produce a radio package. When the radio presenter asked one of the young members who were taken part what was it like coming up with all the questions was it exciting he replied " yeah it was good we had questions on why it had changed channels and everything but when we got there we were told that it was going back to the original channel". ^[3]

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Grange Hill in 2007 does not enjoy the popularity and press coverage it did at the height of its fame. Despite being the longest-running children's television series in the world, the series from the 1990s onwards its not talked about with the same fondness as perhaps the earlier years. A major problem is that journalists and TV producers writing or making items about Grange Hill almost always do so from the nostalgic angle, and this has led some people to believe, quite wrongly, that Grange Hill is no longer in production.

When Grange Hill celebrated its 20th anniversary in 1998, several TV shows including This Morning ran special features to celebrate the fact but almost all these items were produced from a nostalgic bent, with former cast members such as Gwyneth Powell and Peter Moran invited to discuss their memories. Only GMTV invited cast members from the latest series on to its item. Grange Hill's producer at the time, Steven Andrew, was reportedly so furious This Morning did not want any of the series' current stars to take part in their item that he phoned the show to ask them to point out Grange Hill was "still on" - which host Richard Madeley grudgingly did.

As part of Grange Hill's 30th anniversary celebrations in 2008, the show's current producers Lime Pictures are said to be planning a mass publicity blitz using various daytime TV shows like This Morning and Loose Women. However, it is almost certain that once again the celebrations will concentrate exclusively on the show's early years. In the autumn of 2007, Lime Pictures approached a leading Grange Hill fan website requesting any contact details the site had for former cast members. The site's webmaster questioned the absence of any later names from the list and communicated his view that he hoped the show's later years would feature in any commemorations.

The show spawned a successful spin-off called Tucker's Luck (1983–1985), and launched the acting career of Todd Carty. Also, the 1986 cast released Grange Hill: The Album, with two singles: "Just Say No" (tying in with a character's heroin addiction) and "You Know the Teacher (Smash Head)". The album will be re-released on CD on 12 November 2007, as part of the BBC's 30th Anniversary celebrations.

In 2005, Justin Lee Collins reunited some of the cast members from the 1980s in the documentary Bring Back Grange Hill despite the fact that Grange Hill was still being produced.

• The series caused controversy from the start, showing a more gritty, true-to-life portrayal of school life than the rather cosy school dramas that had gone before it. Even so, creator Phil Redmond has said that it wasn't until series 3 or 4 that he was really able to start pushing the boundaries and doing things that he wanted to. This led to Redmond being summoned to lunch by BBC bosses and forced to agree that unless he toned things down, there would be no further series.
• Script Editor Anthony Minghella, who worked on the series for several years during the 1980s, later won an Academy Award for Best Director for the film The English Patient in 1996.
• Former cast member Laura Sadler died after falling off a building in June 2003; four years prior her Grange Hill character was killed after slipping and falling out of the window of a burning storeroom in the school.
• The theme used for the first 12 years of Grange Hill — "Chicken Man" by Alan Hawkshaw — was a library piece composed one hour before it was recorded during a session in Munich, Germany. Grange Hill was the first programme to use it as a theme followed by the popular quiz show Give Us a Clue, whose makers wanted it despite it already being played on Grange Hill. The version used by Give Us A Clue was a special arrangement that was significantly different to that used by Grange Hill.
• The current theme, introduced in 1990, was specially written by Peter Moss.
• There have been many head teachers of Grange Hill over the years: Mr Starling (1978), Mr Llewelyn (1979–1980), Mrs McClusky (1981–84 and 1986–91), Mr Humphries (1985), Mrs Keele (1992–1994), Mr McNab (1995–1997, never seen), Mr Robson (1998–2003) and Mrs Bassinger (2003–present; unseen during 2007). As of 2008 Miss Gayle will be headmistress.
• The show is currently partly filmed in St Hilda's C of E High School in Liverpool. The 'front' of the school is actually part of the Mersey TV studios in Childwall. On the other side of the building was used to the The Parade in Brookside. This has now been turned into the exterior of the Student Union bar in Hollyoaks.
• In 2005, the character Holly Parsons was wrongly heralded as Grange Hill's first deaf character. While it is true that the actress who plays her, Rebecca-Anne Withey, is the series' first deaf cast member, Grange Hill first featured a deaf character, Eric Wallace, in 1985.

See also:
List of Grange Hill cast members
List of current Grange Hill characters

Character	Actor/Actress	Duration
Peter "Tucker" Jenkins	Todd Carty	1978-1982, 2003
Trisha Yates	Michelle Herbert	1978-1982
Alan Humphries	George Armstrong	1978-1982
Mary Johnson	Kim Benson	1978-1980
Benny Green	Terry Sue Patt	1978-1982
Justin Bennett	Robert Craig-Morgan	1978-1982
Antoni Karamanopolis	Vivian "Vinny" Mann	1979-1980
Cathy Hargreaves	Lindy Brill	1979-1982
Penny Lewis	Ruth Davies	1979-1982
Jessica Samuels	Sara Sugerman ?
Anita Unsworth	Joanne Boakes	1980-1984
Douglas "Pogo" Patterson	Peter Moran	1980-1984
Duane Orpington	Mark Baxter	1980-1984
Pamela Cartwright	Rene Alperstein	1981-1982
Suzanne Ross	Susan Tully	1981-1984
Christopher "Stewpot" Stewart	Mark Burdis	1981-1985 (Christmas Special)
Norman "Gripper" Stebson	Mark Savage	1981-1985 (Christmas Special)
Claire Scott	Paula Ann Bland	1981-1985 (Christmas Special)
Samuel "Zammo" Maguire	Lee MacDonald	1982-1987
Gordon "Jonah" Jones	Lee Sparke	1982-1983
Annette Firman	Nadia Chambers	1982-1985
Roland Browning	Erkan Mustafa	1982-1987
Fay Lucas	Alison Bettles	1982-1987
Jackie Wright	Melissa Wilks	1984-1987
Luke "Gonch" Gardener	John Holmes (sometimes credited as John McMahon)	1985-1989
Paul "Hollo" Holloway	Bradley Sheppard	1985-1987
Robert "Robbie" Wright	John Alford	1985-1990
Trevor Cleaver	John Drummond	1985-1991
Veronica "Ronnie" Birtles	Tina Mahon	1985-1991
Caroline "Calley" Donnington	Simone Hyams	1985-1991
Eric "Ziggy" Greaves	George Christopher	1986-1989
Georgina Hayes	Samantha Lewis	1986-1991
Laura Reagan	Fiona Lee-Fraser (also credited as Fiona Mogridge)	1986-1988
Terence "Tegs" Ratcliffe	Sean Maguire	1988-1991
Matthew Pearson	Paul Adams (later credited as Paul Parris)	1988-1992
Justine Dean	Rachel Victoria Roberts	1988-1994
Christine "Chrissy" Mainwaring	Sonya Kearns	1988-1992
Mike Bentley	Rene Zagger	1990-1991
Natalie Stevens	Julie Buckfield	1990-1993
Richard	Desmond Askew	1991-1994
Nick	Gareth Phillips	1991-1993
Fran Williams	Rebekah Joy Gilgan	1991-1993
Ray Haynes	Kelly George	1991-1993, 1997-2002
Mick Daniels	Joseph Kpobie	1992-1993
Natasha Stevens	Clare Buckfield	1992-1993
Dennis "Techno" Morris	Alan Cave	1992-1998
James "Arnie" Arnold	Aidan J. David	1994-2001
Harry Lopman	Adam Bodie	1994-1995
Jessica Arnold	Amy Phillips	1994-1998
Colin Brown	Colin Ridgewell	1994-2001
Wayne Sutcliffe	Peter Morton	1995-2001
Kelly Bradshaw	Kate Bell	1995-2001
Alec Jones	Thomas Carey	1996-2000
Chris Longworth	Ben Freeman	1996-1998
Joanna Day	Fiona Wade	1996-1998
Judi Jeffreys	Laura Sadler	1997-1999
Sean Pearce	Iain Robertson	1998
Francesco Bruno	Franco Savi	1998-2000
Sam Bardens	Adam Hawkins	1998-2001
Tom Smith	Oliver Elmidoro	1997-2002
(Ian) Hudson	John Hudson (later known as John Joseph)	1998-2004
Anika Modi	Jalpa Patel	1999-2004
Calvin Braithwaite	Arnold Oceng	1999-2004
Spencer Hargreaves	Colin White	1999-2005
Darren Clarke	Adam Sopp	1999-2002
Becky Radcliffe	Emma Pierson	1999
Briony Jones	Renee Montemayor	2000-2002
Clare Chaplin	Naomi Osei-Mensah	2001-2002
Martin Miller	Matthew Buckley	2001-2007
Kathy McIlroy	Sammy O'Grady	2001-2007
Maddie Gilks	Kacey Barnfield	2001-2006
Leah Stewart	Jessica Staveley-Taylor	2001-2003
Carl Fenton	Reggie Yates	2002-
Patrick "Togger" Johnson	Chris Perry-Metcalf	2003-
Tanya Young	Kirsten Cassidy	2003-
Annie Wainwright	Lauren Bunney	2003-2005
Barry "Baz" Wainwright	Thomas Hudson also known as Tom Hudson	2003-2007
Nick Edwards	Tom Graham	2003-2004
Timothy "Tigger" Johnson	Jack McMullen	2004 (final episode)-
Taylor Mitchell	Reece Noi	2004-
Ed Booth	Alex Sheldon	2005-
Alex Pickering	Josh Brown	2005-
Chloe Moore	Mia Smith	2005-
Sammy Lee	Holly Mai (also known as Holly Mann)	2005-
Alison Simmons	Georgia May Foote	2005-
Dawn O'Malley	Hollie-Jay Bowes	2005-2006
Bryn Williams	Joseph Slack	2007-
Lucy Johnson	Daisy McCormick	2007-

Character	Actor/Actress	Duration
Mr Tony Mitchell	Michael Percival	1978-1979
Mr Geoff "Bullet" Baxter	Michael Cronin	1979-1986
Mr Llewelyn	Sean Arnold	1979
Mr Graham "Sooty" Sutcliffe	James Wynn	1979-1982
Mr Dan "Hoppy" Hopwood	Brian Capron	1980-1983
Mrs Bridget McClusky (headmistress)	Gwyneth Powell	1981-1991
Mr Maurice Bronson	Michael Sheard	1985-1989
Mr Eric Griffiths (caretaker)	George A. Cooper	1985 (Christmas Special)-1992
Mr Peter Robson	Stuart Organ	1988-2003
Mr Geoff (Jeff?) Hankin	Lee Cornes	1990-2002
Mrs Kate Monroe	Anna Quayle	1990-1994
Mr Tom Brisley	Adam Ray	1992-1999
Miss Jayne Carver	Sally Geoghegan	1995-2002
Mrs Margaret Holmes	Rachel Bell	1997-2002
Dai Hard Jones	Clive Hill	1997-2002
Mrs Bassinger (headmistress)	Jacqueline Boatswain	2003-2006
Mr Chris Malachay	Edward Baker-Duly	2003-2006
Mr Wally Scott (caretaker)	Simon O'Brien	2003-2006
Miss Gayle	Cathy Tyson	2007

• Since 2003, there has been a reluctance to give teachers first names or to expand their roles in the show beyond actually teaching or keeping pupils in line.

• Tucker's Luck

During the 1980s, when Grange Hill merchandising was at its height and the series arguably at its most popular, a number of annuals and novels were published.

Eight annuals were published from 1981 to 1988. [1]

Comic strip adventures appeared in the short-lived BEEB magazine, which portrayed new stories, and the longer running Fast Forward, magazine which loosely followed the early 90's series. Additional comic strips occurred in School Fun and in the Radio Times. Grange Hill had its own dedicated magazine, but this only lasted two issues, although there was a holiday special too.

There were 14 short story books and novels, some of which were written or co-written by series creator Phil Redmond, but which also involved authors such as Robert Leeson and Jan Needle. Below is a full list of Grange Hill short story books and novels:

1. Grange Hill Stories, by Phil Redmond. First published by the BBC in 1979. Short stories.

2. Grange Hill Rules O.K.?, by Robert Leeson. Published by Fontana Lions in 1980. The first Grange Hill novel.

3. Grange Hill Goes Wild, by Robert Leeson. Published by Fontana Lions in 1980. Novel

4. Grange Hill for Sale by Robert Leeson. Published by Fontana Lions in 1981. Novel

5. Tucker and Co., by Phil Redmond. Published by Fontana Lions in 1982. Novel

6. Grange Hill Home and Away by Robert Leeson. Published by Fontana Lions in 1982. Novel

7. Great Days at Grange Hill, by Jan Needle. Published by Fontana Lions in 1984. Short stories that form a sort of prequel to Grange Hill Stories.

8. Grange Hill After Hours, by Phil Redmond. Published by Magnet in 1986. Novel

9. Grange Hill Graffiti, by Phil Redmond. Published by Magnet in 1986. Novel

10. Grange Hill On the Run, by Phil Redmond. Published by Magnet in 1986. Novel

11. Grange Hill Heroes, by Phil Redmond and David Angus. Published by Magnet in 1987. Novel

12. Grange Hill Rebels, by Phil Redmond and David Angus. Published by Magnet in 1987. Novel

13. Grange Hill Partners, by Phil Redmond and David Angus. Published by Magnet in 1988. Novel

14. Ziggy’s Working Holiday, by Phil Redmond and Margaret Simpson. Published by Magnet in 1988. Novel

Two DVD box sets covering the first four series were released on 12th November 2007. There are no subtitles, episodes are in full screen and both box sets come with a booklet detailing each episode.

• Phil Redmond's Grange Hill site
• Grange Hill at the BBC Programme Catalogue
• Grange Hill at the Internet Movie Database
• British Film Institute Screen Online
• The Museum of Broadcast Communications

1. ^ Correspondence with head of CBBC, Richard Deverell, as published on the former GH Online forum, which ceased operating in October 2007.
2. ^ http://www.timeout.com/film/news/883/
3. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid_7100000/newsid_7105900/7105940.stm?bw=bb&mp=wm&asb=1&news=1&bbcws=1