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Grange Hill

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90sWereBetter

90sWereBetter

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This year, I've attempted to watch all 601 episodes of one of the most iconic children's TV shows, Grange Hill, given I never watched it until the BBC axed it in 2008. I've made it through 25 series and 481 episodes, and my god there is some great material during those years. I'd say the best series have been:
  • Series 6 (1983), with Gripper Stebson becoming a massive racist
  • Series 9 (1986), obviously the Zammo drugs storyline (which they actually started sowing the seeds for through Series 7 and 8), Mr Bronson at his maniacal best, and the start of the Danny Kendall saga, the best character to ever be in Grange Hill
  • Series 12 (1989), the tragic culmination of the Danny Kendall saga, plus characters like Ziggy, Gonch, Trevor, Robbie, Vince, Georgina, Helen, Ronnie and Cally, the greatest set of Grange Hill characters, at their peak. Plus the last series with Mr Bronson in.
  • Series 20 (1998), a knife crime storyline with Sean Pearce, one of the best villains in the show, shame the character was only in this series
  • Series 25 (2002), the Mr Derevill storyline was fantastic, and this really should have been the final series, what a way to cap the show off

Before Series 26, the least good (best way to describe it) series have been Series 13 (1990), as they lost a load of good characters after Series 12, and Series 17 (1994), once again after losing a number of characters, although Jacko and Becky slowly becoming an item through the series was pretty sweet to watch.

Sadly, I just tried watching Series 26, where suddenly the school has moved to Liverpool, and it's dreadful. It's a poor rewrite of the very first episode from 1978, and it comes across like a total spit in the face of everything that came before it. So I've ended my playthrough as of today.

So, does anyone else have memories of Grange Hill? The school trip episodes were always an highlight.
 
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GrimsbyPacer

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No need to watch the later series. I missed the earlier ones that my family said was alright but it does change entirely for the worse. Similar to the last season of The Bill, it goes 'dark' and grim and not like the show everyone liked.
 
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theblackwatch

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Fantastic programme. I'll say "I grew up with it", but I suspect about half the people on here will be able to say that too. Zammo etc were the year above me at school (I make that sound like they were real!), does anyone remember that terrible record they did, Just Say No - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2nq8DzYToE , no laughing at the fashions and hair...

It was certainly a programme which highlighted issues appropriate to youngsters in an entertaining way that they could relate to. I've a feeling when it moved to Liverpool, the BBC decided to dumb it down and make it more suitable for a younger audience (rather than a teenage one), which eventually led to its demise.
 
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STEVIEBOY1

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It was a very good programme.

Indeed, I seem to remember when it first came out, there were complaints about the content, no doubt from parents who did not believe or did not want to believe, some of the story lines which were quite true to life in secondary schools.

I think the early one programmes were better, when Mrs McKlusky? was the head.

Around that time the actress who plays Sharon in Eastenders was in it and I think, but am not 100% sure, I think the actress who played Michelle Fowler may have also been in Grange Hill, if it was not her, it was certainly like her. Mr Hopwood later appeared as one of Gail's husbands in Coronation Street.

As well as serious issues, there were some comic items too.

Some times programmes, then and now, do go on too long, perhaps it is better to stop when they are still good, rather than dragging things out just for the sake of it.

Another good film, a few years before Grange Hill, was Kes, we did the book as part of our GCE/CSE at school and again it was very good, with a true to life headmaster, Mr. Gryce and also featured Colin Welland as an English Teacher, Brian Welland as the PT/Games Master & Lynne Perrie who was later Ivy in Coronation Street.
 
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yorksrob

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Classic telly.

Mr Bronson was the best character by far. Grange Hill would have been a good training ground for his stint on the Deathstar :lol:

I seem to recall the school burnt down on one episode and he kept everyone in !

There was another good episode where they set up a school radio station and the pupils tried to take over the school. One of the best was where they try to introduce a school rule book and the pupils won't go into the classroom because it says that they must "walk in the corridor at all times":lol:

The original theme tune was far and away the best.
 
Butts

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I watched it from the start..my 1978 that was a lifetime ago :cry:

Who remembers Mrs Mcluskey the Headmistress ?

One of the early stars died recently but I can't remember who it was.
 
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theblackwatch

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Mrs McClusky (Bridget) wasn't actually the head from the start - much to my surprise, I insisted she was to one of my friends who argued against me, it turned out he was correct.... :(
 
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STEVIEBOY1

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Butts said:
Who was the first head then ?
Click to expand...

The first headmaster was, Mr. Starling, the second was, Mr. Llewellyn, then it was Mrs. McClusky followed by others as the series progresses.

Mr. Starling and Mr. Llewellyn did not infact feature very often.
 
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Antman

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STEVIEBOY1 said:
The first headmaster was, Mr. Starling, the second was, Mr. Llewellyn, then it was Mrs. McClusky followed by others as the series progresses.

Mr. Starling and Mr. Llewellyn did not infact feature very often.
Click to expand...

Wasn't there a Mr Keating who was headmaster or is my memory playing tricks on me?

I also seem to recall a PE teacher with a beard called Mr Baxter?
 
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ComUtoR

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I wanted to watch it recently but I just had to say no...
 
90sWereBetter

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Antman said:
Wasn't there a Mr Keating who was headmaster or is my memory playing tricks on me?

I also seem to recall a PE teacher with a beard called Mr Baxter?
Click to expand...

Mr Keating was deputy head between Series 3 and Series 7. He was more or less a proto-Bronson, a strict authoritarian old man. In Series 3, he was the highest authority shown on screen, because the actor who played the headteacher in Series 2 didn't return.

Bullet Baxter was fantastic, especially when he was confronting Gripper Stebson and his gang.
 
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Butts

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The famous Red Headed wheeler dealer "Gonch" was my favourite character of all time in Grange Hill :p
 
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trac

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Has OP got any comment on the Tucker Jenkins story arc? Was Tucker featured from the first series?
 
ComUtoR

ComUtoR

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Pretty sure Tucker was in the first series.

Tuckers Luck anyone ?
 
ATW Alex 101

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I watched maybe the last two series of it, when there were quite a few Waterloo Road stars in it at the time, I certainly remember the last episode where the school nearly got rocketed :lol: . Although by this time I was already into the early series of Waterloo Road by this time.

From what I did watch of it I didn't mind it and I did used to specifically turn the TV on to watch it so I suppose I enjoyed it. Obviously I'm not old enough to appreciate the earlier series but I wouldn't mind watching them all like the OP.
 
David

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Hands up those who have been on the set of Grange Hill *looks smug*

The building used for the school is tiny, very good use of the cameras to make it look a lot bigger than what it actually is!
 
BlythPower

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Am I the only one who never watched it? The last thing I wanted to do after coming home from school was watch a program about... school. <D
 
ComUtoR

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Some of my first TV crushes were the girls on Grange Hill. It was odd when one of them worked just a few minutes from me.
 
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hassaanhc

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BlythPower said:
Am I the only one who never watched it? The last thing I wanted to do after coming home from school was watch a program about... school. <D
Click to expand...

I've never seen it, but then I hardly ever seem to watch TV these days for some reason. Every time I see the name I think of the station on the Central Line :oops:
 
GPT

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Have never seen the TV programme but I travel from Grange Hill on The Central Line each day !!!!!
 
90sWereBetter

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If there's one thing I've realised from my time watching Grange Hill this year, it's just how cynical, humourless, and murderous (:P) Waterloo Road was. In the 25 series I watched, only six characters died in Grange Hill, whereas over a much shorter period, I'm pretty sure the death toll in Waterloo Road was in double figures by the time it was axed. :roll:
 
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