Grange Hill

The BBC in my opinion have totally lost the plot over the last few years, cancelling such classic TV shows like Grange Hill, Byker Grove, TOTP and even losing Neighbours to Channel 5 (although I wasn't a great fan of Neighbours though, so I was glad to see that one go!).

The director general of the BBC should be sacked for the mess he's made over the past few years of what was regarded as such a high class institution, but has now gone right down in society, with the best new rubbish they can come up with is idiots like Jonathan Ross. I bet most of these top shows were axed just so they could pay this idiots wages (and then look what he does). I certainly don't agree that the BBC should have just suspended Rossy, they should have fired him, if the BBC had fired him the only job he would have got after his lewd comments would have been doing stand-up in front of a private audience as no other company would take the risk to re-employ him.

The BBC need to stop and look at the mess they are making and to bring back shows such as Grange Hill which helped school children understand various things in school life. I only wish that they had covered Asperger's on Grange Hill a little earlier as I went through school with Asperger's and ADHD and most of the kids around me didn't understand me at all. Where as now thanks to Grange Hill covering this it seems that quite a lot of young people are fully aware of Asperger's and show some understanding towards the problems faced.

I've recently been rewatching the glory years, Mid 80's to early 90's, and its just been sublime. So many memories of my school years have been flooding back in for me. Gonch and Cleaver, Mr Bronson, Jackie and Zammo, Ronnie and Callie. All were wonderful characters. (Well they were to the teenage me!) Its just amazing how intricate and hard hitting some of the GH plotlines were. And of course just how much fun the show was to watch. My all time favourites were Ziggy and Robbie and, especially, Georgina Hayes. I had a massive crush on her at the time, or i should say Samantha Lewis. They have been releasing the DVDs of the early early years but i ireally hope they get around to releasing the best years on DVD. I have to watch on terrible MP4 copies but they are better than nothing. Such a shame they cancelled it. The kids of today dont know what they are missing.

When you were a teenager, it always felt as if the world was against you. No matter what you did, how much you tried to impress people - there was always something wrong, someone to put you in your place.

That is the brilliance of Grange Hill - it depicts British school life excellently: the everyday hum-drum of moving from one lesson to the other; the mind-numbing, soul-crushing hell hole that you have to attend every day for five years; the peer pressure and the bullying and most of all, realising that this is your life and it's never going to change. (And no, I didn't like school much!)

When you were at school, there was always kids whose parents were getting divorced, gay, on drugs, seriously depressed, victim of abuse or pregnant. Grange Hill doesn't just present the problem, it explores how that problem came about, the effect on that character and most of all the reaction of their peers when it all comes out (which it always does). There is always something compulsive about watching on the tele what you know to be happening all around you, what happens to your closest friend or worst enemy - because it's real.

Compulsive viewing for any one who is/was a teenager.

Perhaps its heyday is now in the past, but "Grange Hill" was long one of the most arresting and high quality soap operas on television. There was a fantastic mix of actors and actresses, and writing that confronted some of the major issues that teenagers have to deal with, but mostly without preaching and irresponsibility. I have to say that I view this approach as mostly being down to one man - Phil Redmond. (Surprise surprise, NOT Anthony Minghella!!) I rarely, if ever, watch "Brookside" or "Hollyoaks", but even these, his other two notable creations, display a similar innovative style. Top marks to the man who injected a bit of 'risk into 'youth culture' T.V!

"Grange Hill" is now an institution, spawning many talented performers (and some not so... !) in its long running tenure. As far as I know, it's still going today as well! This is a series that speaks to young people as being the future of our society, not the curse of it. For that it should be applauded. Well done to the producers for maintaining such high quality standards.

As an afterthought, why do my favourite characters never appear in a list of anybody else's favourites? I chiefly remember Justine and Georgina, and that probably has a lot to do with my sex, age and sexual orientation... !

I have been watching Grange Hill since the early 1980's and still watch it to this day, even though I have long left school.

This drama is better than some of the rubbish which is on TV in the evenings at prime time. A lot of the time all there is on are repeats of detective shows or cheap to make 'fly on the wall' documentaries.

The young actors and actresses take good parts and a lot have moved on to become well known and star in soaps like EastEnders. Some quite well known faces have played the teachers too such as Anna Quayle (Mrs Munroe) who was in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Rating: 4 stars out of 5.