Grange Hill

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.

Grange Hill never fails to entertain me. It has been running for many years but each year it just gets better! Well Done BBC!! Another great show from the BBC is Byker Grove which is set in Newcastle. Its truly great and is better for 13+ than younger kids while shows such as UBOS is definitely not for teens. Grange Hill always brings in great new characters each school year but some also leave as they reach sixth form. I have seen many great characters go but the BBC make up for this b bringing in some more fantastic people. However i feel Mersey Televiion have let us down this year as they have brought in some really poor actors and its not good watching!

I watched the first three series on DVD in America. It is probably one of the greatest shows for teens every created. I also like that it has cricket in it, which you don't see very much. Cricket is my favorite sport

Have been rewatching this recently out of nostalgia. About 10 years ago I got hold of the first 6 series that went from Tucker, Alan, Benny, Tommy and co. To Stewpot, Claire Scott, Pogo, and Gripper, etc. And at that point excitedly relived my youth! I first started watching it in late 1979, series 2 and was like many a kid was hooked throughout the 1980s. I was still watching it in 1988/89 when Michelle Gayle was in it!

Anyway, as a Phil Redmond creation, it (nowadays on refelection) seems like a precursor to Brookside. With real life characterisations, real life settings, indellible characters, clever nicknames, and hard hitting stories. It is noticeable that a few Redmond traits are in this, partcularly the name 'Brookdale' as a school and another one, where some the cast's surnames would be given to some of the characters. If anyone does not get that point think, John McArdle actor, Tommy McArdle character (Brookside) as a case in point. Brookside did that kind of thing a lot and it was something that was done first in Grange Hill. Both shows also had a mememorable to this day story. Zammo's addiction, and the infamous body under the patio.

Back to the main review. Most kids of the 80s have a favourite year that identified with their own age group. For me I thought Tucker was a cool role model but I was a bit young but by series 6 with aforementioned Stewpot, Gripper and the rest it became my and my school friends' favourite. I was, like many a big fan of Jonah Jones and Ziggy Greaves but still think the Gripper era was the best. Grange Hill never had a better villain than him.

Watching it again recently, the third series is excellent, with some highly amusing scenes. It gets better still in series 4 when Tucker and co. Are in their final year at school. The Christmas special that came along later that year is very good with the school's initial villain 'Booger' Benson duffing up Tucker. The silent end credits to that as Tucker lays unconscious is also very Phil Redmond style and I think the method was repeated once in Brookside.

So, for me series 3,4,5 and 6 are my particular era and it is fascinating to watch again knowing the storylines in advance. I always think that when I was a kid I acted like a Grange Hill kid and many years later when I became a high school teacher I acted like a Grange Hill teacher! Mr. Keating's "silence!", is one such line I have often used!

The school that was used for the Gripper era (and probably the most rembered by 80s kids) is on Greyhound Road in Hammersmith, West London. When I was in the area last, I just had to get a photo by the main gates!

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... !