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.

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'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.

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