Grange Hill
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Grange Hill | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Genre | Children's television series |
| Creator(s) | Phil Redmond |
| Starring | See cast below |
| Country of origin |  United Kingdom |
| No. of episodes | 579 and 2 Christmas specials (March 2007) |
| Production | |
| Running time | 25 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | BBC |
| Original run | 1978 – Present |
| Links | |
| Official website | |
| IMDb profile | |
| TV.com summary | |
Grange Hill is a British children's television drama series which is shown on BBC One. The latest series was first shown on the CBBC Channel. The show began in 1978 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.
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. 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swimming pool (1978; as a result of which, following letters of complaint from teachers and parents, the episode was withdrawn from the repeat season), to rape (2001), heroin addiction, and attempted suicide (2005), prompting many complaints from viewers.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.
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)". A film based on the series will be released in 2007. The 2007 tv series began on the CBBC Channel on 16 January.
In 2005, Justin Lee Collins reunited some of the cast members from the 1980s in the documentary Bring Back Grange Hill.
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[edit] Trivia
- 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.
- 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.
- 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).
- 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
- The series caused controvesy from the start, showing a more gritty, true-to-life portayal 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.
[edit] Cast
[edit] Pupils
| Character | Actor | Duration |
| Peter "Tucker" Jenkins | Todd Carty | 1978-1982, 2003 |
| Trisha Yates | Michelle Herbert | 1978-1982 |
| Alan Humphries | George Armstrong | 1978-1982 |
| Benny Green | Terry Sue Patt | 1978-1982 |
| Justin Bennett | Robert Craig-Morgan | 1978-1982 |
| Cathy Hargreaves | Lindy Brill | 1979-1982 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| Richard | Desmond Askew | 1991-1994 |
| Nick | Gareth Phillips | 1991-1993 |
| Ray Haynes | Kelly George | 1991-1993, 1997-2002 |
| Mick Daniels | Joseph Kpobie | 1992-1993 |
| James "Arnie" Arnold | Aidan J. David | 1994-2001 |
| Colin Brown | Colin Ridgewell | 1994-2001 |
| Wayne Sutcliffe | Peter Morton | 1995-2001 |
| Kelly Bradshaw | Kate Bell | 1995-2001 |
| Alec Jones | Thomas Carey | 1996-2000 |
| Judi Jeffreys | Laura Sadler | 1997-1999 |
| Sean Pearce | Iain Robertson | 1998 |
| (Ian) Hudson | John Hudson | 1998-2004 |
| Spencer Hargreaves | Colin White | 1999-2005 |
| Darren Clarke | Adam Sopp | 1999-2002 |
| Becky Radcliffe | Emma Pierson | 1999 |
| Martin Miller | Matthew Buckley | 2001-2007 |
| Kathy McIlroy | Sammy O'Grady | 2001-2007 |
| Leah Stewart | Jessica Staveley-Taylor | 2001-2003 |
| Patrick "Togger" Johnson | Chris Perry-Metcalf | 2003- |
| Tanya Young | Kirsten Cassidy | 2003- |
| Annie Wainwright | Lauren Bunney | 2003-2005 |
| Barry "Baz" Wainwright | Thomas Hudson | 2003-2007 |
| Nick Edwards | Tom Graham | 2003-2004 |
| Timothy "Tigger" Johnson | Jack McMullen | 2004 (final episode)- |
| Ed Booth | Alex Sheldon | 2005- |
| Alex Pickering | Josh Brown | 2005- |
| Chloe Moore | Mia Smith | 2005- |
| Sammy Lee | Holly Mai | 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- |
[edit] Staff
| 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 Stuart "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 |
| 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.
See also: List of Grange Hill cast members
[edit] Spin-offs
[edit] Books
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] In addition, 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
