Tucker's Luck

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Tucker's Luck
Format	Children's television series
Starring	Todd Carty George Armstrong
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of episodes	27
Production
Running time	30 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	BBC
Original run	1983 – 1985

Tucker's Luck was a British television series made by the BBC between 1983 and 1985.

The series is a spin-off from the school drama Grange Hill and capitalised on the popularity of one of the series' original characters — Tucker Jenkins, played by Todd Carty (who would later go on to play Mark Fowler in the BBCs flagship soap EastEnders).

Tucker's Luck followed the exploits of Tucker and his friends, Alan Humphries and Tommy Watson, after they had left school and their attempts to find employment and cope out there in the "real world". Three series were made (although by Series Three, Tommy was gone — his absence explained by his having decided to join the Navy), with several former Grange Hill cast members reprising their roles for the spin-off (such as Linda Slater as Susi MacMahon, Alan's former school girlfriend, in Series One; and Michelle Herbert as Tucker's old class enemy Trisha Yates in the final episode of series three), although the programme never came close to matching the popularity of Grange Hill.

The third and final series saw the first appearances of Tucker's younger sister, eight-year old Rhona (who had never been seen nor referred to previously), and Tucker's elder brother Barry (frequently mentioned by Tucker, albeit only as "our kid", in Grange Hill).

[edit] Series and Episode Guide

SERIES ONE (1983)

The first series contained nine episodes. An extremely comprehensive guide to the first series episodes can be found here.

SERIES TWO (1984)

The second series also contained nine episodes. Click here for an extremely detailed summary of each episode.

SERIES THREE (1985)

Like the first two series, the third and final series had nine episodes, which means that there were 27 episodes in the entire series. Click here to read in-depth analysis of the episodes.

[edit] Books

Two annuals and three novels associated with the series were published between 1983 and 1985. [1] The annuals were simply called the 1984 Tucker's Luck Annual and 1985 Tucker's Luck Annual. The novels were:

1. Forty Days of Tucker J., by Robert Leeson. Published by Fontana Lions in 1983.

2. Tucker's Luck, by Jan Needle. Published by Fontana Lions in 1984.

3. Tucker in Control, by Jan Needle. Published by Magnet in 1985.