Grange Hill
Yes, another of those telly shows that i grew up watching religiously, and yes, again it was British. Grange Hill, who didn't have dreams about going to this school? Well....maybe it was only me but hey, i was a warped child (still am). Here's a bit of stuff that i'm sure everyone who reads this has been longing to know about the greatest school-based telly show ever (yes even better than Degrassi)....GRANGE HILL
Not many people on television in 1978 felt a mission to inform about contemporary society, but a children’s drama serial, Grange Hill, decided to boldly go where none had gone before, to show what actually goes on inside schools and how children actually talk and behave (at least some of the time), using cameras at their level. The serial followed a group of first-year pupils at their fictional london comprehensive school (they used Kingsbury High School in North-West London for the recordings). Shop-lifting, smoking, racial taunts, truancy, child-molesting, a pupils crush on her teacher and bullying featured in the storylines. Teachers and parents said this was encouraging hooliganism and bad language, and how dare children call teachers by their first names (shock-horror)! The children said at last this was school life.
Created by struggling Liverpudlian, Phil Redmond (later to create Going Out and Brookside), himself one of the first products of the comprehensive system. The ensure authenticity, a team from the BBC visited several schools asking children what problems occur and what they would find interesting. It was found they didn’t want happy stories about nice kids and teachers, they wanted realistic stories, even if they were disturbing. One child suggested they copy a true story about a school trouble-maker who organised a boat-race on benches in the swimming pool while the teacher was seeing to a child with an injured foot. When this became a prank of bovver-boy, Tucker Jenkins, the episode was criticised for being wildly unlikely and for setting a bad example – despite the fact that Tucker was punished for it. When bully, Gripper Stebson rolled a fat boy down a corridor, hundreds of letters of protest were received (Gripper was expelled).
Perhaps parents got the idea that these were cautionary tales when the struggle of pupil, Zammo, to beat a herion addiction was broadcast. This issue led to the cast’s record of ’Just Say No’ raising over 100,000 pounds for anti-drug charity.
There are so many names that must be mentioned.....here are but a few of the cast members over the years.....
Justin Bennet – Robert Morgan
Benny Green – Terry Sue Prat
Trisha Yates – Michelle Herbert
Judy Preston – Abigail Brown
Alan Humphries – George Armstrong
Michael Doyle – Vincent Hall
Pogo Patterson – Peter Moran
Micheal Green – Mark Bishop
Zammo McGuire – Lee macDonald
Ant Jones – Ricky Simmons
Ziggy Grieves - George Christopher
Louise – Samantha Lewis
Mr Robson – Stuart Organ
Mr Parrott – Peter Leeper
Jacko – Jamie Lehane
Josh – Jamie Groves
Dennis – Alan Cave
Joe – Martino Lazzeri
Dudley – Steven Hammet
Also special apperences (in the background) by Naomi Cambell and my ex-boyfriend, Garry’s Dad (he’s also met the queen)
Many of Grange Hill’s actors have graduated to other telly shows.....
The programme’s first star was Todd Carty (Tucker Jenkins) later the lead in Tucker’s Luck, and then Mark Fowler in Eastenders (another radical telly show selfishly taken from our screens).
Susan Tully (Suzanne Ross) has also made the walk from Grange Hill to Eastenders (playing Michelle Fowler)
Sean Mcguire became a little known pop star and appeared in many childrens series’.
Mr Bronson was an imperial stormtrooper in Empire Strikes Back
tucker jenkins and zammo mcguire
ziggy
As i grew up with the ideas that all things British were best, when sat
in front of this show every afternoon my ideas where enforced. Many moments
stick vaguely in my mind but most clearly my favourite character, Ziggy,
an extremely cute Liverpudlian, perfect scouse accent, him and his best
friend Robbie, in their quest for revenge against Gonch and Imelda, the
sadness i felt when Ziggy left was quite amazing and the joy that was brought
to me as i viewed the special, “Making of Grange Hill’, basically sums
up what is me.*s*