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73-647: The Chalet School is a series of 58 school story novels by Elinor M. Brent-Dyer , initially published between 1925 and 1970. The fictional school was initially located in the Austrian Tyrol , before it was moved to Guernsey in 1939 following the rise to power of the Nazi Party , and again to Herefordshire following the Nazi invasion of the Channel Islands. It later moved to a fictional island off

146-461: A Clue used a less dynamic custom arrangement more in keeping with the style of light entertainment programming. The last four notes of the original theme song were heard when Brookside , one of Phil Redmond's other TV series, aired its final episode in November 2003. From 1978 to 1993, the end music would change length and notes occasionally depending on how many actors were in the episode and

219-487: A central theme. Bullies often feature in school stories, particularly boys' school stories. Identical twins appear with some frequency and are often the subject of comedy. School principals are usually even handed and wise and provide guidance to characters and will often bend the rules to get them out of trouble. Earlier in the development of the genre, school stories avoided dealing with adolescence or puberty directly. Eric, or, Little by Little by Dean Farrar

292-534: A custom-made background that either shows the Grange Hill logo, or it would be related to the intro used during the time. Mr Starling appeared only once during Series One, and his initial, E., was shown underneath the name of the school in the first episode: the authority figure most regularly seen during this time was the Head of First Year, Mrs Monroe (Dorothea Philips). Mr Llewellyn did not appear on screen during

365-481: A fight when Tucker said her mother Alex was dead. The show spawned a spin-off called Tucker's Luck (1983–1985), which ran for three series starring Todd Carty . The three series saw the two lead characters (Tucker and Alan) finding work. 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)". The album

438-458: A large chalet in the Austrian Tyrol , conveniently providing a helpful climate for Joey's recuperation. Within a few years a sanatorium is built not far from the school, where tuberculosis patients convalesce . The founder, Dr Jem Russell, along with Dr Jack Maynard, provides assistance to members of the school and the two Doctors eventually marry Madge and Joey respectively. Robin Humphries

511-453: A more colourful sequence was introduced, showing pupils interacting with the logo itself. This was due to Grange Hill being broadcast in widescreen for the first time, the opening theme had been cut slightly shorter for the first time since 1990. Only used for Series 26 (2003), the titles once again changed, this was to reflect on the move to Liverpool as the previous titles featured shots of the old school building (based In Elstree), once again

584-502: A musical play titled Tucker's Return based on the series was staged at Queen's Theatre, Hornchurch . Starring Todd Carty who, as Tucker, now returned to Grange Hill as a PE teacher, it also featured several stars of the show both from Tucker's original run, and of the then-current series circa 1989. In 2005, Justin Lee Collins reunited some of the cast members from the 1980s in the documentary Bring Back...Grange Hill . From

657-550: A new school, Grange Hill. In Series 8 the merger had taken place and Grange Hill operated as a split-site school; the former Rodney Bennett building (Neptune House) being the lower school and the original Grange Hill building (still Holborn College) the upper school. In series 9, the Upper School building was condemned after a fire, allowing production of Grange Hill to fully move to Elstree including studio work. Grange Hill was, at this time, made as an outside broadcast in

730-475: A number of school stories in the 1880s, and contributed considerably to shaping the genre, taking inspiration from Thomas Hughes . His most famous work was The Fifth Form at St. Dominic's (1887) (serialised 1881–82). It was reprinted on a number of occasions, selling 750,000 copies in a 1907 edition. While seated in Baines Reed's Christian values, The Fifth Form at St Dominic's showed a leaning away from

803-483: A return of the original theme music. Series 31 returned to BBC1 after the 2007 series was shown exclusively on the CBBC Channel . In 2019, Redmond spoke about possibly reviving the show and dealing with current social issues. In early 2006, it was announced that a film of Grange Hill was to be released in late 2007 focusing on the lives of former pupils. There was silence on the project for 15 years, until it

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876-578: Is a British children's television drama series, originally produced by the BBC and portraying life in a typical comprehensive school . The show began its run on 8 February 1978 on BBC1 , and was one of the longest-running programmes on British television when it ended on 15 September 2008 after 31 series. It was created by Phil Redmond , who is also responsible for the Channel 4 dramas Brookside and Hollyoaks ; other notable production team members down

949-452: Is also a main character, until she leaves the Chalet school to go to Oxford and later becomes a nun. The books then follow a variety of characters, including Daisy Venables, Bride Bettany and Gay Lambert, until Mary-Lou Trelawney comes to the school, and becomes the main character for several books. After she leaves school, in the later books, Joey's triplets become main characters. Throughout

1022-444: Is an area of St. Helens, Merseyside , where Redmond once lived. Grange Hill was originally conceived by ATV writer Phil Redmond , who first approached various television companies with the idea in 1975, unsuccessfully. In 1976, he managed to sell the idea to the BBC , and the children's drama executive Anna Home commissioned an initial series of nine episodes in a trial run, the first being broadcast on 8 February 1978. From

1095-415: Is self-contained with little connection to local life, the girls are encouraged to live together with a sense of community and collective responsibility. Fielding's approach was imitated and used as a formula by both her contemporaries and other writers into the 19th century. School stories were a somewhat late arrival as a popular literature. Children as a market were generally not targeted until well into

1168-640: The Billy Bunter stories and the Jennings series. Coeducation remained rare in boarding school stories. Enid Blyton's Naughtiest Girl series was unusually set in a progressive coeducational school. J. K. Rowlings' Harry Potter series represents a more recent example of a mixed-sex boarding school. The peak period for school stories was between the 1880s and the end of the Second World War. Comics featuring school stories also became popular in

1241-464: The Lake District , and a widowed mother. Trease was inspired to set the series in a day school following a letter from a young reader complaining that, despite being the setting for many school stories, boarding schools were in fact no more exciting environments than day schools. This is something remarked upon by the narrator. The Harry Potter series of novels has in some respects revived

1314-738: The 1930s. After World War II boarding school stories waned in popularity. Coeducational schools for all British schoolchildren were being funded by the public purse; critics, librarians and educational specialists became interested in creating a more modern curriculum and tended to see stories of this type as outdated and irrelevant. School stories have remained popular, however, with a focus shifting towards state-funded day schools with both girls and boys, and dealing with more contemporary issues such as sexuality, racism, drugs and family difficulties. The Bannerdale series of five novels (1949–56) by Geoffrey Trease , starting with No Boats on Bannermere , involved two male and two female pupils of day schools in

1387-453: The 1980 series: the day-to-day running of the school was left to the highly competent but much put-upon deputy head Mr Keating ( Robert Hartley ), who was also deputy head under Mrs McClusky up to and including Series 7 in 1984. Similarly, Mr McNab was never seen at all during the mid-1990s; the most senior authority figure being Mr Robson who at this point was deputy head. Mr Robson himself did not appear on screen during Series 27, even though he

1460-569: The 1990s Grange Hill was repeated in full on digital satellite and cable channel UK Gold , which broadcast the late 1970s and early 80s episodes of the show. In 1998, it reappeared on sister channel UK Gold Classics , which was a digital-only channel showing programmes previously aired on UK Gold, and Grange Hill was part of its schedule. The channel lasted only six months, however, before becoming UK Gold 2 in April 1999. Interest in Grange Hill

1533-587: The Chalet School A collection of stories that takes place at various points throughout the series: Then it suddenly became unreachable from the web on the same day as the CBB, but some (also totally random) parts of it can be viewed on the Wayback Machine. Any fics still available tend to have missing chapters. They may or may not be available on other sites. School story The popularity of

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1606-690: The Chalet School books acquired a following of readers who tried to collect each new novel as it came out. Its more exotic setting set it slightly apart from other British series in the same genre. It is the longest of any such novel series. Chalet School books were originally published in hardback between 1925 and 1970 by W. & R. Chambers . The novels were reissued in paperback format between 1967 and 1995. Usually with updated language. Some were more or less uncut, but many others were abridged to various extents, including chapters deleted from some titles. A few were split into two paperback volumes, and several were retitled. Many authors have written books set in

1679-508: The Chalet School universe. Some of them follow on from the last book of the series, and others attempt to fill in some of the "gaps" in the earlier years of the school. All books are published by Girls Gone By Publishers (formerly Friends of the Chalet School) unless otherwise stated. These titles describe the events which led to the founding of the Chalet School. This list contains all fill ins that have been published that fit within

1752-463: The Education Act paved the way for universal education for children, and so gave the market for school stories a considerable boost, which led to some publishers advertising novels specifically as school stories. Boys' magazines also began to be published which featured school stories, the best known being Boy's Own Paper , with its first issues appearing 1879. Talbot Baines Reed wrote

1825-667: The coast of Wales , and finally to Switzerland . The Chalet School is founded in 1925 by Madge Bettany when her brother has to return to his job in the Forestry Commission in India. She comes to the conclusion that starting a school would be a convenient way to generate some much-needed income, while also looking after her sickly younger sister Joey. Finding that suitable locations in England would be too expensive for her plans, she decides to look abroad, and finally settles on

1898-399: The culture of boarding schools in general. Common themes include honour, decency, sportsmanship and loyalty. Competitive team sports often feature and an annual sports event between rival school houses is frequently a part of the plot. Friendships between pupils are a common focus and also relationships with particular teachers, and the difficulty of new pupils fitting into the school culture is

1971-483: The end of Series 25; during Series 26 tarpaulins covered most of the new "school" to mask the "fire damage". Phil Redmond originally wanted children from all over the country to participate in the relaunched Grange Hill , having a variety of regional accents in the series as opposed to just the London area voices which had become associated with the programme; however, almost all new characters were exclusively cast from

2044-478: The final series, an abbreviated edit of the original version of "Chicken Man" was reinstated as the main theme, and, for the final time, the titles had changed once again for cartoon pupils and staff experiencing topics discussed in older series' of Grange Hill. Grange Hill was the first programme to use it as a theme followed by the popular quiz show Give Us a Clue , whose makers used it from 1979 to 1982, despite it already being played on Grange Hill . Give Us

2117-538: The gang" and hated being accorded any special treatment because of their circumstances. This prompted the BFI's 2002 publication The Hill And Beyond to comment that Grange Hill had perhaps become politically correct. Beginning on 4 April 1993, in celebration of the programme's 15th anniversary, the first fifteen series of Grange Hill were repeated during Children's BBC's Sunday (and later, Saturday) morning slots on BBC1 and BBC2. The repeats ended with Series 16 in 1999. In

2190-783: The genre, despite having a strong leaning towards fantasy conventions. Elements of the school story prominent in Harry Potter including the action being described almost exclusively from the point of view of pupils. While school stories originated in Britain with Tom Brown's Schooldays , school stories were also published in other countries. 'Schulromane' were popular in Germany in both the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and school stories were also published in Soviet Russia . Some American classic children's novels also relate to

2263-558: The genre, including What Katy Did at School (1873) by Susan Coolidge , Little Men (1871) by Louisa May Alcott , Betsy-Tacy (1940) by Maud Hart Lovelace , and Little Town on the Prairie (1941) by Laura Ingalls Wilder . The 1980s and 1990s Sweet Valley High series by Francine Pascal and others are set in California. However, the core school story theme of the school as a sort of character in itself, actively formed by

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2336-410: The mood/theme of the episode. For example, a longer version of the end music would be used if more actors played a role or if the episode focused on a serious tone. From 1978 to 1984, the ending credits would be on a plain background in either black or blue. From 1985 to 1989, the ending credits would play over various shots of the episode it showed. From 1990 to 2008, the ending credits would be on

2409-447: The nineteenth century. There was concern about the moral effect of novels on young minds, and those that were published tended to lean towards giving moral instruction. Jane Eyre (1847) by Charlotte Brontë , and Dombey and Son (1848) and David Copperfield (1850) by Charles Dickens had school story elements, which generated considerable public interest and close to 100 school stories had been published between 1749 and 1857,

2482-468: The north-west of England due to the logistics of the child employment laws. Real schools in the locality were also used including Croxteth Comprehensive, Holly Lodge Girls' School and St Hilda 's C of E High School in Liverpool. In 2005, the former Brookside Parade set at Mersey TV was redeveloped to benefit Grange Hill and the new "Creative Learning Centre" subsequently became an integral part of

2555-400: The previous year. The studios, now known as BBC Elstree Centre , were the location for some exterior filming from Series 8 on the closed Elstree set. A 1960s office block, Neptune House in the facility now doubled as Hill ' s "lower school". The change was explained on screen with an elaborate storyline whereby Grange Hill merged with rival schools Brookdale and Rodney Bennett to form

2628-472: The programme had been "robbed of its original purpose". Redmond had been planning a hard-hitting storyline to return Grange Hill to its gritty origins in series 31, and although he signed off the changes he believed it wasn't his show any more. On 6 February 2008, the BBC announced Grange Hill was to be axed after exactly 30 years. The announcement was made by CBBC controller Anne Gilchrist just two days before

2701-515: The pupils and their enjoyment of being there, is primarily a British and American phenomenon. In France, Mémoires d'Un Collégien (1882) by André Laurie (Jean-François Paschal Grousset), set in a boarding-school context similar to Talbot Baines Reed's St. Dominic's in England and Arthur Stanwood Pier's St. Timothy's in America, would have a considerable influence on French stories in the genre. German school stories tended to be written for adults, in

2774-414: The same media attention that it had had just a few years before. The teachers were now equals in the narrative, with their personal lives taking up almost as much time as those of the pupils. In 1994, two characters were introduced with disabilities : Denny Roberts ( Lisa Hammond ), who had dwarfism , and Rachel Burns ( Francesca Martinez ), who had cerebral palsy . Both characters were presented as "one of

2847-626: The same way as its stablemate, EastEnders . New producer Diana Kyle switched filming to a single camera format from 1999 onwards. In 1990, Neptune House was replaced with a different building on the same site. This building remained in use until 2002, with cosmetic modifications along the way. However, as the 1990s progressed more use was made of real schools including the Nicholas Hawksmoor School and Bushey Meads School , and St Audrey's School in Hatfield. Early in 2002, it

2920-422: The school (1985–89) Gonch took part in many moneymaking schemes, most of which were unsuccessful. There was a comedic element to the duo's relationship that worked well with viewers. 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. During the 1990s, Grange Hill did not receive

2993-456: The school story as instructional moral literature for children, with a greater focus on the pupils and a defined plot. As schools were segregated by gender in the nineteenth century, school stories naturally formed two separate but related genres of girls' school stories and boys' school stories. There had been an increase in female schooling from the 1850s, augmented by the 1870 Education Act. L. T. Meade , who also wrote historical novels and

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3066-440: The school's ban on skateboarding. In another, "Veggin' out", a girl and her classmates smuggled animals from a local petting farm into school, believing they were destined for slaughter. The Observer reported on 13 January 2008 that the BBC's intention was to shift the action away from Grange Hill School and into The Grange completely. Phil Redmond responded in the same article by calling for Grange Hill to be scrapped, saying

3139-440: The school's multimedia learning centre, which was given a radical makeover and became as much a "hang out" as a learning resource. The emphasis was now on younger characters with a group of Year 6 pupils regularly coming to use The Grange from primary school; storylines were much lighter and fantasy sequences were introduced. One episode, "Boarderman", saw a Year 7 pupil become a masked skateboarding superhero campaigning for an end to

3212-437: The series, various girls arrive at the school with personal problems, bad attitudes or behavioural issues . As a result of the ministrations of better-behaved classmates and the school mistresses , they tend to discover the error of their ways and become model pupils. This formula of a troublesome new girl who reforms and conforms is most common in the later books. As with contemporary series of school stories by other authors,

3285-548: The show's official 30th birthday. Grange Hill ended on Monday 15 September 2008. In 2006, the BBC had announced big plans for the show's 30th birthday including special programming on BBC2, possible repeats and a lavish reunion of former stars during 2008. But in the event, none of these celebrations happened aside from a special BBC Radio 4 programme Grange Hill: Soap Pioneer , hosted by fan and comedian Robin Ince , broadcast on 4 September 2008. The last episode of Grange Hill

3358-541: The show. After Grange Hill ended in 2008, the CLC exterior set has now been turned into a skateboard park set for Hollyoaks while the former Grange Hill school frontage has become a permanent exterior for Hollyoaks High. In 2007, BBC Children's ordered major changes to Grange Hill so that it fitted in with the new requirement that all programmes under the CBBC banner must appeal to an audience age 12 and under – younger than

3431-465: The start of the series in Series 1 (1978) to Series 10 (1987), the title sequence was in a comic book style and used " Chicken Man " by Alan Hawkshaw as the theme tune. From Series 11 (1988) to Series 12 (1989), a new title sequence was introduced, now using still images of certain topics, along with an updated recording of Chicken Man. From Series 13 (1990) to Series 16 (1993), a new title sequence

3504-460: The start, the series sparked controversy over its realistic, gritty portrayal of school life , which differed from the idealised portrayals of earlier school dramas . Redmond has said that he was not fully able to start pushing the boundaries until later series. This led to Redmond being summoned to lunch by BBC bosses and forced to agree that there would be no further series unless he toned certain elements down. Grange Hill' s highest-profile period

3577-519: The time of its original broadcast the practice was still legal both directly and indirectly the use of corporal punishment as a form of maintaining discipline (corpal punishment was banned in all state schools in the United Kingdom in 1987). The series was originally to have been called Grange Park , which would go on to be used as the name of the school in another Redmond creation, the Channel 4 soap opera Brookside (1982–2003). Grange Park

3650-466: The time-scale of the Chalet School universe written by Elinor Brent-Dyer (i.e. not preceding or following it). The second title listed is the book that immediately precedes the respective fill in unless otherwise stated. The first book follows some of the Chalet School characters, though it is not set in the School itself. It is not recommended for younger readers. These books follow on after Prefects of

3723-453: The titles & the theme tune had been shortened down. From Series 27 (2004) to Series 30 (2007), the titles changed once again. These were in the style of a video game, and the Moss theme tune had been edited down to around 12 seconds by this point. This was the first time since 1989 that live action footage was not used. For the 30th anniversary in Series 31 (2008), and what turned out to be

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3796-569: The tradition of the earlier Bildungsroman , and explored the disruption the school environment made to a character's sense of individuality. Soviet stories tended to focus on how individualistic behaviour could be corrected and brought into line with collective goals by the school environment. Other notable examples of school stories include Japanese manga series such as Sket Dance and School Rumble ; and US dramas such as Beverly Hills 90210 , Freaks and Geeks , Glee and Pretty Little Liars . The vast majority of school stories involve

3869-439: The traditional age group for Grange Hill , which was the same as or slightly younger than the secondary school characters. Under a deal signed in 2005, Lime Pictures was contracted to produce Grange Hill until 2008, so changes began to be made. For series 31, Lime Pictures creative director Tony Wood set about the task of meeting CBBC's new requirements. He shifted much of the action away from general school life to "The Grange",

3942-480: The traditional school story declined after the Second World War, but school stories have remained popular in other forms, with a focus on state run coeducational schools, and themes involving more modern concerns such as racial issues, family life, sexuality and drugs (see Grange Hill ). More recently it has seen a revival with the success of the Harry Potter series, which uses many plot motifs commonly found in

4015-443: The traditional school story. The Governess, or The Little Female Academy by Sarah Fielding , published in 1749, is generally seen as the first boarding school story. Fielding's novel was a moralistic tale with tangents offering instruction on behavior, and each of the nine girls in the novel relates her story individually. However, it did establish aspects of the boarding school story which were repeated in later works. The school

4088-528: The turn of the twentieth century focused on the value of self-sacrifice, moral virtues, dignity and aspiring to finding a proper position in societal order. This was to a large extent changed by the publication of Angela Brazil 's girls school stories in the early twentieth century, which featured energetic characters who challenged authority, played pranks, and lived in their own youthful world in which adult concerns were sidelined. Twentieth-century boys' school stories were often comical in nature – examples being

4161-536: The two that had been used previously, and it was also in a built-up area of London. Holborn College was the longest serving of the "real schools", remaining on screen until 1985. Up to and including 1985, interior scenes were shot at the BBC Television Centre in London. In 1985, production shifted to the former ATV studios in Borehamwood , Hertfordshire . The BBC had purchased the studio complex

4234-446: The window of a burning storeroom in the school. By 2001, the series was almost entirely issue-led and the decision to tackle the subject of rape upset some parents. But when Phil Redmond took over production of Grange Hill in 2003, his plan was to get the show back to its roots and the issues were toned down as Redmond skewed the show towards a younger audience. Grange Hill returned on 14 April 2008 with its final series, including

4307-610: The year that Tom Brown's School Days by Thomas Hughes appeared. It is perhaps the most famous of all such tales, and its popularity helped firmly establish the genre, which rapidly expanded in the decades to follow across thousands of novels. Hughes never wrote another school story: the sequel Tom Brown at Oxford focused on university life. However, more school stories followed such as F.W. Farrar 's Eric, or, Little by Little : A Tale of Roslyn School (1858), Revd H.C. Adams' Schoolboy Honour; A Tale of Halminster College (1861) and A.R. Hope's Stories of Whitminster (1873). In 1870

4380-583: The years have included producer Colin Cant and script editor Anthony Minghella . The show was cancelled in 2008, having run every year for 30 years. It was felt by the BBC that the series had run its course. The drama was centred on the fictional comprehensive school of Grange Hill in the equally fictitious North London borough of Northam. As well as dealing with school-related issues such as bullying , learning difficulties , teacher-pupil relationships and conflicts, Grange Hill "broke new ground over

4453-443: The years, with the kind of hard-hitting storylines not usually seen in children's dramas", such as racism , drugs (e.g. Zammo McGuire's heroin addiction , LSD ), teenage pregnancy , HIV/AIDS , homosexuality , knife crime , homelessness , rape/sexual assault , mental illness (e.g. bipolar disorder ), divorce , cancer (e.g. leukaemia ), gun crime , child abuse , alcoholism and death . The early years also saw as at

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4526-691: Was Kingsbury High School in North West London , which was used as the Grange Hill setting for the first two series. For series 3 (1980) exterior filming moved to Willesden High School (now Capital City Academy ) in Willesden Green , which was similar in looks to Kingsbury, and was also situated in a residential area of the capital. In 1981, Grange Hill moved to Holborn College (now Fulham Preparatory School ) in Greyhound Road, Hammersmith. This school looked very different from

4599-802: Was a classic moral tract set in a boarding school. Its Victorian tone was never adopted as generic convention. Commercially successful authors of school novels include writers for boys, such as P. G. Wodehouse , Anthony Buckeridge , and prolific writer Charles Hamilton , better known as Frank Richards, who wrote the Greyfriars School series, St. Jim's and Rookwood, and others for the Amalgamated Press between 1906 and 1940, his most famous character being Billy Bunter . Writers for girls include Angela Brazil , Enid Blyton , Elinor Brent-Dyer , Dorita Fairlie Bruce , Mary Gervaise and Elsie Oxenham . Grange Hill Grange Hill

4672-513: Was a magazine editor, become the most popular writer of girls' school stories in the final decade of the nineteenth century. Her stories focused on upper class pupils at boarding schools who learned to earn trust by making mistakes. They had little focus on sports and were primarily interested in friendships and loyalty. They remained largely rooted in Victorian values and preparing girls to be proper wives and mothers. Most literature for girls at

4745-552: Was announced in January 2022 that Redmond had written the script and was looking to start casting. For its first 25 years Grange Hill was produced in-house by the BBC , then the show was made independently for the corporation by Mersey TV , the production house founded by Redmond (and later renamed as Lime Pictures), hence the reason for the production move. Location external and some interior scenes in Grange Hill were originally filmed at real schools in London. The first of these

4818-465: Was announced that Grange Hill creator Phil Redmond had signed a deal for his production company Mersey TV to produce the next three series of the programme. Production moved to Mersey TV's studios in Childwall , Liverpool from Series 26 onwards and for the first time in some years the appearance of Grange Hill School itself would change radically. On screen an explosion ripped through the school at

4891-422: Was introduced which showed pupils and staff travelling into school in a slightly grainy CCTV style. This was accompanied by a new, more contemporary-sounding theme written for the series by Peter Moss. From Series 17 (1994) to Series 23 (2000), new titles were introduced showing pupils taking part various school subjects such as music, chemistry, PE and Food Technology. From Series 24 (2001) to Series 25 (2002),

4964-414: Was later confirmed. The final headmistress of Grange Hill was Miss Gayle, introduced as deputy head in the 2007 series although she did not appear in Series 31. 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. Comic strip adventures appeared in

5037-455: Was re-released on CD on 12 November 2007, as part of the BBC's 30th Anniversary celebrations. On New Year's Day 1988, a documentary titled Behind The Scenes...At Grange Hill aired, presented by Lee MacDonald . The documentary featured: auditions, rehearsals and filming for series 11 , the child actors' opinions on being tutored and chaperoned and what impact being in Grange Hill had on their schooling, as well as dealing with fame. In 1989,

5110-556: Was renewed in the late 1990s and the series celebrated its 20th anniversary with the introduction of sinister Scottish bully Sean Pearce ( Iain Robertson ), who carried a knife and slashed the face of a classmate. Cast member Laura Sadler , who was heavily involved in this storyline, died after falling out of a building in June 2003; four years earlier her Grange Hill character Judi Jeffreys had been killed after slipping and falling out of

5183-430: Was still headmaster for the early part of the series. Mrs McClusky, perhaps Grange Hill's best known head teacher, was demoted to deputy head temporarily in 1985 having had to reapply, unsuccessfully, for her post following the merger of Grange Hill with Brookdale and Rodney Bennett. When the new head, Mr Humphries, was killed in a road accident the following year, Mrs McClusky was again acting head and her permanent headship

5256-522: Was undoubtedly the mid- to late 1980s. One of the most famous storylines during this time was that of Zammo McGuire (played by Lee MacDonald ) and his addiction to heroin . This storyline ran over two series (1986–87) and focused on Zammo's descent into drugs and how it strained his relationship with girlfriend Jackie and friend Kevin. Among the show's other favourite characters during this period were Gonch and Hollo, played by John Holmes (also credited as John McMahon) and Bradley Sheppard. During his time at

5329-544: Was watched by 500,000 viewers. Seven months later, Ashes to Ashes paid homage to the series in its episode 2.1 (airing 20 April 2009). In that episode, the time-travelling protagonist, DI Alex Drake , sees her daughter Molly incorporated into an episode of Grange Hill on the evening of 3 or 5 April 1982 [calendar indicates 3 April; the news report was from 5 April]. Molly (in new footage) tells headmistress Bridget McClusky (appearing as archival footage and Gwyneth Powell 's newly recorded audio) that she and Tucker got into

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