Grange Hill: Series 1 & 2

In 1978 Phil Redmond wrote a drama series for the BBC that was a first for UK TV as it looked at life for pupils and teachers at a London Comprehensive School in that era. The series has gone on to become a national institution and one of Auntie Beeb’s longest running programmes. Grange Hill may seem old hat today when looked back upon, but it does still hold a certain watchable and nostalgic aura about it.

Perusing these first two series of the show does really bring back some fond and perhaps not so fond memories of your own school days. Following those first tentative steps into the big school brings forth memories of the shock at the sheer size of the place compared to our safe little primary school. We meet a young Peter ‘Tucker ‘Jenkins (who became the main focus for the series and eventually got his own spin-off series Tucker’s Luck) on his first day at the school, played by Todd Carty who went on to play Mark Fowler in Eastenders.

This throwback to a bygone age is oddly reminiscent of all our schooldays, be they 30 years ago or recently. The grey walled corridors, imposing and scary teachers, bullying, peer pressure and of course the sort of things that made you want to fake an illness rather than face... things that now seem so insignificant. Redmond’s show somehow makes these points all seem so involving that when watching you forget that it was nearly 30 years ago they were made.

It’s really good fun to watch Tucker and co progress through their early days at the school and to see the show gain its feet and offer forth some very realistic situations that will spring forth some vague reminiscences of your own time in that place where they say you ‘had the time of your life’.

Extras: Grange Hill quiz.

Released 12th November 2007 by BBC Worldwide.

Written by Phil Allely.