FOR generations, Grange Hill was must-see viewing, catching up with the antics of characters such as Tucker Jenkins and Zammo McGuire. Now the classic show is poised for a comeback, in a very different world.

 

Ba ra ba beowww…

Ah yes, the catchy opening to the theme song that became one of the most memorable jingles in British TV lives long in the memory, as does the cartoon opening title sequence of pupils tucking into a school dinner of bangers and mash, with a sausage on a fork hurtling through the air.

 

Grange Hill was hugely popular?

The BBC show was one of the longest-running programmes on UK screens when it ended in September 2008, having first aired in February 1978, created by Sir Phil Redmond, the TV producer who also created Brookside and Hollyoaks. The show is also the focus of a podcast, Sausage On A Fork, that has risen in popularity during the nostalgia surge amid the pandemic.

 

And it was all about school life?

Set in the fictional comprehensive Grange Hill in North London, it dealt with a raft of hard-hitting issues, from bullying and teacher-pupil relationships, to teenage pregnancy and drugs.

 

Just say no!

The 1986 cast released Grange Hill: The Album, with a song 'Just Say No' reaching number five in the charts - tied into the heroin addiction storyline impacting Zammo, played by Lee MacDonald - that the cast were invited to perform the single at the White House by then First Lady Nancy Reagan, who launched the 'Just Say No' anti-drugs campaign during her husband's presidency.

 

The show spawned some big stars?

Todd Carty played loveable rogue Tucker, before going on to play Mark Fowler in EastEnders, while Susan Tully - who played Suzanne - went on to star in EastEnders as Michelle Fowler and Sean Maguire played Tegs, before he passed through EastEnders too, en route to the US where he starred in US fantasy series Once Upon a Time.

 

Now it’s coming back?

Redmond is resurrecting the show and hopes to bring back as many original characters as possible to be parents or grandparents of the pupils who now go to Grange Hill. Redmond, now 72, is completing a script for a Grange Hill movie, saying “It’s the thing that won’t go away” with people asking him “nearly every day” when it will return. As for the script, he revealed: “It's decided the school is costing too much to maintain so it should be knocked down, the land sold and proceeds used to build a new one and replenish local coffers.”

 

It’s also a very different world now?

Although the programme never shied away from difficult topics of the day, modern pressures will feature now, including the impact of social media on high school life. Redmond also revealed the film will be set in post-Covid Britain, looking at grief through the eyes of pupils who lost relatives in the pandemic.

 

Ba ra ba beowww...

Gets stuck in your head, doesn't it? Co-writer Celyn Jones, who played Mr Green on the series, said of the film: “We want the theme tune, we want the badge, we want the sausage on a fork, we want the social realism, we want the good humour, we want the poignancy. School is out!”