Nice to see we all not too old to still love and watch GH
I used to love that show, and it's spin off Tucker's Luck. Those were the days of decent programming both for children and adults. You had more to watch back then with only 3 then 4 channels than we do today with a thousand channels.
Nice to see we all not too old to still love and watch GH
I used to love that show, and it's spin off Tucker's Luck. Those were the days of decent programming both for children and adults. You had more to watch back then with only 3 then 4 channels than we do today with a thousand channels.
Grange Hill in the first 5 years or so was more gritty than most adult TV is nowadays!
Trisha Yates always sticks in my mind and I can visualise her immediately right now.
Bullet Baxter was rather frightening at the time to me. It began 3 or 4 years before I started secondary school and I recall seeing his PE lessons on Grange Hill and being terrified of what awaited me in the future, especially the discovery that they always made you strip naked and go in the showers after every PE lesson in big schools which I could barely believe at the time from my safe primary school. It was a shock to discover such things were the future of school and left me quietly fretting about such things to come, which of course duly did! Looking back on it Baxter is quite an endearing and reasonable figure in many ways.
Why they ever changed such an iconic and recognisable theme tune for the dirge they gave it, that sounded like a 5 year old had knocked it out randomly on a toy organ, is beyond belief. When did it stop being good? About 1988/89 I'd guess.
Nice to see we all not too old to still love and watch GH
I used to love that show, and it's spin off Tucker's Luck. Those were the days of decent programming both for children and adults. You had more to watch back then with only 3 then 4 channels than we do today with a thousand channels.
The only thing I think comes even close is Waterloo Road.
I was very disappointed that only the first four series of Grange Hill were released. Surely the BBC could release the whole series- think of how many fans would want to see the Zammo Drugs storyline again.
I didn't think the DVDs were promoted well and the episodes had also been given a "filmic" look to them which I didn't understand. All indoor scenes were shot on videotape so why try to change their appearance for the DVDs?
According to the website: 'they have been transferred from VHS to DVD'....'every ep from series 5 - 18'. It's a 14 disc set and costs £15 with free postage. Too good to be true????
As much as I loved Grange Hill, I used to think all secondary schools were just as frightening, and used to think the likes of Mr 'Bullet' Baxter and Mr Bronson were in every school
Bullet, Sooty Sutcliffe and Scruffy McGuffy were all pretty good guys for teachers.
I sort of remember Paula Ann Bland being the sort of pin-up of the time,
Why they ever changed such an iconic and recognisable theme tune for the dirge they gave it, that sounded like a 5 year old had knocked it out randomly on a toy organ, is beyond belief. When did it stop being good? About 1988/89 I'd guess.
Bullet, Sooty Sutcliffe and Scruffy McGuffy were all pretty good guys for teachers.
I sort of remember Paula Ann Bland being the sort of pin-up of the time,
They always stuck up for the underdog. Scruffy always encouraging the creative side of their natures and being a bit of a rebel. Sooty was very sexy. Bullet always helping Roland.
Grange Hill in the first 5 years or so was more gritty than most adult TV is nowadays!
Trisha Yates always sticks in my mind and I can visualise her immediately right now.
Bullet Baxter was rather frightening at the time to me. It began 3 or 4 years before I started secondary school and I recall seeing his PE lessons on Grange Hill and being terrified of what awaited me in the future, especially the discovery that they always made you strip naked and go in the showers after every PE lesson in big schools which I could barely believe at the time from my safe primary school. It was a shock to discover such things were the future of school and left me quietly fretting about such things to come, which of course duly did! Looking back on it Baxter is quite an endearing and reasonable figure in many ways.
Why they ever changed such an iconic and recognisable theme tune for the dirge they gave it, that sounded like a 5 year old had knocked it out randomly on a toy organ, is beyond belief. When did it stop being good? About 1988/89 I'd guess.
I agree.
I remember watching the show right from the start and i thought the first few years were outstanding. However, i haven't watched from series 8 onwards, and although the stories from the Roland/Zammo/Gripper era are great (from the ones i've seen), i have always felt that the original cast of Tucker/Alan/Trisha/Justin/Penny etc. seemed better balanced, and had a little more gravitas. There's a wonderful combination in those early series of those more studious pupils (Penny, Susi, Justin), and the clowns (Tucker, Benny, Alan, etc.) and the bullies (Bugar Benson, and to a degree Michael Doyle). I think as the programme matured, the stories definitely got more controversial (and especially the racial abuse storyline from series 6). However, for me, series 6 proved a lot to live up to, and in a sense ended up exhausting the show's vitality for a while. Series 7 by comparison seemed merely a whimper, and was the first time in all those years that i felt a stain of mediocrity creeping in.
Anyone remember Mr Mitchell?.......... I thought Michael Percival was excellent in his role as a teacher. I was really sad he left only after the second series. I wonder if it was Michael Percival's decision to leave the series?
Like most kids of my generation Grange Hill was essential viewing in the 80s. I loved the way they tackled issues, Zammo's heroin addiction, Imelda's bullying, but mostly I remember the racist attacks on an asian boy ( can't recall his name) by the bully Gripper Stebson. Even though I was about 5 at the time those scenes still haunt me!
Like most kids of my generation Grange Hill was essential viewing in the 80s. I loved the way they tackled issues, Zammo's heroin addiction, Imelda's bullying, but mostly I remember the racist attacks on an asian boy ( can't recall his name) by the bully Gripper Stebson. Even though I was about 5 at the time those scenes still haunt me!
Yes, there was a new generation of viewers watching which were coming of age, so to speak, just as there had to be a fresh intake of students. I would imagine sometimes in a more typical tv series scenario, you'd most defintitely choose to hold onto your most popular actors/characters, who were most responsible in attracting the viewers, but of course Grange Hill was very different. I'd imagine the reduced profile, and eventually loss of characters like Tucker, would have created a good few headaches for those working behind the scenes, not really being sure if they would be able to find new characters that could be just as loved.. However, of course, just as the original characters have to move on, so does a signigicant proportion of the audience, being replaced by those who are only really familiar with the newer characters, anyway.
I think it's really hard to find a series that comes close to the consistent greatness of Grange Hill, at least back in those earlier years. Even series seven manages to pick up considerably by its final third.
I suppose in essence it was a kids soap. However unlike today's school dramas, like 'Waterloo Rd' it had an authentic feel, it wasn't exaggerated you could relate easily to it, you recognized the scenarios. Waterloo Road IMO was always soapy nonsense.
I started watching this again on youtube from the start, the thing that annoyed me when it came to series 5 all the kids got about one or two episodes that were in from the start, I would have love to see them 5 year
Comments
I used to love that show, and it's spin off Tucker's Luck. Those were the days of decent programming both for children and adults. You had more to watch back then with only 3 then 4 channels than we do today with a thousand channels.
Grange Hill in the first 5 years or so was more gritty than most adult TV is nowadays!
Trisha Yates always sticks in my mind and I can visualise her immediately right now.
Bullet Baxter was rather frightening at the time to me. It began 3 or 4 years before I started secondary school and I recall seeing his PE lessons on Grange Hill and being terrified of what awaited me in the future, especially the discovery that they always made you strip naked and go in the showers after every PE lesson in big schools which I could barely believe at the time from my safe primary school. It was a shock to discover such things were the future of school and left me quietly fretting about such things to come, which of course duly did! Looking back on it Baxter is quite an endearing and reasonable figure in many ways.
Why they ever changed such an iconic and recognisable theme tune for the dirge they gave it, that sounded like a 5 year old had knocked it out randomly on a toy organ, is beyond belief. When did it stop being good? About 1988/89 I'd guess.
I didn't think the DVDs were promoted well and the episodes had also been given a "filmic" look to them which I didn't understand. All indoor scenes were shot on videotape so why try to change their appearance for the DVDs?
According to the website: 'they have been transferred from VHS to DVD'....'every ep from series 5 - 18'. It's a 14 disc set and costs £15 with free postage. Too good to be true????
I sort of remember Paula Ann Bland being the sort of pin-up of the time,
But yes, original is best.
They always stuck up for the underdog. Scruffy always encouraging the creative side of their natures and being a bit of a rebel. Sooty was very sexy. Bullet always helping Roland.
think his name was Kevin, he was Zammo's mate who first realized he was on smack
he did the terrible rap in the middle of the Just Say No song
He did come across as up his own arse in the JLC Bring Back Grange Hill show, Ziggy, Faye and Zammo however seemed very warm and likable
I agree.
I remember watching the show right from the start and i thought the first few years were outstanding. However, i haven't watched from series 8 onwards, and although the stories from the Roland/Zammo/Gripper era are great (from the ones i've seen), i have always felt that the original cast of Tucker/Alan/Trisha/Justin/Penny etc. seemed better balanced, and had a little more gravitas. There's a wonderful combination in those early series of those more studious pupils (Penny, Susi, Justin), and the clowns (Tucker, Benny, Alan, etc.) and the bullies (Bugar Benson, and to a degree Michael Doyle). I think as the programme matured, the stories definitely got more controversial (and especially the racial abuse storyline from series 6). However, for me, series 6 proved a lot to live up to, and in a sense ended up exhausting the show's vitality for a while. Series 7 by comparison seemed merely a whimper, and was the first time in all those years that i felt a stain of mediocrity creeping in.
Anyone remember Mr Mitchell?.......... I thought Michael Percival was excellent in his role as a teacher. I was really sad he left only after the second series. I wonder if it was Michael Percival's decision to leave the series?
Yes, there was a new generation of viewers watching which were coming of age, so to speak, just as there had to be a fresh intake of students. I would imagine sometimes in a more typical tv series scenario, you'd most defintitely choose to hold onto your most popular actors/characters, who were most responsible in attracting the viewers, but of course Grange Hill was very different. I'd imagine the reduced profile, and eventually loss of characters like Tucker, would have created a good few headaches for those working behind the scenes, not really being sure if they would be able to find new characters that could be just as loved.. However, of course, just as the original characters have to move on, so does a signigicant proportion of the audience, being replaced by those who are only really familiar with the newer characters, anyway.
I think it's really hard to find a series that comes close to the consistent greatness of Grange Hill, at least back in those earlier years. Even series seven manages to pick up considerably by its final third.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mmoloki_Chrystie
Yeah I loved the mid to late 80s years as well
The last great year was 1989.