THE REUNION - GRANGE HILL (320kbs-m4a/95mb/42mins)
BBC Radio 4 broadcast: 14th August 2022
The most popular faces from the early days of pioneering children's drama Grange Hill are reunited. Todd Carty, Susan Tully and Lee MacDonald take Kirsty Wark back to school.
When Grange Hill hit our screens in 1978 it was the first time ordinary British schoolchildren had seen characters like themselves reflected on screen. Phil Redmond's pioneering drama, set in a fictional north London comprehensive school, ran for 30 years, making it one of the longest-running programmes on British television.
Controversial storylines included racism, periods, bullying and drugs. Inevitably there were complaints. Teachers and parents were scandalised by the upstart pupils who spoke back to teachers and agitated to ban school uniform. It didn't stop the BBC instantly commissioning a second series with double the number of episodes.
Todd Carty, who played heartthrob Tucker Jenkins, got fan mail by the sack-load and won his own spin-off series Tucker's Luck. Susan Tully, who played the bright but troubled Suzanne Ross, nearly left the series early after her Dad lost his job.
Lee MacDonald played Zammo McGuire who famously got hooked on heroin. The plotline sparked the recording of the hit anti-drugs single Just Say No by cast members and prompted an invite to the White House.
Also joining Kirsty is Erkan Mustafa whose character Roland Browning was bullied for his size, and Simone Nylander whose famous line; "I just want to help you Ro-land" became a national catchphrase.
Many of the cast went on to find fame in other long-running British dramas, most famously Tully and Carty who played siblings Michelle and Mark Fowler in Eastenders. For others though, the mass adulation ended once they walked through the gates of Grange Hill for the last time and back to real life.
Producer: Karen Pirie
Series Producer: David Prest
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4
