THE CURTAIN COMES DOWN - CLOSE UP SPECIAL ON THE END OF GRANGE HILL

Overview > How we reported the news > Reaction > Grange Hill axe timeline

Grange Hill in its final throes - a brief summary of events on-screen and off which signalled the countdown to the demise of the series.

 

16 January 2007 Series 30 of Grange Hill transmits on the CBBC Channel. A planned BBC1 showing for later in the year is then axed, making this the first time in Grange Hill's history it has never been shown on BBC1.
09 August 2007 In correspondance with GH Online, BBC Children's controller Richard Deverell hints that the next series will appeal to "a younger audience".
27 November 2007 The BBC officially announces Grange Hill's next series will be substantially reworked for under-12s. However, reports that two thirds of the cast have been axed later prove to be unfounded.
December 2007 David Smith of The Observer approaches GH Online for comment on the proposed changes to Grange Hill. We decline, and suggest the newspaper instead speaks to Phil Redmond.
13 January 2008 Phil Redmond surprises many fans by telling The Observer that Grange Hill has now "been robbed of its purpose" and should now end.
21 January 2008 The BBC postpones transmission of Series 31, originally planned for February. The series is now pencilled in for the summer.
06 February 2008 CBBC controller Anne Gilchrist announces Grange Hill is to end, saying the series is no longer relevant to children's lives and that today's generation no longer see themselves as just schoolchildren.
14 April 2008 Series 31 begins transmission on BBC1.
10 July 2008 Eleven weeks in to Series 31, Richard Deverell tells Broadcast magazine the corporation needs to be providing more gritty teen shows like Grange Hill, and acknowleges what he describes as the "pawltry provision" for teen audiences across the broadcasting industry.