Alison Bettles was famous as Fay Lucas, the pretty blonde who
was a star player on Grange Hill's sports teams until the hormones
kicked in. Fay's crush on Mr King led to the maths teacher's
downfall and failing her O-levels. Following Grange Hill, Alison
played a young Ethel in Civvy Street - a one-off EastEnders
special set during the second world war. Her most recent TV
acting appearance was as a mum in London's Burning.
Now 37, Alison is mum to three boys and a girl. She recently
set up a recruitment agency specialising in freight forwarding
and has also trained as a beauty therapist. Her mum June was
Grange Hill's senior chaperone from the beginning and continued
to work on the series in Liverpool, until her death in 2003.
The overweight Roland Browning remains one of Grange HIll's
best-known characters. Grange Hill wasn't an easy ride for
him - if he wasn't being picked on by Gripper because of his
size he had to cope with mum leaving home and corruption by
Jimmy McLaren. But Roland's life turned the corner when he
met French girlfriend Fabienne and developed a talent for
French and cookery.
Grange Hill searched the whole of Britain for a rotund
young actor before finding Erkan. He continues to be much-sought
after and last summer appeared on Radio 1 with Lee MacDonald.
Erkan also appeared as a regular in Lenny Henry's sitcom,
"Chef".
If Gripper Stebson had a female counterpart it was Imelda
Davis, leader of the Terrorhawk Witches who terrorised classmates
and first years. After over a year of bullying and extortion,
Imelda was finally expelled after her behaviour worsened in
Series 10.
Fleur Taylor later appeared in another children's drama
"Alfonso Bonzo" in 1990. She continues to do some
acting and worked alongside Rik Mayall in the children's
animation Tom and Vicky for CITV. However her main preoccupation
these days is running her own estate agent's in Surrey.
Grange Hill's original Scouser, the character of Ziggy came
about when Phil Redmond planned to introduce a Northern character
"to show people there's life north of Watford".
It just so happened George Wilson, who got the part, was from
Liverpool like the show's creator. So in 1986 Ziggy arrived
at Grange Hill when his family moved to London in search of
work. The loveable rebel teamed up with Robbie Wright and
enjoyed many escapades over three series including "climbing"
onto the school roof, seeking out the Ghost of Grange Hill
and finding Danny Kendall's lifeless body.
Following Ziggy's return to Liverpool George was involved
in a series of theatre and radio projects. In 1989 he appeared
in the play Hillsborough, which he describes as "one
of the hardest things I've ever had to do". Then came
a cameo in Channel 4's Brookside as Little Jimmy Corkhill,
junkie son of the Close's loveable rogue Jimmy Senior. George
is now the proud father of five-year old Kirk and continues
his acting career.
Jane started off as a semi-regular but her role became more
developed with time in the mid-1980s. At the start she came
over as devious but soon became one of the girls.
Following her departure from Grange Hill, Joann landed
the role of a possessed teenager in Doctor Who, working
with ex-GH star Joanne Eversdon-Bell. More recently she
was a checkout girl in a Christmas ad for Tesco, featuring
comedy legend Prunella Scales.
The natural successor to Tucker Jenkins in the 1980s, Zammo
Maguire is best remembered for his harrowing descent into
heroin addiction in 1986. This led to the release of the single
"Just Say No" and the cast visiting Nancy Reagan
in the US. Before all that, Zammo was a happy-go-lucky rebel
who literally caused a stink on his first day at Grange Hill
- thanks to some stink bombs!
Following Grange Hill, Lee had a minor part in "The
Bill" and a Yorkshire TV drama with Nick Berry in 1996.
However, these days Lee is busy running a key cutting shop
in London. He reports that everyone still calls him Zammo!
Lee's mum Maureen was another chaperone on Grange Hill but
in a 1988 BBC documentary she insisted her son didn't get
any preferential treatment!
Julie Marchant arrived in Grange Hill as a second year and
immediately got up Annette Firman's nose for muscling in on
Fay's friendship with her. When Annette left Grange Hill Fay
and Julie were best mates; but in the sixth form Julie had
distractions in the form of ladies' man Freddie Mainwaring
who kept confusing her with his old flame, Julia Glover!
Lisa attended Italia Conti in London but is now out of
the acting market.
Gripper Stebson remains the best-known of all the Grange Hill
bullies. He started his evil reign in 1981 extorting money
and trashing the common room. Then along came Roland Browning
who was an easy target for Stebson. By Year 10 Gripper graduated
to hardcore racism and forced classmaters to "swear allegience
to the British people". He also caused a race riot but
was eventually expelled when the school's black pupils planned
to exact their own revenge.
When Grange Hill celebrated its 20th anniversary in 1998,
the BBC was unable to trace Mark. He was later found living
in a squat in Kilburn, however he was keen to break back
into acting. He's appeared in a film alongside Ray Winstone.
Helen was Imelda's right-hand woman in the Terrorhawks but
soon tried to break free of Imelda's hold. Despite ditching
the bully, Helen remained brassy, no-nonsense and fiercely
protective of best friend Georgina Hayes. In the fifth year
Helen decided on a career in engineering and landed a work
experience placement amid much opposition from her male counterparts.
Ruth continues to act and has been seen in The Bill and the
BBC schools series Scene.
Banksie was Zammo's main rival for the affections of Jackie
Wright and the pair were constantly battling for her affections
for three series. Ultimately, Banksie lost Jackie to Zammo
but found new friends at the Hazelrigg Road school for the
disabled. Not much was known about Tim's whereabouts until
the reunion and Tim is now living in Tenerife.
