LET THE REVOLUTION BEGIN! Two years in the planning, Grange Hill burst onto our screens on Wednesday 08 February 1978 and delivered a much needed rocket to the twee and often middle class world that was BBC children's television in the late 1970s.

The nine-part first series introduced us to the pupils of form 1 Alpha, and would solely concentrate on them as they found their way round the jungle that is secondary school. Grange Hill High School was an ordinary comprehensive where the pupils came from a variety of mixed backgrounds, so there was a character we could all identify with - the original rebel and people's hero Tucker Jenkins, uniform-hating, rule-breaking Trisha Yates, class spods Justin Bennett, Judy Preston and Ann Wilson, and the obligatory bully, Mickey Doyle. We followed them throughout an eventful first year which saw Judy Preston come up against school bully Jackie Heron, Trisha Yates continually test her teachers' patience by flouting the dress code and the school council elections which saw Ann Wilson elected with her mandate for a school tuck shop.

The teachers were fairly typical too - firm but fair form master Mr Mitchell, with his trademark humour; Mr Foster the no-nonsense and slightly eccentric sportsmaster, reasoned head of year Mrs Monroe (not to be confused with the Mrs Monroe who appeared in Grange Hill from 1990 onwards) and headmaster Mr Starling.

There was concern that Grange Hill would not be well-received by the young audience - even director Colin Cant questioned whether or not children would want to come home after a hard day at school to watch a docu-drama about - being at school. But he needn't have worried. The intended audience loved Grange Hill - for once it was something they could relate to - but the parents absolutely hated it! It was only a few weeks in before Grange Hill courted the controversy which would stay with it throughout its 30-year run; episode four, in which pupils were left unsupervised in the school pool, courted so much controversy it was withdrawn from a later repeat run. But Grange Hill always made a point of taking a moralistic stance against bad behaviour; in episode 6 Tucker and Benny got the cane for taking Justin Bennett to the munitions dump while later Tucker meted out his own form of justice against school bully Doyle, who stole a pair of antique pistols from the art room and in doing so threatened the school fete.

FIRST YEARS
Justin Bennett
Michael Doyle
Benny Green
Joseph Hughes
Alan Hargreaves
Mary Johnson
Tucker Jenkins
Judy Preston
Trisha Yates
Ann Wilson

OLDER PUPILS
Jackie Heron
Carol Yates

STAFF
Miss Clark
Mr Garfield
Miss Mather
Mr Mitchell
Mrs Schubert

OTHERS
Mrs Jenkins
Mrs Green