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 YOUR
MEMORIES OF GRANGE HILL: 1978-2008So now the deed has been done - the BBC has axed Grange Hill. We ask for your reaction in our CAN U HELP? special.  We've
heard what you think, but what about the cast? Joe Slack aka Bryn
Williams writes: "Well what can we say
hey? The news wasn't the best of news I was wishing to hear this week
but ah well I suppose things have to end at some point, but still
it's a shame to see the series go. I'm sure everyone will move on
to something else they're all really talented so they won't have a
problem getting onto other shows."Jamie Golding, who played bully Grimbo in the 1992 and 1993 series, has just heard: "I heard they're taking GH off air! that's a shame. I guess there's better stuff coming through." Jack Han, 12, from Nottingham: "I think that Grange Hill shouldn't be axed because lots of people (including me) used to love to watch it and taking Grange Hill away would make those people unhappy." Janette writes: "Save Grange Hill.... please... If for some mad reason we have to lose it, replay the old ones and show the kids of today a thing or two. I was a massive fan of Grange Hill, to be honest didn't know it was still on. Please replay or carry on, as the youth of today who spend time in the house need something to watch, and the Tuckers need to know where they stand in the real world. Grange Hill could be a great tool to get access to young people and there minds, put it on at tea time like it used to be. my kids are 14 and 16 and have no idea what im talking about... long live GH" Amanda Jones is furious: "Why, why do that? I love Grange Hill, I can't believe it. I think it should still be aired and it's not fair on the kids who do watch it. I'm 15 soon and have been watching Grange Hill from a very young age. When I was young I cried every time a series finished." Sharon Campbell: "I was very shocked to know about Grange Hill has been axed after 30th years and I couldn't believe it. it was the best TV children Programme. I enjoyed so much to watching it. Grange Hill is always means a lot to me. I would like to say a many thanks to the actor and actress for their hard working while they were in Grange Hill. I wouldn't give a miss to watch it. I have a great memories of Grange Hill especially my favourite character's will never forget it. I do hope that there will be another Grange Hill reunion again for a special 30th years. Best of luck to all the Grange cast at the past and the present to wish them every success in their life and happiness in their future." Matt McGraw writes: "Hey Simon, I was wondering what happened the forums?! Personally I'm gutted; it brought tears to my eyes to be honest... has any of the old cast been in touch with you?" As yet none of the cast have been in touch Matt, but we look forward to hearing from any! Forum enquiries should be directed to board-admin@ghblackboard.co.uk. Phil Wright, a self-styled 40-something fan Sutton Coldfield: "Hopefully Justin Lee Collins will do another 'Bring Back Grange Hill' - but this time bringing it back for good! Perhaps another TV channel will buy the rights to it and revamp it? We should not be surprised at the BBC axing it - remember this is the same TV company that got rid of Top Of The Pops. It seems every so often a new executive comes along at the BBC, no doubt on an inflated salary, and axes things which are literally institutions. They always think they know what we, the viewing public, want. As far as I am aware kids still go to bog-standard secondary schools in their thousands and therefore Grange Hill could be regarded as being somewhat relevant to the youth of today? The only difference I can see from when I was at school is that there are more computers, and the kids all have mobile phones. "Other than that, things are very, very similar. Same old subjects being taught, ties not being done up, fat kids not wanting to do PE, excuses being made for not doing any homework. To not even acknowledge Grange Hill's 30th anniversary on Feb 8th was simply disgraceful. They'd had all of 30 years to plan for it and did nothing at all. Not really sure what we are paying a licence fee for ant more? Oh yeah, Jonathan Ross' wages! Bring back Grange Hill!" Ant Pilgrim: "Very disappointed to learn that GH has been axed. What are 13-16 year olds meant to watch now? Hollyoaks?! The BBC seem to have abandoned us completely. I appreciate that 5-5.30pm wasn't the right slot for a drama aimed at my age group, so instead of dumbing down and then axing the show why not create a teens slot on BBC2 from 6-7.30pm and include a revitalised GH in that? It seems that only Channels 4 and 5 are interested in catering for my age group these days, and they don't offer much in the way of original drama. Hope you can get something done about this." Julian "Fozzy" Foster: "How sad - but it seemed to be the inevitable outcome of the latest lunacies imposed on GH by the BBC. GH was a part of the fabric of UK life - and not many television programmes reach that sort of status. It almost feels like a part of my childhood has been taken away. My contemporaries were Zammo, Jonah, Fay & Annette. Even though, like most kids, I loved GH during my own school years and then stopped watching, I "found" it again after a gap of about 20 years (during which I moved to Australia) when, quite by coincidence, I came across the 1996 series being repeated on TV here. That got me hooked again, caused me to find GH Online through which I got hold of copies of almost all the old series, some of which brought back happy memories I had seen before and the rest were fabulous new viewing for me. To me, "proper GH" ended when it moved to Liverpool (although I have not seen any series since 2002 so it's perhaps unfair to judge). Of course GH Online must remain. We will just have to concentrate on reliving the old series a bit more!" Alastair Lee: "Was sorry to hear that Grange Hill is coming to an end after 30 years, I remember it well during the late 70s-80s and will miss it very much. Do you think that the early series from the late 70s and 80s will be repeated on say, BBC3 or BBC4 within the next 12 months or so, or alternatively will there be a DVD on the golden years of Grange Hill?" Hi Alastair. Series 1-4 are now available to buy on DVD - click here for full details. It's unlikely there'll be any TV repeats in view of this. Christine Thomas: "I was really gutted to hear that they are axing Grange Hill. I am 35 yrs old and I really liked the old Grange Hill. I recently bought series 1, 2, 3 + 4 on dvd and I really enjoyed watching these series again. Even my two daughters aged 4 and 7 really enjoyed watching it. I'm sure if you kept the series going they would watch it. I was looking at the site about what happened to the original characters and I was really upset to hear that the person that played Miss Mooney had died of cancer. I liked her in the show especially when she was going out with Mr Sutcliff. Please don't axe the show as it is part of history." One of GH Online's longest supporters, Malcolm Neale, writes: "Such a pity that things had to end like this, but as you say, it is the right decision. I would much rather GH end now than carry on in a diluted form aimed at six year olds. I do hope this will not make any difference to the 30th anniversary celebrations that have been planned as they will be even more poignant now, especially if they follow the last ever episode. "If you have any doubts about the future of GH Online; as far as I am concerned it should remain for ever as a tribute and a source of reference to a great programme which will be remembered for years by thousands of adults who watched it with so much pleasure in their younger days." Hi Malcolm! GH Online isn't going anywhere but inevitably we will have to rethink some aspect of our operation now that Grange Hill is no longer in production. What these are we don't yet know, but we'll keep everyone fully informed! Michael Silvester of GH Gold writes: "Just heard the news. Whilst I am upset, I cannot say it has come as any surprise. The BBC are totally to blame for the way that they have sidelined the programme over the past few years. However, I feel it is better to put it out of its misery than end up with something that is no longer the show we loved. Personally, I think the suspension of series 31 was a forewarning; and rumours suggest that it simply wasn't up to scratch after so many changes to an almost unbreakable format! Sad news." Our own Andrew Gregson: "The right decision but a very sad day. I never thought I would see it. My only regret is that they should have returned to the original plot line and went out with a bang. I am very sad ... they had a chance to finish on a high and instead have finished with a muffle" Brian Mattocks writes: "Have the cruel and crazy BBC really decided to pull the plug on Grange Hill? If so is there anyone to complain to? And what will happen now for the 30th anniversary of the show....nothing?" Hi Brian - I'm afraid there is really little point in complaining as the decision is made and TV bosses, like politicians, never go back on their word and certainly they never listen to us. We would certainly not wish to discourage you from contacting the CBBC controller however: she can be reached at anne.gilchrist@bbc.co.uk. Andrew Brett: "I'm sorry it's ending. I started at the local comprehensive school in September 1977, and Grange Hill appeared the following year. I loved Trisha, Tucker and co. They were my contemporaries. I continued to follow Grange Hill after I left school in 1982, and I think the 1980s were a very good era for the show, with Gripper, Zammo, Roland, etc - and Mrs McClusky was very a real-seeming headmistress. I haven't seen it for years, but it was an excellent show when I watched it and I won't forget it." Matt writes: "I am very sad and totally shocked about the news. I know it didn't look hopeful when the changes to Series 31 were announced, but I still wasn't expecting this. It is very ironic for Grange Hill to be axed on the week of its 30th Anniversary. In many ways, though, I think Grange Hill was changing too much and the decisions for Series 31 were just taking the series away from its original concept, especially as it will be introducing pre-secondary school pupils. I never would have expected Phil Redmond to say it was time to axe Grange Hill though. As series 31 has already been filmed, Grange Hill can't have a good ending and it is very bad the way the series has been treated." Andrew Startup adds: "I was saddened to hear that the BBC has finally decided to end Grange Hill, but not totally surprised. I think that when Phil Redmond summed up perfectly that with the changes to be made to make Grange Hill appeal to a far younger audience were wrong, the writing was on the wall. And that perhaps delaying broadcast of series 31 was in order to make this announcement. "I feel though that the way the BBC have treated older children's drama series has been shoddy, and feel that the BBC were waiting for it to reach it's 30th anniversary year before announcing the inevitable. For myself, the first nail in the coffin was moving Grange Hill away from Elstree, and a production team that understood Grange Hill. The second was the move to Liverpool giving Grange Hill a regional accent when it was strongly identified with North London - even if it was never Phil Redmond's intention to make Grange Hill a London school. The third was moving Grange Hill from it's regular timeslot to an earlier one, further emasculating the type of storylines for which Grange Hill was famous for. "Added to this the BBC's decision to make children's programmes for a younger audience, the axing on Byker Grove, cutting back on the amount of Blue Peter programmes, showing the last series of Grange Hill only on CBBC, all added to what was inevitable and that is a shift away from catering for 12 to 16 year olds and effectively spilt the audience for those at school into two with the CBBC and BBC Switch brands." Michael Porter - Nottingham: "I've only watched the show since 2001 and since it's grown on me. I feel its a shame to let it go after it seems to have become a good supporting leg for teenagers over the past 30 years. This may sound naive but it could have been possible to sell the show to another network in an effort to keep it going. Mind you doing that could ruin the show altogether, so I guess in a way, it could be for the best if they have no other choice." GH Online regular Michael: "I have read on the internet today's sad news about Grange Hill being axed after 30 years and finally 31 series. I can understand the age range is changing but why axe it though - I think Grange Hill is and has been most important to Phil redmond than Hollyoaks and/or Brookside or both put together. Why can Phil Redmond just not offer Grange Hill to the highest bidder - any station would welcome a show like Grange Hill I'd of thought. Anyway back to what I was going to say about my memory's of Grange Hill:, my favourite series are 1987 - Series 10 joint with Series 25 (2002) 1991 - Series 14 1994 - Series 17. There are just so many other memories I've got of Grange Hill - one of my most earliest are Series 10 from 1987 and especially Mr Scott who was amazingly played by Aran Bell. Series 10 was such a vintage year and I imagine it will be seen as one of the best ever in years to come - alongside series 9 from 1986 of course. I just hope the end of the last ever series is illustrated as a memory to Grange Hill's 30 year and 31 series history (I guess what I mean by this is like on Neighbours when Jim Robinson died, there was loads of old photos - I hope Grange Hill is given this), plus a full DVD release to include Series 31. All that remains for me to say is Grange Hill will NEVER BE FORGOT I hope, given the history/heritage etc. that goes with it. Oh well I suppose this is the best way to describe what has been a amazingly big and sad sad shock. Thank you as well for everything yourself and Andy and everyone associated with Grange Hill Online have done to make your site a amazing site dedicated to Grange Hill that covered 30 years until today's sad news." |
