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 Yorkshire
lass Rebekah Joy Gilgan joined Grange Hill as the show was undergoing
a critical transitional point. The last of the "Just Say No"
crew were in their final year in the show, and the Year 10 class with Justine Dean and Matthew Pearson taking
centre stage. GH Online talks to Rebekah, who played bolshie Fran
Williams, about being the only Northern girl in the show, perception
of Grange Hill in the 1990s and thoughts on the show's demise.
As a Yorkshire lass, how did you come to be involved with Grange
Hill, a show with a distinctly London identity? Not particularly but I did have a cousin that come down from Newcastle during one series. How did you feel when you discovered you got the part? Probably the discovery of the twins, as it was a quirky story line. At the time you joined Grange Hill, the programme was not enjoying
the high profile it did just five years earlier (Just Say No and
all that), and it would seem that the 1990s era of Grange Hill is
not remembered with the same fondness as the show's early years
and is almost always overlooked by journalists writing about Grange
Hill. Do you think this is fair?
Did you get on well with your co-stars? Are you still in touch
with any of them? And what of the adult actors - was there a "them
and us" off-screen between them and the child stars? Tell us about coming to film on Dartmoor - was it as much the
big adventure for you all as actors as it was meant to be for your
screen characters? I left to pursue Emmerdale and I wanted to relocate up north to be near my family. Career-wise you were one of the more successful members of your
screen class - going on to Emmerdale and recently being seen under
the wheels of a train in Casualty. Did you ever think that Grange
Hill would open those doors for you? Yes, it always felt very possible that people could go on to be successful, as in those days it was difficult to get into the acting world so we seemed to have an advantage. What are you doing with yourself these days? Not since I've left to be honest! Does it seem strange to you that Grange Hill is now made in
the North with an exclusively Northern cast, when in your day you
were the sole Northerner in a sea of Londoners? No I didn't see that episode but I think its good that things like that are brought into the public realm, as its a very common syndrome. I also believe you are dyslexic; did this cause any problems
for you as an actress on Grange Hill and later in your career? You
probably know that Grange Hill itself had tackled the subject of
dyslexia back in 1979 (Simon Shaw) and how good a job do you think
they made of it? I think GH's glory days were well and truly over, the BBC thought they were flogging a dead horse, so it's no surprise to see they finally ended it. Any final thoughts? |
