Written by Phil Redmond. Tx 8th February 1978
Benny Green (Terry Sue Patt) has the honour of being the first pupil we see entering the grounds of Grange Hill. Quite why he’s so early isn’t explained here – but it’s obvious from his opening scene that he lives for football. He’s also black and poor – both of which were considerable disadvantages in late seventies Britain – but he’s always a positive character and never spends his time complaining about what he doesn’t have.
This opener is quite effective in demonstrating how intimidating a comprehensive school could be on your first day and the key part of the episode is the way that the various pupils react. Tucker (Todd Carty) and Alan (George Armstrong) take it in their stride whilst Judy (Abigail Brown) and Justin (Robert Morgan) view the place with barely disguised horror. Both are isolated, since all of their old friends have gone to different schools. Trisha (Michelle Herbert) on the other hand, seems to regard the new school with complete disinterest.
Most are placed under the care of Mr Mitchell (Michael Percival). As their form tutor, Mr Mitchell will be a key figure in guiding them through the school year and it’s clear from the outset that he’s both funny and compassionate.
On the other end of the scale is Mr Foster (Roger Sloman) who we’ll see more of in episode two. He lacks all of Mr Mitchell’s redeeming qualities and his early run-in with Tucker makes this quite clear. It’s somewhat staggering to learn that Sloman was only thirty two at the time this was made, as he looks a good ten or fifteen years older. It certainly bears out the truth that some people aged quicker back in the old days!
What will become something of a GH cliché gets its first outing here – a noticeboard with an arrow pointing the way to the assembly hall (which handily can be turned the opposite way to fox a green newcomer!). Ann (Lucinda Duckett), who overslept, is the first pupil to fall foul of this trick as several mean older girls, led by Jackie Heron (Mariam Mann), delight in sending her the wrong way. Even as a child it never struck me as credible that the arrow would be a moveable one (why not just chalk it on the board?) but no matter, it’s certainly a memorable moment.
It was a nice touch that the final episode of the final series, broadcast in 2008, ended with yet another changed arrow gag. The more things change …..
Although it might seem surprising that not all of the pupils are working class (the likes of Tucker, Alan, Benny and Trisha are firmly working class whilst Ann, Judy and Justin are resolutely middle class) this was an intentional move on the part of Phil Redmond. One of the themes he wanted to explore was the way that Comprehensive Schools took in a range of pupils of mixed abilities and backgrounds – as opposed to the grammar/secondary modern split which had existed before. It also helps to set up the possibilities of conflicts based on class, which would always be a fruitful avenue to explore.
Like a number of episodes from the early years, most of this one was shot on film and on location at an actual school. Although single-camera filming would have been more expensive and slower than multi-camera videotaping in the studio there were obvious advantages – both aesthetic and financial. The gloomy vistas of a real school (endless corridors seemingly stretching to infinity) are more effective at creating a sense of space and isolation than studio sets would have been. Shooting on location also meant that substantial constructions (like the school assembly hall) didn’t have to be mounted in the studio, which made financial sense.
Colin Cant’s direction, demonstrated with the screencap above, sometimes liked to favour low angle shots. It’s an obvious but effective trick – since the camera is positioned around Tucker’s eyeline, it makes Mr Foster seem more imposing than he otherwise would be.
By the end of the episode we’ve seen Tucker and Trisha clash for the first time and everything now seems to have settled down a little. The mystery of Alan’s surname (given as Turner in the episode, Hargreaves on the end credits and later to be changed again to Humphries) is a mystery that’s never been explained (at least not to me).
Archive Television Musings 
Reblogged this on Archive Television Musings and commented:
I’ve slightly redrafted and expanded my thoughts on this opening episode. I’m also gearing up to tackle Series Nine – posts should start appearing at the end of next week.
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I think they may have changed Alan’s surname when Cathy Hargreaves came on board.And they didn’t want viewers assuming they were brother and sister.Of course they could just have given Cathy a different surname.
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Possibly, though as you say, they could simply have given Cathy a different surname instead. Considering Alan get’s through three different surnames (Turner / Hargreaves / Humphries) I’d say it’s more likely simply down to sloppiness in producion – which in fairness was faily uncommon in the early years. Plus Alan was pretty much a secondary character in Series One; The issue might have been flagged up sooner had it been one of the “main” characters of s1.
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Having revisited early Grange Hill recently, I checked out a couple of the episodes for Series One.
Although, only nine episodes were recorded this year, GH almost has a documentary feel about it in the very early scenes.
Phil Redmond was still developing the programme whilst it was in production and the second series would undergo some key cast changes to boost the programme and give it a clear direction.
The character of Mr Foster would be the first in a long line of teaching ‘gits’ through the series. He really was a horrible man wasn’t he?
Strangely, actor Roger Sloman only lasts the first few episodes (I believe he only did the first two if memory serves me right)
Roger has really cut his teeth into a long CV of acting roles over the years and he does comedy really well, which is a world away from Mr Foster.
The exterior shooting for the first two series of GH were done at Kingsbury High School in North London. Todd Carty, along with the actors who played Alan & Susie revisited the school a few years ago on a BBC Breakfast news segment and the school hasn’t changed a great deal in over 40 years.
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you didn’t mention that Mr foster dissiplined a young tucker by striking him on the head with his knuckles ! A clear case of assault that I’m my experience of yesteryear school life was all too common
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I’m revisiting ‘Grange Hill’, every episode from the very beginning, up until the end of the “Golden Era” (everyone’s definition varies slightly, but for me it nosedived circa 1990), so as well as making my own notes on each ep for a later project, I thought I’d comment on episode as I go here too. I was just over a month old when this episode was first shown, I grew up with the series through the 1980s (I still have all the annuals and books), and by the time it turned up on Sunday mornings in 1993, it was always an interesting time capsule.
This does the whole “first day of school” thing well, and that fear of many of getting lost in a huge new building. From the off, Tucker emerges as one of the main characters, destined to be a favourite, and it is interesting to use this episode to pick out the ‘character types’ which would be reworked and recycled numerous times over the years (with a few more first appearing in Series 2, as Phil Redmond was still refining the formula). I was in my final year as a school pupil when this was shown in ’93… I remember for some reason fancying the socks off of Ann Wilson for some reason – one of the “first series only” characters. Every time I see the infamous ‘arrow turning’ scene (yes, redone several times throughout the series’ history), I forever wonder why I board would have an arrow pinned(?) on it instead of just drawn on!
It is staggering to see the level and frequency of physical discipline Mr. Foster dishes out; it was a very different era (I can remember one similar nasty teacher, several years after the cane and associated disciplines were supposedly banned), although it maybe does symbolise how “on the nose” GH would often be compared to various other ‘cosy’ school-based series. Even more staggering is when the blog reminds me that Roger Sloman (very good character actor) was 32 when he filmed this – I’d have had him pegged as mid-late 40s. Blimey!
I had actually forgotten about Alan’s changing surname early on. If it were two different names it might be explained as his parents having separated or not being married or whatever, but three… Can’t offer an explanation on that one.
And interesting first episode which does what it needs to. I always always amused in the far later episode which I caught literally by chance, as the series moved to Liverpool, which introduced Tucker’s relation ‘Togger’ (a sort of semi-reboot of the series), how it was very much a direct remake of this first episode, in some cases scene by scene. History does indeed repeat itself.
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After commenting on Episode One however many month ago, I intended to try and compare thoughts of every episode as I did a complete run through of GH’s “Classic Era” (everyone’s definition varies, but mine is from the beginning the end of Series 12.
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After commenting on Episode One however many month ago, I intended to try and compare thoughts of every episode as I did a complete run through of GH’s “Classic Era” (everyone’s definition varies, but mine is from the beginning the end of Series 12.
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After commenting on Episode One however many month ago, I intended to try and compare thoughts of every episode as I did a complete run through of GH’s “Classic Era” (everyone’s definition varies, but mine is from the beginning the end of Series 12.
LikeLike
After commenting on Episode One however many month ago, I intended to try and compare thoughts of every episode as I did a complete run through of GH’s “Classic Era” (everyone’s definition varies, but mine is from the beginning the end of Series 12.
LikeLike
After commenting on Episode One however many month ago, I intended to try and compare thoughts of every episode as I did a complete run through of GH’s “Classic Era” (everyone’s definition varies, but mine is from the beginning the end of Series 12.
LikeLike