Written by Phil Redmond. Tx 15th February 1978
Mr Foster is something of a monster. There’s a slight resemblance between him and Mr Baxter (who is introduced in series two) but whilst Mr Baxter could be hard and uncompromising, he also had a kindly side. There’s no kind side to Foster (the amount of physical abuse he inflicts on the children is disturbing) . As a games master he’s strict and unrelenting – every pupil must have precisely the correct kit or they don’t take part in the lesson.
This brings him into conflict with Benny, who can’t afford to buy either a school uniform or a games kit. This is a particular problem since Benny wants to take part in the football trials, but without the correct kit Mr Foster won’t let him. His new friend Tucker comes to the rescue though, “borrowing” Justin’s sports top (I do like the way that Tucker never thinks to offer him his own!)
This still leaves the question of football boots. It’s nice that Mr Mitchell brings up the question in class and asks everybody if they have any suggestions since it helps to build a feeling of community. Ann Wilson (Lucinda Duckett) offers him her hockey boots – they’re not quite the same as football boots, but they’re better than nothing.
Eventually we see Mr Foster turn a blind eye to the hockey boots and he allows Benny to take part, but the fact he’s been so obstructive doesn’t reflect well on him. Mr Mitchell’s already told him that Green is a talented footballer and everything we’ve seen so far would suggest he’d be an asset to the school-team. So the fact that Mr Foster would be prepared to deny him a trial because he doesn’t have the right kit is rather petty-minded (you know that Mr Baxter would place ability over clothes any day).
Making brief appearances in this one are Perry Benson (later to become a familiar television face) and Brenda Cavendish as the games mistress. As a fan of Public Eye, it’s always nice to see Brenda Cavendish pop up in any other series.
Archive Television Musings 
Of the early episodes, this is one of my favourites. Early on Tucker hadn’t yet become the ‘lovable rouge’ of which he would become known as, in many of these early episode’s he’s rather an irritating naughty schoolboy, but this episode serves him well, which is many why I like it. With Mr. Foster his de facto ‘enemy’ it stands to reason that he would would help Benny assemble a football kit to, if nothing else, act as a bit of a two-fingers up at the starchy Foster. But it’s more than that, he’s helping a friend in need, maybe a promising sign of the moral radar – even if not always perfect – which the character would go on to develop.
Roger Sloman is again great as Mr. Foster, and it’s a shame the character was beyond these first two appearances. Strict and ‘a bit of a bastard’, presumably with some military background, it is interesting to see that Mr. Mitchell has sussed out how to keep on his good side and to at least ‘influence’ his strict decisions. As well as shades of the character continuing on into subsequent sport teacher Bullet Baxter (who was tough but fairer), I can’t help but feel there’s even vague hints of the infamous Mr. Bronsan in Foster in his ultra-strict methods, even if they do sometimes manifest themselves in slightly different styles.
Another reason this episode is one of the early ones to actually “work” is the sense of teamwork Mr. Mitchell manages to infuse in his class to help Benny with his problem (some nice and actually quite understated performances by Michael Percival in this early outings). Already the various alliances and status quo between pupils (and teachers!) is emerging, and it is nice to see how the various factors meld together. And with Tucker in the middle of it all; though he’s still not completely likeable just yet!!
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…I neglected to mention above, that it’s interesting to see Perry Benson pop up in one scene as a pupil here – especially when considering, six years later, he would appear in a spoof of ‘Grange Hill’ during the ‘Young Ones’ episode, during the episode ‘Sick’.
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My second run-through of Episode 2, and I still really like this one. An early sign of Tucker’s “doing the right thing even if by totally misguided means” mentality, and even if much of that determination is likely driven by the bonus outcome of on getting one over on Mr. Foster. And yes, as much as I love the iconic “Bullet” Baxter who joins the cast at the start of Series 2, it’s a shame we never saw more of Roger Sloman as P.E. teacher Foster – he’s a delightfully horrible teacher.
It’s also a great showcase episode for Mr. Mitchell and how he likes to “oil the cogs” of the daily grind at Grange Hill, helping spur people on and nudge things into a preferable outcome without ever getting involved enough to land himself in hot water – or more importantly in this instance, to avoid the wrath of Mr. Foster himself! The scene where he calls or Mr. Foster he won’t enter the gym to talk with him as he’s got the wrong footwear is quite telling, and we might assume he’s learnt from previous experience to keep on Frosty’s good side!
A very good episode. After the sheer “It’s the first ever episode!” novelty of Episode One, in many ways I might consider this to be the best episode of Series One.
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