Written by Margaret Simpson. Tx 16th January 1979
The staff/pupil council was a popular theme during the early series of Grange Hill, but after series five it rarely surfaced again. This is a little surprising, since it offered a rare opportunity for all members of the school community to have a say (even if, of course, the teachers tended to win the day most of the time – much to the pupil’s chagrin).
The thorny topic of school uniform, a running thread through series two, is brought up here. There are some, such as third-former Jess (Sara Sugarman), who are strongly opposed to uniforms – later in the episode she mutters that they might as well just brand them all and be done with it. Sugarman’s performance is so deadly earnest that it does raise a smile – for some reason the issue of school uniform seems to obsess her intensely.
Penny Lewis, as the new first year rep, has less contentious topics on her mind. She wants the school to create a bookshop, whilst the other first years want a tuck shop instead. Poor Penny – when she asks for a show of hands to support her proposal for a bookshop, none are raised, but everybody supports the idea of a tuckshop.
Her mother later suggests an obvious solution – why not have a combined tuck and bookshop. And it’s instructive to hear her pass off the idea next day in school as her own! She’s a sneaky one, is that Penny Lewis.
The school council meeting also gives us a chance to see Michael Doyle’s father, the very important (at least in his own mind) Councillor Doyle. Like his son, he’s not the nicest of chaps – Doyle Snr is pompous and officious and seems keen to block any suggestions made by the pupils. His character is in sharp contrast to Mr Llewellyn, who is prepared to listen to suggestions (and is much more approachable than his successor, Mrs McClusky would ever be).
Elsewhere, this is one of the first episodes where the trio of Tucker, Benny and Alan is clearly established. Alan was a very peripheral character in the first series, but we’ll see him become a much more central figure over the next few years. And by the time of series four he’s supplanted Benny as Tucker’s best friend (especially when Benny fades away from view in the second half of the series).
In this episode they get into trouble for taking to the school jumble sale a chaise-long they thought was left for the binman. The owner of the antique shop (or junk shop, as Tucker more accurately called it) wasn’t best pleased – but it seems that an honest mistake was made, so once the boys lug it back to the shop all was forgiven.
It’s an eye-opener to hear that the clothes sold at the jumble sale were going for five pence each. I know this was 1979, but that seems like a bargain even then! It’s even more impressive when it’s revealed that the jumble sale made £435.00. How many items at five pence a time must they have sold to make that amount of money?!
Another lovely Tucker moment occurs when he shamefacedly realises he’s sold Mrs Bennett’s rather expensive coat for five pence! Although he did honestly think it was part of the jumble, so we can’t blame him for that.
Archive Television Musings 
“Sugarman’s performance is so deadly earnest that it does raise a smile – for some reason the issue of school uniform seems to obsess her intensely.”
When you’re 13/14 I guess school can seems like it’s all your world and the seeming inequities and unfairness stands out the more. As already established there are other schools that don’t have uniforms which makes the local policy harder to understand
And also the formal mechanisms can seem pointless – and Grange Hill’s school council seems to have rather more power than the pointless talking shop I had at one of my schools where a bunch of reps picked by teachers would pass resolutions that the headmaster would simply dismiss with poor rationales that didn’t always match the facts. (Term date alignment is the one I particularly remember as it was at a time when local authorities were increasingly co-ordinating calendars so the excuse of a lack of government guidance rang hollow.)
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Sugarman as Jess was always hilarious in GH, she reminds me of Millie Tant from Viz she’s so earnest and angry all the time.
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Series Two – and the series in general – feels to be really hitting it’s stride around this point, as highlighted in this really good episode. And one of those reasons I find it so good, is in it’s variety – it’s focused around one storyline, and yet effectively has ‘a little of everything’. It is also a showcase episode for how, under Phil Redmond’s guidance, how politically themed the series was during it’s early years. I gotta say, my school (on the border of Berks/Bucks around 20 miles outside of London) was never half as politically fueled as GH was; I wonder if if varied from school-to-school (and more-so inner London?) or if it was simply by Redmond’s design, to act as a platform for some of the topics he wanted to focus on?
The interesting Trisha/Simon pairing continues, and as they walk to school (entering through the side entrance on Bacon Lane, Kingsbury, location fans), and as they enter the gate, we meet Jessica Samuels (Sara Sugarman) for the first time. I was too young to remember her first time ’round (I had only turned 1 yeas old the day s2e02 was broadcast!), but if I had, I’m sure young me would have found her quite an intimidating, even possibly scary character, what with her quite androgynous appearance and her fierce “would be opposed anything just to stir things up” attitude (a line which, coincidentally, Carol paraphrases about sister Trisha in Episode 8). Jess is an intense character, and Sara Sugarman plays her INTENSELY … although that’s not to say she plays her badly, far from it.
BTW, during her first scene, Sugarman fluff’s one of her lines but corrects herself, a reminder of the “retakes only when badly needed” policy of not only GH but of so much British TV output back then (and something, unless severe, I don’t have a major problem with).
We also get to see Penny really in action as the new Year 1 representative for the first time. Although it’s quite clear Penny was created as a direct replacement for Series One’s Ann, it’s interesting to see that even so, the writers have used the opportunity to tweak the character a bit, making Penny far more headstrong and even quietly fiery than prim-and-proper Ann ever was; I really like Ruth Davis in the role, with Penny unexpectedly becoming an early-years favourite with myself.
Her role within the episode does raise an interesting point though – Penny thinks Year One should vote for a school bookshop. Instead they vote for a tuck-shop. She’s not happy at this and feels they chose wrong. Eventually her mother suggests she could pitch both ideas of both rolled into one. Should Penny – after being voted in to represent her year – be championing what her year want; or has she the right to “guide” them to what she things is a “better” choice? An interesting microcosm of a political quandary to which there is no definitive “correct” answer. Redmond (and co.) seemed to want to introduce such debates to our young minds, and it works quite well.
This episode is also the first time we really get to see older pupils of the school doing anything much en mass, in both the council meeting, and the campaign Jess is attempting to drum up outside of it. I say “older pupils”… in reality, one or two of them are quite clearly past school-leaving age and then some, but anyway…
The episode also marks the one and only time we see Doyle’s Councillor father (David McKail), who is every bit as obnoxious was we would expect Doyle’s father to be. Considering how politically driven the early years often were, it is maybe surprising that they never brought him back to be a thorn in whoever’s side more often in relevant storylines (We did eventually get a more recurring “obnoxious parent/school Councillor” with Julia Glover’s father in Series Nine, although Julie was hardly a horrible offspring as Doyle is!)
As good as the school council and the S.A.G. protests are, the episode might be a little heavy and single-toned if it were simply that along. Thankfully, later in the episode we get some classic Tucker-Alan-Benny escapades, as Tucker insists an supposedly old sofa left out with the rubbish, should be rescued for the school jumble sale – little realising it is actually a valuable chaise longue outside an antiques shop. These silly yet funny little plots were what could make the series so much fun in the early years, especially when confined to a singe episode and not outstaying their welcome (again… compare the later, series long “Clarke’s missing bike” fiasco!).
I’ve already identified a lot of locations used for filming in s1-2, but confess as yet I’ve not managed to track down where the antiques shop was located. A lot of High Street shots in Series Two were filmed on or around Preston Road and surrounding streets in Wembley (features particularly heavily in Episode Eight), so I would hazard a guess it was around there. However, on occasion when a particular shop or location was required, they would move slightly further afield (see: pet shop in Ealing in s01e05, for example).
Awaiting outside the head’s office following the “misunderstanding”, Tucker, Benny and Alan wait on a studio set; When Tucker and Benny waited outside in Series One (Episode Six), it was on location actually within Kingsbury High School.
The episode ends with the punchline of, at the jumble sale, Tucker unwittingly selling a parents coat (for 5 pence!). The additional irony of this, actually quite brushed over, is that it is Justin’s mother’s coat. Not only does poor old Justin often get the hard end of Tucker’s shenanigans, but now his mother does as well.
The Tucker (and Alan and Benny) of this episode are likable; Misguided Tucker intends to do the right thing (in fairness, he is working hard to raise money for the jumble sale, even if a bet with Doyle is the driving force behind it), but fate simply seems to see him destined for trouble no matter what! Either way, a very good episode, and the S.A.G. / School Council stuff sows the stage for much of what is to follow over the course of Series Two and beyond.
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