Grange Hill. Series Two – Episode Eight | Archive Television Musings

Written by Alan Janes. Tx 26th January 1979

This episode sees Cathy Hargreaves move centre-stage for the first time. Up until now we’ve learnt very little about her, apart from the fact that her father died when she was a baby.

The news that a man has been spotted following several Brookdale girls sparks concern and the school is visited by a policeman who is keen to stress some basic safety tips. The reaction of the pupils to this news (they’re very unruly and Mr Llewellyn struggles to quell them) is quite interesting. It’s the first time we’ve really seen the kids behave badly en-masse – and with the SAG protests about school uniform still bubbling away it’s a taste of things to come.

Trisha and Cathy are busy collecting signatures for the petition to abolish school uniform. Trisha’s sister Carol refuses to sign, telling her younger sister (probably quite rightly) that “you’d be out here, whatever the issue. You just like stirring it.”

Later, the two girls are sent to post a parcel and after Trisha leaves to go home, Cathy is followed by a man (who was also seen hanging around the school at the start of the episode). There’s an obvious inference, but the reality is somewhat different – the man is Cathy’s father. It takes a while before this is revealed though, so the sequence of Cathy’s growing realisation that somebody’s following her is rather disturbing.

The obvious fall-out when Cathy realises that her dead father isn’t dead after all will be seen in the upcoming episodes – as Trisha and Cathy fall out and Cathy hooks up with a nasty piece of work called Madelin Tanner (Lesley Woods).

In true Series Two style, as one storyline finishes, another begins – although we haven’t shifted our focus away from Trisha just yet (which is good) – she’s out front of the school collecting signatures with Cathy for the S.A.G. campaign. However Cathy will soon become the focus of this episode…

Before we get to to all that, as well as apparently sinister man in a Morris Minor watching from across the street, we also get Trisha trying to get the signature for an “only seen this episode” student (later identified as “Gregory”) who takes a lo-o-ong time to decide about things. Also seen again later in the episode, he is the type of quirky one-off character who seemed to very much disappear by the of the Golden Era and as the series headed into the arguably “taking itself too seriously” 1990s era… but that’s a debate for another time. Curiously, although we later learn that Gregory is in Trisha’s sister Carol’s year, where school uniform isn’t required he still wears school uniform . . . Maybe he hadn’t yet made up his mind what else to wear!!

Back to the focus of the episode, Cathy, we get some interspersed – and highly convenient – info dumps from Cathy about going to see her Uncle Jack, who isn’t her real uncle but “a step uncle”, and that her real Dad died when she was a baby. We never do find out much else about Jack, but might presume he is or was Cathy’s new beau after Cathy’s dad departed.

With that info dump in mind, those clued up to the typical plot mechanics of television might indeed twig that the mysterious man following Cathy isn’t the local molester, which the police have warned pupils to be vigilant about, but is indeed Cathy’s dad, whom Cathy’s mother only said was dead after he did a runner years before.

Predictability or not, the episode unfolds well, showcasing Trisha’s frequent “just doesn’t stop to think!” mentality as she and Cathy wander off without a thought about the stalker prowling the area. The whole scenario of the secretary assigning them to take a package to the Post Office and her whole “there’ll only be half an hour school left so no point coming back” thing do feel questionable for sake of the plot, but regardless events do unfold well.

Although Carol is obviously worried about Trisha, it’s amusing how she bursts in and pretty much has a go at Mr. Mitchell as if Trisha not meeting her as arranged, was remotely his fault! Ol’ Mitch is very good in this episode, having quite a bit of screen time and several good scenes – even if the size of his late ’70s kipper tie is rather frightening!

We get a lot of location work in the second half of this episode, and as with many Series 1-2 episodes, the much of the fictional layout does match the real streets used for filming in Kingsbury, albeit given fictional names. The Post Office which Trisha and Cathy visit, (unknowingly being followed by Cathy’s dad), the nearby dress shop, and the walk along the High Street are along Kingsbury Road. However, when Cathy leaves Trisha to walk home ‘alone’, she is suddenly walking off of Preston Road onto the backstreets, some half an hour’s walk away from Kingsbury Road.
Elsewhere, the unmarked police car’s journey, with Carol and Mitch in the back, is pretty consistent, going across the Kingsbury Circle Roundabout, which moments later turns onto Preston Hill, and they find Trisha nearby in Belvedere Way – which is pretty consistent with the real-life streets – Except for the fact Belvedere Way itself is 20+ minutes walk from Kingsbury Road, where Trisha was previously.
Cathy meanwhile, has gone from walking into Grasmere / Longfield Ave just behind Preston Road, to walking along Broadview just off of Fryent Way – which is some half hour’s walk back again … It would have actually been more “realistic” to simply having hear walk there directly from Kingsbury Road, which is only around ten minutes walk away. Now realising she is being followed, she runs from here across the outskirts of Fryent Country Park (all of which tallies), coming out at Shakespeare Drive (a number of houses and buildings at this end, having been re/built since filming in Autumn 1978, but many other houses in the background still being very recognisable); her “stalker” father, is also caught along the far end of Shakespeare Drive, which loops around a small green).

Beyond Tucker, Benny and Justin’s exploration of the derelict old factory in s01e06 (a location I’ve not yet tracked down yet but we can logically presume is long since demolished and which wasn’t necessarily in the immediate area filming-wise), this is the most location worked we’ve yet seen in an episode. By the way, the number plate of the silver Ford Granada police car, VHK 457S, is just one number out of Cowley’s beige Granada featured in some episodes of ‘The Professionals’; and several cars in ‘The Sweeney’ also have not-far-off plates (with ‘Pros’ understood to have used one or two previously ‘Sweeney’ cars on occasion). We might presume that the company(s) which leased these cars out of various productions purchased a batch of them to be used for such occasion.

Another very strong Series Two episode (even if inevitably dated by the lack of mobile phones, which would likely be Carol’s first point of call if trying to find Trisha nowadays), and it’s good to see Cathy finally get her turn in the spotlight, in many ways having been little more than a line feed for Trisha until now. It is also another good Trisha showcase episode – how she can sometimes be headstrong, yet at other times simply not think with a level head.

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3 thoughts on “Grange Hill. Series Two – Episode Eight”

CJAlan says:

September 23, 2021 at 8:18 am

This was an interesting episode for Grange Hill to cover very early on.

In the 1970s, and even in the 80s, there were a number of high profile child abductions and murders, that were committed randomly by opportunistic male offenders (predators) who were not known to their victims. Robert Black was probably the most notorious monster from this era.

There does appear to be an underlining message in this episode about staying safe and do not engage with strangers when you are away from school grounds.

The twist at the end concerning Cathy’s father wraps up the episode nicely. I first watched this episode when it was repeated in the BBC2 Sunday morning re-runs in the 1990s and I still think it is an excellent story from the very early years.

Michael Percival (Mr Mitchell) has some great scenes – such a shame he would not become a long term character.

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steveresin says:

July 21, 2022 at 7:54 pm

Yay, a Cathy Hargreaves episode. Also nice to see a very young Judith Jacob as the girl signing Trisha’s petition. I loved watching Judith a few years later when she played Sensi in the 1983 sitcom No Problem!, which I keep praying will one day be released on DVD.

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P.j. Gathergood says:

July 3, 2025 at 2:24 pm

In true Series Two style, as one storyline finishes, another begins – although we haven’t shifted our focus away from Trisha just yet (which is good) – she’s out front of the school collecting signatures with Cathy for the S.A.G. campaign. However Cathy will soon become the focus of this episode…

Before we get to to all that, as well as apparently sinister man in a Morris Minor watching from across the street, we also get Trisha trying to get the signature for an “only seen this episode” student (later identified as “Gregory”) who takes a lo-o-ong time to decide about things. Also seen again later in the episode, he is the type of quirky one-off character who seemed to very much disappear by the of the Golden Era and as the series headed into the arguably “taking itself too seriously” 1990s era… but that’s a debate for another time. Curiously, although we later learn that Gregory is in Trisha’s sister Carol’s year, where school uniform isn’t required he still wears school uniform . . . Maybe he hadn’t yet made up his mind what else to wear!!

Back to the focus of the episode, Cathy, we get some interspersed – and highly convenient – info dumps from Cathy about going to see her Uncle Jack, who isn’t her real uncle but “a step uncle”, and that her real Dad died when she was a baby. We never do find out much else about Jack, but might presume he is or was Cathy’s new beau after Cathy’s dad departed.

With that info dump in mind, those clued up to the typical plot mechanics of television might indeed twig that the mysterious man following Cathy isn’t the local molester, which the police have warned pupils to be vigilant about, but is indeed Cathy’s dad, whom Cathy’s mother only said was dead after he did a runner years before.

Predictability or not, the episode unfolds well, showcasing Trisha’s frequent “just doesn’t stop to think!” mentality as she and Cathy wander off without a thought about the stalker prowling the area. The whole scenario of the secretary assigning them to take a package to the Post Office and her whole “there’ll only be half an hour school left so no point coming back” thing do feel questionable for sake of the plot, but regardless events do unfold well.

Although Carol is obviously worried about Trisha, it’s amusing how she bursts in and pretty much has a go at Mr. Mitchell as if Trisha not meeting her as arranged, was remotely his fault! Ol’ Mitch is very good in this episode, having quite a bit of screen time and several good scenes – even if the size of his late ’70s kipper tie is rather frightening!

We get a lot of location work in the second half of this episode, and as with many Series 1-2 episodes, the much of the fictional layout does match the real streets used for filming in Kingsbury, albeit given fictional names. The Post Office which Trisha and Cathy visit, (unknowingly being followed by Cathy’s dad), the nearby dress shop, and the walk along the High Street are along Kingsbury Road. However, when Cathy leaves Trisha to walk home ‘alone’, she is suddenly walking off of Preston Road onto the backstreets, some half an hour’s walk away from Kingsbury Road.
Elsewhere, the unmarked police car’s journey, with Carol and Mitch in the back, is pretty consistent, going across the Kingsbury Circle Roundabout, which moments later turns onto Preston Hill, and they find Trisha nearby in Belvedere Way – which is pretty consistent with the real-life streets – Except for the fact Belvedere Way itself is 20+ minutes walk from Kingsbury Road, where Trisha was previously.
Cathy meanwhile, has gone from walking into Grasmere / Longfield Ave just behind Preston Road, to walking along Broadview just off of Fryent Way – which is some half hour’s walk back again … It would have actually been more “realistic” to simply having hear walk there directly from Kingsbury Road, which is only around ten minutes walk away. Now realising she is being followed, she runs from here across the outskirts of Fryent Country Park (all of which tallies), coming out at Shakespeare Drive (a number of houses and buildings at this end, having been re/built since filming in Autumn 1978, but many other houses in the background still being very recognisable); her “stalker” father, is also caught along the far end of Shakespeare Drive, which loops around a small green).

Beyond Tucker, Benny and Justin’s exploration of the derelict old factory in s01e06 (a location I’ve not yet tracked down yet but we can logically presume is long since demolished and which wasn’t necessarily in the immediate area filming-wise), this is the most location worked we’ve yet seen in an episode. By the way, the number plate of the silver Ford Granada police car, VHK 457S, is just one number out of Cowley’s beige Granada featured in some episodes of ‘The Professionals’; and several cars in ‘The Sweeney’ also have not-far-off plates (with ‘Pros’ understood to have used one or two previously ‘Sweeney’ cars on occasion). We might presume that the company(s) which leased these cars out of various productions purchased a batch of them to be used for such occasion.

Another very strong Series Two episode (even if inevitably dated by the lack of mobile phones, which would likely be Carol’s first point of call if trying to find Trisha nowadays), and it’s good to see Cathy finally get her turn in the spotlight, in many ways having been little more than a line feed for Trisha until now. It is also another good Trisha showcase episode – how she can sometimes be headstrong, yet at other times simply not think with a level head.

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