Grange Hill. Series Three – Episode Three | Archive Television Musings

Written by Phil Redmond. Tx 15th January 1980

Mr Hopwood (Brian Capron) makes his first appearance in this episode. Like Mr Sutcliffe, he’s a teacher who’s got the best interests of the children at heart – although he’s clearly no pushover. In his first scene he berates Andrew and Alan for giving Justin the birthday bumps, but after he’s done this he casually tells the class it’s far too nice a day to stay inside and suggests they might as well go for a walk.

They venture out to a piece of wasteland where, as part of their environmental studies, they look at the local wildlife. Alan nips off for a cigarette – which is the start of a long-running storyline that continues well into the fourth series. Since this brief ramble was a success, Penny and Susi ask Mr Hopwood if they can venture out into the proper countryside. Mr Hopwood agrees, so next week the trip goes ahead.

Naturally enough it doesn’t all go smoothly – Justin steps in a cowpat and Alan and Andrew cause a fire. Alan and Andrew head off into the forest to have a cigarette, but unluckily for them Penny and Susi are also there. Susi’s been complaining about her new bra, so Penny suggests they go somewhere quiet where she can look at it.

A comedy of embarrassing errors then occurs as the girls realise that they’re being inadvertently spied upon and the boys beat a hasty retreat – not knowing that their dropped cigarette was smouldering. It’s another example of Grange Hill’s moral tone – as the message is clearly spelt out that just one cigarette could quickly cause a blaze which might spiral out of control. But there’s a positive solution as the pupils rally round to help to put out the fire.

Susi, Penny, Alan and Andrew come to an understanding – the boys won’t tell anybody about Susi’s bra problems if they promise not to reveal how the fire started. Given how the relationship develops between Susi and Alan, it’s interesting that this episode ends with a glance between Susi and Andrew – hinting that there might be the spark (no pun intended) of attraction between the pair of them.

A fairly enjoyable episode, notable for being the first appearance of Brian Capron as R3’s new form teacher, Mr. Hopwood. Although the departed Mr. Mitchell was G1’s form teacher nor R1, in some ways “Hoppy” takes over much of his mantle as the firm but fair and approachable make teacher (Mr. Sutcliffe, introduced in Series Two, might also be seen to share some of those inherited traits alongside Hoppy). Considering the large role Hopwood will go on to play in Series 3, it’s maybe slightly odd it’s left until Episode 3 for us to first encounter him, although it’s far from the only instance in GH where a major player isn’t introduced until a few episodes in, despite supposedly have been on-site since the start of the year.

We also get to meet a couple of other new faces, including first year head Mrs. Kennedy – one of the several very obvious rushed in characters to fill in for headmaster Mr. Llewellyn’s absence on-screen – as well as our first encounter of biology teacher Mrs. Thomas who, despite a perfectly acceptable performance from Susan Porrett, is a character who always feels to me as if she’d wandered out of some old Ealing comedy. She will go on to make sporadic appearances throughout this and the next two series.

The location shooting is nice, both the wasteland site near the school (I haven’t had time yet to put in some detective work to find out where this was, the land presumably long since cleared and built on), and the farmland which the school visits (ditto locating this, though I did narrow down a few likely sites a couple of years back). It always gives this a nice, different dynamic when were’ away from the studio sets of immediate school exteriors and off on location, and this episode almost feels like one of the annual school trips (typically placed mid-series) come early; in fact Series Three will indeed get away from the confines of the school itself quite a bit.

However, for all of the complaints and controversy which the series garnered, from unattended mischief in the school pool to Justin falling from the derelict building, to the SAG protests and the bad language and all else besides, one shocking thing that maybe did merit a couple of letters to ‘Points of View’ with this episode is an unexpected and lingering close-up of a dead, rotting dog (or fox?) on the wasteland site; charming for children’s tea-time viewing and something which I always find myself looking well away from long before it appears when I’m watching the episode.

With it’s countryside setting, much of the episode has a nice whimsical feel to it, despite the several “issue” storylines it introduces with it, such as Alan (who earlier on is seen again with his faithful travel chess set, this time playing against Andrew, with Justin challenging him next)’s smoking habit coming more into focus – devised, according to an interview with the late George Armstrong, due to himself being a smoker – and the “shocking” revelation of Susi wearing a bra.

The bra tale is particularly nicely done, not overplayed of sensationalism – It’s interesting to consider that in a couple of articles and interviews with Phil Redmond prior to the filming Series Three, talk of the upcoming series being ‘even tougher’ than the previous two gives mention of a female pupil rebelling about having to wear a bra. Whether this was simply newspaper talk trying to spice up the brief outline of the planned story, or if the planned version of the story had been altered as part of the agreement to tone down Series Three following controversies about Series Two, we can only but wonder. But either way, in the outcome the issue is actually dealt with quite mildly, the whole bra element never directly referenced after this episode, and it actually comes off both quite charming and slightly coy in it’s handling.

Likewise, the whole plot of Alan and Andrew – who have crept away for a cigarette – is also gently played, who actually behave quite respectfully towards Susi instead of things turning more lurid.
It’s also pleasing how earlier in the episode, the owner of then farmland Mr. Lewis (played, by the amusingly, coincidentally named Terry Bale) warns upon the trip’s arrival at the farm, that the fields are as dry as a bone – nicely lending some credibility how Alan’s cigarette – hastily discarded when they spot Penny and Susi – catches light and starts a fire so easily. The scenes of all the pupils and Mr. Hopwood all working in unison, gathering water from the nearby stream and butter-churns to extinguish the fire, add to the nice sense of gentle whimsy of this one, taking the edge off of the bigger issues of the episode, and there never feeling to be any major peril of the fire getting out of control.

The final scene, a moment between Andrew and Susi is interesting, considering it is instead Susi and Alan who will go on to be romantically involved; even in Episode 9, before their romance is yet a thing, it is Alan whom Susi pulls aside to thank. There are other instances both prior and post Series Three, where the non-school/immediate area location work was filmed first, ahead of the rest of the series, and I wonder/suspect if this was one such case, with storylines not yet having been finalised and it not yet having been decided that it should be Alan and Susi who will get together.

Either way, by Series Three’s watchable but bumpy standards, this is quite a nice episode.

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One thought on “Grange Hill. Series Three – Episode Three”

P.j. Gathergood says:

July 27, 2025 at 10:39 am

A fairly enjoyable episode, notable for being the first appearance of Brian Capron as R3’s new form teacher, Mr. Hopwood. Although the departed Mr. Mitchell was G1’s form teacher nor R1, in some ways “Hoppy” takes over much of his mantle as the firm but fair and approachable make teacher (Mr. Sutcliffe, introduced in Series Two, might also be seen to share some of those inherited traits alongside Hoppy). Considering the large role Hopwood will go on to play in Series 3, it’s maybe slightly odd it’s left until Episode 3 for us to first encounter him, although it’s far from the only instance in GH where a major player isn’t introduced until a few episodes in, despite supposedly have been on-site since the start of the year.

We also get to meet a couple of other new faces, including first year head Mrs. Kennedy – one of the several very obvious rushed in characters to fill in for headmaster Mr. Llewellyn’s absence on-screen – as well as our first encounter of biology teacher Mrs. Thomas who, despite a perfectly acceptable performance from Susan Porrett, is a character who always feels to me as if she’d wandered out of some old Ealing comedy. She will go on to make sporadic appearances throughout this and the next two series.

The location shooting is nice, both the wasteland site near the school (I haven’t had time yet to put in some detective work to find out where this was, the land presumably long since cleared and built on), and the farmland which the school visits (ditto locating this, though I did narrow down a few likely sites a couple of years back). It always gives this a nice, different dynamic when were’ away from the studio sets of immediate school exteriors and off on location, and this episode almost feels like one of the annual school trips (typically placed mid-series) come early; in fact Series Three will indeed get away from the confines of the school itself quite a bit.

However, for all of the complaints and controversy which the series garnered, from unattended mischief in the school pool to Justin falling from the derelict building, to the SAG protests and the bad language and all else besides, one shocking thing that maybe did merit a couple of letters to ‘Points of View’ with this episode is an unexpected and lingering close-up of a dead, rotting dog (or fox?) on the wasteland site; charming for children’s tea-time viewing and something which I always find myself looking well away from long before it appears when I’m watching the episode.

With it’s countryside setting, much of the episode has a nice whimsical feel to it, despite the several “issue” storylines it introduces with it, such as Alan (who earlier on is seen again with his faithful travel chess set, this time playing against Andrew, with Justin challenging him next)’s smoking habit coming more into focus – devised, according to an interview with the late George Armstrong, due to himself being a smoker – and the “shocking” revelation of Susi wearing a bra.

The bra tale is particularly nicely done, not overplayed of sensationalism – It’s interesting to consider that in a couple of articles and interviews with Phil Redmond prior to the filming Series Three, talk of the upcoming series being ‘even tougher’ than the previous two gives mention of a female pupil rebelling about having to wear a bra. Whether this was simply newspaper talk trying to spice up the brief outline of the planned story, or if the planned version of the story had been altered as part of the agreement to tone down Series Three following controversies about Series Two, we can only but wonder. But either way, in the outcome the issue is actually dealt with quite mildly, the whole bra element never directly referenced after this episode, and it actually comes off both quite charming and slightly coy in it’s handling.

Likewise, the whole plot of Alan and Andrew – who have crept away for a cigarette – is also gently played, who actually behave quite respectfully towards Susi instead of things turning more lurid.
It’s also pleasing how earlier in the episode, the owner of then farmland Mr. Lewis (played, by the amusingly, coincidentally named Terry Bale) warns upon the trip’s arrival at the farm, that the fields are as dry as a bone – nicely lending some credibility how Alan’s cigarette – hastily discarded when they spot Penny and Susi – catches light and starts a fire so easily. The scenes of all the pupils and Mr. Hopwood all working in unison, gathering water from the nearby stream and butter-churns to extinguish the fire, add to the nice sense of gentle whimsy of this one, taking the edge off of the bigger issues of the episode, and there never feeling to be any major peril of the fire getting out of control.

The final scene, a moment between Andrew and Susi is interesting, considering it is instead Susi and Alan who will go on to be romantically involved; even in Episode 9, before their romance is yet a thing, it is Alan whom Susi pulls aside to thank. There are other instances both prior and post Series Three, where the non-school/immediate area location work was filmed first, ahead of the rest of the series, and I wonder/suspect if this was one such case, with storylines not yet having been finalised and it not yet having been decided that it should be Alan and Susi who will get together.

Either way, by Series Three’s watchable but bumpy standards, this is quite a nice episode.

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