Written by Margaret Simpson. Tx 16th February 1982

This episode focuses on Suzanne’s increasing disenchantment with both Grange Hill and life in general.  Early on we see her (along with two other girls) rehearsing a sketch for the school revue.  It’s a satire on the need to wear school uniform and features a very thinly disguised caricature of Mrs McClusky.  Such barbed criticism of the head seems unlikely to make the final show, as the girls are convinced that Mrs McClusky will insist on its removal.  Mr McGuffy seems totally unaware that she’d be concerned (to him, free speech is something to be taken for granted).

That he could be at Grange Hill this long and have not realised that Mrs McClusky runs the place in an autocratic and dictatorial fashion speaks volumes for his unworldliness.  Her management style is once again made quite clear at the school council meeting where she rides roughshod over all the points raised by the pupils.  Suzanne, as an observer, is far from impressed.  “I just don’t see the flipping point of it. You rabbit on and at the end of it she gets her own way.”

Suzanne’s bad-girl ways are first demonstrated when she pinches some pens from the local corner shop.  Goody-goody Claire tells her she’ll pay for them and the moment is rather flatly played – Suzanne really should be angrier at being taken back to the shop, instead she’s too compliant and it doesn’t feel right.

A sign of the times is the ubiquitous Space Invaders machine in the local cafe (although by this time you’d have thought it would have been superseded by the likes of Galaxians).  But it still holds a deep fascination for many – especially Gripper – who’s reputed to be something of an expert.  Is this the reason why he extorts money from so many unfortunates?  He admits that much of it does go into the machine, so the impression is that Gripper just enjoys bullying people and the money he gets off them is of little interest.

Suzanne attempts to break into this male dominated world, but her efforts on the Space Invaders machine are met with derision.  Together with Christine (Linda East) they hatch a plan to get more money to practice – by extorting it from Roland (they tell him they’re collecting for Gripper).  Christine would return during series six and seven, although she’d later be a more conventional character (here she’s an obvious delinquent).  And it’s Christine who is the prime-mover in extracting money with menaces from Roland, Suzanne does have the good grace to look slightly apprehensive and doubtful.

When Gripper learns that she’s been collecting money that’s rightfully his, he gives her a slap.  It’s not a graphic moment but it’s still slightly shocking (although Gripper probably does much worse to many other unfortunates off-camera).  The episode ends with Suzanne bemoaning her life as a girl.  Everything upsets her, not least period pains.  “I can’t bear the thought of having that having that curse every four weeks for the next thirty years”  Some of the other dialogue is equally bleak – Suzanne tells Claire that her mother takes “loads of pills” (presumably antidepressants?) and one of the ways that Claire manages to snap Suzanne out of her depression is to tell her that if she’s chucked out of Grange Hill she’ll end up in a dead-end job, just like her mother.  We briefly see Mrs Ross when she attends the Parent/Teacher evening.  She’s presented as a nervous, pallid character who not only seems unable to control her daughter but is also obviously no role-model for her.

An all-film episode, the real school locations help to give Margaret Simpson’s script even more of a depressive feel.  There’s something about the crumbling and institutionalised look of the interiors that fits the despairing tone of this installment very well.

Written by Jane Hollowood.  Tx 12th February 1982

N1 pay a visit to Chessington Zoo and it’ll come as no surprise to learn that there’s various hi-jinks along the way, although Mr Sutcliffe and Miss Mooney remain oblivious to most of them.

As it’s a location shoot, it’s all on film (GH wouldn’t switch to VT for outside recording until 1986).  Probably the most notable thing about the episode is that, according to Lee Macdonald, it was the first thing they recorded.  It’s easy to spot that it’s early on, since Zammo sports his very severe haircut which gradually grew out as the series progressed.  Presumably they’d always intended to hold the episode back until the second half of the series, although this continuity problem does make it stick out a bit.

Roland’s the butt of most people’s jokes – he’s too fat to fit through the turnstile and is later likened to a hippopotamus.  He does have one ally though – Janet.  Although as will happen time and time again he doesn’t welcome her attention.  She’s very blunt, telling him that if he didn’t eat so much then he wouldn’t be so unhappy, which is probably the reason why he’s so unresponsive to her. It might be the truth, but as Janet has all the subtlety of a sledgehammer her good intentions don’t have the results she hopes.  Roland ends up in a wretched state, sobbing to Mr Sutcliffe.

Whilst Roland’s having a miserable time, Jonah and Zammo are enjoying themselves by having running battles with a rival school.  This culminates when the other boys throw Jonah’s schoolbag into the sealion enclosure and he unwisely decides to go and get it back.  It’s all going so well, until one of the zoo keepers spots him and he ends up in the water!  He then has to spend the rest of the afternoon attempting to dry off whilst avoiding the keeper.  And just to show that a good gag is always worth repeating, we once again see two boys (in this case Zammo and Jonah) squeeze into a toilet cubicle and pretend to be one.  See the series three shopping precinct episode for another example of this.

Apart from Gavin Campbell as Mr Stuart, the overbearing teacher from the other school, the main guests are the animals themselves.  Some of the shots presumably came about by sheer good luck – for example, as the children rush over to see the hippo it obligingly opened its mouth wide.

Annette catches the eye of  a boy from the rival school, Carotts (David Jewell).  He has red hair, unsurprisingly.  She’s something of a minx, promising to write but then giving him a false name and address!  We also learn that she wants to be a trapeze artist when she grows up (or anything that’s not conventional).

Miss Mooney and Mr Sutcliffe’s on/off relationship seems slightly more off than on, although both Fay and Annette are fascinated to know when they’re going to get married.  She tells them that no date’s been set and as will become clear in the next series it never will.

Running at just under thirty minutes, this is a long episode (although nominally each one ran for twenty five minutes, it could vary between twenty and thirty).  It’s good stuff though and after a few mainly studio-bound installments it’s nice to get out into the open again.

Written by Jane Hollwood.  Tx 9th February 1982

Education cuts, as previously discussed in episode four, once again get an airing here.  Miss Mooney tells N1 that they don’t have enough science equipment to go round.  “We get so much money to spend over the year on science equipment and I’m afraid it’s gone already.”  The discussion about the politics of this is kept to a minimum but it’s still there (Zammo. “How are we supposed to learn without the proper gear and all?”  Fay. “It’s the education cuts innit?”)

Miss Mooney has a suggestion.  A local company is offering money if they can collect Minto Bar wrappers.  Six hundred wrappers equals thirty pounds – it seems like a good idea and when the boys and girls decide to have a competition to see who can collect the most wrappers that just adds a little extra spice.

Although she’s previously been a non-speaking background character, this episode sees Janet St. Clair (Simone Nylander) utter her first lines.  Janet starts as she means to go on as she wonders if encouraging them to eat more chocolate is a good idea!  Later she pops up at the tuck shop counter, asking anybody who buys a Minto Bar to pass their wrapper over.  Nylander’s performance, even this early on, is so earnest that it’s undeniably comic and this will prove to be a rich seam of comedy over the next five years (often featuring Janet’s attempts to make friends with the unwilling Roland).

The one dissenting voice is Annette’s.  Like Mr Stewart in episode four she’s not happy with the concept of fundraising – she believes that the authorities should provide the equipment they need.  Although Fay dismisses her comments as simply Annette being in a mood, it’s clear that she has a point.

When Roland claims he can lay his hands of three hundred wrappers he becomes the class hero.  But can he really follow through?  Well, yes and no.  Roland sees this as his big chance to be popular for once, but it’s no surprise that things aren’t quite straightforward as they seem.  His father works for a company that delivers the bars and he has a box in his van – but he tells Roland he can’t just give him a whole box.  They might not miss one or two bars, but if a whole box goes missing then he’ll lose his job.

Roland’s downcast, but even knowing this he still goes in the dead of night to the van and begins to slowly remove the wrappers.  It’s another memorable moment in the character’s development – he’s promised Zammo, Jonah and the others and doesn’t want to let them down, but he also knows that his actions will probably cost his father his job.  In this case, it’s clear that attempting to curry favour at school is the most important thing to him.

As an aside, this episode is a rarity as we see both parents of a schoolchild at the same time.  Mr Browning (Mike Savage), Mrs Browning (Jo Kendall) and Roland are shown enjoying the evening’s television whilst also partaking of some treats from Mr Browning’s van.  Although Mrs Browning would later leave home, one parent families were still unusual during this period of the programme, but for some reason (presumably budget-related) we tended to only see one parent of any given family.  So the likes of Mr Tucker, Mrs Humphries and Mr McMahon might be mentioned occasionally, but were never glimpsed.  It also caught my attention that we never see what the Brownings are watching – instead the illusion of their television viewing is created by sound effects and some evocative library music.  Also telling is that neither parent pays their son very much attention as both are much more interested in the television.

Roland’s pilfering of his dad’s stock comes to light and Mr Browning storms to the school, demanding to be recompensed.  Whilst this is going on the managing director of Minto Bars, Mr Brocklehurst (Peter Dennis), is arranging some nice publicity shots with the class and the attractive Miss Minto Bar (Liz D’Esterre).  Delightfully, Miss Minto Bar has even had the front of her hair sprayed green – all the better to match the colour of the wrappers!  Peter Dennis gives a nice comic turn as the rather slimy Brocklehurst, who clearly cares more about publicity than he does about doing good for local schools.

Although he is the one who’s able to suggest a solution that allows Mr Browning to keep his job, the school to get their science equipment as well as provide him with plenty of good publicity – so in the end everybody (including Roland) ends up as a winner.

Written by Barry Purchese.  Tx 5th February 1982

Annette’s especially annoying during this episode, although to be fair she was pretty annoying during the four years she spent at Grange Hill.  Some pupils developed during their time at the school but Annette tended to always remain an irritant (although she was later granted the odd episode which explained that her behaviour was, in part, due to the abuse she suffered at the hands of her mother).

Here, she delights in needling Belinda.  Everything about the Canadian seems to upset her – not least that Fay’s friendly with her.  Annette’s extreme neediness (and the fear that maybe Fay might become more friendly with Belinda than with her) seems to be at the root of this.

The tale of the Grange Hill Phantom (who, according to the workmen, lurks in the tunnels below ground) catches Annette’s imagination and she asks Fay and Belinda to accompany her in a little investigating that evening, once everyone’s gone home.  But Annette continues to annoy the world at large and this time she manages to drive Fay off, which leaves just her and Belinda.

It’s an unsurprising twist that when the two girls go underground it’s Annette who becomes the more frightened while Belinda steps up to take command which shows that Annette’s hard-woman act is little more than an act and it also gives Belinda a little leverage (as Annette will be anxious to keep her misadventures quiet).  This might have been enough to pad out the episode, but Barry Purchese – somewhat unwisely – decided to throw a couple of burglars (played by John Blundell and Gareth Milne) into the mix.

They’ve been given the layout of the school by Gripper and have come to steal the cups from the trophy cabinet (which by a remarkable coincidence was discussed earlier).  The pair are rather lacking in menace, and this section – as they get outsmarted by Belinda and Annette – is played for laughs, rather than drama.

The other notable part of this one is that following his first lines in the previous episode, Jimmy Flynn (Terry Kinsella) has a little more to do.  Kinsella would become an instantly recognisable figure during his four years at Grange Hill – thanks to his impressive teeth – and would become a classic GH supporting character.

Written by Barry Purchese.  Tx 2nd February 1982

The episode opens with Roland sitting underneath the stairs, eating.  His location is an interesting one.  We can hear the sounds of the rest of the school enjoying themselves but Roland has deliberately isolated himself.  No doubt this is partly to escape Gripper’s attention (although if so it doesn’t work as he’s discovered by both Gripper and Denny) but it also implies that he’s an outcast from the school community at large.

Roland’s not been able to keep his regular appointments with Gripper because he’s been seeing Miss O’Keefe (Penny Casdagli).  Gripper knows who she is.  “Kids get sent to her if they’re a bit loopy.”  It’s ironic that when Gripper discusses his own encounters with Miss O’Keefe he obviously doesn’t class himself as loopy – in his world he’s quite sane.  He explains to Denny that he deliberately acted stupid – putting square bricks into round holes – and his behaviour was so infuriating that he was eventually slung out.  If true this is another example of the system failing both Gripper and the rest of the school.  Knowing about Roland’s visits is a useful nugget of information for the pair though, since it means they’ll be able to extort a little more money from Roland in exchange for keeping quiet about his meetings.

Elsewhere, Jonah is chaffing at not being able to wear his badges, although this is quickly forgotten as Annette introduces him to the wonderful world of stickers.  Soon, N1 have established a competition – to find out who can put a sticker in the most daring place.  Before that happens though there’s still plenty in more obvious places (which naturally upsets Mr Thomson).  “Oh I’ve had about enough of this. If it’s not rice all over the floor it’s stickers. On the floors and ceilings. Tch! ‘Rest assured Mr Thomson when we catch the culprits they’ll be made to feel sorry for what they’ve done’. Huh, that’s a laugh.”

Gripper’s next encounter with Roland takes place in his classroom, with the rest of N1 looking on.  It’s obvious that by now Gripper is so convinced of his invulnerability that he’s happy to bully people with witnesses present.  Zammo and Jonah look on horrified (at one point we see Zammo hide his eyes in the back of the shot – an unscripted move, maybe?)  Gripper’s taunting is his harshest yet.  “What a big, fat dummy. Ugly, repulsive and mental. If I was like you I wouldn’t have the cheek to go out of the house.”  Jonah and Zammo don’t say anything, but the expression on their faces makes their feelings clear enough.

Afterwards they help to clean Roland up and a relationship between the three of them seems to be developing.  Roland suggests that the most daring place to place a sticker would be Mr Keating’s classroom and Zammo and Jonah head off to do so.  But Gripper overheard them and is delighted for several reasons – it gets Zammo and Jonah into trouble and he can claim that Roland grassed on them, thereby preventing the boy from the sort of friendship he may have hoped to develop.

Jonah tells Zammo that he doesn’t intend to speak to Roland anymore.  His friend’s reply is quite telling.  “You don’t speak to him anyway. Nobody does.”

Written by Barry Purchese. Tx 29th January 1982

Mr McGuffy’s traumas with H3 continue and it’s no surprise that Gripper’s at the heart of it (with questions like “are you a hippy?”).  The rest of the class are keen to play along though and McGuffy’s inexperience and credulity are demonstrated quite clearly after Gripper fires some grains of rice at the back of his neck.  He turns around and asks the culprit to step forward and when Gripper and his henchmen turn deliberately to look at Matthew Cartwright, McGuffy is convinced that he’s the guilty party.

That McGuffy could be taken in by such an obvious ploy doesn’t really ring true.  You’d have expected by now that he’d have gained a certain understanding of the personalities of H3 and would therefore know that class swot Matthew would never do such a thing.  Coincidentally, it appears that Matthew has suffered badly at the hands of Gripper and has written an article about bullying for the school magazine.

Unsurprisingly, Mrs McClusky vetoes its publication, regarding the matter of bullying to be a matter for internal discipline rather than public debate.  Given that Gripper continues to rampage unchecked through the school (and it’s difficult to imagine he’s the only bully in a school the size of Grange Hill) it’s possible to wonder whether she’s more interested in suppressing the article in order to pretend that bullying is not really an issue.

We’ve certainly not seen any proactive measures from the teaching staff to combat this problem – indeed the message clearly given by the series so far this year is that if you want to beat the bullies you have to stand up for yourself.  Mr Baxter gave Matthew this very message a few episodes ago and Suzanne tells him exactly the same thing in this one.  “You wanna stand up to him. I mean it, all right you have a fight with him and he beats you right? That don’t matter. Look, bullies like an easy target and if he knows you’ll have a go back at him he’ll leave you alone.”

Suzanne continues to buckle against the system.  She’s in school, but refuses to wear school uniform.  Mr McGuffy’s lack of sartorial elegance also catches Mrs McClusky’s eye and he too is given a dressing down about standards.  This helps to connect Suzanne and Mr McGuffy – in a way they’re both misfits, but he takes the time to talk to her as a person and suggests they work on a piece about school uniform for the revue.

Mr McGuffy and Mrs McClusky share several lovely comic scenes.  She’s in full-throttle attack as she lambasts the unfortunate English teacher over his general attitude and the fact that he’s come to school wearing jeans!.  There couldn’t be two more diametrically opposed characters and the probability of  future ructions seems highly likely.  The school revue will be an obvious flashpoint as I don’t think Mrs McClusky has any idea exactly what’s being planned ….

Written by Barry Purchese.  Tx 26th January 1981

After being very much a background character during series four – existing mainly to line-feed Claire – this episode is where Suzanne Ross begins to emerge as a character in her own right.  Maybe it was felt that since Trisha was no longer around they needed another stroppy pupil – if so, Susan Tully certainly delivered.  Tully would be handed the occasional challenging storyline (not least the period pains topic later in this run) and her performances obviously didn’t go unnoticed as she was one of the first actors to tread what would become a familiar path – from Grange Hill to Eastenders.

Like Trisha, Suzanne has a disdain for the rigid discipline of school life, but unlike Trisha (who was much more of a conformist) Suzanne has little compunction in playing truant.  This seems to have been going on for some time, since Mr McGuffy doesn’t know who she is!

But that’s the least of Mr McGuffy’s problems, as he’s finding it difficult to get H3 tune into Shakespeare.  Hardly surprising, you’d think, although matters aren’t helped by Gripper’s disruptive antics.  This isn’t something we’ve seen before, as normally Gripper keeps a low profile in class (when he bothers to turn up at all).  But he, along with the rest of H3, can clearly smell blood.  Mr McGuffy has yet to prove that he can keep order and in the nature of schoolchildren down the ages they will continue to needle him until he either breaks or establishes his authority.

Mr Hopwood eventually runs Suzanne to ground.  “It’s the oldest trick in the book, getting your mark and then bunking off.”  Although when she mutters that it’s taken him long enough to find out, you have to agree.  Unless she’s just been skipping Mr McGuffy’s English classes?  Mr McGuffy has proven to be so disorganised that this would make sense. She also isn’t the first (and certainly won’t be the last) Grange Hill pupil to express a nihilistic attitude to life after school.  Why bother to study and pass exams when you’re just going to end up on the dole?  This is a clear indication that we’re in the early years of Margaret Thatcher’s reign as prime minster, where such remarks – even in a children’s series – were commonplace.

Tully’s gloriously pouty in her scenes with Brian Capron’s Mr Hopwood.  Suzanne spends her time rolling her eyes and looking in every direction except at Mr Hopwood.  “Look at me Suzanne, you can study the ceiling later.”  They reach an uneasy compromise and she promises to attend school on a regular basis (“I might as well be bored here as out on the streets”) but it’ll become clear that it’s only a temporary ceasefire.

Written by Margaret Simpson.  Tx 22nd January 1982

Roland continues to be an outsider, although it’s clear that he’s making something of an effort to integrate as he attends both the meeting of the school play (which Mr McGuffy explains will be a revue) and the sports trials.

Roland’s isolation is made plain as the camera spies him silently watching the others on several occasions.  Firstly, he observes Zammo and Jonah having a food fight in their cookery class and later, as all three queue to get food from the van, Roland (further up the queue than they are) is again seen silently watching Zammo and Jonah’s animated conversation.

This episode also shows that Zammo and Jonah are in some ways quite different – although the tensions that briefly bubble to the surface aren’t exploited very often in the future.  Zammo loves sports – he’s awed that Benny Green asked him to join in a kickabout – whilst Jonah doesn’t.  Zammo plans to attend the sports trials (as does Roland) whereas Jonah indicates that the whole thing’s beneath him.

Gripper briefly pops up to torment Roland once again, but most of the bullying he receives comes from his own classmates.  Zammo, Jonah and Annette are all  merciless in their taunting of him, but after the sports trials there’s just a hint that maybe a corner has been turned.  Zammo doesn’t distinguish himself by coming fifth in the 1500 metres, but it’s a better result than Roland’s efforts in the shot put.  He falls over on both attempts and doesn’t register a throw – to the jeers of those watching – but as he dejectedly trudges off Zammo appreciates that he at least took part (unlike the still-mocking Jonah) and commiserates with him.

But there is a silver lining, as he gets picked for the school revue (although he doesn’t know that this is only because Miss Mooney pulled some strings and asked Mr McGuffy to find him a place).  The expression of joy on Roland’s face is priceless and it seems that maybe this could be the making of him.  Although with Gripper still hovering about, possibly one shouldn’t expect a happy ending anytime soon.

There’s also a brief mention of the dreaded clarinet, although this episode the dilemma that Belinda has to face is whether she’ll decide to attend hockey practice or orchestra practice after school, since they both take place on Tuesday evenings.  It’s another moment that I doubt had many people on the edge of their seats ….

Written by Margaret Simpson. Tx 19th January 1982

It must be said that the saga of Belinda’s missing clarinet doesn’t rank as one of Grange Hill‘s dramatic highlights.  Belinda (Paula Taras) was the sort of character that we’d seen before in the series and would see again in the future.  They hover around the fringes for a while – maybe with the odd line or two – before stepping into the limelight for a few episodes. And after their brief moment of fame they return to the shadows.

The episode opens with a music lesson in which we hear N1 murder Yesterday.  It’s ironic that Miss Griffiths (Anni Domingo) stops the recital to criticise Annette’s playing – that’s surely the least of their problems!  They serve up a horrendous performance (I assume deliberately) that seems to last forever.  It’s interesting that the school could afford to supply a whole class with a variety of musical instruments.  Given the budget cuts that we saw in the last episode (where even books were hard to come by) this seems a little unlikely and my own memory of school music lessons from this era is that instruments were always in very short supply.

Quite how Miss Brooks could detect any sort of musical quality in that cacophony is a mystery, but she picks out Belinda’s tootling on the recorder as having some sort of merit and suggests to the girl that she tries the clarinet.  She dangles the possibility that Belinda could join the school orchestra, but Belinda’s family would have to pay for the clarinet themselves.

The issue of the clarinet shines a light onto Annette’s character (and it’s not a flattering one).  Fay and Belinda have become friendly and this is possibly one of the reasons why Annette persuades Fay that they should hide the instrument in the boy’s changing rooms for a laugh.  It should come as no surprise to learn that when Belinda goes to retrieve it she discovers it’s no longer there.

Luckily it was insured, so Annette and Fay have to fork out ten pounds each from their savings to help cover the premium.  The comedy highlight of the episode has to be Belinda shielding her eyes, desperately looking for the clarinet, whilst a topless Pogo looks quite puzzled!

It seems a little unfair that Annette and Fay have to pay the money.  Yes, the clarinet was stolen from the unlocked boy’s changing rooms (and why was it unlocked? Mr Baxter never explains why) but had Belinda left it in the girl’s changing rooms then (had that been unlocked too) it could have easily have been stolen from there and Belinda would have had no-one but herself to blame.

Of much more interest than the missing clarinet is that this episode marks the first appearance of Mr McGuffy (Fraser Cains).  With the general appearance of an unmade bed, Mr McGuffy is an enthusiast who sometimes struggles to make himself understood.  He’s asked everybody to write about their first impressions of Grange Hill and is especially enthusiastic about Janet’s piece.  “It give me the feeling of what it would be like to be a small, insignificant person in a large, bewildering community. One can feel small, confronted by the large, social units of today’s society. The individual shrinks, he becomes insignificant, a termite.”  This goes way over the heads of Annette and Fay (“what’s he talking about?”)

Jonah’s piece is less than flattering to Mr McGuffy, but he’s not bothered about this.  As he tells them, he wants the class to express themselves honestly and doesn’t want them “trammelled, constrained, fettered, held back” by what they think they should say, even if it’s uncomplimentary to him.  This is a clear sign that he’s far from a run of the mill teacher and if he sticks around (watching the series for the first time you could never be sure if a character would become a regular, a semi-regular or would just make a one-off appearance) he’ll be one to watch.

As we know, he did stay with the series for the next three years and whilst they don’t meet here it’s clear that his free-and-easy attitude is not going to sit well with the autocratic Mrs McClusky.  There’s going to be stormy times ahead.

Written by Margaret Simpson. Tx 15th January 1982

Cutbacks are the main topic of this episode.  The school has a lack of textbooks, they only have one computer (which is a terminal they have to share with other organisations) and some lessons can’t be taught because they haven’t replaced departed teachers.

Mr Keating decides that their remaining maths textbooks will have to be shared one between two pupils.  Although I have to confess that when it’s later revealed that they only cost about £1.50 it’s hard to imagine that they couldn’t find a little extra money to buy a few more copies.  But maybe that price isn’t correct (it was only an offhand comment from Stewpot) as that does seem very cheap, even for 1982.

Gripper’s once again on hand to make a little money as he decides to steal textbooks from St Mary’s schoolgirls.  He and Denny waylay them on a railway bridge and threaten to throw the girls over if they don’t comply.  The reactions from the girls vary – some are clearly frightened, whilst others are only too glad to hand over the books.  Gripper then passes them over to an obviously reluctant Pogo to sell.

The computer issue is slightly puzzling.  In previous years the school seemed to have a number of computers, but now we’re told that they only have one.  1982 would have been around the time when computers really started to feature in schools, so it doesn’t seem credible that a place as large as Grange Hill wouldn’t be better equipped.  It also seems to be rather primitive, since it sports a very small screen.  I remember using computers in 1982 and they weren’t quite as basic as that!

The school has the opportunity to buy another computer, for a bargain price of twelve hundred pounds, and everybody rushes to raise money.  When they fall a little short of their target Mrs McClusky elects to use the cash to buy textbooks instead (this is supported by most of the PTA).  Needless to say this doesn’t go down well with the pupils and it also isn’t welcomed by Stewpot’s father, who’s the current chairman of the PTA.

Mr Stewart is something of a  political firebrand and is keen to make his point.  “Look, we’re in a situation here where education is supposed to be free for everyone, right? And yet the more I hear about this school at the moment the more I realise that principal’s being eaten away. I mean you’ve got no Spanish specialist, you’re a metalwork teacher short and now you say you’ve got no books!”  When others suggest that they club together to buy new books he reacts with disgust, observing that if they subsidise the local authority, then they’ll simply be doing so for evermore.

The irony is that whilst education should be free, they do end up using their own money (raised for the computer) to buy the books.  It’s easy to sympathise with Mr Stewart’s opinion that this is a slippery slope and could encourage the education authority to cut back even further in the future, but Mrs Scott also has a point when she says that the children can’t be deprived of books, especially on a point of political principal.  The political subtext of the episode is fairly light, but it’s certainly there and might very well have struck a chord with any adults who had been watching with their children.

Written by Jane Hollowood. Tx 12th January 1982

Sex education raises its head in this episode and you get the feeling that it’s going to be something of a struggle for Mrs Thomas (Susan Porrett) to get through to her unruly band of third years.  She tells them that “over the next few weeks we’ll be discussing how the human body creates new life, something which is at once miraculous, joyous and very beautiful.”  Alas, this uplifting statement is greeted with a comment of “give us a kiss love”!

The class have to take a slip home to their parents or guardians to sign, agreeing that they can be taught the lesson (which causes Anita to mutter darkly she doesn’t know what her gran will say).  Anita’s gran remains a never glimpsed figure, although a traumatised Mr Baxter tells Mr Hopwood that he spent half an hour in her company (she seems to have given him a considerable ear-bashing).

The upcoming lesson gives Gripper the chance to victimise Matthew Cartwright by taunting him that he doesn’t know the facts of life.  It’s no surprise that money’s never far from Gripper’s mind and he tells Matthew to bring twenty pence in the following day and Uncle Gripper will tell him all he needs to know.  This seems to involve Matthew losing his trousers, which Mr Baxter retrieves.  He then gives the boy the following advice.  “Look son, if somebody has a go at you don’t just stand there. No matter how big they are give them some back, right?”  Typical Baxter, but Matthew’s the last person in the world to do so.

It’s also no surprise that Pogo eyes an opportunity to make a little money and he steals one of Mrs Thomas’ sex education books and offes to show it to the first years for a price.  Claire’s mother isn’t happy about the lessons, telling Mrs McClusky that her daughter is “young and idealistic and very innocent.  I don’t want her to be spoiled, not just yet.”  When Claire finds out her mother has come to school she’s far from pleased.  Mrs Scott tells her that they’ll discuss it at home later.  “Stuff it” responds Claire, which indicates that her daughter is growing up, whether she likes it or not.

Mr Cartwright is disturbed about the victimisation his son has received at the hands of Gripper and makes an appointment to see Mrs McClusky.  Is it too much of a stretch to say that she’s prepared to take action immediately because the Cartwrights are a nice, middle-class family?  Roland’s tales of bullying seemed to be dismissed out of hand in the last episode, so it’s possible.

What’s clear is that the school’s sex education policy has been something of a disaster, although Mrs McClusky attempts to paper over the cracks by offering to host a meeting where the parents can air their views and also discusses the classes with the pupils.  One positive outcome is that Gripper is run to ground, but whatever punishment he received obviously didn’t curb his behaviour, as we’ll see.

Written by Alan Janes. Tx 8th January 1982

Gripper and Denny continue to extort money from Roland, but he’s far from their only victim.  Jonah and Zammo are also targeted and both (reluctantly) pay up.  Jonah doesn’t seem too bothered – ten pence a week seems a small price to pay for not getting your head kicked in – but Zammo sees the bigger picture.  If they give in now then Gripper will always be there and his demands will only increase.  Zammo briefly considers taking Gripper on, but quickly admits that it wouldn’t be an equal fight.  Neither seems to consider that if they find Gripper’s other victims there would be safety in numbers.

This episode provides us a good opportunity to stop and examine how proactive the school was at dealing with Gripper.  Jonah and Zammo tell Mr Hopwood about Gripper’s demands for money, but he seems initially disinterested – as it’ll be their word against his how can anything be proved?  However he does decide to ask Gripper to turn out his pockets – and finds a considerable amount of change – which does back up the boy’s story.  Hopwood warns Gripper to cease his actions (threatening him with physical violence in a way that wasn’t unfamiliar in the early series of Grange Hill) but that’s as far as he goes.  Surely experience would have told him that Gripper wouldn’t give up that easily?

Roland’s experiences are even more interesting.  He’s skipped school several times (in order to avoid Gripper) and most disturbingly of all deliberately cuts his hand with a chisel in woodwork.  He hopes to be sent home and is clearly upset to be told that the nurse will be able to deal with it by putting on a plaster.  Whilst this foreshadows the more extreme measures he’ll take later in the series to escape Gripper, it should have sent alarm bells ringing amongst the staff.  Mrs McClusky does want the boy to see an educational psychologist, but it’s plain that they consider the problem is purely down to Roland’s attitude.  Even after he’s told them that he’s been systematically bullied they don’t seem interested in finding out if his story was true.  Is it that they simply believe he’s making up tales to explain his bad behaviour?

Elsewhere, there’s light relief as Annette attempts to gain revenge on Jonah by throwing a stink-bomb at him.  She indirectly does him a good turn – he and Zammo were being threatened by Gripper at the time and the smell is enough to drive the older boy off.  Leaving us with the immortal line from Jonah.  “Cor Gripper, you’ve done something in your trousers”!

Written by Alan Janes. Tx 5th January 1982

Series Five opens with what I take to be a deliberate nod back to the very first episode as the camera tracks through the corridors of the eerily quiet school.  Before the pupils arrive it’s a haven of peace and quiet – although it’s no surprise that the silence doesn’t last for long.

Five new arrivals will be the focus of their year during series five (their classmates will also feature, but not to the same extent).  Jonah Jones (Lee Sparke) and Zammo McGuire (Lee Macdonald) are clearly cast from the same mould as Tucker Jenkins and his friends.   Jonah and Zammo are scamps and tearaways who can’t help but get into trouble – but since they lack malice the audience is invited to identify and side with them.

Annette Firman (Nadia Chambers) and Fay Lucas (Alison Bettles) bear more than a passing resemblance to Trisha and Cathy (and also Suzanne and Claire).  Annette is the rebel (like Trisha/Suzanne) whilst Fay is the more sensible one (like Cathy and Claire).  Although in later years Fay will go slightly off the rails as Cathy and Claire did.

Possibly the most significant of the new arrivals is Roland Browning (Erkan Mustafa).  Roland is friendless, overweight and becomes an instant target for Gripper and his new henchman Denny Rees (Julian Griffiths).  Gripper is a larger and more physically imposing figure from the youngster we saw in series four and it doesn’t take long before he makes poor Roland’s life a misery.  Because Roland is an isolated figure, he has no-one to turn to and his anguish only comes to an end towards the end of the series when he’s hospitalised following an accident with a car.  This is a very disturbing moment as it’s strongly inferred that he deliberately stepped out in front of it.

It’s certainly a far cry from the previous attempts by the series to show the effects of bullying.  Judy Preston was targeted by a gang of older girls during series one, but everything was neatly wrapped up in the space of a single episode.  For Roland there’s no quick solutions and the fact that the storyline was developed over a run of episodes is a sign that Grange Hill was becoming more confident to unfold longer storylines which wouldn’t have an immediate payoff (no doubt happy that the audience would stick with them).

GCE (Gripper’s Cash Enterprise) provides him and Denny with a nice little earner.  Roland is their latest victim and they force him to hand over twenty pence every Monday.  Gripper’s warning to Roland not to squeal is bleak in the extreme.  “You talk to anyone and I’ll put you in a wheelchair.”

The initial meeting between Jonah and Annette isn’t a promising one.  The girls beat the boys to the desk at the back of the classroom and Jonah isn’t prepared to take this lying down – although when Annette pushes him off his chair that’s exactly what happens!  As he lies sprawled on the ground this gives the camera the opportunity to view Miss Mooney’s attractive ankles and she decides the best place for him is right at the front.  Zammo wonders if his friend is going to take such an insult without attempting reprisals, whilst Jonah counters that there wasn’t anything he could do at the time.  Zammo’s solution – punch her on the jaw – is direct and has more than an echo of similar early encounters between Tucker and Trisha.  He was always promising her a knuckle sandwich but – as here – the threats were never followed through.

Jonah’s stink bomb helps to clear their classroom and earns the class the immediate disapproval of Mrs McClusky.  But he manages some form of redemption when he uses another of his stink bombs to force Roland out of the toilets (he’s locked himself in and refuses to come out).  It’s certainly more effective than Mr Thomson’s efforts.  Mr Hopwood had called the caretaker in – no doubt in the hope that he’d be able to lever the door off his hinges – but Thomson’s only response was to bang on it!  It’s a lovely comedy moment played to perfection by the always reliable Timothy Bateson.

Written by Phil Redmond, from a storyline by Paul Manning
Tx 28th December 1981

Although the 1981 Grange Hill Christmas Special isn’t quite the last hurrah for the class of 78, it’s close.  One of the surprising features about series five (which would begin transmission a week later, in January 1982) is just how marginalised Tucker and co are.  One episode does feature them strongly but otherwise the likes of Tucker, Alan, Benny and Justin only make one-off appearances (and when they do it’s so they can interact with the younger pupils – the focus is always on the new arrivals).

Tucker’s Luck, which began in 1983, would provide an afterlife for Tucker, Alan and Tommy, but the rest of the original cast just fade away over the course of the coming year.  This is in complete contrast to later eras, when the series became increasingly anxious to hang onto their regulars (by the 1990’s it was common for pupils to stay at the school for seven series – as the concept of the upper sixth form had been introduced).

But in a way it’s not hard to understand why this happened. The viewership of Grange Hill would tend it renew itself every five years or so, as older viewers moved on to be replaced by younger ones.  Therefore the new audience needed to have younger characters who they could identify with – hence the class of 82.

Returning to the 1981 Christmas Special, the storyline was written by Paul Manning (as part of a Blue Peter competition) and was developed into a script by Phil Redmond (how much of Manning’s story remained is an interesting one to ponder).  It opens with a bleary eyed Tucker telling Alan and Tommy that his brother has a job at an electrical wholesalers, which means he can bring home videotapes during the evening – as long as they get returned early the next day nobody’s any the wiser.  Titles such as Saturday Night Fever and Alien (“the X version?”) help to instantly date the episode to the very start of the video boom.  The novelty of being able to watch a film on demand, which meant you weren’t tied to the television schedule, is something that might be taken for granted now, but was a totally new concept then.

Grange Hill didn’t often do Christmas Specials, or episodes set at Christmas, so this one is something of a novelty.  There’s no snow, but various characters spend a lot of time shivering and rubbing their hands together, which creates a wintry atmosphere (but knowing how programmes tend to be recorded in advance it wouldn’t surprise me had this been recorded the previous summer!)  The school assembly scene is quite interesting – it’s shot very tightly which suggests that the number of pupils used were quite small.  The main news to come out of the assembly is that there will be an end of term disco, which the long-suffering Mr Sutcliffe is persuaded to organise.

Tucker’s delighted, as he spies a chance to make some money, and he persuades Mr Sutcliffe to let him organise it.  You’d have thought Mr Sutcliffe would know better by now, but there’s evidence that he’s somewhat under the weather (a running gag has various characters – Tucker, Mrs McClusky, Miss Mooney – pointing out how pale he looks).

Trisha and Cathy go shopping for clothes.  Trisha’s not mellowed over the years – she’s irritated at being dragged around numerous shops by Cathy who’s desperate to find just the right thing to wear for the disco.  Trisha’s determined not to make an effort, knowing that it’ll just be “the same old spotty faces making the same old spotty jokes.”

They’re both sporting new hairstyles, but the most remarkable transformation is that of Susi, who’s certainly changed since the end of series four.  If it hadn’t been for the voice, I probably wouldn’t have recognised her at first.  She’s still an item with Alan, although when he leaves school to go on the dole in Tucker’s Luck she brings their relationship to an end (which also means they didn’t have to contract her for the new series, which was a little bit of a shame).

Another thing which helps to date the episode is the admission price of 75p, which includes one drink and one sausage or one cracker.  Bargain!  Tucker’s state of the art disco equipment – complete with flashing lights – has been borrowed from his brother and it’s made very clear that should anything happen to it then Tucker’s life expectancy will be very short.

Some Brookdale ruffians attempt to steal the cashbox, which Mr Baxter rather unwisely left in Justin’s care, bad choice!  After Tucker manages to duff them up and stop them, they then decide to take the disco equipment.  It’s slightly odd that they could just walk out with this bulky equipment and nobody in the hall thought to raise the alarm, but there you go.  Needless to say, Tucker and the others are on hand to once again dispense some rough justice.  Remarkably, Doyle teams up with Tucker to beat off the Brookdale infiltrators.  Doyle only has a few brief scenes, but it’s a nice touch that his final Grange Hill appearance sees him on the right side for once.

This episode didn’t feature in the repeat run of the 1990’s (probably because of music clearance issues).  Some of the top artists of the era are featured – Madness, Ultravox, the Police, Squeeze, Cliff Richard (!).  Thanks to YouTube though (as for virtually every episode from series five onwards) it remains in circulation.

Written by Phil Redmond. Tx 27th February 1981

Claire challenges Duane to a bike race, although it’s quite noticeable she starts before he’s ready!  Despite this, he manages to catch up and they finish in pretty much a dead heat.  But Pogo infuriates her when he tells her that Duane won – he wasn’t watching, but he knows he did because boys are better than girls.

This is just one of a number of incidents which convinces Mr Sutcliffe that the annual end-of-term pupils versus teachers contest would be more interesting if it was organised across male/female lines.  This doesn’t go down well with Mrs McClusky, who tells him they should be discouraging sexual inequality not breeding it.  For once though she doesn’t get her own way as Mr Sutcliffe easily bests her in the argument.  So we can score one to the male sex!

In some ways this episode marks the end of an era.  There would be a Christmas Special later in the year with the class of 1978, but they would feature very intermittently during series five (there’s only a single series five episode where Tucker and co are anything but peripheral characters).

Back for only the second time during series four is Benny.  He doesn’t do much, although he does have an interesting line in politically incorrect jokes.  “What’s the quickest way to get out blackheads? Smash a window in Bradford.”

The males versus females contest is divided into three parts – a quiz, a sporting event and a practical one.  I love the way that Matthew has to whisper the answer to a tough maths question to the teacher!  Thanks to that spot of cheating, the boys win the quiz round.

The girls win the netball match, much to the dismay of Mr Baxter, which leaves the practical contest.  The boys are baking a cake and the girls are making a trowel.  Both of their efforts are disastrous, but they each have a perfect cake/trowel ready – which they swop when Mr Sutcliffe/Miss Mooney aren’t looking.  The reactions of the two teachers at the unveiling (“That isn’t our cake. That isn’t our trowel”) is lovely and there’s a nice sense of irony that the boys and girls really are equal (since both equally cheated!)

With the practical contest a draw, that means also that the whole contrast was a draw as well.  This was clearly the only way that things could have ended, otherwise there would have been ructions!  It’s an amusing way to end a consistently strong run of episodes.  When Grange Hill returned for its fifth series, it would have a new producer, a new intake of first-years and a slighter tougher feel as Gripper began to take control.

Written by Alan Janes. Tx 24th February 1981

This episode is the first time that Gripper moves centre-stage and it gives us a taste of what to expect from him in the years to come.

Pogo’s latest money-making wheeze is a homework service (for which he naturally makes a handy profit).  He shares the work with Duane and also tries to rope in Matthew Cartwright (Nicholas Pandolfi) to help.  Matthew’s having none of it though and I do get the feeling this is because he senses Pogo’s scheme is doomed to failure.  There’s something so incredibly earnest about Pandolfi’s performance which makes it rather entertaining – never a central character, he’ll nevertheless pop up regularly during series five.

Gripper’s keen to avail himself of Pogo’s service and it’ll come as no surprise to learn that he doesn’t expect to pay.  Pogo weighs up the pros and cons of doing Gripper’s homework for free, worrying that if he does then he’ll have to do it for the next five years!  In the end he decides to do it all wrong and adds some ink-blots and scribbling out for extra effect.  You have to wonder if Pogo has a death-wish as it’s obvious what’s going to happen – but although he begins to have second thoughts there’s no time to change it.

Miss Mooney, always one of Grange Hill’s most mild-mannered teachers, is appalled at Gripper’s homework and tells the uncomprehending boy that he’s in a lot of trouble.  After the bell goes we see Pogo hot foot it out of the classroom and although he’s built very much more for comfort than speed, he does manage to cover the ground at an impressive rate.

But Gripper does catch up with him eventually and the pair manage to wreck the common room, breaking several windows before Mr Hopwood separates them.  It’s no surprise that Mrs McClusky is appalled, since she’s been waging a campaign on vandalism and hooliganism all term and this action simply strengthens her resolve to reintroduce school uniform.

It’s interesting that it was made optional back in series two following a school referendum.  The autocratic Mrs McClusky never seems to consider that the pupil’s opinions are important – the governors agree that reintroduction would be a good idea and the PTA are also in favour, so that means that school uniform is back.

Trisha pops up at the end to harangue Pogo.  If he hadn’t had the fight with Gripper then Mrs McClusky wouldn’t have had the pretext to push her proposal past the PTA.  Although as uniform remains optional for the fourth, fifth and sixth years (and Trisha’s coming to the end of the third year) it’s difficult to see exactly why she should be so upset.  Unless she just enjoys a good moan!

But it’s Gripper’s actions that linger.  Although he’s suspended until the end of term, it’s clear that he’ll be back and there’s never a moment in this episode when he exhibits even the slightest tinge of remorse.  And by the time we move to series five (and he’s entered the third year) he’ll be much, much worse …..

Written by Phil Redmond. Tx 20th February 1981

The subject of options is discussed for the first time. There are some (such as Tucker) who complain that they’ll still have to do subjects they dislike, like English and Maths whilst others (Pamela, for instance) have everything mapped out as they’ve already planned their route to University.  We also hear that some pupils consider all options to be a waste of time as they’ll be no jobs for them when they do leave school.

This will be a regular theme that occurs every few years, as options are discussed with each new class in turn, and many of the points that are raised here will occur again and again – although that doesn’t make them any less valid.

An interesting moment occurs when Trisha learns she’s not able to do technical drawing, mainly it’s classed as a boy’s subject.  It hardly needs to be said that if you ever tell Trisha she can’t do something it only makes her more determined to do it anyway.

She has a meeting with Mrs McClusky who tells her that there’s only a limited number of spaces available for technical drawing and it’s already oversubscribed.  She then informs Trisha it’s more likely that a woman will give up her career to bring up a family.  It’s hard to imagine this is a view that Phil Redmond would have endorsed, but it probably would be an accurate picture of the education system at that time – as females could often be classed as subordinate to males.

Although Trisha’s not best pleased, it’s possible to understand Mrs McClusky’s point of view.  The school only has limited resources and whatever way they choose to use them somebody is bound to lose out.

But another of Mrs McClusky’s decisions has drawn more general disfavour – her decision to expel Cathy, Gerry and Ruth.  All three are shocked by this and it does seem a very harsh punishment for skipping class on one afternoon.  It is interesting though that Mrs McClusky tells them that her decision could be overturned if they appeal to the school governors.  I can’t think of many occasions in the future where Mrs McClusky finds herself answerable to others (except when she’s relegated to deputy head in a few years time).

But as it turns out, Cathy’s mother is able to persuade her that it would be better to cane the girl than expel her.  It’s something that Mrs McClusky is reluctant to do, but Mr Keating is more in favour since he considers it will serve to discourage others from breaking the rules.

And poor Tucker’s hopes of a date with Pamela seem to be dashed forever when he overhears her telling Susi that she’d rather go out with Penny Lewis’ pony!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhZ9GhE_kQc

Written by Alan Janes. Tx 17th February 1981

If there’s a theme to this episode it’s how existing friendships are put under strain as new relationships develop.  Alan and Susi are now very much an item – which is an irritation for Tucker who finds himself rather isolated.  It also annoys Alan who becomes tired that Tucker’s hanging around when he wants to spend time with Susi.

Alan and Susi head off for the lunchtime judo club and are surprised to see two new recruits – Tucker and Doyle.  Doyle’s made an appearance to save himself from a detention whilst Tucker, of course, is only there because Alan is.

Both Tucker and Doyle are teamed up with experienced hands – Alan partners Doyle whilst Susi takes on Tucker.  Both the newcomers are blithely confident – with Tucker stating out loud that it doesn’t seem a fair contest.  Susi agrees, telling him that she’ll go easy!

As might be expected, both Tucker and Doyle find themselves on the floor several times (“come here often?” asks Tucker as the pair are thrown down yet again).  But whilst Tucker isn’t perturbed about being bested by Susi (instead he’s interested in more lessons) Doyle is very keen to exact revenge on Alan.

A scuffle outside finds Doyle and Robbo in possession of Alan’s judo kit, which they sell for a small profit to Junky Meade.  It does somewhat stretch credibility that not only does Alan not realise he’s lost it but that Tucker (completely innocently) later buys it.  Still it does give them a chance to partner up again as they exact their revenge on Doyle.

Another friendship that’s drifting apart is Trisha and Cathy’s.  Trisha remains an active campaigner for better conditions in the school – with her latest mission being to persuade Mr Thompson that if the pupils take food into the common rooms they won’t leave any mess for him to clean up.  Unexpectedly he completely wrongfoots her by being very agreeable to the idea – telling her that since she politely asked his opinion he has no qualms (and that he enjoys a nice sandwich himself!).  It’s a rare moment for Timothy Bateson to show a more human side to Mr Thompson.

As for Cathy, she’s still heavily involved in the pop group – along with Gerry, Ruth and the others.  She’s got them a paying gig, but they’ll need to bunk off school in order to get there in time.  Cathy hits on the bright idea of telling Miss Peterson that her grandmother’s died, which is fine until the teacher talks to Cathy’s brother Gary.  When he tells her that their grandmother died six years ago you know that Cathy is in a heap of trouble.

Rewatching series four, it’s quite noticeable that not many episodes have a film/studio mix – instead there’s a number of all-film episodes (as with episode fourteen) and the rest are studio based (like this one).  It’s quite an interesting production choice which doesn’t occur very often in the future (except for those episodes away from the school which were all location based anyway).

Written by Alan Janes. Tx 13th February 1981

Whilst most of this episode has a light-hearted feel, at the end there’s a much darker and disturbing tone.

The bulk of the running time is concerned with Alan and Susi’s relationship.  Or lack of it.  Tucker’s seized with a burning desire to find out if they really are a couple, so he has one of his brainwaves.  He writes a letter to Susi and signs it from Alan, suggesting a date.  He tells Alan that he and Tommy will meet up with him later at the same place.  Tommy and Tucker then stake-out the meeting place, waiting to see if Susi will make the rendezvous with the oblivious Alan.

The letter from “Alan” is certainly very florid, much to the amusement of Pamela.  “Every-time I see you my heart throbs.”  But Pamela also admits she’s a little jealous, as she’s never been asked out – and wonders if it has anything to do with the fact she spends so much time around horses.  If only she knew that Tucker’s aching to arrange a date with her – although it’s possible she may react with horror to that news!

In the end, Susi didn’t go because her mother found the letter and forbade her.  Maggie Riley (as Mrs McMahon) was one of Grange Hill‘s most formidable and snobbish mothers and her later run-in with Tony Barton (playing Mr Humphries) is a sheer joy.  Mrs McMahon is completely bested by Mr Humphries in a short, but sweet, scene.

Another running thread through the episode is the difficulty the pupils find in catching a bus home.  The lack of buses leads indirectly to a running battle between Tucker and co and some Brookdale kids.  Also making an appearance during this scene is Graham Cole (later to play Tony Stamp in The Bill).  Back in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s he was making a living as an extra/walk-on (he pops up many times in Doctor Who during this period).

If most of the episode has a comic feel then the emphasis shifts dramatically at the end.  The problem with the buses causes two younger pupils, William (Stephen Cobbett) and Benny’s brother Michael (Mark Bishop) to walk home across the common.  They’ve been warned not to do this, and the reason becomes plain when William is attacked by a strange man (played by Jay Neill).

Although Grange Hill was a children’s series and couldn’t be particularly explicit, it’s still a powerful moment.  The man asks both the children to help him search for his lost dog, but this is just a ruse to isolate them.  As the two boys move apart he drags William into the bushes and a brief struggle ensues.  Luckily Tucker was passing by and William didn’t suffer anything worse than a few cuts and bruises.  This is another memorable, almost PIF (public information film) like moment, as it graphically demonstrates why children should never talk to strangers.

And it’s all the more effective because it happens so unexpectedly.  Another all-film episode, this one is efficiently directed by Colin Cant.

Written by Phil Redmond. Tx 10th February 1981

After being a regular character during series two and three, Mark Edie (who played Andrew Stanton) had a much lower profile during series four with only a handful of appearances.  This might have been his own choice, since for some actors real-life pressures like exams have to take precedence.  But whilst his series four episodes are limited he’s given a central role in this one.

It also neatly links back to events witnessed earlie on the run, when we saw that Andrew’s sister Karen was visibly upset.  The relationship between Andrew and Karen’s parents had been established as a rocky one right from the time Andrew was introduced – and now it’s finally imploded.  His father has left home, taking Karen with him and it’s Mrs Stanton’s inability to tell her son the truth which pushes him over the edge.

Failed marriages are now such a staple of television drama that they tend to be accepted as the norm, but that wouldn’t have quite been the case back in 1980.  Although we don’t often see both parents of many of the pupils (there is, presumably, a Mr Jenkins and a Mrs Humphries but they remain firmly off-screen) it can be assumed that pretty much all the children live in two-parent families. A one-parent family is therefore unusual (although as the series progresses through the eighties and nineties they’ll become much more common).

Andrew’s choice of oblivion is alcohol – which hasn’t really been touched upon in the series.  It’s a shame that he wasn’t a regular during this year as developing his addiction to alcohol over the course of a number of episodes would have been very effective.  As it is, he suddenly becomes a drinker and then just as suddenly stops.

His inebriated state is a problem for Tucker, Alan, Tommy and Justin.  Tommy’s happy to leave him, but Tucker knows the trouble Andrew would be in if he was found, so decides they have to help.  There then follows a series of frantic scenes as the four of them attempt to hide Andrew’s unconscious body in various parts of the school – resorting to such wheezes as placing him on a trolley and wheeling him around!

Eventually Mrs McClusky apprehends Tucker, but when she learns of the reason why they’ve all been skipping classes she’s inclined to be lenient (a rare example of compassion from her).

Two other points of interest.  Firstly, Alan pops along to the smokers room (a store-cupboard) and seems on the point of accepting a cigarette.  So much for his claim that he’d never smoke again in the previous episode.  And Tucker’s growing interest in Pamela Cartwright runs through the episode, but the normally confident Tucker is completely tongue-tied when it comes to asking her out!