The end of an era!

Montse · February 6, 2008

BBC to shut gates on Grange Hill

Tucker Jenkins in a 1978 episode of Grange Hill

The BBC is axing children's TV school drama Grange Hill after 30 years.

CBBC controller Anne Gilchrist said: "The lives of children have changed a great deal since Grange Hill began and we owe it to them to reflect this."

The series began on 8 February 1978 and featured some tough storylines about social issues including drugs and teenage pregnancy over the years.

There will be one more series this year, in which producers want to focus on the younger children of Year Six.

Ms Gilchrist said: "We have to not confuse our own nostalgia for something that we loved for something that children will want nowadays.

"We think we have got a lot of exciting new shows coming up that will please them and challenge them equally as well as Grange Hill did in the past."

A scene from a 2004 episode of Grange Hill

The series has continued to tackle hard-hitting subjects in recent series

Grange Hill's creator Phil Redmond was reportedly unhappy with the strategy and felt the programme was losing its gritty purpose.

"I don't like keeping things going when the point has been lost," he told the Observer recently. "I do now think the point of Grange Hill has been lost, and 30 years is a nice time for it to hang up its mortar board."

The show's most controversial story was in 1986 when Zammo Maguire began taking drugs. It led to the Just Say No campaign and a top 10 single.

Jon East, head of CBBC Drama, said: "For 30 years, Grange Hill has become a byword for realistic and contemporary children's drama.

"It's now time to apply what we've learned over the years to some of the new ideas we're exploring."

New shows

It was also a nurturing ground for young talent. Among its stars were Todd Carty, Susan Tully and John Alford.

The BBC has announced a series of new shows to fill the gap.

They include Half Moon Investigations, about wrongdoing in the school playground, and Paradise Cafe, described as a beachside mystery with a supernatural twist.

There will also be We Are Family, following a family who are the house band on a talk show, and Roy, about a cartoon boy marooned in the real world.

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Gunga Din · February 6, 2008

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