Grange Hill is a children's soap opera shown on BBC 1, which has run from 1978 to the present day. It is set in a fictional London comprehensive school. The plotlines generally revolved around the kids running scams, bullying, and various increasingly 'controversial' topics (e.g. drugs, teenage pregnancy, abusive parents, etc.). The 2001 series featured RAPE, LESBIANISM and HARDCORE RACISTS (screamed the Daily Mail, probably).

The setting allows for there to be several subsets of characters that operate independently- there is usually a group of first years, a group of third years and a group of sixth formers. In the old days, most of the kids had nicknames (like Zammo). Teachers included Mrs. McClusky and the archetypal syrup-wearing headmaster Mr. Bronson. Child actors from the show occasionally went on to have successful acting careers (such as EastEnders' star Todd Carty).

In the old days Grange Hill it had a brilliant bouncy theme tune* (recently revived by 'ironic' DJs everywhere) which was sadly replaced by some bland elevator music in the early Nineties. It also had a comic book title sequence with an animated sausage on a fork.

The show was originally devised by Phil Redmond, who sadly seems to have been struck down with some kind of talent-sapping illness in recent years that has led him to create the unmitigated shite-fest Hollyoaks.

* http://tv.cream.org/themes/grange.mp3

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