Moss had previously written some special hip-hop music for a storyline in Series 11 of Grange Hill. They were both rated PG by the British Board of film classification. The original theme was called Chicken Man by Alan Hawkshaw. In 1994 new titles were introduced showing pupils taking part various school subjects such as music, chemistry, PE and Food Technology,[23] and the end theme was re-edited and re-recorded to reduce its length to just 35 seconds, the first edit in 4 years of the theme. In 2005, Justin Lee Collins reunited some of the cast members from the 1980s in the documentary Bring Back...Grange Hill. Real schools in the locality were also used including Croxteth Comprehensive, Holly Lodge Girls' School and St Hilda's C of E High School in Liverpool. this was the first time since 1989 that live action footage was not used. The repeats ended with Series 16 in 1999. [19] But in the event, none of these celebrations happened aside from a special BBC Radio 4 programme Grange Hill: Soap Pioneer broadcast on 4 September 2008. In 1976, he managed to sell the idea to the BBC, and the children's drama executive Anna Home commissioned an initial series of nine episodes in a trial run, the first being broadcast on 8 February 1978.[7][8]. Grange Hill had its own dedicated magazine, but this only lasted two issues and a holiday special. The show spawned a spin-off called Tucker's Luck (1983–1985), which ran for three series starring Todd Carty. Comments are subject to our community guidelines, which can be viewed, The show spawned many young stars - including Susan Tully who went on to star in EastEnders, The show had famous opening credits and a catchy theme tune, The late Terry Sue-Patt played Benny Green, Grange Hill star John Alford was handed a community order after resisting arrest in an incident involving a bin lorry, Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), Letitia Dean as Lucinda Oliver - went on to star in EasEenders, George Christopher as Ziggy Greaves - went on to star in Brookside, Simone Hyams as Caroline "Calley" Donnington - went on to star in The Bill, John Pickard as Neil Timpson - went on to star in 2 Point 4 Children and Hollyoaks, Brian Capron as Mr Hopwood - went on to star in Coronation Street, Fiona Wade as Joanna Day - went on to star in Emmerdale, Lisa Hammond as Denny - went on to star in EastEnders, Reggie Yates as Carl Fenton - went on to become a radio and TV presenter, Amanda Mealing as Tracy Edwards - went on to star in Holby City and Casualty. In 1981, Grange Hill moved to Holborn College (now Fulham Preparatory School) in Greyhound Road, Hammersmith - this was the longest serving of the "real schools", remaining on screen until 1985. Both videos were edited to remove some storylines and thereby shorten running times, given the duration of early videocassettes. Zammo McGuire's heroin addiction, LSD), teenage pregnancy, HIV/AIDS, homosexuality, knife crime, homelessness, rape/sexual assault, mental illness (e.g. Script editor Anthony Minghella, who worked on the series for several years during the 1980s, later won an Academy Award for Best Director for the film The English Patient in 1996. For other inquiries, Contact Us. Aged just 11 when he took on the role of lovable Tegs, Sean was later homeless druggie Aidan Brosnan in EastEnders. The long running television series of the Grange Hill Comprehensive School, and the children's everyday lives. The drama was centred on the fictional comprehensive school of Grange Hill in the equally fictitious North London borough of Northam. He shifted much of the action away from general school life to "The Grange", the school's multimedia learning centre, which was given a radical makeover and became as much a "hang out" as a learning resource. This service is provided on News Group Newspapers' Limited's Standard Terms and Conditions in accordance with our Privacy & Cookie Policy. In the 1990s Grange Hill was repeated in full on digital satellite and cable channel UK Gold, which broadcast the late 1970s and early 80s episodes of the show. The original theme was called Chicken Man by Alan Hawkshaw. For its first 25 years Grange Hill was produced in-house by the BBC, then the show was made independently for the corporation by Mersey TV, the production house founded by Redmond (and later renamed as Lime Pictures), hence the reason for the production move. You can listen to it in the video at the top of this article. The former actor and singer, 47, was arrested for "hijacking" the vehicle while it did its morning rounds near his North London home in September 2018. However, during this period in particular (1995–2000) several versions were used, with a variety of slightly longer edits creating different lead outs depending on the mood and theme of the episode. This school looked very different from the two that had been used previously, and it was also in a built-up area of London. leukemia), gun crime, child abuse, alcoholism and death. From the start of the series to 1989, the title sequence was in a comic book style and used "Chicken Man" by Alan Hawkshaw as the theme tune. (The later 1987 game secured three character names and images but nothing else from the series to keep royalties costs down.). The announcement was made by CBBC controller Anne Gilchrist just two days before the show's official 30th birthday. In its original version it was used as the main title music from 1978 to 1987, and was replaced by a re-recorded version from 1988 to 1989. This removed some of the various background elements and sharpened the end notes considerably. There were 14 short story books and novels, some of which were written or co-written by series creator Phil Redmond, but which also involved authors such as Robert Leeson and Jan Needle. Grange Hill Theme - Alan Hawkshaw 1978. Police fear his body may have lain there for a month before it was found.