Chris Hill

Decided to watch out of curiosity as I remember watching these early series because I was about to start secondary school in 1978 when this came out. It took literally 2 minutes for me to realise how good this series was, in short it was groundbreaking, and proves how good a writer Phil Redmond was. It was refreshing to see kids actually respecting and looking up to teachers, even though they were pretty mischievous most of the time. Each episode tackled a typical pre-teen problem ie: bullying, being at a new school with no friends etc and dealt with it in a sort of 'public information film way' but was put across in such an informal and simple way that I believe the same age kids of today will love it. I wish teachers were given the powers back that they used to have similar to Grange Hill, okay some teachers were bullys as well but there were many more you could speak to and have an adult conversation - you definitely knew how far they could be pushed, the punishment dealt out in the first 5 episodes was swift and rules were rules, bring back corporal punishment. Todd Carty (Tucker) is definitely the star of the show and the girl who plays Trisha Yates plays a great role who can certainly stand up for herself, a lot of the other kids are definitely amateur actors but the 22 minute stories are so good it doesn't really matter. Series 1 is pre-Mrs McCluskey, Bullet Baxter and Mr Hopwood but the PE Teacher is a pre-cursor for how we all remember PE Teachers in the mould of Baxter, straight no-nonsense - ear twisting, head knuckle rapping, chucking you back in the shower if you're not wet enough, there's no excuse for not bringing you kit - Sgt Major type that we all remember. All in all its superb especially for all those around the age of 40 who remember this the first time round.