The top 15 characters in Grange Hill

It may be just a few weeks into the new term, but Grange Hill's school year is already coming to an end - for good. September 15th will see its last ever episode.

Today Radio 4 hosted its own tribute programme to the show, which created an utter furore when it launched, back in 1978. It dealt with issues that hadn't really been seen on TV before, from bullying and drugs to teenage pregnancy and illiteracy. It also featured children who seemed to be real: they didn't speak as if they'd been to public school, but did do brave things like organise demonstrations and sit-ins. How proud we felt when we watched the GH alumni move on to EastEnders.....

It's almost difficult to think back to those heady times, when the Grange Hill theme tune and cartoon graphics were such a delight. We youngsters didn't have dedicated TV channels back then (were we deprived?) so GH was a treat. It was made even more so by the knowledge that some parents didn't allow their children to watch it.

So sit back and enjoy the memories. Here are my top 15 characters from Grange Hill - from the era when I was watching!

1) Tucker Jenkins (Todd Carty)
An obvious choice, I know, but Peter ("Tucker") Jenkins was the leader of the pack, the original school rebel who wasn't ever really "bad." Todd Carty became a huge star on the back of the show, and is set to make an appearance in the last ever episode (as the uncle of current character, Togger Johnson).
Watch Tucker performing on the school stage.

2) Zammo McGuire (Lee McDonald)
Popular and cheeky, but sensitive when he needed to be, Zammo became instantly popular when he joined Grange Hill. This made his descent into heroin addiction all the more shocking. The "Just say No" campaign is all his fault.
Watch the famous drug scene.

3) Tricia Yates (Michelle Herbert)
Confident, bolshie and independent, a great foil for Tucker.
Watch a very young Trisha chat to Benny about "bunking off" and Benny confide in her about the racist comments he's been getting.

4) Gripper Stebson (Mark Savage)
Probably the best (or should be that be worst?) bully seen on TV, and with a brilliant quiff too. Gripper was genuinely scary, racist, sexist and vicious. 
Watch Gripper in action.

5) Bullet Baxter (Michael Cronin)
Who says it has to be pupils only on this list? Mr Baxter was a PE teacher who was at Grange Hill from the start. He became a legend.
Watch his speech to Gripper Stebson, when the bully is finally found out.

6) Suzanne Ross (Susan Tully)
Very bright and streetwise pupil, who just couldn't wait to leave (probably to move onto EastEnders).
Watch Suzanne dressed as Boy George!

7) Mr Bronson (Michael Sheard)
Not a teacher you would particularly enjoy having, although his toupee might amuse. Deputy head and French teacher, this old fashioned disciplinarian made the pupils' lives something of a misery.
Watch Mr Bronson come up against Ant Jones.

8) Jackie Wright (Melissa Wilks)
The heart-throb girlfriend of Zammo (they even, rather bizarrely, got engaged at one point), Jackie started off as a pupil of a rival school and became an integral part of the Grange Hill milieu. Her screen brother, Robbie, was played by John Alford, later a tabloid favourite.
Watch poor Jackie crying - only to be comforted by Kevin Baylon.

9) Benny Green (Terry Sue Patt)
The first Grange Hill pupil ever to be seen on screen, he was easy to relate to, great at football, and full of personality. He was also important as one of the first black characters to be seen as a main character in a children's series.

10) Mrs McClusky (Gwyneth Powell)
Long-standing  - and long-suffering - head. It's unclear how she lasted a whole decade, but she nearly always managed to keep her cool.
Watch Mrs McCluskey leave (forgive the poor quality)

11) Imelda Davis (Fleur Taylor)
If Gripper made a great boy bully, Imelda was (nearly, but not quite) the female equivalent. She and her gang of friends tormented their fellow pupils, although Imelda was eventually expelled.

12) Justine Dean (Rachel Victoria Roberts)
Bright but not conformist, Justine Dean was a character I really enjoyed watching (and even thought I might like to befriend). Her friendship with the vulnerable Tegs was very moving and I was crushed when her boyfriend, Liam, died.
Watch a very young Justine walk to school with Tegs (and before that, catch a glimpse of Michelle Gayle and friends).

13) Tegs Ratcliffe (Sean Maguire)
Before Sean Maguire became a teen heart-throb, he was the tiny but incredibly cute Tegs in Grange Hill. Tegs joined the school unable to read, and was helped by Justine.

14) Luke "Gonch" Gardener (John Holmes)
Always working on some or other money-making scheme, Gonch was a star of the mid to late 80s Grange Hill.
Watch Gonch meet best-friend Hollo.

15) Annette Firman (Nadia Chambers)
Her best friend Fay (Alison Bettles) may have had more juicy parts as time went on (particularly her scandalous affair with teacher Mr King), but Annette was always so much more fun to watch, brilliant at answering back and very loud.
Watch the class trip to Chessington Zoo featuring Zammo, Annette and others (this video, rather oddly, has been uploaded by Lee MacDonald, Zammo himself).

Honourable mentions: Ant Jones (Ricky Simmonds), who was not a particular favourite of mine, but, as I remember, incredibly popular amongst the other ladies at my school. Roland Browning (Erkan Mustafa), is here because he became iconic, but he was never one of my favourites, while Pogo Paterson (Peter Moran) and his "Gordon Bennett" catch phrase was great fun to watch. Liverpudlian Ziggy Greaves (George Christopher) also had his moments, while Duane Orpington (Mark Baxter) was an easy-going everyman who was very likable.

Visit GH Online to read about the series' moments which shocked!

Read Fay Weldon's review of series three in the Times Archive and go back to the days when the series was accused of encouraging school vandalism!

Read School Gate on:

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The worst teachers in the movies

The best TV shows set in schools

The best high school musicals

The 25 best boarding school books

Seven ways to get your kids to do their homework

Darth Vader and the Pythagorean theorem

What you need to know before your child starts reception

And wonder why school uniform is so expensive!

Comments

[Simon]

Great to see Trisha ("Shut yer mouf sudomani") Yates in the top 15, of, as the writer said - "the years when I watched GH". But how come no-one mentions Sheila ("Ever so Lonely") Chandra ? Greta show. reminded me of fast times at Bishy High... Finally, I expect the reason that the ytaes?Jenkns?Patterson years are considered the 'best' is probably because the people who are now writing about those episodes grew up with them. I know I did.

[RH]

Funny that Zammo, when he started, was just a sidekick to Jonah Jones. Zammo sort of took over his role when Jonah left.

[LM]

Yes KM, you were definitely deprived.

I loved GH but thought it had gone downhill when I saw it as a student (it probably had); I haven't seen it in 15 years now, probably, so couldn't comment on whether or not it's still relevant but I'm sure that it could be revived into a cutting-edge children's show if people were willing to put the effort into it. After all, Dr Who was abysmal after Peter Davison left & look how brilliant it is now!

[MARTIN]

Where is Booger Benson, Tucker's arch enemy?

[Claudine]

This article made my 40yr old (although he still acts like an 18year old) husband very happy...!

[Simon Luxton]

Arthur - I was making a general point that a lot of Grange Hill articles written in the press/magazines have a bias towards the period before 1990, and this sometimes led people to believe that Grange Hill was no longer being made (before the cancellation was announced) and that the show was somehow considered unworthy of discussion once Danny Kendall died. Grange Hill veered more towards issues in the 1990s/2000s, the young actors were being stretched more than ever before yet their performances and contribution to the show was constantly overlooked by a press that was more interested in the Tucker and Zammo generation.

So how about for the more recent years:

Wayne Sutcliffe (Peter Morton)
Laura Sadler (Judi Jeffreys)
Tom Hudson (Baz Wainwright)
Leah Stewart (Jessica Staveley-Taylor)
Emma Bolton (Daniella Fray)

...to name but a few.

[Arthur Van Der Lae]

Simon (Sep 5th @ 12.52pm) your comments are a bit unfair as the writer said:

"Here are my top 15 characters from Grange Hill - from the era when I was watching!"

[Gipsy]

Oh Danny Kendal! Best Death Scene Ever!

[Gipsy]

we had no Saturday morning TV when I was a 11...and that was the year that NZ got its second channel...

My husband wasn't allowed to watch ITV as a kid - it was banned in the house full stop.

[KM]

(waves to everyone frmo Alphamummy)

I was one of those unfortunate kids whose parents wouldn't let them watch Grange Hill.

Or Sesame Street.

Or Saturday morning children's TV.

I am scarred, you know, scarred....

[Simon Luxton]

Why are no characters from the later years listed? Actors like Laura Sadler, Iain Robertson, Emma Pierson and Desmond Askew made just as great a contribution to the show yet, as is typical with these articles, because they weren't in the early years are declared not worth a mention.

[mumoftwo]

I was at a comprehensive school when Grange Hill started, my school was, sadly for me, very similar. All I can remember of Grange Hill now is that little black girl following Roland saying 'Rolaand, Rolaand' and him not wanting to be her friend even though he had very few. Oh, it was all so traumatic, but totally ground-breaking at the time in comparison to the patronising 'now children, we are going to show you something very exciting' tone of Blue Peter (although I watched both).

[Hilary]

What about Danny Kendall!?

[Gipsy]

Grange Hill is ending? I'm truly surprised - I guess I just thought it would go on forever, like most adult soaps.

We got the show in NZ - presumably when it started in the UK as I remember it being 1978, as I was the same age as the first intake of kids (11), so that pretty much gives my age away :)

For me though, the show's attraction wasn't how familiar it was, but how exotic. School in the UK was nothing like NZ. We started big school at 13, for starters, and we didn't have school dinners.

[Charles]

The most memorable 'character' was surely 'the banger on a fork' flying across the screen at the beginning with the 'dineetnowwnoww' soundtrack often enacted at meal times much to the annoyance of parents and recently re-enacted at a cricket match lunch to much instant recogniton and hilarity. Great stuff - but 'Pongo' Paterson is top 10 surely.

[Tim]

ROWLAND BROWNING!!!!!!!!!!!

[Ben]

Honourable mentions only for Pogo and Roland?! You should be ashamed of yourselves (like Zammo). My brother and I were not allowed to watch this programme, how times have changed. I suppose 'The Hill' would be about stabbings and skunk psychosis now....Ooh to be young

[Gary]

How can you omit Danny Kendall? The ultimate rebel! He was like a (very) short James Dean in a parka. He invented joyriding when he pinched Mr Bronson's car, and subsequently died of sheer overexcitement.

[Arthur Van Der Lae]

Great memories and some names I had long since forgotton