Pop Buzz UK

One of my favourite programmes on British television when I was growing up is being axed by the BBC after 30 years of being on air, simultaneously making me feel old, and rather sad at the demise of yet another British institution.

Grange Hill began on February 8th, 1978, less than a year after I was born, so it’s a programme which has been there nearly all of my life, whether I was actively watching it or not.

Although a children’s programme in essence, it’s hard hitting subject matter, and at time brilliantly acted plots made it a family favourite. I know myself that I watched it right up until I was about 21, when despite the story lines not being aimed at me any more, I found myself watching religiously in the same way I’d watch Eastenders and Coronation Street.

The BBC has now announced, in its infinite wisdom, that the series which will air later this year, will now be its last.

CBBC controller Anne Gilchrist paid tribute to the show and said:

“[It is] sad to say goodbye to such a much-loved institution. The lives of children have changed a great deal since Grange Hill began and we owe it to our audience to reflect this.”

The show’s axing has been announced as part of a wider shake up of the Children’s BBC programming schedule, but is definitely the biggest news to come out of the whole re imagining of what today’s kids want to watch on television.

Phil Redmond was the man behind the show originally, although he hasn’t been the main brains behind the show for a few years now. Even he realised that children’s TV had moved on a little since the show originally hit the airwaves.

In January, he called for the show to be quietly retired, and claimed that the BBC had ruined it by getting rid of the gritty stories, in favour for a much softer, younger focussed show. He told The Observer newspaper:

“We were all prepared to bring it right back to its original hard-hitting social edge for its 30th anniversary because we knew it should have got a lot of publicity and a lot of interest.”

“It was at the very first storyline conference that we were told there’d been an editorial shift, so that went down like a lead balloon.”

Although it seems everyone agrees that the show had radically altered over its thirty year span, and wasn’t quite the programme it once was, I still think it’ll be a shame to see Grange Hill end, as it’s part of my childhood, and everyone who is my generation or younger will have fond memories of the show.