The creator of unflinching children’s school drama Grange Hill has confirmed the show will be making a comeback in the form of a film adaptation, with the original cast featured.
The groundbreaking series, which ran from 1978 until 2008 on BBC One, depicted life in a typical British comprehensive school, with storylines tackling racism, teenage pregnancy, drug addiction, and mental health.
Now, 45 years since the first episode aired, the show’s creator, Sir Phillip Redmond, has revealed that the reboot will involve original cast member Sara Sugarman, who has signed on to direct a plot based around her character, Jessica Samuels. Jessica was the rabble-rousing leader of the Grange Hill student action group in the TV series.
“Sara reached out and that lit a lightbulb in my head,” Redmond told Deadline. “I thought: ‘Why don’t I look beyond the main characters, which is obvious, and we’ll have them all there for nostalgia, but where did Jessica go?’”
While the plot is largely being kept secret, Redmond described Sugarman as a “great fit” and said her character’s development will be one of the film’s main themes.
Sugarman said she may not be reprising her role, but did reveal that the film will definitely feature appearances from the likes of Todd Carty, Sheila Chandra, and Sean Maguire.
“It wouldn’t be Grange Hill without the Grange Hillers, and there will be some surprises,” Sugarman said to Deadline.
Set in the fictional London borough of Northam, the show was one of the longest-running programmes on British television by the time it ended in 2008.
The film will be directed by Redmond, who said that it won’t shy away from similar social issues that shape the lives of schoolchildren today, including “culture war” topics like social-media dogpiling.
“We don’t want it to be like a lot of these things where they just take the characters, use the brand, and throw something together. I wanted to think about how best we could revisit the show,” he said. “In many ways, the only place I could feel comfortable doing it now is the cinema.”
Where are the Grange Hill cast members now?
Last year, ahead of a special episode of the Reunion on BBC Radio, four of the original Grange Hill stars met up for a reunion 44 years after the show’s first episode.
Lee MacDonald, who played Zammo McGuire, reunited with his co-stars Todd Carty, who played Tucker, Simone Nylander, who played Janet, and Erkan Mustafa, who starred as Roland.
Sadly, however, not all of the cast are still with us.
In September 2022, Mrs McClusky actress Gwyneth Powell died aged 76 following complications from an operation.
But what has happened to the rest of the cast?
Samuel ‘Zammo’ McGuire — Lee MacDonald
Lee MacDonald, 52, was the main character of one of Grange Hill’s most groundbreaking storylines when his character, Zammo, became addicted to heroin.
MacDonald had always had an interest in boxing and, during the show, he worked on pursuing this as a career. Sadly, a car accident in the early 1990s left his sporting dreams crushed.
“I was absolutely devastated,” he told The Guardian in 2009. “After the celebrity of being in Grange Hill, and the excitement of the boxing, here I was, aged 21, working in a wholesaler.
“I remember thinking, ‘I can’t box any more, I’m not acting and I’m here putting keys in a bag,’ and my early 20s were really dark because of that. It took me a bit of time to sort myself out.”
Although MacDonald has made several TV cameos since leaving Grange Hill, the actor has claimed that he struggled to find any work afterwards as potential employers didn’t want to be associated with drug use.
He took up work as a locksmith in Surrey but, in April 2019, it was announced that he would appear in BBC soap opera EastEnders as Terry.
Benny Green — Terry Sue-Patt
As Benny Green, Terry Sue-Patt was the first black character on Grange Hill — as well as first-ever pupil to be shown on screen in the debut episode.
After playing the role from 1978 to 1982, and becoming one of the most popular characters, Sue-Patt went on to appear in Channel 4 comedy Desmond’s and 1989 film The Firm.
In May 2015, Sue-Patt was sadly found dead at his London home, aged 50.
A statement by the actor’s family revealed that he’d been fighting demons before his death.
“Like every artist and creative soul in history, he drew from his demons and they sometimes got the better of him,” it read.
“Terry had his own crosses to bear and he became gripped by a depression he never fully recovered from.”
Peter ‘Tucker’ Jenkins — Todd Carty
Todd Carty, who played the role of Tucker for four years, remains one of Grange Hill’s most memorable faces.
His character became so beloved that he was given his own spin-off show, Tucker’s Luck, which ran from 1983 to 1985.
Carty then went on to play Mark Fowler in EastEnders from 1990 to 2003, where his character was famously diagnosed with HIV.
In 2003, Carty actually returned to Grange Hill as Tucker for one episode, and also reprised the role for the final series in 2008.
The actor also made a memorable Dancing On Ice in 2009 because of his lack of skill, famously accidentally skating out of the studio.
Suzanne Ross — Susan Tully
Although Susan Tully starred as rebellious schoolgirl Suzanne Ross in Grange Hill for four years, she eventually became more recognised for her role in EastEnders.
She was cast as Michelle Fowler in the BBC One soap aged 17, playing the role of a 16-year-old single mother.
Ten years later, Tully decided to leave EastEnders in 1995 and actually gave up acting altogether to pursue a career in directing and producing.
Her directing credits include episodes of EastEnders, The Bill, Silent Witness, Lark Rise to Candleford, and Line of Duty.
What other reboots are in the works?
Fawlty Towers
Earlier this year, John Cleese confirmed that, after years of speculation, he will be reviving classic BBC sitcom Fawlty Towers.
The original show, written by Cleese and Connie Booth, ran on BBC2 for two series in 1975 and 1979. The new series will explore how the dramatic Torquay hotelier Basil Fawlty navigates the 21st century.
The original show, which was named the greatest British sitcom of all time in a 2019 Radio Times poll, followed the exploits of Basil, played by Cleese, and his wife Sybil, played by Prunella Scales.
Frasier
In February this year, it was confirmed that Kelsey Grammer would be reprising his role as Dr Frasier Crane in the beloved eponymous sitcom in a reboot.
The show ran for 11 years and won an impressive 37 Primetime Emmys in its time.
Paramount+ confirmed the new version of Frasier on Thursday, February 2. It has also be confirmed that Only Fools And Horses star Nicholas Lyndhurst will be joining the reboot.
