The classic children's TV favourite Byker Grove is set to return to our TV screens with a brand new series.
The classic kids television drama will reboot under the new name Byker but will still be filmed and produced around the North East. Its original stars Ant and Dec will be the new executive producers, news which will shock and delight everyone who loved the show all those years ago.
For many '90s kids, Byker Grove formed the backdrop to their lives as they grew up, with the on-screen antics of its young cast striking a chord with school age viewers everywhere. The popularity of the drama, set around a fictional youth club in Byker, made household names of its cast, the most famous being of course Ant and Dec who we knew way back as PJ and Duncan.
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And it wasn't Ant and Dec who got their big break on the show. Byker Grove launched a generation of new actors and performers who have gone on to achieve great success.
But there was sad news at the end of 2020 when Adele Rose, the show's creator, passed away from pneumonia at the age of 86.
The Chronicle Live, recently took a look at the careers of some of the show's well known characters.
Ant & Dec - PJ and Duncan
We’ll get these two out of the way first as they're most definitely the biggest success story to come out of the Grove. After releasing their debut single as PJ and Duncan, the much loved duo have never looked back.
With three albums to their name as well as a string of top 20 hits including Eternal Love, U Krazy Katz and, of course Let’s Get Ready To Rumble, Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly became Saturday morning and prime time TV stars hosting the likes of SMTV Live, Pop Idol, Saturday Night Takeaway and Britain’s Got Talent.
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In 2020 the duo, who have an unbroken run of winning the National Television Award for Best Presenter spanning 21 years, released tell-all book Once Upon A Tyne celebrating their year 30 years in showbiz. Recently they have been back on screen with a new series of both Takeaway and Britain's Got Talent, which followed the second run of their brand new game show Limitless Win.
They delivered a blow to fans in May, when they announced that they'd be 'stepping back' from Saturday Night Takeaway, after entertaining millions of viewers for over 20 years.
Jill Halfpenny - Nicola
Another household name spawned by Byker Grove is this popular actress who appeared on the show between the ages of 13 and 17. Back in the early days of the show, Halfpenny's character Nicola Dobson was a big favourite with viewers and the now 45-year-old actress remains in-demand and hugely popular with fans decades on.
She's been a TV regular, with stints in Coronation Street and as Kate in Eastenders - which led to a winning run in Strictly Come Dancing and a West End career in the likes of Chicago and Legally Blonde, for which she won an Olivier award.
Other dramas have included Waterloo Road, In The Club and Dark Money - which saw her speak about being put through the emotional wringer - while stage roles have seen her star in Abigail's Party.
She returned to the screen in new Channel 5 drama The Drowning in 2021 and in February 2022 took the lead in another thriller for the broadcaster - The Holiday.
Jill is also the voice of well received Channel 4 docu-soap Geordie Hospital and is currently filming in the North East for new thriller The Red King.
Donna Air - Charlie
After initially finding fame as Grover Charlie Charlton from the age of just 10, Air and co-stars Jayni Hoy and Vicky Taylor set their sights on the pop charts, with single Love Your Sexy peaking at number 46.
Donna and Jayni then attempted to ‘do a PJ and Duncan’, launching the double act Crush. Their singles Jellyhead and Luv’d Up didn’t make the Top 40 here, but won them fans in Japan and America.
Air, from Newcastle, turned TV presenter which saw her at the helm on the likes of The Big Breakfast, MTV’s Total Request Live and Live from Studio Five.
She is now known for being something of a fashion entrepreneur and has also shown off her skills on Dancing on Ice.
Donna, who was once in a long-term relationship with Kate Middleton's brother James, was back on screen in 2020 in BBC drama series The Split.
Andrew Hayden-Smith - Ben
After his bad boy character Ben was killed off, Andrew, from Gateshead, landed himself a few presenting gigs on the likes of Live & Kicking and CBBC.
He then added an impressive string to his acting bow by appearing regularly on Doctor Who. Other subsequent TV roles have seen him in Russell T.Davies’ new Channel 4 drama Cucumber and Hollyoaks as DS Gavin Armstrong, who was killed in a shocking Christmas murder at the end of 2017.
You'll now regularly hear his voice on many ITV links as he has been a voice over artist for the channel for a number of years. In 2015, Andrew, now 38, took home the Rising Star accolade at the LGBT Awards.
Anna Orwin - Lou
An ever present character on the Grove for 16 years, Lou was foster parent to a whole host of regulars at the youth club.
In addition to being the most famous mam on children's TV, Anna also starred in Newcastle based crime drama 55 Degrees North, as well as Holby City and hit comedy show The League of Gentlemen. She also had roles in Coronation Street and Emmerdale.
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Charlie Hunnam - Jason
Yes Charlie Hunnam! Ok, so he appeared in only three episodes as Jason but the Newcastle-born 40-year-old has to have a mention as he's gone on to have worldwide success, firstly starring in Russell T Davies’s Queer as Folk and secondly landing the lead role in smash hit US drama Sons of Anarchy.
He pulled out of the lead role in the Fifty Shades of Grey films, which of course was taken on by The Fall's Jamie Dornan.
Charlie left the film due to a packed schedule at the time and later revealed: "I bit off more than I could chew and it was painful. I loved the character and I wanted to do it … It was one of those damned if you do, damned if you don’t situations.”
Other roles have ranged from Green Street, to the lead in 2002's Nicholas Nickleby to the star spot in Guy Ritchie's 2017 King Arthur: Legend of the Sword. Charlie lives in Los Angeles with his long-term, the jewellery designer Morgana McNelis.
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Lyndyann Barras - Spuggy
Lyndyann was definitely one of the show's most famous faces, thanks to her playing the role of Spuggy. Spuggy was a dedicated Grover for six series and although she hasn’t made such an impact on the small screen since, she has appeared on stage in local amateur productions of Annie Get Your Gun and High Society and still lists herself as an actress as well as a businesswoman on Twitter and Instagram. She’s also a mam-of-two.
In 2020 she hosted a segment on Channel 5 throwback show Top of the Box, fronting the children's TV highlights from 1989, which saw her in front of the camera both at 'the Grove' - which is actually in Benwell - and on Newcastle Quayside.
Billy Fane - Geoff
Like Spuggy, Billy’s character Geoff was a staple of Byker Grove for many years, until the club’s head honcho met an unfortunate end in a gas explosion in 2000.
Billy, now 74, appeared in countless pantomimes across the region as well as in Heartbeat. He is perhaps best known for appearing in North East films Billy Elliot and Purely Belter.
In other news he graduated with a postgraduate course in Education and Educational Special Needs from Hull University.
Brett Adams and David Oliver - Noddy and Marcus
The lads, better known to Byker Grove viewers as Noddy and Marcus (looking very young here!) went onto be in boyband Point Break, who had a top 10 hit with Stand Tough in 2000 and other chart hits with the likes of Freakytime and Do We Rock.
Denise Welch - Polly
While she might have only been on Byker Grove for seven episodes, Denise too had a slice of TV fame on the CBBC show, before going onto see her profile sky rocket with leading roles in both Soldier Soldier and Coronation Street.
Denise, who won Celebrity Big Brother in 2012, is back on Loose Women these days and has also appeared on stage in Calendar Girls, The Wind in the Willows and of course Sunday for Sammy.
The now 65-year-old is mum to 1975 frontman Matt as well as Vera and Emmerdale star Louis, her two sons with Tim Healy.
She recently appeared in Channel 4 soap Hollyoaks, playing the mum of Maxine Minniver, played by her former Corrie co-star Nikki Sanderson and, at the end of this year will play The Queen in Diana the Musical in London.
Charlie Hardwick - Sian
Another familiar face to Byker Grove viewers, Charlie, now 59, played youth leader Sian for a number of series, including in a return role for Geoff’s funeral.
Charlie is very famous amongst soap fans for playing Val in Emmerdale - which won her a British Soap Award for Best Comedy Performance - until her character's demise.
A regular at Sunday for Sammy fund-raisers at Newcastle City Hall, Charlie's stage roles include touring with Lee Hall's Cooking With Elvis; Sting's The Last Ship and a recent run of Clear White Light at Live Theatre while other TV roles include the Channel 4 drama Ackley Bridge.
Chelsea Halfpenny - Lucy
Another Grover to find fame in ITV hit Emmerdale, Chelsea followed her Auntie Jill into soapland, working closely with Charlie as Amy Wyatt, as well as playing Alicia Munroe in BBC's Casualty.
A cracking singer, she has also performed at Christmas carol concerts at St Nicholas’ Cathedral and at Sunday for Sammy, including the most recent one at the Utilita Arena in 2020, right before coronavirus hit.
She was in the spotlight in 2019 with the news she was due to take over the lead role in the West End production of 9 to 5: The Musical.
And at the start of this year she was confirmed as the lead in another show - Waitress, which played Newcastle's Theatre Royal in February 2022. She also appeared on the soundtrack to the musical version of iconic ITV show Footballers' Wives.
Dale Meeks
Dale played the leader of the Grove's rivals Denton Burn, before going onto achieve more TV fame as Simon Meredith in Emmerdale. Another one of Dale's memorable TV appearances came as he and his Emmerdale co-star Mark Charnock won Celebrity Stars in their Eyes as the Blues Brothers, with Dale also being the frontman of South Tyneside blues act Shake Your Tail Feather.
Dale had a role in ITV's The Hunt for Raoul Moat in April 2023, but died just days after the final episode aired at the age of 48 of heart failure. Ant and Dec were among the stars to pay tribute to him, with the hosts writing: "We are so incredibly sorry to hear the very sad news of Dale’s passing. He was the loveliest of guys, even though he was a Denton ‘Burner’, the the arch nemesis of the Byker ‘Grovers’! A sad loss at such a young age. RIP Dale. Sleep well bonny lad."
Nicola Bell - Debbie
Nicola's character Debbie Dobson broke both PJ and Duncan’s hearts on various occasions, not to mention unintentionally blinding PJ during a paintball match.
After starring in an episode of Kavanagh QC in 1995, the acting dried up and Nicola got work as a flight attendant. She is now a very happy mum.
Holly Matthews - Emma
Famous for playing Emma in Byker Grove, Holly had a bit of a re-brand to become Summer Matthews and release single Little Miss Perfect in early 2004. It reached number 32 in the UK charts.
After that, Holly returned to acting, playing bully Leigh-Ann Galloway in Waterloo Road. Staying with BBC shows, Holly went onto stars in Doctors twice - firstly as Connie Whitfield and then as Tansy Flack.
In between those two appearances, Holly switched channels to ITV, playing drug addict Josie Clarke in The Bill. She is now a mum of two, a successful self development, founder of The Happy Me Project and a fundraising campaigner. Holly hosted a Restival event in Newcastle earlier this year, which also featured stars like 911's Lee Brennan and Big Brother winner Anthony Hutton.
Guari Vedhara - Sita
As Sita, Guari effectively grew up on Byker Grove. The former Gosforth High pupil was thrilled to land the role back at the age of 12 and stayed with the show until 2000.
Since leaving the Grove, she has toyed with the idea of being a singer and has rediscovered her love of acting with roles in Emmerdale and North East-shot dramas Wolfblood as well as Vera as well as 2017 film Twins 2. She is now married and a mum.
Steven Douglass - Barry
Still close friends with Gauri and Andrew, Steven was originally cast as an extra but was soon taking time out of his studies at Jarrow’s Hedworth Field school to learn lines and shoot scenes for the bigger role of Barry.
Steven left the show aged 16 and afterwards worked in a stockbrokers, before working at a high end Tyneside estate agency.
Victoria Hawkins - Claire
Playing Claire, on-off girlfriend of Andrew’s character Ben, Vikki went on to star as Sharon Lambert in Emmerdale and short-lived ITV series Steel River Blues.
Does Byker Grove awaken any memories for you? Let us know in the comments section below.
