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40 Years of Grange Hill Fundraising Event – Royal Holloway University

April 28, 2018

We were thrilled to partner on this fundraising event. Huge thanks to Chris and John for inviting us to be part of this special day.

The Centre for the History of Television Culture and Production at Royal Holloway, University of London, has teamed up with the television archive organisation, Kaleidoscope, to co-host an event marking the fortieth anniversary of the BBC children’s TV drama, Grange Hill. Set in a London comprehensive school, the programme was first broadcast on 8 February 1978. Although initially conceived as a nine-part series, the programme proved so popular that it continued to be made until 2008. It also earned a reputation for its realism and willingness to tackle difficult subjects – from bad behaviour and truancy to drug use and teenage pregnancy – which also meant that it soon became a source of public controversy. The event at Royal Holloway will bring together a number of those involved in the making of the programme, including the original Executive Producer, Anna Home, the programme’s creator and original writer, Phil Redmond (tbc), and many of the show’s cast: Mark Baxter, Linda Slater, Lisa East, Joanne Boakes, Gwyneth Powell, Lucinda Curtis, Paul McCarthy, Erkan Mustafa and Ruth Carraway (via satellite). Helen Wheatley and Rachel Moseley from the University of Warwick and Maire Messenger Davies from the University of Ulster will also assess Grange Hill’s importance in TV history.

Our CEO and Founder, Linda Magistris played one of the original characters in the BBC Children’s Series.  We were delighted that Phil Redmond, it’s creator, along with other popular programmes such as Brookside and Hollyoaks was also there to help us raise awareness of our charity and to discuss his work on the programme.