Grange Hill in the 1990s

The aforementioned pub brawl is from 20:55 from a full episode that's been uploaded to YouTube . . .




At the time, I did find it strange that two entirely different shows on opposing channels were using version of the same theme tune.

Meanwhile, I'll just leave this here . . .

"Do do-do do, do do-do do-do do do-do do, do do-do do-do..."

Like several others on here, I grew up with this theme and then discovered "Chicken Man" when BBC2 repeated the classic series on Sunday mornings.

And I, too, don't see why it can't be that *both* themes are considered great. Obviously, "Chicken Man" was used throughout the classic era - but the 1990 theme was used for more than half the show's life (18 of the 31 series), so it *must* have been popular to some extent.

It's generally regarded that TOTP had at least two great theme tunes, as did Tomorrow's World - with a fair amount of love for several others (The Wizard, Paul Hart's trumpet fanfare, even Chris Blackwell's drums). And *none* of them were used for 17 unbroken years...

Both themes are simultaneously in my memory at the same time, thanks to the mid-90’s repeats.

The original did sound dated by the time it was replaced, and the 90’s theme (and titles) sounded equally as dated by the early 2000s.

Indeed, one show can have several classic theme tunes, and TOTP and Tomorrow's World do have more than one - but in the case of Grange Hill, I think it only has one. I've always bracketed the 1990 theme along with the 1991 TOTP theme - in both cases theme tunes that couldn't be mistaken for anything else were replaced by disappointingly bland themes. Tomorrow's World also had a disappointing revamp in 1994 with a rather dull theme tune. Grange Hill's new theme seemed like it could have been applied to any CBBC drama of the time - Chicken Man had become so associated with the programme, at the time I was amazed that they had dumped it altogether. I think they could have stuck with Chicken Man and updated it for the 90s - after all, it had already been re-recorded once.

Worth posting the tune that without doubt inspired the 1990 theme.



Though pretty certain “Chicken Man” was inspired by the Blood Sweat and Tears version of “Down In The Flood”.

Another point to mention is the title sequences - the original 1978 sequence based around a comic strip, which I think was used a bit too long and did look rather dated by 1987, and the 1988 titles, which were also animated, both seemed a bit more fun than what was to come. The 1990 sequence uses grainy shots of children on their way to school, and feels rather dull and mundane in comparison. And the series just wasn't the same without Mr Bronson!

I also thought it was strange how when the new school buildings appeared in the 1990 series, the rest of Neptune House at Elstree, that had been the school building since 1985, hardly ever appeared again, apart from in a few background shots of the garden area behind the school, and only then on rare occasions.

From 1990, all that was seen was the back of the school (Neptune House) and I often think that a generation of viewers wondered what the rest of the school building looked like.

Not as strange as when the whole school moved to Liverpool. Most school dramas usually cover up changes to the set as schools merging (so a relocation, but keeping the name) or a result of building work being done, so they'd get away with it. Similarly in schools teachers and pupils moving on without explanation isn't out of the ordinary too - I doubt many, if any, characters went through the full seven years of Year 7 to Sixth Form on the show.

Of course Waterloo Road also upped and moved from Rochdale to Scotland, so it wasn't alone.

That one was just daft. You don't do GCSEs in Scotland!

All the intros in one go here:


The reworked Chicken Theme titles in the late 80s aren't bad at all really so I guess the show wanted to take a new direction with the change the following year. Also similarly odd in 2003 to see a very basic set of titles replace what had come before, though did appreciate the nod to the sausage. The final set are a nice homage to the original too, though the show had been robbed of it's premise by then thanks to changes at CBBC. Maybe it should have been made the centrepiece of BBC Switch instead, but I think the BBC just wanted rid by then.

I wonder who owns the rights to the concept now - Phil Redmond or the BBC?

Waterloo Road went down hill as soon as it moved, I think by the time Grange Hill moved I wasn't watching it anymore, but did that also go down hill after the move?

I think the 90s theme is the best but that's because that is my era of grange hill.