Phil Redmond says BBC should axe Grange Hill!

Digital Spy

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[QUOTE]Redmond: BBC 'should axe Grange Hill'
Monday, January 14 2008, 13:22 GMT

By James Welsh, International Editor

Grange Hill creator Phil Redmond has strongly criticised the BBC for changes it is making to the show - and has even called for the iconic kids' TV show to be retired.

The school-based teen drama, which will celebrate its 30th anniversary next month, is being tweaked to fit in with CBBC's new target audience. Instead of featuring gritty storylines, which have previously looked at subjects such as racism, suicide and drugs, and aiming at 12-16 year olds, the series will relocate from Grange Hill comprehensive to "The Grange", a multimedia learning centre. The main characters will be pared back to a group of 10-11 year olds with the new target audience being aged 6-12.

In an interview with The Observer, Redmond said that he had originally planned to bring the show back to its 1980s heyday for the 30th anniversary by returning to more hard-hitting storylines.

"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."

Redmond also criticised BBC director general Mark Thompson's plan for the corporation to make fewer but better programmes.

"I think it's all part of the 'fewer, bigger, better' nonsense," he said. "How we've managed to let them get away with that so far I don't know but I'm sure it'll come back at them. To say the BBC's role is to make fewer programmes is bizarre."

He added: "I don't like keeping things going when the point has been lost. I do now think the point of Grange Hill has been lost, and 30 years is a nice time for it to hang up its mortar board."

The new series will air on CBBC in the Spring.
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So what's the opinion should Grange Hill be axed, I must admit not having really seen it for at least ten years, I cannot for an opinion on the current state of the show. However as with Top of the Pops, Doctor Who, Grandstand etc it was part of my childhood and for that reason it would be a shame to kill it off.

Phil Redmond is right - the new series has had to change well beyond the shows character to fit in with CBBC's very misguided 6-12 year old target audience.

It would be easy to agree, given the way that Grange Hill has gone, but I seem to remember that the earlier, more successful series were focussed on 11 and 12 year olds getting acquainted with the secondary school environment, rather than with 'issues'.

I'm not sure that Phil Redmond's knows anything about anything anymore.

I'm sure he knows about the history of his own programme though.


Basically though they've always had two or three cycles of students - generally starting one group at year 7 when the last lot reach year 10, then maybe some sixth formers too.

It's certainly always been more teen focused - the changes made are more a switch to primary school.

I hadn't realised how down (pun) hill Grange Hill had apparently gone!

To be honest, I don't really think it has ever been that important to my generation. It was never mentioned at school. PokeMon, WWF... That's it really.

It's importance has faded I suppose with each passing generation.


This CBBC policy is so misguided though - surely even if targetting 6-12 year olds they'd be a place for a programme showing older primary school kids what a secondary school might be like - and I'm sure 10-11 year olds would be far more interested in seeing what older kids might be getting up to than people of their own age.

Even 7 years ago it was still on the cutting egde<

Drugs,
knife attacks
bullying
provertay
Mental breakdown
dead Parents

where did it all go wrong? 2003?

Well to be fair what they had been doing since Phil Remond took control again had been working and as he says, he was working up to putting in the grittier storylines when the BBC told them to completely reformat the series.

I believe that if Grange Hill is going to turn into such trash, it should be axed. True, it'll be sad, but it's better than letting it transmute into a kiddie version of Tracy Beaker .

Our resident Grange Hill obsessor will not be too chuffed about this.

Generally, I agree with your other points, but I've found that Phil Redmond seems to remember what he wants to remember- like yourself, he seems to forget that the early series focussed largely on the one form of 11 and 12 year olds, as well as a number of adult characters, and was as much character driven as it was issue driven. Personally, I find those early series to be much 'rounder' and more believable drama than what came later.

Well I am actually surprised that Phil Redmond would say this as until now he has always wanted Grange Hill to go on for as long as it could. If these really are his words, however, I have to sadly agree with him. Being a teenage show is what defined Grange Hill and if it ceases to be so, it's not Grange Hill any more.

I personally think the best time to end it (in terms of a convenient break in the narrative) would have been after the last series.

Something that doesn't sit right about this article - it was originally Phil Redmond himself who thought Grange Hill was aiming for "too old an audience" (Radio Times) and this motivated him to get Lime Pictures to take over production. He spoke at the time that he wanted to "take the show back to the 8-11s" and now this is really happening - he's not happy.

The original article was in The Observer and David Smith who wrote it originally wanted to interview me about what I thought had made the series endure and what I thought of the planned changes. I declined, instead suggesting he talked to Phil Redmond which he obviously now has.