Grange Hill is a British children's television drama series which is shown on BBC One. The latest series was first shown on the CBBC Channel. The show began in 1978 and is one of the longest running on British television. It was created by Phil Redmond, who was also responsible for the Channel 4 dramas Brookside and Hollyoaks; other notable production team members down the years have included producer Colin Cant and script editor Anthony Minghella.

The drama is centred on the fictional comprehensive school of Grange Hill in the (equally fictitious) borough of north London called "Northam" (although when filming moved to Liverpool in 2003, it ceased to have any specific location), and follows the lives of the children as they progress through school. For its first 25 years it was produced in-house by the BBC, but the show is now made independently for the corporation by Redmond's own Lime Pictures production company (which is the reason for the production move).

The programme has covered many controversial storylines ranging from students throwing benches into the swimming pool (1978; as a result of which, following letters of complaint from teachers and parents, the episode was withdrawn from the repeat season), to rape (2001), heroin addiction, and attempted suicide (2005), prompting many complaints from viewers. Grange Hill broke new ground by the inclusion of a gay teacher, Mr Brisley, who was in the cast from 1992 to 1999.

The show spawned a successful spin-off called Tucker's Luck (1983–1985), and launched the acting career of Todd Carty. Also, the 1986 cast released "Grange Hill: The Album", with two singles: "Just Say No" (tying in with a character's heroin addiction) and "You Know the Teacher (Smash Head)". A film based on the series will be released in 2007. The 2007 tv series began on the CBBC Channel on 16 January.

In 2005, Justin Lee Collins reunited some of the cast members from the 1980s in the documentary Bring Back Grange Hill.

http://www.grangehill.com/