Todd Carty has continued to act since first starring as Tucker Jenkins in Grange Hill forty years ago. Whilst he has never forgotten his Grange Hill roots, he hasn’t had the chance to catch up with his former GH schoolmates in years. So, as part of a secret mission in aid of The Good Grief Trust, ex castmates Linda Slater (Susi McMahon), George Armstrong (Alan Humphries) and Erkan Mustafa (Roland Browning) set out to surprise Todd on the last night of his pantomime run playing King Rat, in Dick Whittington, at the Devonshire Park Theatre in Eastbourne.
The theatre had been collecting in aid of The Good Grief Trust during its performances and so something special was planned to say thank you to Todd, who had also agreed to become an ambassador for the charity, founded by Linda.
Unbeknown to Todd, his former cast-mates had travelled down to Eastbourne and crept onstage to surprise him. Reunited on stage, Todd revealed that it was almost 14 years since he had last seen George, but they all remained linked by happy memories of their time at Grange Hill and were looking forward to celebrating 40 years of Grange Hill. Linda was also able to thank Todd for becoming an ambassador for the Good Grief Trust and the theatre-goers for all the money they had donated.
Linda Magistris (nee Slater) was able to tell us all about the evening : “Mission complete! Every year the management of this Panto Devonshire Park Theatre plan a surprise for the star of the show on the last night of the run.
So last night we were sneaked on stage from the wings during Todd’s King Rat performance to the theme tune of Grange Hill. Bless him it was really emotional for him, especially as he hadn’t seen George for so many years.
Grange Hill was a very special time in our lives and with the anniversary next month of 40 years since the first episode went to air, we are so lucky to still be such good friends.
It was amazing to be able to talk to the audience about GGT as well and thank them for collecting for us The Good Grief Trust over the run too. Huge thanks to The Devonshire Park Theatre for supporting us.
Joining in with the Finale too was a hoot!!!
A really special night. xxx”
It’s always great to see Grange Hill cast reunited; especially in aid of such a great cause.
You can watch the reunion videos here and here.
Thanks to Linda Magistris and The Good Grief Trust.
Who could forget school bully Imelda Davis? Famed for putting fibre glass down the backs of other pupils and causing chaos, Imelda became a Grange Hill legend. As part of Grange Hill’s 40th anniversary celebrations, we have been talking to Fleur Taylor who played Imelda and can reveal that another of our exclusive interviews is coming soon. Catch our interview with Fleur; unveiled on Tuesday 30th January 2018 at the traditional GH time of 5:10pm.
For anyone who grew up in the 1980s, Bella Emberg was a television legend. As part of the team on Russ Abbot’s Madhouse, Bella became instantly recognisable, performing a range of comedy sketches in a variety of roles. Although this was what she was best known for, Bella had worked on many other programmes, including Grange Hill. She appeared in several episodes of Series 3, playing a school cleaner (see picture (
Grange Hill’s 40th anniversary year got off to a great start when Radio Times announced their 50 Greatest Children’s TV Shows of all time. A panel consisting of 30 luminaries from television, including David Walliams, Floella Benjamin and Russell T. Davis took time to consider what made up the very best children’s television. Each member of the panel chose their five favourite kids TV programmes, leaving Radio Times to compile the results, with Grange Hill coming in 2nd place!
As the first of our celebrations for Grange Hill’s 40th Anniversary, we are delighted to be able to provide visitors with an exclusive interview with Anna Home, the woman who first commissioned Grange Hill for the BBC, and was Executive Producer for the first 4 series.
Grange Hill Gold 