'Grange Hill' creator explains why the show's name was changed

Grange Hill creator Sir Philip Redmond has explained the iconic show would have had a different name if the BBC weren't concerned about offending existing schools.

The TV writer and producer revealed that the school in the show was originally called Grange Park but a number of schools already existed by that name.

Speaking to the Sunday Telegraph, Redmond said the BBC asked for him to change the name of the school and the show as they deemed it "too legally sensitive" because of concerns over complaints from the existing schools.

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Redmond said: "It was called Grange Park because that’s an area I worked in St Helens. I can’t remember if there were too many schools called Grange Park, or whether there were too few, but the legal department said, 'we’ll have everybody complaining, so we need to change it'."

Grange Hill originally premiered in 1978 and ran for 30 years before being axed by the BBC in 2008.

Redmond, who also created Brookside and Hollyoaks, recently announced plans for a film spin-off of the much-loved children's series.

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Redmond has been working on a film version of Grange Hill since at least 2006 with the intention to have original cast members reprise their various roles.

At its height, the show drew acclaim for dealing with important subject matter such as drug abuse, rape, racism and poverty.

Over the years, Grange Hill featured a number of stars including future EastEnders legend Todd Carty, the Golden Globe nominated Cathy Tyson, Reggie Yates and Jack McMullen.

Carty recently had a mini-reunion with several of his former co-stars including Lee Macdonald, Simone Nylander and Erkan Mustafa.

Macdonald posted a picture of the four of them on Twitter along with the caption: "Mini #grangehill reunion with Tucker, Roland and Janet."

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