Yahoo News Grange Hill movie going ahead with original star set to direct
The film is expected to feature appearances from old cast members
Grange Hill the movie is moving ahead – with one of its original stars on board to direct.
Plans for a big screen version of the classic TV series have been in the pipeline for some time, and creator Sir Phil Redmond has now revealed that filmmaker Sara Sugarman is set to direct.
The filmmaker played Jessica Samuels in the show about pupils at a London comprehensive, and the movie is expected to partly be based on the rebellious character.
Read more: How Grange Hill changed TV
Redmond, who will pen the movie, told Deadline: “Sara reached out, and that hit a light bulb in my head. I thought, ‘Why don’t I look beyond the main characters, which is obvious, and we’ll have them all there for nostalgia, but where did Jessica go?’”
The star previously suggested that he’d like to see some of the original cast members as parents or even grandparents.
While Sugarman did not confirm whether she would reprise her role, she did tease that other original cast members would appear.
“It wouldn’t be Grange Hill without the Grange Hillers, and there will be some surprises,” she said.
Last year Redmond said that he had been asked about resurrecting the series almost every day for 15 years.
And he said that the time was finally right.
“It just keeps coming round and round and round and in the end I gave in,” the writer said during an interview on BBC Breakfast.
Grange Hill ran from 1978 until 2008.
It launched the careers of several TV stars, including Todd Carty, who played Peter 'Tucker' Jenkins, Susan Tully, who starred as Suzanne Ross, and Lee MacDonald, who played Zammo.
The series was known for tackling difficult topics, such as HIV, racism and teen pregnancy.
Read more: Grange Hill star Gwyneth Powell has died aged 76
The character Zammo had one of the biggest storylines in the show’s history when he became addicted to drugs. It led to the cast recording a song called Just Say No! in 1986.
Watch: Adam Woodyatt on his messy joint birthday party with Zammo from Grange Hill
