The following was posted to The Grange Hill Blackboard
Re: BBC to Close Gates on Grange Hill
by Simon on Tue Feb 12, 2008 1:20 pm
Below is the reply I received from CBBC controller Anne Gilchrist yesterday, followed by my original e-mail. Anne's reply seems very surly and offended and note the killer line, "It is important for adults not to use their feelings of nostalgia to dictate what today’s young audience should watch." in other words - "your views are irrelevant, adult!"
Dear Simon
Thank you for your comments. There were many reasons for ending Grange Hill, 30 years is a very long run and the show has had a very good innings. BBC Switch has now taken over responsibility for providing content for 12-16 years olds and CBBC can concentrate on the younger age group of 6-12 year olds. We have many exciting new projects in the offing and I’m pleased to say that the overwhelming feedback from the CBBC audience is that they are not sad to see Grange Hill go. I do not think we are sanitising our output as we have just shown Summerhill, a drama where a group of children take the government to court, we have programmes coming up on divorce, knife crime and smoking and last year dealt with child poverty and HIV. It is important for adults not to use their feelings of nostalgia to dictate what today’s young audience should watch. School life can indeed still be relevant to young children as it is a significant part of their lives however children no longer define themselves simply as schoolchildren and I would like to explore some new themes for children inside and outside the classroom.
Thank you for taking the trouble to write to me with your views. I hope you will enjoy the last series of Grange Hill when it airs in the summer.
With best wishes
Anne
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From: GH Online
To: Anne Gilchrist
Subject: Grange Hill
Hi Anne
With reference to the decision to end Grange Hill after 31 years.
I am sorry this became necessary, particularly since the announcement was made just two days before the programme's official 30th birthday, but I believe it is the right thing to do if the BBC is not prepared to make Grange Hill properly - that is, as a gritty show for the 12-16 age group.
Unfortunately I do not accept your reasons for ending Grange Hill. It would be easy to dismiss me as an adult nostalgic for my own school days, however I genuinely believe that in the right hands, Grange Hill had an assured future. You say that a school based drama is no longer relevant as school is not the "be all and end all" of children's lives. I beg to differ as, if anything, school is a more dominant force for modern youngsters - our school children are among the most tested anywhere in the world and under greater pressure to succeed academically. There are also issues relevant to the present day such as indiscipline, the changing methods adopted by bullies and indiscipline/political correctness in schools, league tables and much more. All of which could have given Grange Hill's scriptwriters much to work with.
As long as children are still going to school - and they'll be doing that for many years to come - Grange Hill could still be relevant so long as it keeps abreast of the rapid and constant changes to school life and how it affects the pupils. Another successful BBC social drama, Casualty, has survived 22 years and counting because it has kept abreast of the radical changes which have taken place within the NHS during that time, and the ability of this show to re-invent, adapt and stay topical has ensured its survival. There was no reason Grange Hill could not have done likewise with the school environment.
Some commentators have voiced their view that certain aspects of school life had perhaps become unsuitable for portrayal in a show broadcast at teatime, such as knifings and violence which very sadly are now routine in some areas. Grange Hill was covering these very issues with great effect and from a moralistic standpoint in the late 1990s, and could still do so now. I suggest to you that CBBC, along with the broadcast industry as a whole, is now sanitising its output to avoid the risk of sanction from Ofcom instead of continually pushing the boundaries as a public service broadcaster should.
Nevertheless, I wish to thank the BBC for giving us Grange Hill and in doing so revolutionising children's TV, and the adult dramas which followed. I maintain my belief that the format still had much to offer, however, and I say that NOT as a nostalgic adult but as someone who recognises, as Phil Redmond does, that so long as children continue to go to school it can always be relevant.
SIMON
http://www.grangehill.net
Having read the above I wrote to Anne Gilchrist on 18 Feb 2008:-
Feedback on axing of Grange Hill
Dear Anne,
I heard that following the axing of Grange Hill recently, you made a claim that "the overwhelming feedback from the CBBC audience is that they are not sad to see Grange Hill go."
Please could you let me have more details of the feedback survey and figures upon which you based the statement, as it appears to be contradicted by feedback to CBBC Newsround.
Kind regards,
Reply received:-
RE: Feedback on axing of Grange Hill
Dear David
Thank you very much for your interest in Grange Hill. Unfortunately I am not willing to continue the discussion, I have made my decision and I am pleased that the CBBC audience supports it.
Best wishes