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Grange Hill Season 8 Episodes
Season 8 Episode Guide
18 Episodes 1985 - 1985
Episode 0
Christmas Special 1985
Grange Hill are setting up the Christmas Fair. Roland's Christmas seems doomed with his father off on a long-distance lorry trip. Christmas in Paris is an attractive option, but the price of £30 is £20 more than he owns. The £25 prize for the Around Britain buzzer game seems to open up possibilities, especially if he can get some practice in first. Calley is torn between having Christmas with her natural mother, and her adopted one. Gonch gets soaked by Imelda, and has to walk home in his shorts. The nativity scene has been corrupted with football scarves, but Mrs. McClusky just puts it down to high spirits rather than foul play. Gonch and Hollo are instructed to get a replacement table from the furniture store - but there's a surprise in wait - a donkey has been abandoned there! It escapes, and they take chase, but unfortunately it enters the school building. Roland finds it impossible to do the buzzer game, and Stewpot insists on having a go instead. When it comes to Banksie's go though, his accomplice Trevor Cleaver disconnects the battery. Roly walks off in misery, but Janet catches up and persuades him to come to her house for Christmas. Mr. Baxter puts his head through the cutout and has sponges thrown at him for 2p a throw. Imelda buys six, but Gripper Stebson has a satisfying turn first. Calley's mum turns up, and to Calley's relief tells her that she's invited Angela, Calley's real mother around for Christmas. Imelda takes aim with her wet sponge, but before she can throw, pandemonium breaks out as a donkey appears in the hall, knocking over tables. Gonch runs past after the donkey, finds Imelda in the way, and pushes her. She falls backwards with a splash into the bath where the sponges are. The donkey leaves the hall, followed by Gonch and Mr. Baxter - and it reaches the nativity scene, where it seems to be happy to stay, opposite its artificial equivalent...
Episode 1
Episode #8.1
After the merger, there's a certain residual allegiance to the old Brookdale and Rodney Bennet schools. Gonch Gardner meets Calley (who's brought pet Percy to school), and immediately falls into trouble with Mr. Smart, not to mention Paul 'Hollo' Holloway. There are other new starters too - e.g. the formidable Mr ("You, Boy!") 'Charlie' Bronson! Would-be hard man, Trevor Cleaver has difficulty stamping his authority. Is the music teacher really Paul McCartney? The usage of two different buildings causes stress between Mr. Smart and Mr. Bronson. Gonch's proposed fight with Hollo turns into a friendship, and Trevor Cleaver isn't so hard when he discovers that Calley's pet isn't the fluffy hamster he was expecting!
Episode 2
Episode #8.2
Romance is in the air. Who is Annette seeing? She won't tell, except that his name begins with 'S'. Miss Washington mentions that she has in mind a musical later in the term. Mr. Bronson shouts at Eric that he must be deaf as well as stupid, to be told that, yes, in fact he is partially deaf. Zammo's indifferent attitude towards Jackie seems to be pushing her to Banksie. Fay and Julie eavesdrop Annette talk to Mr. Smart about him being older - surely, it can't be him she is seeing?! After school, Annette chases off to see "Mr. S", and Fay and Annette run off in hot pursuit. Finally after running through some flats into a churchyard, the truth is revealed - Annette is in the arms of Stewpot!
Episode 3
Episode #8.3
Gonch is late acquiring old folders from a skip for resale. Calley is heavily into fortune telling, including palm reading but Jane is skeptical. Can Calley read a palm when it's a photocopy of an unknown person? Jane asks Hollo to show her palm print to Calley for divination. Mr. Smart's squash racquets go missing, and the public phone box has been raided. The staff go to see Mrs. McClusky about the nuisance and security risk of walking between the two buildings, but afterwards the teachers squabble about their personal grievances. Calley and Ronnie catch Gonch and Hollo in the act of acquiring more goodies from the skip, and Ronnie threatens to reveal Gonch's source to the general public. In return for keeping stum, Hollo reveals who's the palm print is. Calley gives an unflattering analysis of Jane's hand-print, without giving a name, and Jane storms off in a fury.
Episode 4
Episode #8.4
Swapping uniform becomes a craze. Gonch tries selling wire coat hangers as music stands. Calley's use of Ronnie's Walkman in Mr. Smart's lesson results in it getting confiscated, but later Mr. Smart finds it has been stolen from the Staff Room. The Chairman of the Education Committee is being shown round the new Grange Hill building. Who's given out details of Gonch's skip? The "Bridge Builders" scheme starts, helping out old people, but that assumes they want help... Hollo is more persistent than Gonch, and earns a valuable lead soldier for his efforts.
Episode 5
Episode #8.5
Annette gives Stewpot an ultimatum when she finds out that he hasn't broken off with Claire yet. There are cross words exchanged when Mr. Smart parks in Mr. Bronson's old place. Old allegiances are still very much to the fore in the fight for the back seat on the bus. Even Jackie goes to sit with old Brookdale friends at lunch. With a planned edition of the musical "West Side Story" there's obvious irony to the idea of casting Jackie as Maria. Mandy accidentally smashes a window when she's teasing Fay about Julian, but won't own up. Claire's very suspicious about Stewpot, but he turns around her accusation and she becomes conciliatory. Zammo and Kevin start their part time daily job at the chippy, but Zammo suddenly remembers that he had promised to take Jackie to the concert...
Episode 6
Episode #8.6
Zammo foolishly tells Mr. Bronson to "keep his hair on", and has to get off the bus and walk. Mandy and Sarah ambush Janet, accusing her of grassing on them about the window. Banksie makes a truce with Zammo, and somehow persuades Jackie to go to the concert with him. Stewpot makes an excuse to Claire so that he can go with Annette, but she is having difficulty trusting him. Mr. McCartney forgets the tickets, but Julian saves the day with a suggestion to phone home to get the ticket numbers. Stewpot is caught out when Claire turns up in the lobby - Stewpot's little secret is out. Zammo gets fed up and resigns from the chippy - but Kevin doesn't follow suit. Returning home, Zammo sees Jackie with Banksie's arm around her...
Episode 7
Episode #8.7
French students arrive to stay with the denizens of Grange Hill and there are more than a few communication problems. Calley overhears her parents talking, and realizes she is adopted. Trevor throws flour at Ronnie, but she gets her revenge by cracking an egg over his head. Afterwards, Calley tells Ronnie about her being adopted, and how her real mother has come back into the country and wants to see her daughter again. Calley tells her friend that she'd not want to meet her real mother for a while, but after school she finds her outside the gate, and goes off with her. At a party, Roland finds a soul-mate in chocolate-munching Fabienne. Calley's foster parents become concerned when Calley doesn't turn up, and it's getting later and later...
Episode 8
Episode #8.8
Gonch brings the "groping grab" to school, while Hollo has made up some fake dentists appointment cards. Calley turns up very confused and upset after her night at real mum, Angela's house. Mrs. McClusky isn't pleased to find Miss Washington has left her registration class unsupervised, and further displeased to see Ronnie's chalk-covered hair. In Hollo's fake dentist appointment, he and Gonch go and see Mr. Light, their Bridge Building O.A.P. They find he's in need of some building repairs, and feeling indebted to him for saving them from French, form a plan to "borrow" building materials being used to repair the toilets. Cleaver's bag is suspended from a height, courtesy of Gonch's groping grab, and once it is retrieved, its contents are produced - a bunch of videos. A new scheme evolves involving dental cards, rented videos and Hollo's house. Ronnie's coat goes missing, but it's not the only thing: Miss Washington's purse has also disappeared. As the Staff Room was locked, suspicion falls on Gonch's mechanical groping grab. Gonch and Hollo bring building materials round to Mr. Light, but unfortunately they have plaster instead of mortar!
Episode 9
Episode #8.9
The video club has hit a snag, when the lunchtime proves to be not long enough to view an entire movie. Gonch adapts the scheme to use the Media Studies Lab to copy tapes. Zammo, with Mandy and Sarah intercept what they see as a kidnapping - but it's Calley arguing with her mother. After Calley runs back to school, the trio follow intending to go to the staff room, but Mr. Bronson jumps to the wrong conclusion, and thinks he's found the thieves. Meanwhile, the builders catch up with Gonch's O.A.P, and the missing building materials, and come to an arrangement to do the necessary building work in return for some of Gonch's videos. Miss Washington finds evidence that proves that Gonch couldn't have been the thieves. Ronnie tells Calley she must tell Mrs. McClusky about her situation, and they go to the Head together. Gonch finds a plastic shop dummy on the dump, and then Robbie tells him his coat's been nicked, along with the copied video cassettes...
Episode 10
Episode #8.10
Gonch and Hollo bring Henry to school - he's the plastic dummy they found on the dump. Henry is almost run over when they drop him while crossing the busy road outside school, and Mr. Bronson is not amused. Gardner has his Walkman confiscated, and all of Gonch's class are given detention because of his dummy. On the bus, Julian is jealous of Fay's suave Gaulois-smoking French companion, and his present of a rabbit to the girl is cruelly rejected. Mr. Bronson smells the smoke, and blames Zammo. When Gonch asks Mr. Smart for his Walkman, he finds that it's become another stolen item. Gonch and Hollo recover the confiscated "Henry", realizing that it is wearing Gonch's Mac with his name inside. There's bad news from Mr. McCartney - the school can't do West Side Story because of copyright. Mr. Smart finally gets to the root of Gonch's problematic day, and is not unsympathetic considering that he lost the boy's Walkman.
Episode 11
Episode #8.11
New timetables come into force to combat kids wandering around between the schools, but they cause additional confusion. Gonch loans a new Walkman off Vince and uses it to bug the Staff Room. He's almost caught by Mr. Baxter, but Hollo distracts him in time. Unfortunately, the bugging only reveals Mr. Smart asking Miss Washington out. Fay has been neglecting her hockey for her French boyfriend, Jean-Paul, and gets reproached by Mr. Baxter. Both Fay and Annette find themselves left on the sidelines when their respective partners have the chance of a kick about. Precious and Stewpot give an early practice performance of a song from Mr. McCartney's "Mods and Rockers" musical. Zammo and Banksie both seem to be unable to separate fact from fiction when it comes to playing their parts as potential suitors for Jackie's character.
Episode 12
Episode #8.12
Roland, infatuated with Fabienne, has become French - he even wears a beret. Claire's beginning to lose patience with Stewpot's feeble excuses, and Precious also leans on him to give up Annette. Banksie leads an expedition to see the old Brookdale site. Zammo's jealousy of Banksie's interest in Jackie is growing all the time, until he launches himself at his bitter enemy. Banksie leads an expedition to the derelict Brookdale building. It seems empty, but Fay grows nervous when Jean-Paul starts causing damage. They find the caretaker's office, complete with television. Back at the school library, Julie and Julian share their mutual dislike of all things French - Julie's French lodger takes her clothes and makeup; Julian has lost Fay to Jean Paul. Back at Brookdales, Fay is certain she can hear something - and sure enough a caretaker appears and gives chase. Cinderella-like, Fay leaves a shoe behind in her haste to leave...
Episode 13
Episode #8.13
Gonch has bugged the staff room again to try to find the thieves, but once again finds nothing of use other than idle gossip. Partially deaf Eric is knocked down while walking between the schools, which galvanizes Mrs. McClusky to take urgent action. Fay tells Julian the babysitting is off, not wanting him to "play gooseberry" with Jean Paul. Later, at Mr. McCartney's house, Annette is with Stewpot, but Fay is rapidly getting fed up with Jean Paul, who lights up. After they've been dancing a while, they smell burning - Jean Paul's fag has burned the expensive carpet. Julian unexpectedly turns up as Stewpot leaves, and embarrassed Fay has some explaining to do. Fay comes clean about the damaged carpet to an angry Mr. McCartney. Meanwhile, outside, Stewpot has caught up with Claire, and promises not to see Annette any more.
Episode 14
Episode #8.14
Julian's mother tells him that his dog, who's as old as he is, is nearing the end of his life, and that the animal ought to be put down. Banksie plans to take his brother's demolition-derby car for a drive around an old factory with Jackie and Jean-Paul. Sarah shows an interest too - mainly because she's keen on the French lad. Banksie drives his brother's car around the factory - but Jean-Paul is unimpressed, and Sarah doesn't get the thrill she was promised. Jean-Paul gets prepared to have a go, but Jackie refuses to get back in the car. Back at school, Fay comes across Julian, intending to dump him. He breaks down though, before she can say anything, telling her about his dog being put down, but he then guesses that she was waiting for Jean Paul. At the deserted factory, Jean Paul's driving becomes reckless, and to make matters worth, Banksie's brother Phil turns up. Finally, the car goes out of control, and turns over... Sarah ends up in hospital, but Jean-Paul escapes unharmed. Mrs. McClusky intends to suspend those involved - and Jean Paul will be sent back to France. Zammo has a go at Banksie, but he's already badly bruised from his brother's intervention. The parents of Sarah, Banksie and Jackie visit Mrs. McClusky, but she's adamant that all of them will be suspended. At the hospital, Fay and Julian go to visit Sarah, but Miss Booth and Jean-Paul also turn up. Jean-Paul goes in alone - but Sarah, her face heavily disfigured and bandaged, looks away when she sees him. Miss Booth suggests that Fay and Julian can replace the suspended Jackie and Banksie in the Musical. Julian is so pleased at the prospect of spending more time with Fay that he almost leaves the hospital without visiting Sarah!
Episode 15
Episode #8.15
Hollo smartens up his image. There are demonstrations outside school to protest for the need for a Pelican crossing. The council sends a representative to see for himself the danger of the road outside the school. Mrs. McClusky interrogates the slow-moving decorators and finds out they've been doing unofficial work for the Pensioner Scheme. Gonch takes "Henry" (the plastic dummy) for a swim, but Mr. Baxter is not amused. The question arises - does Mr. Bronson wear a wig? When he goes swimming, and leaves his toupee by the side of the pool, the answer is revealed. Gonch grabs the toupee, but Hollo finds that someone's grabbed his trousers!
Episode 16
Episode #8.16
It's time for the technical rehearsal of the school musical. Gonch bugs the staff room one more time, to find out if Mr. Bronson knows he and Hollo took his toupee. Mr. Bronson turns up in a backup wig, which has a different colour. Calley and Ronnie wash the stolen wig in home economics, but tell Gonch that it has shrunk. It's time for the French students to go home, but it seems Roland isn't quite ready to lose Fabienne, and he's found on the ferry. On retrieving the Walkman, Mr. Smart intercepts Gonch, and confiscates it. Gonch puts the supposedly shrunk wig on "Henry" in the Staff Room, but they have to get out quickly. Later, Mr. Smart pulls Gonch out of his lesson - he is under suspicion of doing the thefts, and the whole truth of the bugging is revealed. Playing back the tape reveals the voices of the real thieves - Gripper and his sister, and Denny Rees. It seems that stealing wasn't their only crime though - the set for the musical has been completely destroyed!
Episode 17
Episode #8.17
Roland's back from France after his extremely small holiday. After the destruction of the sets, the musical seems in jeopardy, but Hollo remembers the tip - surely the scrap would do as a makeshift set? Away from school, coming towards the end of their suspension, Banksie hints to Jackie that he might have had something to do with the destruction of the set. Mr. Smart hands the toupee back to Mr. Bronson without revealing the culprits, but Mr. Baxter isn't so considerate to Gonch and Hollo. Fay's not too impressed with the second-rate scenery: when she learns that she's got to turn up for rehearsal on the same day as her sports day, she storms off, and the whole affair looks doomed. Ronnie learns that Gonch is planning to cheat by using a revision tape in the exams, and she swaps the tapes. As it happens though, she's done him a favour when Mr Bronson investigates his suspicious scarf-encased head, and finds only music playing. Mandy has a go at Fay on the sports field, accusing her of smashing up the sets, but Miss Gordon is more conciliatory suggesting a Sunday rehearsal. Roland overhears Banksie and Loop Wind talking to Jackie about wrecking the sets, and grasses on them to Zammo, and the other cast members. As an instant punishment, Banksie and Loop Wind get their heads doused in whitewash.
Episode 18
Episode #8.18
At the dress rehearsal there's a bad feeling about the unrealistic set and especially the lack of motorbikes. Mr. Bronson has been unravelling Gonch's entire video scheme, but things are desperate enough for the teacher to do a deal with Gonch, to at least copy some motorbike sound effects. Banksie wants to make a contribution to the musical, but no-one will hear him out. The first half of the performance goes moderately well, but even the mayor observes that it lacks punch. Banksie's idea is revealed - a set of real-life bikers is outside the school, ready to bring on their machines for a finale, but Mrs. McClusky has caught wind of the plan, and has to be persuaded first.
