Grange Hill first started on British TV on 8 February 1978 as a BBC children’s drama series set in a London comprehensive school.

Exact Start Date

The very first episode of Grange Hill aired on BBC1 (later BBC One) at after-school time on Wednesday, 8 February 1978. This pilot series was a short run of nine episodes, filmed on location at Kingsbury High School in Middlesex, and introduced viewers to the tough, realistic school-life style that became the show’s trademark.

How It Came About

The show was created by Phil Redmond, who had originally pitched the idea to ITV in 1975 without success. He then took it to the BBC, where children’s drama executive Anna Home commissioned that first series in 1976. The aim was to show a more authentic, gritty picture of urban school life, quite different from the jolly school stories of earlier children’s TV.

Original Run and Legacy

  • First episode: 8 February 1978 on BBC1.
  • Final episode: 15 September 2008, after 31 series.
  • Over its 30‑year run, it became one of the longest-running British children’s TV dramas, tackling serious issues like bullying, drugs, racism, and teenage pregnancy, while also launching many young actors’ careers.

Bottom line: if someone’s asking when Grange Hill started, the official answer is 8 February 1978.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.