Creator of 'Grange Hill' prepares to revive his old school ties

The Grange Hill creator, Phil Redmond, is likely to regain control of the show a quarter of a century after Tucker Jenkins and classmates first rushed through the doors of the fictional comprehensive.

The BBC is in the final stages of negotiations for the series to be made by Mersey Television, the independent production company that Mr Redmond founded when he left the BBC in 1981. The programme has never been made by an outside company since the series was first broadcast in 1978.

Grange Hill, set in east London, has proved a hit with successive generations of young people. The 25th series, which starts today, stars Jon Newman as Ozzie and Oliver Elmidoro as Tom, a pair of young heart-throbs echoing the roles of Todd Carty, the working-class anti-hero Tucker Jenkins, and Terry Sue Patt, the good- tempered black boy challenging poverty and prejudice. It still contains the same mix of social issues and cast of disrespectful students that so angered parents when it was first aired. Over the years it has tackled glue-sniffing and drugs abuse, racism and other issues young people face in the "real world".

Today, young Maddie (Kacey Barnfield) develops a drink problem when she is ignored by her good-time mother while Amy (Lindsey Ray) is forced to cope with her mother's terminal illness. Discipline, romance and the school's first website complete the plot.

Nothing is confirmed yet between the BBC and Mersey Television, but Mr Redmond told Broadcast magazine yesterday: "Any long-running show can always do with a fresh injection of ideas every now and then. I had forgotten what a special buzz you get with working with children. I will really enjoy doing that again."

A BBC insider said: "The idea behind working with Mersey is that Phil was the original creator of the show and by working with him we can take the series to a new generation of kids and ensure that it remains relevant to their lives."

The series has created a number of child stars who became television favourites. Mr Redmond's production company has made Brookside for Channel 4 since 1982, and more recently it developed Hollyoaks.

Learning curves

Todd Carty (Tucker Jenkins 1978-82)

From Grange Hill bad boy, he graduated to his own show, Tucker's Luck, before landing the long-running role of HIV-positive Mark Fowler in EastEnders

Susan Tully (Suzanne Ross 1981-85)

Another of the Grange Hill graduates to star, as Michelle Fowler, in EastEnders. She no longer appears but occasionally directs the show

Alex Kingston (Jill Harcourt 1980)

From a judo-kicking pupil in Grange Hill, she survived marriage to and divorce from Ralph Fiennes to find fame in the United States in the medical drama ER

Naomi Campbell

Best known as a supermodel, she started at the Italia Conti stage school and had uncredited appearances as a pupil in Grange Hill in 1978