Over the Hill.... Grange Hill axed after 30 years because today's schools are worse

But yesterday, almost 30 years to the day since Grange Hill first enthralled teenagers and appalled parents, the drama fell victim to a grimmer reality - it no longer strikes a chord because life in many schools is even worse.

The BBC announced that the gates of the London-based comprehensive are to close, claiming the series no longer reflected children's lives.

Scroll down for more...

Todd Carty, who played the leather jacket wearing Tucker Jenkins in the early 1980s, said yesterday: "When I started it was a gritty, realistic show about a comprehensive school.

"At the time, children's TV was all Billy Bunter and jolly hockey sticks.

"But I think the world has changed in the last five, ten or 15 years, never mind 30 years."

Carty, who went on to star in EastEnders and The Bill, added: "Then the show got audiences of 12million - children's TV just doesn't get that any more.

"Maybe with the times and fashions and the youth of today, they have different watching habits."

Another major figure from the drama's glory days, Lee MacDonald, who played Zammo Maguire, said the show had been left behind.

MacDonald, whose portrayal of a heroin addict in 1986 led to the Just Say No campaign, said: "These days you have got drugs and knife violence in schools. If you really showed what goes on parents would have a nightmare.

"Grange Hill can't keep up with the way society has gone forward, in the wrong way I think. If they want to put it on at 10pm to reflect what's going on in schools today then they might get away with it, but not at 5pm."

The BBC's axe came as no surprise to Grange Hill creator Phil Redmond, who was at loggerheads with the corporation over the show's future.

Scroll down for more...

Redmond, who devised the drama in 1978, had wanted the serial to return to the realism of the early days.

But instead the BBC decided to relocate the action to "The Grange" a creative learning centre with multimedia technology, softening storylines and aiming it at six to 12-year-olds.

Yesterday the BBC confirmed that it would be axed altogether and the final series, set at The Grange, will air later this year. Redmond had called for its scrapping because "the point had been lost".

He said: "The BBC has abandoned what Grange Hill was about in order to attract viewers aged six to 12 rather than its traditional 13-plus constituency."

He added: "The most irritating thing is I'm not surprised. It once provided a rites-of-passage touchstone that parents and teachers could use to start conversations.

"Children under nine can't really have the discussions about the moral issues that Grange Hill was about. It's a shame it's become about ratings. Culture should be about more than that."

Children's BBC controller Anne Gilchrist said: "Part of CBBC's reputation for reflecting contemporary Britain back to UK children has been built upon in Phil Redmond's brilliantly realised idea and of course it's sad to say goodbye to such a much-loved institution.

"The lives of children have changed a great deal since Grange Hill began and we owe it to our audience to reflect this.

"We're actively seeking out new and exciting ways of bringing social realism to the CBBC audience through drama and other genres."

Tucker will make a comeback with a cameo in the final series and perhaps the final words should go to him, or rather Carty.

"Maybe it is time to say goodbye to the old girl and call it 30 years of fantastic children's TV."