The fourth series of the British television drama series Grange Hill began broadcasting on 30 December 1980 and finished on 27 February 1981 with a Christmas Special being broadcast on 28 December 1981 on BBC1. The series follows the lives of the staff and Students of the eponymous school, an inner-city London comprehensive school. It consisted of nineteen episodes (including the Christmas Special).
Cast and characters
Students Neil Rogers as Robbo
Teachers
Episodes {| class="wikitable" style="width:100%;" |- ! style="background-color: #333333; color:white"| No. ! style="background: #333333; color:white"| Episode ! style="background: #333333; color:white"| Writer ! style="background: #333333; color:white"| Director ! style="background: #333333; color:white"| Original airdate |- | align="center"| 1 | align="center"| Episode One | align="center"| Phil Redmond | align="center"| Colin Cant | align="center"| 30 December 1980 |- | style="background:white" colspan="5" |Justin is having troubles with his over-protective mother. Mrs. McClusky makes a start at the school, which is having vandalism problems. She puts new rules in place prohibiting Students from staying inside during breaks. Tuck shop prices go up, and up and up. Trisha and Cathy form a group with some other girls. There is a competition to make a new design for the school magazine, with £10 as the prize, and Tucker thinks he is in with a chance. When a deliberate fire is started and someone is injured, a new prefect scheme is started. First appearance: Pamela Cartwright, Booga Benson and Mrs Bridget "The Midget" McClusky |- style="background:#333333; height:2px" | colspan="5" | |- | align="center"| 2 | align="center"| Episode Two | align="center"| Phil Redmond | align="center"| Colin Cant | align="center"| 2 January 1981 |- | style="background:white" colspan="5" |The Tuck Shop prices rise again. Trisha is torn between fighting against the school lockout and being part of Cathy's band; Mr Sutcliffe persuades the girls that she will have to go. Tucker catches a first-former writing graffiti but gets accused himself by the caretaker. |- style="background:#333333; height:2px" | colspan="5" | |- | align="center"| 3 | align="center"| Episode Three | align="center"| Phil Redmond & Sandy Welch | align="center"| Christine Secombe | align="center"| 6 January 1981 |- | style="background:white" colspan="5" |Pogo overhears a girl talk about "time of the month", and tries the same excuse! A medical is in the offing for the first year—everyone speculates about how intrusive it will be. Alan worries about whether his smoking vice will be spotted, Clare is worried too, because she has not started her periods, and Salena is worried because her country's customs disapprove of undressing in company. First appearance: Richard Marks, Matthew Cartwright, Suzanne Ross and Clare Scott |- style="background:#333333; height:2px" | colspan="5" | |- | align="center"| 4 | align="center"| Episode Four | align="center"| Phil Redmond | align="center"| Colin Cant | align="center"| 9 January 1981 |- | style="background:white" colspan="5" |Gripper Stebson makes his first appearance and gives Grange Hill a bad reputation at the sweet shop. Mr Hicks seems to be a bit of a head-case at the swimming lesson: he pushes Christopher Stewart (Stewpot), who cuts his head. He talks his way out of it when Stewpot's mother comes to complain, because the boys are scared of him. Mr. Baxter announces that Mr Hicks will be taking PE. Mr. Hicks now has it in for Stewpot. Miss Lexington senses something is wrong and speaks to Mr. Baxter, who reprimands her for listening to tittle-tattle. However, the older kids are putting doubts in his mind, so he surreptitiously goes to watch Mr. Hicks in action. When he sees Hicks pushing Christopher to the ground, he calls him out and punches him on the jaw. Hicks is dismissed, much to everyone's relief. First appearance: Gripper Stebson, Christopher "Stewpot" Stewart, Miss Lexington and Danny Taylor |- style="background:#333333; height:2px" | colspan="5" | |- | align="center"| 5 | align="center"| Episode Five | align="center"| Phil Redmond & Sandy Welch | align="center"| Christine Secombe | align="center"| 13 January 1981 |- | style="background:white" colspan="5" |While talking about the bad behaviour of Doyle, Trisha learns that the school has a file on her. Tucker seems confident about his art winning the Magazine Cover Competition, but Doyle seems determined to scupper him. Trisha and Susi have another meeting about their rights and problems - a poll is being held asking everyone about their opinions. Trisha goes to see Mrs. McClusky about being treated like kids and asks to see her file. Alan finds Susi is at his house, and she ropes him into working out a plan of action. |- style="background:#333333; height:2px" | colspan="5" | |- | align="center"| 6 | align="center"| Episode Six | align="center"| Phil Redmond | align="center"| Sarah Hellings | align="center"| 16 January 1981 |- | style="background:white" colspan="5" |It is the day of the disco. Tucker reckons Booga Benson is behind the vandalism. Booga tears up Tucker's competition entry, so Tucker bunks off home to recreate it. Tucker wins the competition with his replacement entry, but his absence during the day has not gone unnoticed. Tucker catches Booga in the act of vandalising Mr. Baxter's office but is threatened not to tell. The caretaker announces that the vandalism has gone too far, and the disco dance is cancelled. Tucker is now in a quandary, torn between saving his skin, and saving the disco—and he reports Booga to Mrs. McClusky. Sooty and the Sootettes (with Mr. Sutcliffe and Cathy) have a hit on their hands with "Detention Blues". At the end of the evening, all seems to have ended up okay for Tucker and his mates, except that Booga Benson is waiting for them. Final Appearance: Booga Benson |- style="background:#333333; height:2px" | colspan="5" | |- | align="center"| 7 | align="center"| Episode Seven | align="center"| Phil Redmond & Alan Janes | align="center"| Christine Secombe | align="center"| 20 January 1981 |- | style="background:white" colspan="5" |A new flashy sports strip causes complaints about the extra cost, especially as it is only bought from one shop who can charge what they like. Booga has cracked Tucker's rib, and now Tucker is laid up at home. Mrs. McClusky is not pleased that the school magazine is bad mouthing her decision about the new sports strip and bans publication with the excuse that there is no money to produce it. Susi and Rosie wonder if they can make the magazine self-supporting, for instance, by raising the cover price. Pogo tries to find out what the wholesale prices of the sports strip will be, but the manufacturer will not listen to him. Alan's dad is roped into making a phone call and finds out the markup the shop is making is over 100%. |- style="background:#333333; height:2px" | colspan="5" | |- | align="center"| 8 | align="center"| Episode Eight | align="center"| Phil Redmond & Alan Janes | align="center"| Christine Secombe | align="center"| 23 January 1981 |- | style="background:white" colspan="5" |Mr. Baxter is offended when Stewpot would prefer to go on a school trip to a silicon chip factory than do football practice. Duane has taken a fancy to "Sexy Lexy" (Miss Lexington), much to Clare's disgust. The stone-cold school dinners cause aggravation to Anita and Suzanne. Mrs. McClusky cancels Miss Lexington's trip when she sees how badly dressed her class are. Danny starts a lottery, but canny Gripper buys a matching lottery book from the shops. Could things get any worse? Yes, because Precious Matthews also has a winning ticket and will not take no for an answer! First Appearance: Precious Matthews Final appearance: Karen Stanton |- style="background:#333333; height:2px" | colspan="5" | |- | align="center"| 9 | align="center"| Episode Nine | align="center"| Phil Redmond & Margaret Simpson | align="center"| Christine Secombe | align="center"| 27 January 1981 |- | style="background:white" colspan="5" |Suzanne Ross spreads a rumour about school uniform coming back. Miss Mooney chastises Pogo Patterson for his smug attitude toward poor Student Richard Marks. Cathy's tardiness is becoming more regular. Pogo wants the boys to be able to play table tennis, rather than just the girls, which leads to a heated discussion about feminism. Trisha Yates finds that their school rep has emigrated, and what with Doyle being kicked out of his position, she pushes Justin into being a replacement, along with herself. At a meeting between school reps and the staff, Mrs McClusky makes plain her view that school uniform is a good idea, which goes down like a lead balloon with Trisha, but the Head backs down. The meeting votes for just a part of the school building being used during breaks, but Pogo pretends to be Superman, and breaks a table—the caretaker threatens to speak to Mr. Keating. Miss Peterson is sympathetic to learn that Cathy's poor work is due to her rehearsals with her group. |- style="background:#333333; height:2px" | colspan="5" | |- | align="center"| 10 | align="center"| Episode Ten | align="center"| Phil Redmond & Margaret Simpson | align="center"| Christine Secombe | align="center"| 30 January 1981 |- | style="background:white" colspan="5" |Miss Peterson has arranged for Cathy to practise in the lunchtime. Pogo's class is getting fed up with him for not owning up about the chair he broke, so they tell him that boys can play table tennis. School dinners seem to be going from bad to worse, and take too long. Pamela Cartwright, who writes for the school magazine, liaises with Trisha, but this gets up the nose of Cathy. Trisha proposes a kind of snack bar for lunches, and a questionnaire is distributed, which ruffles a few feathers. Cathy is starting up the militant School Action Group, but falls out with Trisha, who is using the School Council to solve issues. |- style="background:#333333; height:2px" | colspan="5" | |- | align="center"| 11 | align="center"| Episode Eleven | align="center"| Alan Janes | align="center"| Christine Secombe | align="center"| 3 February 1981 |- | style="background:white" colspan="5" |Doyle sinks to a new low—stealing light bulbs and selling them to a second-hand shop, and replacing the good ones with duds. In the storeroom, Tucker nags Alan about his smoking habit. Cathy's group gives an impressive trial performance to Justin and Andrew. Mr Thompson comes to the conclusion that the School's electrics are faulty, because so many bulbs are failing. When Doyle and his mates go to sell the bulbs, they find the transaction is not as profitable as they hoped—but perhaps if they can also supply toilet rolls. The caretaker notices the smoky smells from Alan's illicit cigarettes and locks the storeroom. As a result, Alan uses his desk for an illicit drag, but is caught by Mr. Hopwood. Cathy observes Doyle stealing light bulbs and asks Andrew Stanton to have a quiet word with Doyle. |- style="background:#333333; height:2px" | colspan="5" | |- | align="center"| 12 | align="center"| Episode Twelve | align="center"| Phil Redmond & Alan Janes | align="center"| Colin Cant | align="center"| 6 February 1981 |- | style="background:white" colspan="5" |Tommy Watson has left it too late for the trip to France. Tucker devises a scheme that lets him get on the coach. On the ferry, two French lads waste no time in chatting up Cathy and Trisha—"Bit handy ain't they", says Trisha. Tucker and Alan are intent on keeping Tommy hidden. The coach lands on the other side of the Channel, and a customs man is insistent on having a good look around. Unfortunately, he spots Tommy under the back seat. The holiday is ruined, but Miss Lexington has a bright idea to save the day. Final Appearance of: Janet the secretary (credited as Stella Monsell) |- style="background:#333333; height:2px" | colspan="5" | |-