Grange Hill After Hours ¦ Grange Hill Graffiti

Yet more 'books of the BBC series ...' from the prolific pen of Phil Redmond. That sounds as trite as some of the storylines. Social consciousness - not again - is injected into After Hours through the vehicle of Ziggy, obviously a refugee from 'Brookside'. Ziggy's family have arrived in Grange Hill's catchment area, 'as there was no chance of work in Liverpool or anywhere else in the North.' (Quote). No wonder the region is having such a difficult time attracting new businesses if this sort of sweeping, and erroneous, generalisation is being propagated. Ziggy's attempts to integrate within his new environment are helped by dad, who is given such philosophical lines as, 'If you're feeling like a right Herbert - so is everyone else! You're all the same under the skin.'

Ziggy survives to appear in Graffiti where his accent comes under analysis. 'Taking a pike at the Speaking Wall,' Ziggy replied. This enables half a page of dialogue to be consumed to establish that 'pike' (as spoken in Scouse) means 'a look at something'. If you're an addict, and you really want to know what's going on between Ant Jones and Georgina, or who Imelda will attack with fiber glass next - then read on regardless. If not, there are plenty of more worthwhile, realistic and valuable 'school' fiction books available.