Byker Grove
| Byker Grove | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Genre | Teen drama |
| Created by | Andrea Worfor |
| Developed by |
BBC Zenith Entertainment |
| Directed by | Various |
| Starring | Various |
| Theme music composer |
Kane Gang Simon Etchell |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of series | 18 |
| No. of episodes | 344 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Andrea Wonfor (1989–90) Ian Squires (1990–92) Ivan Rendall (1992–95) Matthew Robinson (1995–98) |
| Producer(s) | Matthew Robinson (1989–95) Helen Gregory (1995–97) Stephen McAteer (1997–99) Morag Bain (1999–01) Edward Pugh (2002–05) |
| Location(s) | Newcastle upon Tyne |
| Running time | 25 minutes |
| Release | |
| Original network |
BBC One (1989–2006) TCC (1995–1997) Carlton Kids (1998–2000) |
| Picture format |
4:3 (1989–2000) 16:9 (2001–2006) |
| Original release | 8 November 1989 – 10 December 2006 |
| External links | |
| Website | |
Byker Grove is a British television series which aired between 1989 and 2006 and was created by Adele Rose. The show was broadcast at 5.10pm after Newsround (later moved to 5pm) on CBBC on BBC One. It was aimed at an older teenager and young adult audience, tackling serious and sometimes controversial storylines.
The show ran between 1989 and 2006, and was set in a youth club in the Byker district of Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Byker Grove was the original idea of the TV executive Andrea Wonfor. In 1987, she approached soap writer Adele Rose. Together they created a single pilot episode featuring children aged 8–11 at an out-of-school club (transmitted on BBC in 1988). In autumn 1988, Wonfor gained the backing of Anna Home, then Head of the Children's Department at BBC Television. Home gave the go ahead for a run of a series of six 25-minute episodes to be broadcast by the BBC. The age of the main characters was raised to 12-16 after support from first producer-director, Matthew Robinson. The first series therefore centred on young teenagers crossing the bridge from childhood to adulthood. Although some of the action took place outside the youth club, the series was unusual among dramas in that the characters were rarely shown in school. One of the major settings was the foster home run by the kindly but strict Lou Gallagher, the longest-running character.
Byker Grove launched the careers of Anthony McPartlin ("P.J.") and Declan Donnelly ("Duncan") who are otherwise known as Ant & Dec as well as the actress Jill Halfpenny, Donna Air, former CBBC presenter Andrew Hayden-Smith and Emmerdale actors Dale Meeks, Charlie Hardwick, Chelsea Halfpenny, Laura Norton and Victoria Hawkins. Also appearing in the series was the now glamour model Francoise Boufhal ("Ellie Baines") and Charlie Hunnam, who now starred in the American TV series Sons of Anarchy and co-starred in Pacific Rim. Founder producer/director (1989–95) was Matthew Robinson who, after Byker Grove, became executive producer of EastEnders, Head of Drama BBC Wales and now runs Khmer Mekong Films in Cambodia. It was also home to writers such as Catherine Johnson (who went on to pen Mamma Mia, the ABBA musical) and Matthew Graham (This Life, Doctor Who and co-creator of BBC One's Life on Mars). The first writer was Adele Rose - in Series 1 she wrote episodes 1–4 and 6; her daughter, Carrie Rose, wrote episode 5. The most prolific was Brian B. Thompson, who wrote 50 episodes over 12 series. Byker Grove gave Oscar-winning director Tom Hooper his first break into TV drama when he directed four episodes in 1997.
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