The revival and reboot of two classic coming-of-age series can deliver more than just nostalgia
For readers whose formative years were enriched by the after-school teatime TV experience, the revival of two coming-of-age classics may be sparking a sudden rush of nostalgia.
This week, in an interview with the Guardian, Sir Phil Redmond disclosed that he is updating Grange Hill, the greatest school soap of them all, for a one-off movie version set in the present day. Meanwhile, in America,
Disney has rebooted the equally admired The Wonder Years, but with the twist that this time it chronicles the vicissitudes of childhood and adolescence through the eyes of a black boy living in
Alabama. Bringing these two televisual gems back to life necessarily entails substantial reinterpretation; the impact of
Social Media, for example, will loom large in the Grange Hill of 2022. But those who witnessed Tricia Yates using a wooden ruler to exact revenge on Tucker Jenkins, in the very first of 601 episodes in 1978, will hope the spirit of the original is kept intact.