In many ways this is the last true episode of Grange Hill, though many would argue the series ended with Series 25, after which the school shifted away from its London base. As such, there are many loose ends, and what followed a year later, in the series' final throes, was some abomination of what had gone before. Series 31 was hastily rehashed to make it aimed at junior viewers, so we never found out how Emma coped with her new baby, only a handful of the Year 11's returning in an almost token role. As for Kathy's decision to go to the same university as Martin, well that goes out of the window as she returns to school the next term as a member of staff: completely unbelievable, unfortunately.
Series 31 is a collection of daft stories, with fantasy sequences - a million miles from the challenging drama of the previous thirty years, and yet despite this handicap there's still some of the occasional magic poking through.
As for Series 30, and this episode - it just seems all very rushed. I'm not quite sure why Jeremy reads Emma's letter to Kyle: Emma goes and tells Tanya, but sooner or later that particular truth would have come out - actually by now Emma ought to have actually gone full-term and had the baby. The timing for all of Series 30 is odd, and compares badly to Chrissy Mainwaring's pregnancy which unfolded in normal time over a school year. Here, although we clearly start at the beginning of the school year - we see Lucy and Jenny start - Emma's nine weeks of pregnancy somehow last from late summer one year to early summer the next. Overall, the writing, acting and directing is excellent in this last proper series - the overall story lines are a bit strange though - Alex's bullying - again - Baz's death, which just seems to be there in a soap-like way. There are way too few teachers in this series, no visible Head, and no classroom scenes to speak of - it just doesn't feel like a school, more of a social club.
Series 31 is a collection of daft stories, with fantasy sequences - a million miles from the challenging drama of the previous thirty years, and yet despite this handicap there's still some of the occasional magic poking through.
As for Series 30, and this episode - it just seems all very rushed. I'm not quite sure why Jeremy reads Emma's letter to Kyle: Emma goes and tells Tanya, but sooner or later that particular truth would have come out - actually by now Emma ought to have actually gone full-term and had the baby. The timing for all of Series 30 is odd, and compares badly to Chrissy Mainwaring's pregnancy which unfolded in normal time over a school year. Here, although we clearly start at the beginning of the school year - we see Lucy and Jenny start - Emma's nine weeks of pregnancy somehow last from late summer one year to early summer the next. Overall, the writing, acting and directing is excellent in this last proper series - the overall story lines are a bit strange though - Alex's bullying - again - Baz's death, which just seems to be there in a soap-like way. There are way too few teachers in this series, no visible Head, and no classroom scenes to speak of - it just doesn't feel like a school, more of a social club.
