Grange Hill and Hollyoaks creator Sir Phil Redmond has said that modern broadcasting lacks courage, and suggested that TV watchdog rules should be broken more often.
The man behind the popular soap said that engaging programming is important, and that there is such a gap for today’s youth.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Sir Phil suggested that social media was a big issue that needed to be openly explored through television dramas.
“I think the problem is that courage has really gone out of broadcasting, and there’s a lot of risk aversion,” Sir Phil told the show’s guest editor Sir Sajid Javed on Friday.
Sir Phil was joined on the program by Lord Michael Grade, chairman of Ofcom, and Grange Hill star Michelle Gale, who respectively listed mental health and misogyny as topics in need of realistic representation on television.
Sir Phil said, “There’s a place for something like Grange Hill, and from my career, I’ve always felt that the more difficult you make the story, the more you upset the regulators, but the audience has so much of it. Appreciated.”
Audiences live the kinds of issues that are explored through such programs, he added, “and what they want to see is their own lives as realistically as possible.” be brought to the screen”.
Lord Grade agreed with Sir Phil, and said there was “absolutely, no harm” in troubling Ofcom.
“It was an amazing, amazing show. It changed television in more ways than I think people realize,” he said.
Before Grange Hill, Lord Grade likened youth television to “the world of End Blyton”, featuring soft stories.
“Then with Grange Hill, you had your growing anxiety, it was in the raw,” he said.
Grange Hill was a series that aired on the BBC from 1978 to 2008 and told the story of life at a London comprehensive school.
It was known for its harsh social realism, racism, as well as its exploration of drug abuse, teenage pregnancy, mental illness and HIV and AIDS.
Ms Gale, who played student Fiona Wilson, said she was never labeled a “diversity hire” and that her role in the show naturally “just existed”.
“There was no, ‘This is wake casting,'” she said.
“It was a multicultural school because that was what most schools faced at the time.
“It’s ‘you’re never a black person,’ or ‘you’re a token,’ it’s ‘showing what’s going on right now,'” she said.
Asked what guests would think if they were to explore Grange Hill when it aired today, Lord Grade suggested mental health and family relationships.
“These are big stories today, and very emotional,” he said.
Opting for the growing prevalence of misogyny, Ms Gale said: “I think there needs to be a real conversation about getting a grip on TV, for young lads to see so they can get out of this toxic echo chamber. [of social media]”
Sir Phil said that social media will be the solution to this problem.
“There’s no competition for it, and that’s what Grange Hill used to offer,” he said.
“It didn’t matter what the problem was…Grange Hill would always offer some solution or some way to ask someone about the problem, but at the end of it, it’s basically, You are not yourself.”