Murder, drugs, brain tumors – and the first gay kiss: How Baker Grove redefined children’s television | Children’s TV

VQuietly, ITVX is positioning itself as one of the best streaming services out there. All the lost and found are there. All the Buffy the Vampire Slayer characters are in there. It’s the only place in the UK where you can watch every episode of Documentary Now, perhaps the best show ever broadcast. As of last month, you can also use ITVX to watch Space Live – 4K footage of Earth from the International Space Station, which is every bit as stunning as it sounds.

And if that wasn’t enough, there’s now a Byker Grove too. It was announced last month that ITV had acquired the rights to the show, which originally aired on BBC One, and from Sunday will host all 18 series. If you’re old and creaky like me, this will provide you with a killer dose of nostalgia.

Maybe you should have been there. But if you are, Byker Grove was a mainstay of your childhood. A CBBC programme, in the glory days when CBBC broadcast on BBC One, was a teen drama about the comings and goings of a Newcastle youth club. If you grew up watching Grange Hill, which was characterized by its stern authority, it seemed like a breath of fresh air.

While Grange Hill has always been partly about the teachers, Baker’s Grove has been – with the exception of a headmaster with a bewildering beard which we’ll come to soon – all about the children. They messed up. They have reached adulthood. They got into trouble. They had accents that were fun to repeat on the playground the next morning.

I was nine years old when the first episode of Byker Grove aired, and its irreverence was palpable. The theme tune was, and still is, a pop. The opening titles were full of iconography — acid-era smileys, skateboard wheels, crushed Coke cans — that displayed none of the paternalism we often see in shows of this type. And the show itself was full of kids who weren’t afraid to talk to adults – which is always exciting to watch.

Because it was broadcast after 5pm (the turning point after which television was allowed to be somewhat more serious), it was allowed to deal with serious issues. There were stories of abuse, abortions and drug addicts being attacked in their seating areas. There was the first ever same-sex kiss on British children’s television. Thanks to the horrific moment that will forever remain in the hearts of everyone who saw it, there was also a strong message about the need for safety glasses when playing paintball.

In addition, people died. They did die, and in horrific ways too. Car accidents, murders, brain tumors, electrocutions. In the case of Jeff Keegan, the aforementioned director whose furry, chinless W-shaped beard has become an important part of British iconography, his death in a gas explosion was like watching one of your parents explode. This was solid fare for the kids to accept, and the better for them.

Of course, as fun as Byker Grove was, its legacy as a star maker has long been the thing that cemented it. The number of future celebrities who passed through the show became legendary. It’s where Ant and Dec got their big break, as did PJ and Duncan. But it also gave support to Jill Halfpenny, Donna Air and Charlie Hunnam, as well as a fleet of actors from Hollyoaks and Emmerdale. Katherine Johnson (who wrote Mamma Mia) and Matthew Graham (who co-created Life on Mars) wrote for Baker Grove. Tom Hooper of The King’s Speech and Cats directed the episodes less admirably.

Obviously, you’re not going to stop and watch all 344 episodes of Byker Grove. Much of her early boldness has been largely chronicled by now. What was exciting when I was nine now seems slow and contemplative. But if you want to pick out the best episodes, this is a great resource to have at your disposal.

You can head into Season 9 and see the aftermath of Flora’s death from a brain tumor, which was as horrific a depiction of grief as children’s television has ever portrayed. If you’re feeling brave enough to endure the shocking spectacle of Ant and Dec being permanently blinded in a paintball accident, skip straight to series four, episode 20. And if you want your brains out of your skull, let me guide you to the end, where – and I promise I’m not making this up – the characters realize they don’t really exist and blow up the orchard with a bomb to prove they have free will.

Whatever you choose, it’s good to have Byker Grove back. If nothing else, those of us who grew up watching it can now show the paintball episode to our kids, continuing the cycle of trauma across generations.

Byker Grove is on ITVX now.