For a decade, she ruled over Grange Hill with a rod of steel. Bridget McClusky first arrived as the new headmistress of the fictional school in the first episode of series four, broadcast on Tuesday 30 December 1980. She quickly learned she had inherited a school in a state of chaos. Pupils no longer wore uniforms and the school was plagued by a spate of vandalism. A small fire even broke out in the school on her first day.
By the time of her departure at the end of series 14 in 1991, much had changed. Uniforms had quickly been restored but the school had faced a financial crisis before merging with neighbouring schools Rodney Bennett and Brookdale, a change which temporarily robbed Mrs McClusky of her headmistress status. After returning to power, following the new headmaster's death in a car accident, she faced new challenges: some serious (a drug problem within the school), some more trivial and ultimately less realistic (the adoption of Harriet, an official school donkey, and a rebellion inspired by a new school radio station, a rarity in British comprehensive schools at the time).
But through it all, the iron will of Mrs McClusky remained indomitable. Her physical stature may have been occasionally mocked (she was commonly referred to as "Bridget the Midget"), but her overall authority was never in doubt. She remains one of the best known of the hundreds of characters to appear during the show's 30-year run between 1978 and 2008. It is probably no coincidence that her tenure coincided with what is now widely seen as the heyday of the popular school drama, bridging the gap from the age of Tucker Jenkins (Todd Carty) and "Pogo" Patterson (Peter Moran) to the era of "Tegs" Ratcliffe (Sean Maguire) and Trevor Cleaver (John Drummond). Neither the school nor the series were quite the same without her.
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Denne historien er fra September 2023-utgaven av Best of British.
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THE FEW ON SCREEN
Steven Taylor looks at the Battle of Britain across film and TV
Table Service
Rachel Toy looks at the history of Ridgway Homemaker tableware
Hever Forever
Claire Saul studies the newly refurbished Boleyn Apartment at Hever Castle & Gardens - a castle fit for a queen
Shining a Light
Tony O’Neil tunes into the history of the last manned lightvessel
The Man With the Goldeneye
Film stills photographer Keith Hamshere describes how he came to enter the world of James Bond
THE ORIGINAL GOLDEN BALLS
lan Wheeler looks back on 70 years of Tiger comic and Roy of the Rovers, and chats to the man who edited and oversaw both titles
To Play the Queen
Chris Hallam looks back on the life of one of the UK’s best known lookalikes
POOLING RESOURCES
Martin Handley looks at what life was like after the Vernons Girls
POSTCARD FROM= SUSSEX
Bob Barton indulges in pleasure piers and fairground delights, as well as fulfilling a long-held ambition to visit the home of Rudyard Kipling
Oh, Miss Jones
Chris Hallam looks back at the origins and legacy of Rising Damp, ITV's most successful sitcom