A brilliant and accessible satire is actually selling this series short - and - at the same time - misdescribing it: It's great fun; but it's apparently unobtainable to the home consumer in any format. I tuned in to an early episode in series 1 in the Autumn of 1983, and, recognising the beautiful Jenny Jay, pressed record on my VCR. I remembered JJ from an article a couple of years earlier in rock comic Melody Maker when JJ was trying to get into the music business. Here, JJ holds centre stage - as a gorgeous schoolgirl whose normal uniform is 1950s flared skirt with net petticoats beneath - but for hockey wears a tiny ra ra skirt. Better even than this is when the girl sings: Her main solo in series 1 is (probably) called "See Him" - apparently sung to a potential boyfriend whose arrogance makes JJ lose interest in him by the conclusion of her song - it is a masterpiece. Similar joys unfold as Lee Whitlock (?) as the attemptedly coolest 11 year old dons a leather biker's suit to sing "Dressed To Kill" with his pedal tricycle in the background. Another song has a pupil being told off for wearing fluorescent socks. Series 1 also included a pupil (Adam Sunderland) interviewing Thompson Twins head honcho Tom Bailey where Bailey is asked for the umpteenth time why a three piece group call themselves The Thompson Twins. I believe this was followed by a brief clip from the TT's current single - We Are Detective or Watching Me, Watching You. Series 2 followed in Jan and Feb 1985 with most of Series 1 regulars gone. Fortunately, JJ remained and was given what may be best ever song in the series: " I'll Always Remember Your Name" - a fond ode to departed headmaster Cal McCrystal. 7" vinyl records of this and other songs from S2 do exist - and I own a copy. Another notable presence in S2 is refugee from Grange Hill Series 6 (1983) - Lee Sparke - who essentially reprises his GH character of the sharpest knife in the drawer. In terms S2 is a disappointment after S1 - Tony Slattery is totally out of his metier; and the whole thing has that end-of-term-end-of-school feeling belonging to a series that's biting the dust. Should be repeated frequently on numerous channels.
Review of Behind the Bike Sheds
