First series until its demise in 2008 to comprise 20 episodes - except S25 which has 18 episodes.
Debuts of Rachel Victoria Roberts (billed as Rachel Roberts) as Justine Dean, Sonya Kearns as Chrissy Mainwaring, Lynne Radford as Susi Young, Darren Cudjoe as Clarke Trent, Paul Parris (billed as Paul Adams) as Matthew Pearson, Sean Maguire as Terence "Tegs" Ratcliffe, Stuart Organ as games teacher Peter Robson; one and only appearance of Andrea Sharkey as older Mainwaring sister Paula; and Sarah Butler as unnamed pupil who would appear in this and the two subsequent series.
There are several notable firsts here: Mr. Robson starts, a character who endures all the way until series 26; also Sean Maguire, who had success as a singer. The titles also change for the first time since series one, with a jazzed-up version of the original music.