‘Grange Hill The Movie’: Sara Sugarman To Helm Reboot Based On Her Original Character From Hit Kids Series As Creator Phil Redmond Teases Surprise Returns

deadline.com:

EXCLUSIVE: Sir Phil Redmond is moving forward with his Grange Hill film adaption and filmmaker Sara Sugarman (Save the Cinema) has signed on to direct a story in part based on the character she played in the hit BBC kids show.

The film will be written by original series creator Redmond, with Sean Marley (The Almond and the Seahorse) and Celyn Jones (Six Minutes to Midnight) producing for Mad As Birds alongside Redmond’s production company Mersey Film.

Phil and Alexis Redmond will EP. Redmond originally planned for the movie to launch this year and he said scripts are “pretty close.” Plot is being largely kept under wraps, but Redmond told Deadline that the story will, in part, be based on the character Jessica Samuels, who was the rebellious head of the Grange Hill student action group in the TV series.

The idea was inspired by Sugarman, who played Samuels as an adolescent on the original show and reached out to Redmond to offer her directing services when she heard about the big-screen reboot. “Sara reached out, and that hit a light bulb in my head,” Redmond said. “I thought, ‘Why don’t I look beyond the main characters, which is obvious, and we’ll have them all there for nostalgia, but where did Jessica go?’.” Redmond described Sugarman as a “great fit” and said her character’s growth will comprise one of the movie’s main themes.