Life and letters | 29 January 2005

In this week’s Cease and Desist Department, it’s Grange Hill. For many tens of thousands of grown men and women worldwide, the names Tucker, Zammo and Mrs McCluskey are enough to induce an instant rapture of nostalgia: the mind’s ear fills with the sardonic, boingy guitar of the theme tune; the mind’s eye with the single sausage of the cartoon title sequence, wobbling forever on the end of its fork. For some time now, this constituency has been catered for by the existence of a non-profit website called www.grangehillfans.co.uk. Now, however, creator Phil Redmond’s Mersey TV, who took over production duties from the Beeb two years ago, are worried about the competition the site poses to its own, rather more rubbish site, called www.grangehill.com. Could the two not coexist, happily boosting the show’s profile? Apparently not. Mersey took legal action to close down the site this month, arguing that their copyright was being breached by using images from the show.