Knight School is a comedy drama series shown on Children's ITV and made by

Granada Television ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire but only on weekdays as ABC Weekend Television was it ...

. It was written and created by Mark Billingham and Peter Cocks, who also starred in the series. Two series were broadcast between 2 September 1997 and 15 October 1998.

Overview

Knight School was promoted by Granada Television as " Grange Hill meets

Blackadder ''Blackadder'' is a series of four period British sitcoms, plus several one-off instalments, which originally aired on BBC One from 1983 to 1989. All television episodes starred Rowan Atkinson as the antihero Edmund Blackadder and Tony Robins ...

". Set in the Middle Ages, the action centred on St Cuthbert's Academy, an exclusive school for young knights. The story began with the school deciding to take a scholarship boy. The lucky boy, and the series' hero, was Wally Scrope, a common but loveable village idiot. Over the course of the series, Scrope battles for the affections of Lady Elizabeth de Gossard (played by Grange Hill girl-next-door Amy Phillips), head girl of the nearby St Catherine's School for Damsels, and he has a rival for his affections in the form of St Cuthbert's head boy and school bully Sir Roger de Courcey. Despite being set in the Middle Ages, there were many in-jokes to make Knight School relevant to a late 1990s audience. For one, the school was run by a progressive headmaster, Sir Hubert Grindcobbe, whose idea it was to take on a scholarship boy. His power-hungry deputy was the feared Sir Baldwin De'Ath, who longed for the top job, and made good use of De Courcey as his personal henchman. And in a bid to impress Lady Elizabeth, Wally gets her tickets to see her favourite boy band, "MinstrelZone". Unfortunately the tickets are fake, having been obtained from Wally's spiv cousin (pre-EastEnders

Shane Ritchie Shane Patrick Paul Roche (born 11 March 1964), known as Shane Richie, is a British actor, comedian, television presenter and singer. Following initial success as a stage and screen performer, he became best known for his portrayal of the charac ...

), but they still get into the concert. Knight School sent up the

Spice Girls The Spice Girls are a British girl group formed in 1994, consisting of Melanie Brown, also known as Mel B ("Scary Spice"); Melanie Chisholm, or Melanie C ("Sporty Spice"); Emma Bunton ("Baby Spice"); Geri Halliwell ("Ginger Spice"); and Vict ...

phenomenon in Series 2 by having Lady Elizabeth and Eunice kidnapped on the school holiday and forced to perform in a new girl band, "The Herb Girls". Series 1 of Knight School was shot with a filmic effect and had impressive production values. Come the second series, new producer Yvon Grace brought several changes to the style of the show; the filmic effect was lost in favour of a standard VT look, the impressive male vocal theme song was superseded by a less impressive rendition played on

kazoos The kazoo is an American musical instrument that adds a "buzzing" timbral quality to a player's voice when the player vocalizes into it. It is a type of '' mirliton'' (which itself is a membranophone), one of a class of instruments which modifie ...

. A couple of principal characters were recast. But there was also a guest appearance by EastEnders stalwart John Altman as evil wizard Wormwood, and comedian Ted Robbins as the DJ at the school's end-of-term "disco".

Cast

Staff

* Peter Jeffrey – Sir Hubert Grindcobbe * Roger Lloyd-Pack – Sir Baldwin de'Ath, also Ben D'Izir (Series 2) * Joanna McCallum – Mistress Genevieve Gently * Mark Billingham – Scrubbe * Peter Cocks – Grockle *

Anne Orwin Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female given name Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie. Anne is sometimes used as a male name in the ...

– Mrs Scabbe (Series 2) *

Ramsay Gilderdale Ramsey Wilson Gilderdale (born 5 August 1962), professionally known as Ramsay Gilderdale, is an English actor, best known for playing Guy of Gisbourne in BBC children's television comedy ''Maid Marian and Her Merry Men'' from 1990 to 1994. He a ...

– Jasper Crouchback * Christopher Guard – Clovis Sackbutt (Series 1) * Geoffrey Bayldon – Dr Spencer DePenser (Series 1)

Pupils

Stuart Rooker Stuart may refer to: Names *Stuart (name), a given name and surname (and list of people with the name) Automobile * Stuart (automobile) Places Australia Generally * Stuart Highway, connecting South Australia and the Northern Territory North ...

– Wally Scrope * Anthony Hamblin – Sir Arthur Melton-Mowbray * Blake Ritson – Sir Roger de Courcey * Amy Phillips – Lady Elizabeth de Gossard *

Susie Williams Susannah Jane Williams (15 September 1875 – 27 May 1942), better known as Susie Williams, was an Australian educator. She served for 16 years as principal of The Women's College at the University of Sydney. Early life and education Williams ...

– Eunice Spongge-Baggeley (Series 1) *

Carly Hamilton Carly is a given name, a feminine form of Carl. Hanks; Hardcastle; Hodges (2006) p. 47. It is also a pet form of given names such as Carla and Caroline. Variant different spellings include Carley, Carlie, Carlee, Carleigh and Carli, as well as K ...

– Eunice Spongge-Baggeley (Series 2) * Robert Pollard – Alf Scrope (Series 2) *Lucy Bell – Lady Amelia de Gossard (Series 2) * Thomas Hudson – Wykeham (Series 2) *

Steven Townsley Stephen or Steven is a common English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; h ...

– Sir Montegue (Series 1&2)

External links

BBC Comedy Guide: Knight School
* {{IMDb title, id=0124951, title=Knight School 1997 British television series debuts 1998 British television series endings 1990s British children's television series ITV children's television shows Fictional schools English-language television shows Television series by ITV Studios Television shows produced by Granada Television