Richmond Hill aired on Thames Television between 1988 and 1989.
It only lasted for a year, but left an impression on me well into my 30's. It was centred around a fictitious Police Station set in Richmond Hill. There were many stars in the programme but mainly consisted of a fairly unknown cast. There were some stars who had earlier 'done time' in Prisoner Cell Block H, including Maggie Kirkpatrick, who had gained cult status as Joan 'The Freak' Ferguson, Paula Duncan, Amanda Muggleton and Tim Elston. Another soap stalwart was Gwen Plumb, who presided over proceedings as the morale-fibred, 'take in waifs and strays' Mum Foote. What sealed this programme's fate was the terrible scheduling it was given of Wednesday and Thursday afternoons at 2.00pm. I feel it would have faired better if it had been aired at a slightly later time to pick up a more varied audience. Admittedly, it didn't have the pizazz of early Neighbours and Home and Away episodes, but it had bags of class, a talented cast and well-thought out story lines. I am still in mourning for the programme being dropped by Grundy to make way for the more trendy Home and Away and to a lesser degree, the more popular A Country Practice at the time. I know it is nearly two decades ago now, but I still love it, have most of the series on VHS and would have loved to have seen how the show would have progressed.
