It was a beloved fixture of the after-school television schedule for children of the 90s, and now their own offspring will experience Byker Grove too.
The series, set in a youth club in the Byker area of Newcastle, is being revamped with its former stars Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly as executive producers.
The pair, who found fame in their teens playing best friends PJ and Duncan, have begun work on a reboot, which will be called Byker and be a prime-time show for adults and teenagers.
Like its predecessor, it will be filmed in Newcastle and follow the lives of teenagers navigating the challenges faced by young adults.
Byker Grove was one of the most popular children’s dramas of its era, and ran for 17 years before it was cancelled in 2006.
It remains to be seen whether the new series will acknowledge the bizarre final episode, in which the characters discovered they did not exist and were fictional creations in a television series.
McPartlin and Donnelly, now known to audiences as Ant and Dec, are developing the show through their production company Mitre Studios, named after the building used as the youth club in the original show, and in partnership with Fulwell 73, another production company.
Donnelly said it would “help shine a spotlight on the north-east and the talent the region has to offer both in front of the camera and behind it”.
“Byker Grove will always be very special to us as the show which gave us our break, so we are beyond excited,” he said. “We are looking forward to bringing this fresh incarnation to a whole new generation as well as those who remember it as fondly as we do.”
McPartlin, whose character PJ was blinded by a paintball, said: “We owe such a lot to Byker Grove and the north-east so we can’t wait to start working with Fulwell 73 and the team to bring this iconic series back to life.
“Already talking characters and storylines has us all buzzing at the possibilities ahead. The original series was the starting point for a lot of north-east talent so we’re excited to see what the new team will bring.”
The show was the launchpad for the careers of Jill Halfpenny, Andrew Hayden-Smith and Donna Air – as well as the Hollywood actor Charlie Hunnam, who was scouted in a branch of JD Sports by a member of the Byker Grove production team.
It has not yet been confirmed on which platform viewers will be able to watch the reboot.
