One of the UK's most loved children’s series is returning to our TV screens, as Byker Grove is set to be rebooted by Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly.
Set in Newcastle, the series followed a group of children who attended a youth club which aired on the BBC from 1989 to 2006.
Ant and Dec will be the executive producers and creative consultants on the show, but where are the rest of the cast of Byker Grove now and where was it filmed? Here’s what we know.
Who were the cast members of Byker Grove?
Morning! It’s a beautiful one in the Toon #Byker pic.twitter.com/MzvkKPiGVg
— antanddec (@antanddec) July 4, 2023
Ant and Dec (PJ and Duncan)
This ITV duo certainly need no introduction when it comes to wondering what they have been up to since Byker Grove.
The Geordie pair have had huge success since the days of PJ and Duncan, going on to host multiple entertainment shows such as I’m A Celeb, Saturday Night Takeaway, Britain’s Got Talent and more.
To date, they have taken home 43 National Television Awards.
Billy Fane (Geoff)
Billy’s character as Geoff was a huge part of the BBC series back in the day, until Geoff was killed in a gas explosion in 2000.
He then went on to star in the iconic film Billy Elliot as Mr Braithwaite.
At the age of 58, Billy graduated with a distinction from a postgraduate education course at Hull University.
He also featured in Heartbeat and has numerous roles in pantomimes across the North.
Other TV appearances from Billy include Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway in 2014 and The Last Leg in 2020.
Lyndyann Barrass (Spuggie)
Another fan favourite on Byker Grove was Lyndyann Barrass’ character Spuggie.
She appeared on the show from 1989 until 1992 and at the time her name caught on, with children and adults often quoting the phrase "going down grove tsee our Spuggie."
Lyndyann is now involved in various theatre shows across the country.
We hope you’re as psyche(d) as us for this comeback 🥳 #Byker https://t.co/TyX75BAJ2V
— antanddec (@antanddec) July 4, 2023
Donna Air – Charlie
Donna was welcomed onto the set of Byker Grove when she was only 10 years old.
Alongside her co-stars Jayni Hoy and Vicky Taylor, the trio became chart-topping artists with their single Love Your Sexy which claimed a spot at number 46.
The actress from Newcastle has featured as a TV presenter on The Big Breakfast and MTV UK.
She also took part in reality shows Splash!, Celebrity MasterChef and the 10th series of Dancing On Ice.
Jill Halfpenny (Nicola)
Jill was on Byker Grove from the age of 13 until 17 as the character Nicola.
She became a favourite of BBC viewers during her time on the series and has remained on our TV screens ever since.
During her career as an actress, she has appeared in Coronation Street as Rebecca Hopkins and played the role of Kate Mitchell in Eastenders.
Jill has even featured as Izzie Redpath in another BBC hit series Waterloo Road and in 2014 she won Strictly Come Dancing with her professional dancing partner Darren Bennett.
Andrew Hayden-Smith (Ben)
The actor from Gateshead was one of the longest-running characters on the children’s TV series until his “bad boy” character was killed off.
He has since had presenting stints on Live & Kicking and CBBC and has roles in Doctor Who, Cucumber, and Hollyoaks as DS Gavin Armstrong before being killed (again).
These days, you will be able to hear his voice as a regular voice-over for links on ITV.
The latest Making it in Media programme with @PrincesTrust kicked off today in Newcastle 🙌
— antanddec (@antanddec) July 3, 2023
Over the next two weeks, these young people will gain hands-on experience and training to kick start their career within the industry! 🤩 pic.twitter.com/Xytm4VlgE0
Charlie Hunnam (Jason)
Although he only stared in a few episodes, Newcastle’s very own Charlie has gone on to claim mega success since Byker Grove.
He landed the lead role in hit US drama Sons of Anarchy, appeared in Guy Ritchie’s The Gentleman and Green Street to name a few.
For his character as Jax Teller in Sons of Anarchy, he was twice nominated for the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actor.
Where was Byker Grove filmed?
The series which last aired 17 years ago was filmed in Byker in Newcastle.
It was orignally created by writer Adele Rose and executive producer Andrea Wonfor.
What do we know about Fullwell 73 and Mitre Studios producing Byker Grove reboot?
Fullwell 73 (based in London and LA) along with Mitre Studios will be joining forces to produce the reboot of Byker Grove called BYKER.
The people behind production company Fullwell 73 include brothers Gabe and Ben Turner, Leo Pearlman and Ben Winston.
This also includes Gavin and Stacey icon James Corden who joined as a partner in 2017 as the team went on to produce the Late Late Show.
Ant and Dec are the duo behind their TV company Mitre Studios.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here