The Adventures of Some Kids Who Happen to Live on the Same Street in Toronto

Degrassi is a long-running franchise which spans several different Canadian children's television series, all broadly linked by the adventures of children or teenagers living on the eponymous street in Toronto.

The first entry in this series was The Kids of Degrassi Street, which evolved out of a 1979 standalone short film entitled Ida Makes a Movie, based on the 1974 picture book of the same name. This was followed by three more specials, which were broadcast roughly once a year, after which it became an irregular series, with four more weekly episodes broadcast from December 1982 to January 1983, another one-off in September '83, an eleven-part series shown from November 1984 to February 1985, and a final six episodes from December 1985. You may wish to consult this page for a more thorough look at the show's history, but in short, the early films were absorbed into the full series and came to be known as a single 26-episode season which makes up the first incarnation of the franchise.

On 9 July 1984, the show reaches British shores when the BBC air Ida Makes a Movie as part of their children's programming block at 5.15pm:

First of seven programmes
The adventures of some kids who happen to live on the same street in Toronto - Degrassi Street.

1: Ida Makes a Movie
Boring! That's what Ida thinks of the school holidays, until she decides to make a film...

Already we run into problems. This is billed as the first of seven programmes; at the time there were already nine episodes. Perhaps the best way to surmise what went on to happen is with the following table:

Episode	Original Canadian broadcast	Original UK broadcast	UK repeat
101 “Ida Makes a Movie”	8 December 1979	9 July 1984	30 June 1986
201 “Cookie Goes to the Hospital”	1 September 1980	16 July 1984	7 July 1986
301 “Irene Moves In”	1 September 1981	Never broadcast	N/A
302 “Noel Buys a Suit”	30 May 1982	20 August 1984	21 July 1986
401 “Lisa Makes the Headlines”	13 December 1982	13 August 1984	14 July 1986
402 “Sophie Minds the Store”	20 December 1982	30 July 1984	16 April 1985
403 “Casey Draws the Line”	27 December 1982	6 August 1984	23 June 1986
404 “Pete Takes a Chance”	2 January 1983	23 July 1984	9 April 1985
501 “Chuck Makes a Choice”	1 September 1983	14 April 1986	18 August 1988
601 “Billy Breaks the Chain”	9 November 1984	Never broadcast	N/A
602 “Catherine Finds Her Balance”	16 November 1984	23 April 1985	4 August 1987
603 “Benjamin Walks the Dog”	23 November 1984	2 April 1985	28 July 1987
604 “Liz Sits the Schlegels”	30 November 1984	7 May 1985	18 August 1987
605 “The Canards Move Out”	14 December 1984	30 April 1985	11 August 1987
606 “Martin Meets the Pirates”	4 January 1985	14 May 1985	25 August 1987
607 “Connie Goes to Court”	11 January 1985	Never broadcast	N/A
608 “Griff Makes a Date”	18 January 1985	21 May 1985	1 August 1987
609 “Samantha Gets a Visitor”	25 January 1985	Never broadcast	N/A
610 “Rachel Runs for Office”	1 February 1985	28 April 1986	25 August 1988
611 “Jeffrey Finds a Friend”	8 February 1985	12 May 1986	1 September 1988
701 “Connie Makes a Catch”	1 December 1985	19 May 1986	15 September 1988
702 “Karen Keeps Her Word”	8 December 1985	Never broadcast	N/A
703 “Ryan Runs for Help”	15 December 1985	27 May 1986	22 September 1988
704 “Martin Hears the Music”	22 December 1985	2 June 1986	29 September 1988
705 “Lisa Gets the Picture”	29 December 1985	9 June 1986	6 October 1988
706 “Griff Gets a Hand”	5 January 1986	16 June 1986	13 October 1988

The BBC broadcasts break down into the first 'series' of seven episodes in summer 1984; the second 'series' in Spring 1985, which bafflingly includes two repeats from the first run; and a third 'series' in Spring 1986, which then runs into more repeats, most of which are billed in the Radio Times with some variation on "A short series of some of the early adventures of the Degrassi Street kids". None of these runs seem to have any kind of regard for the original transmission order, and five episodes are skipped entirely, which I can only assume is for reasons of content or, perhaps more likely, cultural translation (the 'missing' episodes deal with issues including hockey camp and the Canadian justice system).

The later repeats coincide with the first 'true' Degrassi series, Degrassi Junior High, arriving on Children's BBC in April 1988; this is more straightforward, with episodes airing twice-weekly on Tuesdays and Fridays, although four episodes of the first season ("Rumour Has It", "The Best Laid Plans", "It's Late" and "Parents' Night") are skipped because of content about SEX; Wikipedia covers the controversy around "It's Late" being withheld in particular. These episodes (barring "Parents' Night") show up a few months afterwards in a slightly later slot as part of the DEF II programming strand a few months later; by happy coincidence, I looked at DEF II a few weeks ago when writing about Wayne's World.

Even with so many episodes banned altogether from the earlier slot in primetime, the run of Junior High seemed to cause controversy; an edition of the childrens' feedback show Take Two was even given over to it, where the BBC admitted they'd anticipated the content being closer to Kids. Perhaps because of the large number of episodes they skipped, the BBC did not proceed with the second season of Junior High, and the last time the franchise was seen on the channel was a very odd one indeed, some years later: in 2010, the eighth season of Degrassi: The Next Generation was trialled in a midday slot on Saturdays on BBC Two. They managed to get through the entire season there, at least, but nothing from before or after was ever shown again.

Thanks to Xanderl for some help with this piece