Series 8 (Episode 19) (Christmas Special)

Episode 19 is the 19th episode of Series 8. It originally aired 27th December 1985.

Summary
The school is hosting a Christmas fair. On the day before Gonch and Hollo are fooling around throwing wet sponges and get reprimanded first by Mr Smart and then by Mr Bronson. Imelda gets hit by one of the sponges and determines on revenge. She confronts Gonch in a stairwell and throws a bucket of water over him. Meanwhile Calley is worrying over her adopted and birth mothers both wanting her to spend Christmas with them and not being able to reject either. Roland is facing Christmas alone as his father has a delivery job over the season. When he sees a travel agent offering cheap trips to Paris he gets an idea. Later he announces he is going to France for Christmas to stay with Fabienne. In CDT Mr Mackenzie has created a copper wire outline of Great Britain for a competition stall. It will be connected to electricity and players have to maintain a steady hand as they guide a loop around the copper without touching the wire and triggering a buzzer. Winners will get £25. Roland gets an idea and stays after school to practice on the buzzer. Lurking outside the school is a strange man who approaches it pulling something on a rope. He puts something inside one of the outdoor storage cupboards which Mr Griffiths locks without seeing what is now inside.

The next day the fair is held and a table collapses. Mr Baxter sends Gonch and Hollo to get a replacement from the furniture store. They go to the cupboard and open it to find a donkey bursting out. The boys pursue her as she heads into the school but get caught by Mr Baxter and sent again to get the table. After delivering it they go searching for the donkey in the corridors but she keeps evading it. Roland buys many turns on the buzzer stand, to the annoyance of the queue building up behind him, but is completely unsuccessful. Janet deduces that Roland doesn't have the money to go to France and that his father will be away. She invites him to her house and when she confirms there will be a lot of food he accepts. Meanwhile Calley's adopted mother announces that she has invited her birth mother for Christmas Dinner, solving the dilemma. After Roland leaves the buzzer to get change others find it equally impossible until Trevor deliberately cuts the power when Banksy has a turn. However Stewpot deduces what has happened.

Mr Baxter goes onto the "Throw a sponge at a teacher" stand and proves a popular target with a visiting Gripper expressing his delight. Then the donkey bursts into the main hall causing panic and Gonch takes advantage to knock Imelda into the bath of water supplying the sponge stand. The donkey eventually makes her way to the crib where Mr Bronson discovers a note attached and reads it out:


 * "My name is Harriet. My owner can no longer afford to keep me. I need a good home or I will have to be put down. Please look after me."

Mr Baxter suggests keeping the donkey as a school pet, which Mrs McClusky and Mr Bronson both find agreeable. The cast then address the camera directly to wish a Happy Christmas.

Cast

 * Michael Cronin as Mr Baxter
 * Karen Ford as Miss Booth
 * Michael Sheard as Mr Bronson
 * George A. Cooper as Mr Griffiths
 * Nicholas Donnelly as Mr Mackenzie
 * Gwyneth Powell as Mrs McClusky
 * Simon Heywood as Mr Smart (as Simon Haywood)
 * Deirdre Costello as Mrs Donnington
 * Tim Polley as Banksy Banks
 * Tina Mahon as Ronnie Birtles
 * Joann Kenny as Jane Bishop
 * Erkan Mustafa as Roland Browning
 * John Drummond as Trevor Cleaver
 * Fleur Taylor as Imelda Davis
 * Simone Hyams as Calley Donnington
 * John Holmes as Gonch Gardner
 * Bradley Sheppard as Hollo Holloway
 * Ruth Carraway as Helen Kelly
 * Alison Bettles as Fay Lucas
 * Lisa York as Julie Marchant
 * Lee Macdonald as Zammo McGuire
 * Patsy Palmer as Natasha
 * Steven West as Vince Savage (as Steve George)
 * Paula Ann Bland as Claire Scott
 * Simone Nylander as Janet St. Clair
 * Mark Savage as Gripper Stebson
 * Mark Burdis as Stewpot Stewart
 * Melissa Wilks as Jackie Wright
 * John Alford as Robbie Wright
 * Mike Savage as Mr Browning
 * Stephen Mullen as 5th Year Boy
 * Clair Kavanagh as Girl in Toilet
 * Sandon Sorrel as Harriet the Donkey