Roland Browning

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Roland Browning
Character Information
Nicknames	Roly
School	Grange Hill
Year Group	First Year (1982) Second Year (1983) Third Year (1984) Fourth Year (1985) Fifth Year (1986) Lower 6th (1987)
Occupation	Student Arcade Assistant
Age	11-12 (Series 5) 12-13 (Series 6) 13-14 (Series 7) 14-15 (Series 8) 15-16 (Series 9) 16-17 (Series 10)
Gender	Male
Parents	Mr Browning (Father) Mrs Browning (Mother)
Best Friends	Zammo McGuire Jonah Jones Kevin Baylon
Friends	Fay Lucas Janet St. Clair Annette Firman Jimmy Flynn Belinda Zowkowski Julie Marchant Diane Cooney Jackie Wright Banksy Banks Julian Fairbrother Cheryl Webb
Relationships	Fabienne (Ex-Girlfriend)
Production Information
First Episode	Series 5 (Episode 1)
Last Episode	Series 10 (Episode 24)
Series	Series 5 (1982) Series 6 (1983) Series 7 (1984) Series 8 (1985) Series 9 (1986) Series 10 (1987)
Number of Episodes	74
Played By	Erkan Mustafa

Roland Browning was a student at Grange Hill from 1982 to 1987, played by Erkan Mustafa. He made his first appearance in episode 1 of series 5 and made his final appearance in episode 24 of series 10.

Roland is the son of Mr Browning and Mrs Browning. Roland's best friends are Zammo McGuire, Jonah Jones and Kevin Baylon and his friends are Fay Lucas, Janet St. Clair, Annette Firman, Jimmy Flynn, Belinda Zowkowski, Julie Marchant, Diane Cooney, Jackie Wright, Banksy Banks, Julian Fairbrother and Cheryl Webb. His relationships include Fabienne.

Character History

Series 5 (1982)

When Roland began at Grange Hill he was singled out by bully Gripper Stebson who would threaten him for his lunch money and with further threats of violence if he didn't comply. Roland didn't hit it off well with the rest of his classmates of other peers at the school, who viewed him as clumsy due to his excess weight. On his first day Roland locked himself in the school bathroom, although was forced out thanks to Zammo McGuire and Jonah Jones throwing a stink bomb through the window. Regardless of getting into trouble Roland would continue to bunk off school and also faced numerous threats from Gripper.

Roland attempted to fit in with the school and took part in a sports event where he was given support by older pupil Benny Green, who had also warned Gripper off from picking on Roland. But Roland showed himself up when he was unable to carry out any of the tasks, and left humiliated and with his confidence even more chipped away. Zammo and Jonah took pity and tried to support Roland, but he brushed them off.

He and his mother, had a word with Mrs McClusky, and Roland started visiting an educational psychologist and also attempted to lose weight. Gripper discovered Roland attending the psychologist and when Roland was unable to come up with a full payment to Gripper, Gripper plotted to expose Roland to his class. Roland attempted to stand up to Gripper by fighting him in the bathroom, but was not capable enough to overpower him and Gripper floored Roland. Gripper wrote on the board that Roland is a headcase and that he goes to the shrink, which prompted Roland to bunk off school yet again. He went to see his mother before then running off and into the path of a car, resulting in Roland being injured and spending some time in hospital.

Series 6 (1983)

A recovered Roland returned for the new school year, although Gripper showed no mercy for him and made clear to Roland that he still wants paying from him. But Gripper's attention to Roland was slightly taken away as Gripper focused on carrying out a hate campaign against non-white pupils at the school. During this race war Gripper made Roland swear allegiance to his own race, and also taunted Roland claiming that he wasn't white.

Annette Firman had been taunting Roland about his weight, but he had also been unkind to Diane Cooney about her spots. Roland reported Annette to Mrs McClusky but Annette said that this was because he wasn't kind to Diane.

On a Welsh trip, Roland got lost and met the farmer, who taught him some Welsh. He also gave Roland a Welsh dictionary.

Series 7 (1984)

Janet St. Clair noticed that Roland had started having school dinners. This was because his parents had separated.

Roland made friends with a couple of bullies, and was caught red handed stealing Annette Firman's bike.

On an orienteering trip Roland declines Janet's offer to pair up to complete an exercise and winds up paired with Mr Baxter. The PE teacher has long had a low opinion of Roland but on the course it becomes clear the boy is much better at the task. However the route is sabotaged by Mandy Firth and Sarah Wilks who hide one of the control markers, causing Mr Baxter and Roland to get lost. They find themselves at the foot of a cliff and Mr Baxter decides to climb up it to see if he can spot any landmarks, but he slips and injures his ankle. The two sit at the foot of the cliff as night falls, with Roland admitting he feels everything that goes wrong in his life is his fault. Eventually they are found by a search party led by Mr Knowles. Roland's disappearance does much to transform his classmates' attitude to him and he returns to a hero's welcome.

Appearances

Series 5

1. Episode 1
2. Episode 2
3. Episode 5
4. Episode 6
5. Episode 9
6. Episode 11
7. Episode 12
8. Episode 13
9. Episode 15

Series 6

1. Episode 1
2. Episode 2
3. Episode 5
4. Episode 6
5. Episode 8
6. Episode 9
7. Episode 10
8. Episode 15
9. Episode 16

Series 7

1. Episode 1
2. Episode 3
3. Episode 4
4. Episode 6
5. Episode 7
6. Episode 10
7. Episode 11
8. Episode 12
9. Episode 13
10. Episode 15
11. Episode 16
12. Episode 18

Series 8

1. Episode 1
2. Episode 2
3. Episode 5
4. Episode 6
5. Episode 7
6. Episode 11
7. Episode 12
8. Episode 13
9. Episode 16
10. Episode 17
11. Episode 18
12. Episode 19

Series 9

1. Episode 1
2. Episode 3
3. Episode 8
4. Episode 9
5. Episode 11
6. Episode 13
7. Episode 14
8. Episode 16
9. Episode 18
10. Episode 19
11. Episode 21
12. Episode 23
13. Episode 24

Series 10

1. Episode 1
2. Episode 2
3. Episode 3

Gallery

To view the Roland Browning gallery, click here.

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