This star of a much-loved children’s TV show was very much of the centre of attention when he opened a school fair in Watford.

A Watford Observer photographer captured these scenes in November 1987 when actor Simon Vaughan, who played the character Freddie Mainwaring in Grange Hill, found himself mobbed by enthusiastic autograph hunters when he visited the Rainbow Fair at Watford Grammar School for Girls.

Simon appeared in the long-running BBC drama series about a fictional North London school between 1987 and 1988 and has gone to enjoy a highly successful career as a film and television producer and executive producer.

(Image: Watford Observer)

First aired in 1978, Grange Hill ran for 31 series until it was cancelled by the BBC in 2008.

We have previously published archive pictures of when the show filmed on location in our area, including some scenes shot at Woodside Stadium in October 1989.

You can see those images via this link.

(Image: Watford Observer)

The programme returned to the area in May 1994 to film at Bushey Hall School, now the Grange Academy.

Those images can be seen via this link.

(Image: Watford Observer)

(Image: Watford Observer)