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Starting Out is seven series of programmes made for UK schools by ATV and Central from 1973 to 1992. The writers included Catherine Storr, Dave Simpson, Anthony Horowitz and Grazyna Monvid. Comprising 56 episodes in total, the series were repeated until 1994.
The episodes were designed for older students who were about to leave school and who would soon be starting out on life as adults. Each series was made roughly every three years and was totally unrelated to that which came before, so that it was self-contained and relevant to the needs of each new generation of students. Several of the series were first broadcast late at night for preview by an adult audience, sometimes months before they were available to students.
The cast across the seven series included Joanna Lumley, Kirsten Hughes, John Savident, Kevin Lloyd, Rolf Saxon, Katharine Levy, Chris Gascoyne, Hywel Williams-Ellis, Nicholas Bond-Owen, Amanda Noar, Nick Conway, David Nunn, Carol Chell, Rebecca Lacey and Ian Mercer.
Scripts from four episodes of the third series by Monvid were published as Choices: Four Plays from ITV's 'Starting Out' Series in 1986, (reprinted as Challenges: Four Plays from ITV's 'Starting Out' Series (Heinemann Floodlights) 1988), while scripts from the 1989 series by Horowitz were published as Starting Out.