The Kids of Degrassi Street

The Kids of Degrassi Street is a Canadian children's TV show which aired from 1979 to 1986. It is the first in the Degrassi series, which is about the lives of a group of children living on Degrassi Street in Toronto, Canada. It grew out of four short films: Ida Makes a Movie, Cookie Goes to Hospital, Irene Moves In and Noel Buys a Suit, which originally aired as after-school specials on the CBC in 1979, 1980, 1981 and 1982, respectively. The show was acclaimed for its realistic depiction of every day children's lives and tribulations, and remains memorable to many Canadians because of this.

The Kids of Degrassi Street featured many of the same actors who would go on to appear in Degrassi Junior High and Degrassi High, including Stacie Mistysyn, Neil Hope, Anais Granofsky, Sarah Charlesworth and others. However, their character names and families were different, so this series cannot technically be seen as an immediate precursor to the later shows.

The Beginning
The show was created by former school teacher Linda Schuyler and her friend Kit Hood, both of whom would go on to make the later shows. The show aired on CBC, and premiered in January 1982. It went on for 26 episodes, and ended two years later.

Episode List
Main article: Episode Guide

DVD Release
On July 31, 2007, WGBH-TV WGBH Boston Home Video released The Kids of Degrassi Street: The Complete series on DVD in Region 1.

In Region 4, Beyond Home Entertainment released the entire series on DVD in Australia on March 12, 2008.