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Season 1 title card
The Dumping Ground is an ongoing 2013 CBBC Spin-Off Sequel series to the series Tracy Beaker Returns. The series follows the life of the children and staff residing at the care home Elm Tree House (Ashdene Ridge from Season 2-Season 10 and Porter's Lodge from Season 11 onward), following the departure of the titular character of the previous show, Tracy Beaker. The series first premiered on 4 January 2013, and as of March 2024, has aired 11 seasons and 212 episodes.


Tropes:

  • Ambiguously Absent Parent - Although many of the children have confirmed mothers, a lot of their fathers have never been addressed or mentioned. These include Harry, Carmen, Jody, Ryan, Sasha, Dexter, Chloe, Charlie, Bec, and Katy.
    • In contrast, Gus, Archie, and Nazeer's mothers have never been mentioned either. Whilst Frank, Faith, Joseph, and Sid's bio parents have never been mentioned as well.
  • Back Story: Normally a cast member will get one episode dedicated to their character's backstory with why they ended up in care. The most notable example of this is "Go Fish" which has Bec moving in with almost the entire episode showing Bec's backstory of what led to her going into care.
  • Brain Bleach: In "Tyler Means Business" Sasha goes to a life-drawing art class, but then finds out that Mike is going to be posing naked for the class. She becomes disgusted and quite shaken from what happened until she tells Mike, shocking them both when he realises that he saw her. She even jokes that she has to go to counselling for this, and reveals that he has a tattoo of the Irish flag somewhere on his naked body.
  • Best Woman: Tracy ends up as this for Mike at his wedding.
  • Bittersweet Ending: While a majority of the kids get their happy endings, Candi-Rose is an exception. Thanks to her parents being able to track her down, Candi-Rose is forced to leave Ashdene Ridge and all her friends behind and be sent away to a new care home with a new identity. On the bright side, they were able to evade her parents and she will be safe from them. "Mum's The Word" also sweetens the ending by implying that she can still stay in touch with her old friends who left.
  • The Bus Came Back: Quite a few times given the number of characters they have to draw from.
    • Series 2: Liam for a web-miniseries titled "Liam's Story" following his life a few years after leaving the care home and "Face the Music", wrapping up his and Frank's arcs and Frank leaving to live with him.
    • Series 3: Faith in "Better Than You" to stay at the DG for a few days and Frank in "Refuge" when Kazima runs away to his and Liam's flat. In a different way, Harry, who was fostered in "It's Not About the Money" returns in "Long Way Home" after it was revealed that his foster family is abusive.
    • Series 4: Harry in "One for Sorrow" to see Carmen and Tee off.
    • Series 5: Tee, Johnny, Elektra, and Frank in "#SaveTheDG"/"What Lies Beneath", helping to save Ashdene Ridge.
    • Series 6: Lily in "Wasters", now running a cafe and in charge of Alex's work experience. Tracy in "To Have and Not to Hold", plus Lily, Tee, Frank, Liam, Bailey, Toni and Billie in "Missing Presumed Single", all for Mike's wedding.
    • Series 8: Alex in "Risk" to visit Finn for the day. Elektra in "Go Your Own Way" to help Tyler and Jody escape together.
    • Series 9: Bec in "Saviour" after Ruby finds out that Bec's aunt is ill and her abusive gran has moved in and has been mistreating Bec. Similar to Harry, this one was actually long term. Tyler in "Breaking Chains" to support Jody after Kingsley's death.
    • Series 10: Finn in "Intergalatic" helping Jay when he ends up in the hospital from an injury. He later sneaks back to Ashdene Ridge and admits to having struggles with living on his own so he moves back in and becomes a main character again. Lily also returns to judge a baking competition that Floss enters and later lets Floss take over running one of her cafés;. May-Li, Kazima, Billie, Toni, Alex, Bird, and Jay also return to surprise Floss at the café after she moves out.
  • Book Ends: Series 10 opens with Bridley Hill, a neighboring care home, being destroyed by a sink hole and it ends with Ashdene Ridge, where the show mainly takes place, burning down in a fire with both times having Wes asking "Where are we going to live now?"
  • Chained Heat: "Stuck With You" features Jody and Carmen handcuffed together by Floss who then accidentally loses the key. This helps Jody and Carmen to make up and bond as they had spent the episode fighting over a music box.
  • Charity Ball: The finale of Series 7 has a charity prom night organized by Mike.
  • Christmas Episode: "Sasha Claus" in Series 8 focuses on Sasha trying to rescue Christmas for the rest of the house after a heavy blizzard leaves them stranded indoors without the care workers and unable to see their families on Christmas Eve.
    • "#Save The DG" and "What Lies Beneath" from Series 5 also take place near Christmas and latter has everyone having (what they think is) their last Christmas dinner and everybody has a Christmas celebration complete with Christmas shirts and hats and opening presents at the end of the episode.
    • "The Hardest Word" from Series 10 takes place around Christmas. The goodbye show that the kids intend to put on for May-Li is Christmas-themed which also includes Christmas costumes. Both the DG and the café that Candi-Rose meets her parents at are also decorated for Christmas and the episode ends with Taz reading May-Li's goodbye letter and intercutting between May-Li saying goodbye to Candi-Rose and watching her leave with "Carol Of The Bells" playing over the scene before the DG kids enjoy a Christmas meal.
  • Chuck Cunningham Syndrome - These characters are usually the ones sent off between seasons and then never mentioned again. Usually given to the more minor or less fleshed-out characters.
    • Melanie, Tracy's replacement introduced in the final episode of Tracy Beaker Returns, does not return in The Dumping Ground and her absence is never explained in the series. However, the reason for this is because her actor had retired from acting after doing the role and the explanation from Elly Brewer, head writer of the time, is that Melaine decided that Tracy's boots were too big for her to fill, so she stepped down from the job.
    • Elektra and Gina vanish in between Series' 1 and 2 with no explanation. As do Faith and Rick between Series' 2 and 3 respectively. Word of God said that Gina left after accepting a promotion in order to have more money to care for her mother Hattie, who has dementia, Elektra moved in with her sister Melissa, and Rick moved back in with his mom after she got out of prison. In Series 3, it's revealed that Faith is at university. Joseph later disappears between Series' 6 and 7 without explanation but he was most likely fostered.
    • Archie disappeared from the show partway through the first half of Series 6. May-Li mentioned taking him to see a potential family in the episode following his last appearance, but his actual exit was never acknowledged on-screen.
    • Similarly to Archie, Max leaves in the beginning of an episode near the end of Series 9 to go and stay with his dad for a bit. He is missing from the rest of the series without any mention and when Series 10 was in production, his actor confirmed that he is moving on from the show. Max doesn't appear in Series 10 and he isn't mentioned at all, so he is most likely staying with his dad for good.
    • After only making three short appearances in Series 9 due to circumstances surrounding his actor during the COVID-19 Pandemic, Finn disappeared from the show with no explanation for his absence. He later returns in Series 10 where it's revealed that he had moved out of Ashdene Ridge, but was struggling to cope living on his own and he moves back into the DG.
    • Bec, Katy, Ruby, Scott, and Murphy all disappear in-between Series 9 and 10 without any explanation as to where any of them went, although it is likely that Scott was transferred to another care home while the kids moved back with their families.
    • After the fire at Ashdene Ridge at the end of Series 10, Finn, Taz, Sid, Clem, Kyle, and Hugo disappear without any explanation for where they went (though most likely, they were sent to another care home). Finn does return a few episodes later to visit Porter's Lodge for one last visit but the rest of said characters are not mentioned.
  • Cliffhanger: Series 10 ends with all the characters watching in horror as Ashdene Ridge burns down.
  • Clip Show: The episode "No Escaping" is comprised largely of flashbacks to older episodes showing the development of Tyler and Jody's relationship over the series.
    • "Face to Face" also features flashbacks to older episodes showing Floss talking about her mum when the chance comes for Floss to finally meet her.
    • The ending of "Bring Down the House" features a montage of moments from Series 11.
  • Color-Coded Characters: Like in TBR, in Series 1, the kids are all associated with their own colour seen in the clothes that they usually wear. However, from Series 2 onwards, the colour coding seems to have been thrown out of the window.
    • Carmen (and later Candi-Rose): Pink
    • Lily: Lilac
    • Johnny: Blue
    • Tee: Blue
    • Frank: Black
    • Gus: Navy (with beige chinos)
    • Elektra: Electric Blue
    • Tyler: Yellow
    • Rick: Red
    • Jody: Brown
  • Courtroom Episode: "Rough Justice" centers around a mock trial the kids hold in the house when Jody and Joseph are accused of stealing money raised from a jumble sale.
  • Description Cut: "Bright Sparks" has Doreen tell Wes and Sabrina that a broken table is no harm done. It then cuts to the quiet room in flames which are starting to spread throughout the rest of the house.
  • DIY Dentistry: Tyler doesn't want to see the dentist for his loose tooth in one episode. When he can't get the tooth out by eating things like apples and carrots, Rick ties it to an empty plastic bottle that he launches like a rocket. It yanks out only part of the tooth, so Tyler has to go to the dentist anyway.
  • Extra-Long Episode: In each season up to Series 8, the opening two episodes would be broadcast together into an hour-long format and then split into two 30 minute episodes on later airings. Funnily enough, it is the compilation broadcasts that cut material, while the individual episodes are aired intact. Series' 8 and 10 were technically two-parters, but only aired as separate episodes on separate dates. Series 9 averts this altogether by being the first season to have a regular episode as the opener.
    • Also Jody In Wonderland and Dumping Ground Island, the latter of which has parts filmed in Crete.
  • Forbidden Love: Tyler and Jody. Kids living in the same care home are forbidden from entering relationships for their own protection. When their relationship is finally discovered, May-Li immediately tries to put steps in place to keep them separated.
  • Greater-Scope Villain: The Council who are responsible for the recurring plots of budget cuts and attempted closures.
  • Green-Eyed Epiphany: "Sittin' In A Tree" has Jody go through this. In order to get everyone to stop teasing her and Tyler and seeing them as boyfriend and girlfriend, she impulsively lies that Tyler has a girlfriend and sets him up with a girl at the skatepark, where Tyler gets her phone number. However, Jody gets jealous of them together and ruins Tyler's chances by smudging the number. With help from Candi-Rose's magazine quiz, she is able to realize that she has feelings for Tyler but decides to just stay friends with him as to not change their friendship.
    • Also happens with Bird in "Friend Zone". When Ruby questions Bird on having heart-shaped chocolates for Candi-Rose, he is in denial of his feelings for her. However, he starts to get jealous when Robbie, an electrician's technician falls for Candi-Rose and asks her on a date which leads to him revealing to Ruby that he does have feelings for Candi-Rose. Originally, Bird sabotages the date by lying to Robbie that Candi-Rose isn't feeling well. However, thinking she was stood up, Candi-Rose is heartbroken and out of guilt, Bird tells the truth to Robbie, who covers for him and Candi-Rose goes on her date.
  • "Groundhog Day" Loop: In "Stuck", Sasha gets stuck in one. She acts out more once she figures it out. The solution is to just be nice and end the day without getting grounded.
  • Halloween Episode: The series has two episodes that take place on Halloween:
    • Series 5 has "The Phantom of Ashdene Ridge" where some of the kids find an old journal and believe there is a ghost in the care home.
    • Series 8 has "Truth or Scare" where Jay, Bird, and Viv tell scary stories to the kids during a power cut before everyone goes trick or treating.
  • Heist Episode: In "Mission Totally Possible", Jody plans a heist to get her phone back after Mike confiscates it.
    • "What's Mine Is Mine" features Jay roping Bird and Nazeer into a plot to sneak into another care home to get a trophy back from his rival.
    • "Partners In Crime" features temporary resident Sienna help Floss to steal Max's video game but tries to blackmail Floss into stealing money in return.
  • Heroic Fire Rescue: The Series 4 finale "Two for Joy" has Jody accidentally lock herself in Kingsley's apartment and then a candle she lit starts to set the apartment on fire, leaving her trapped. Tyler heroically charges into the apartment and is able to get Jody to safety.
    • The Series 10 finale "Bright Sparks" has Floss's crystal ball redirect sunlight to a bowl of leaves that starts a fire. Kyle and Hugo are in Ashdene Ridge when the fire starts to burn down the care home and Hugo runs away into the smoke. He ends up collapsing but Kyle is able to get him out of the home safely.
  • How We Got Here: Some episodes have this opening:
    • "Party Games" opens with a smashed office window, the police arriving at the Dumping Ground, and everybody arguing over what happened. The rest of the episode is spent showing how the open day at the care home went wrong with Bailey and Carmen fighting over a footballer and his wife (which also led to him breaking the office window), Mo causing the ceiling to collapse in an attempt to stop the fostering day due to the arguing, Tyler trying to get out of being fostered, etc. The last few minutes of the episode pick up where the beginning left off.
    • "Give and Take" opens with Candi-Rose dragging Taz to a shop with a pair of golden shoes she intends to return, only for Taz to be dragged away. The episode flashes back to show how Candi-Rose is feeling left out and forgotten when the other kids can't think of anything she's good at. Her shopping abilities impress the others and leads to her to begin shoplifting when a pair of jeans are too expensive. The golden shoes are ones that Taz wanted that Candi-Rose stole.
    • "Snake" opens with some of the kids shunning Chloe and calling her a snake. The episode flashes back to show how she is overlooked when she helps the kids get to see a show and she isn't picked or considered to go along to the show as well, which leads to her to start manipulating the others to get her way.
    • "Go Fish" opens with Bec burning her diary and moving into Ashdene Ridge and throughout the episode, it shows several flashbacks that led up to Bec being put into care.
    • "Finders Keepers" has Bird running through the woods with a box while being chased by three figures in the distance before he runs to the side to hide. The episode flashes back to show that Bird finds a box of money in the woods and leads up to the figures being Floss, Sid, and Bec, who all got involved with wanting to use the money for themselves. They are chasing Bird to stop him from using the money after Floss and Bec have a change of heart in wanting to return the money.
  • I Choose to Stay:
    • Sasha decides she doesn't want to leave the DG behind in "SorryNotSorry" while Dexter leaves. She later leaves a few series later when she is given the chance to go on tour with one of her favorite singers.
    • Jody decides to stay at the DG instead of leaving for St. Lucia with Tyler in "Go Your Own Way", leading to them finally parting ways. She later leaves in-between Series 9 and 10 to get her own flat through supported living. Although she struggles with living on her own and does originally want to come back to the Dumping Ground, she decides that it's time to move on and leaves for good.
    • No matter how many times Floss considers leaving, she always ends up deciding to stay when she realizes how much everyone cares about her. She also later leaves in Series 10 to take over one of Lily's cafés and move into the flat above it.
  • Idiot Houdini: Subverted in the opening episode of The Dumping Ground. After the kids scrounge together whatever money they have to buy food, with Frank and Tyler being sent to buy it, Frank makes the reckless decision to gamble the money. On his very last go, he wins the jackpot of £1,000. Unfortunately, he can't collect his prize money... because he's under 18.
  • Imagine Spot: As is tradition with the Tracy Beaker franchise, these are frequently seen in almost every episode, each animated in illustrator Nick Sharratt's distinctive style. Series 11 removes this as part of its Retool.
  • Intergenerational Friendship: In "Doris", Carmen strikes up a friendship with an elderly woman named Doris (Shelia Hancock) after finding her in her makeshift salon.
  • Jerkass: Johnny, Elektra, Bailey, Ryan, Jay, and Floss.
    • Johnny, whilst not the nicest, definitely took several levels in jerkass in the transition between Tracy Beaker Returns and The Dumping Ground.
    • Elektra is the closest you'll get to a Big Bad in this series, although she is more in the Jerk with a Heart of Gold territory, especially in The Dumping Ground.
    • Bailey starts out like this with his cocky attitude, being nasty to everyone. Befriending Mo and taking Mischief in as a pet led to him becoming nicer.
    • Ryan is one of the worst, with this really being his primary personality trait. He does get a rare Jerk with a Heart of Gold moment though and has soft spots for Mo and Harry. Later in the series, he mellows out and becomes nicer.
    • Floss tends to be a bratty and manipulative girl who will bribe or blackmail the other kids into giving her sweets/money. Although she could be considered a Jerk with a Heart of Gold as she does tend to learn her lesson sometimes.
    • Jay is often horrible to the other kids, and quite shockingly, is rarely punished.
  • Lighter and Softer: The Dumping Ground started off with the same tone as Tracy Beaker Returns by covering serious issues and lots of drama. Starting with Series 4, the show toned down some of the drama and added more funny or wacky plots with Zany Schemes or competitions/contests in the care home as a subplot.
  • Manipulative Editing: "Who Are You?" has Ryan tricks Tee by having her express what she thinks of him (she calls him arrogant, a bully, and manipulative) and has her talk about the other kids. It's revealed later that he was recording her and tampers with it to make it seem like Tee was talking bad about Carmen, Tyler, and Bailey behind their backs.
  • Meaningful Echo: When Alex expresses doubt about fitting in with his mum and sister in "Mighty Mike Milligan", Mike tells him that the point of him leaving is to go and find that out. In the following episode, "The Last Dance", Mike finds himself on the receiving end of this same advice by Chloe when he expresses doubt over reuniting with his own family again. It proves to be influential in his decision to leave.
  • Musical Episode: "Joyless Division", complete with dance numbers and no in-universe explanation.
  • Parental Abandonment: Jody is abandoned by her mum after she makes a statement against Kingsley and is disowned by her years later when she exposes Denise's lies about Jody not living in care although she does try to make up in the latter incident. Jody being on the phone with her in Series 8 seems to imply that they have a better relationship with each other.
    • Floss's backstory as to why she is in care. Her mum was young when she and Ross were born and couldn't cope with raising them so she abandoned them in a nail bar. When she finally returns to see Floss years later, she says that she still can't provide Floss with a proper home and was just there because she felt Floss deserved answers on what happened so Floss cuts contact with her.
    • Alex's backstory is that when he was 5 years old, his mum left him outside his dad's work as she felt she was unable to take care of him. His dad frequently left him on his own before putting him into care. He rediscovers his mum in Series 6 and properly reunites with her in Series 7.
    • Sabrina's backstory reveals that her mum left the family a few years before Sabrina comes to Ashdene Ridge. In Series 11, Sabrina reunites with her mum again and moves back home with her.
  • The Prom Plot: The Series 7 finale "The Last Dance" features a charity prom night hosted by Mike that features many subplots, including Tyler trying to decide whether or not to be with Jody, Finn trying to impress Ivy, Floss and Ross trying to become prom king and queen, May-Li getting in the way of Chloe and Jake's date, Bec standing up to one of her enemies, Candi-Rose going on her date with Hayden, and Mike deciding to leave the Dumping Ground and go home to Ireland.
  • Put on a Bus: This is the case for the majority of characters. They'll usually have an episode dedicated to a departure or at least a moment, or be sent off between seasons with a character mentioned what happened to them.
    • To a keep a tally of those who have left: Gus, Elektra, Gina, Lily, Frank, Rick, Faith, Johnny, Harry, Carmen, Tee, Mo, Bailey, Kazima, Toni, Billie, Dexter, Archie, Joseph, Ryan, Charlie, Mike, Alex, Tyler, Nazeer, Viv, Chloe, Sasha, Max, Bec, Katy, Scott, Ruby, Murphy, Jody, Bird, May-Li, Candi-Rose, Jay, Floss, Taz, Sid, Clem, Kyle, Hugo, Finn, and Sabrina.
  • Remember the New Guy?: May-Li joins the show in "Jody in Wonderland", shown to already be working in Ashdene Ridge.
    • Series 10 also brings in Ben who is considered "new" but has been implied to have already been working at Ashdene Ridge for at least a few weeks before the start of the series.
  • Retcon: In episode two of Series 2 in Tracy Beaker Returns, "Fallen", it's revealed that a boy maliciously stole Carmen's things and hit her in the face when she asked for them back and in the series premiere of Series 3 "The Visitors", it's revealed to be Tyler, but later in The Dumping Ground Survival Files, Tyler says he did it as a joke.
    • Throughout the franchise's history, Mike has told numerous stories about family members suggesting he had a normal family life. However, the episode "Reunion" reveals that Mike actually spent most of his childhood in care before running away to England and has been separated from his family ever since.
    • In Floss's first episode, Mike mentions that Floss doesn't like hide and seek because she used to hide from her mom, but in Series 2, it is mentioned that Floss was abandoned in a nail bar by her mother as a baby.
    • Series 1 depicts Tyler's mum in both a photo and the animated Imagine Spots as a white woman with red hair and Tyler's file mentions that her name is Amy. However, when she appears in Series 2, she is a black woman named Sally.
    • In Mo's first episode, it was revealed that he had been living in a shed and the Imagine Spot features his parents but in Series 3, it was revealed that Mo was raised by his grandparents and his real parents have cerebral palsy and have been shut out for most of Mo's life, things that were never brought up beforehand. There was also no mention about him living in a shed in that series either.
    • Floss is stated to be 6 years old in Series 2 and acts and dresses like her age. However, she starts going through puberty in Series 5, Bird states that she is a teen in Series 7, and Series 9 has her apply to college, plus her mum states she was about Floss's age when she became pregnant. All of these strongly imply that Floss is actually a few years older than her original age.
    • Murphy is introduced as Sasha's younger toddler brother who seems to be a typical toddler. However, when he reappears in Series 9, he is also shown to have dwarfism like Sasha, something that was never mentioned in previous episodes.
    • Tracy Beaker Returns opens with showing Mike and Gina struggling to run the care home on their own, with having Tracy as a third care worker being necessary. The series finale even introduces Melanie as Tracy's replacement. However, The Dumping Ground has just Mike and Gina as the care workers again and the show sticks to only have two care workers running the care home again with no mention of this issue again. Series 11 brings back having more than one care worker by having Georgia working at Porter's Lodge alongside Ben and Doreen.
  • Revolving Door Casting: Due to the nature of a care home setting, characters come and go as they move on from the Dumping Ground either by going back to their families, being fostered, or moving out after getting too old for the system. About 2-3 characters leave per season before being replaced with that amount but there are times where more will leave. Up until Series 10A, Jody was the longest-lasting character from Tracy Beaker Returns.
    • Most obvious at Mike's wedding, where many of the returning cast members, including Tracy herself don't actually remember each other because they didn't overlap.
    • Series 10 has seen the heaviest amount of cast rotation to date. In addition to five pre-season exits (Bec, Katy, Scott, Ruby, and Murphy), this season has seen six on-screen departures (Jody, Bird, Candi-Rose, May-Li, Jay, and Floss) on top of nine introductions (Ben, Doreen, Bonnie, Fraser, Wes, Sabrina, Hugo, Izzy, and Dita). As of Episode 18, only five characters introduced before Series 10 remain on the show (Finn, Taz, Sid, Clem, and Kyle), two of which were only introduced the previous season.
    • After the fire at Ashdene Ridge at the end of Series 10, Finn, Taz, Sid, Clem, Kyle, and Hugo are removed from the show (presumably off to another care home) to introduce a new group of kids (Maisie, Frankie, Oscar, Shanice, Chelsey, Erin, Jimi, and later Brodie) who are at the new care home where the remaining kids move to.
  • Sealed with a Kiss: Tyler and Jody at the end of "The Last Dance" where the two finally become a couple.
  • Shouldn't We Be in School Right Now?: While it was averted in The Story of Tracy Beaker, here it's subverted for The Dumping Ground. The Dumping Ground is full of kids that are all of school age and none of them ever go to school nor is school ever mentioned. It's not even hand-waved by saying that they are all on the summer holiday; it is almost as if school doesn't exist in this universe. It's subverted in the later seasons as some plots are related to school, including one where the kids are all grounded for the day until they finish their homework, plus Sasha has made mentions about being in college.
  • Sick Episode: "The Lurgy" follows a nasty cold which spreads around the residents of the house from Mike, particularly affecting May-Li.
  • Soft Reboot: Series 10 and 11 seem to set this up:
    • Series 10 sees a majority of the cast departing on and off-screen, including longer-running characters like Jody, Floss, and May-Li, and brings in a set of new younger kids to Ashdene Ridge along with replacing both care workers. Fittingly, the first episode is even called "A Hole New Start".
    • Series 11 brings it further with a chunk of the current kids and the care workers moving from Ashdene Ridge (which was destroyed in a fire at the end of Series 10) to a new care home called Porter's Lodge where there is a new care worker and group of kids already living there to round out the main cast. The opening and closing credits are also updated and the show removes the animations that have been part of the franchise since The Story of Tracy Beaker
  • Teenage Wasteland: In the two-part first episode of The Dumping Ground, Mike goes on holiday and Gina ends up in hospital shortly after he leaves after a grenade explodes, meaning that for several days the kids are completely without adult supervision - hilarity (and drama) ensues.
  • Toilet Humour: In The Lone Ranger, the subplot involves Floss trying to catch everyone in the house out with a whoopee cushion. At one point, she thinks she has caught Sid only for him to admit that it was actually him.
  • Trash the Set: The Series 10 finale features a fire that quickly spreads throughout Ashdene Ridge and burns it down.
  • Webisode: A few, typically with a very small selection of the cast.
    • "Liam's Story": Airing over the course of Series 2, this series of 10 episodes follows former resident Liam in his efforts to impress a girl and make a name for himself as a musician, causing tensions with his brother in the process. The series led up to the final episode of Series 2, and was broadcast as a full 30-minute episode on television shortly before said episode's release.
    • "The Dumping Ground Dish-Up": Airing during Series 3, this webseries shows Lily getting Elektra, Sapphire, Frank, and Johnny together to make different dishes for a catering college she is taking.
    • "Floss The Foundling": a crossover with Hetty Feather. Floss has a dream that she is in the Foundling Hospital, meets Hetty, gets bullied by Sheila and Elizabeth, and yelled at and chased by Matron.
    • "Sasha's Contact Meeting": Sasha has a meeting with her social worker about her life after she leaves care.
    • "After The DG": Follows Elektra and Bailey's lives after leaving the Dumping Ground. Slightly stretches the definition by being mostly on Instagram.
    • "The Joseph & Taz Files": Joseph and Taz try to find a ghost.
  • Wedding Finale: The series six finale for Mike and Fiona. It's eventful, with Charlie's granddad dying, May-Li giving birth in the middle of the woods, Ryan smashing the cake and running away, Mike looking for him (without telling everyone else, thus also being labeled missing), and Fiona disappearing briefly thinking Mike has given up on her.
  • Where the Hell Is Springfield?: For quite some time, the show took place in the fictional "Pottiswood", which was ambiguously placed not too far South. The mishmash of accents all the kids have does not help matters. However, by Series 4, Pottiswood was revealed to be near Newcastle, where the series is filmed.
  • Will They or Won't They?: Jody and Tyler. They do, but realize they can't both stay at the DG if they're a proper couple so stay separate for the time being. This eventually upgrades to them entering a secret relationship, but after it finally gets discovered they plan to leave together, only for Jody to decide to stay leading to her and Tyler parting ways but they do end up staying a couple.
  • With a Foot on the Bus: Happens to both Sasha and Jody in "Sorry Not Sorry" and "Go Your Own Way", respectively. Both characters are about to leave the Dumping Ground only to decide to stay at the last minute, though they do both end up leaving the show in Series 9 and 10 respectively. Floss also considers leaving a few times throughout the show only to realize that everyone cares about her and decides to stay, although she does leave later in Series 10 as well.
  • Valentine's Day Episodes: "The Dumping Ground" has two of these:
    • Series 6's "Challenging Times" has Mike meeting Fiona, his ex-girlfriend, again and Tyler trying to figure out who has sent him Valentines.
    • Series 8's "Love Hearts and Roses" features Finn trying to impress Ivy and ask her to be his girlfriend, Tyler and Jody trying to have a perfect day together, and Chloe trying to get Jake to break up with her.
  • Zany Scheme: The kids involved in the main subplot usually are doing this. Appears frequently in the later seasons of The Dumping Ground.

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