It's Late (Degrassi Junior High)

"It's Late"
Degrassi Junior High episode
Spike (Amanda Stepto) confirms she is pregnant to her mother (Rhonda Kristi) outside of the health clinic as Shane (Bill Parrott) looks on. Nervous about the outcome of the story and the reaction to it, two versions of this scene were filmed, one in which Spike says she isn't pregnant.[1][2]
Episode no.	Season 1 Episode 11
Directed by	Kit Hood
Written by	Yan Moore
Editing by	Eric Wrate
Original air date	April 5, 1987 (1987-04-05)
Running time	27 minutes
Episode chronology
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List of episodes

"It's Late" is the 11th episode of the

Co-creator Linda Schuyler drew upon the experience of her sister, who became pregnant at 15 and was sent to a maternity home, as inspiration for the teenage pregnancy storyline. After a period of deliberation in which other characters were considered, Spike, who up to that point had been a nameless extra, was selected for the storyline due to her lack of prior development and unassuming nature. Due to concerns about arousing controversy, two endings were filmed.

The episode was praised in Canada for its portrayal of teenage pregnancy, with critics saying the subject was handled with sensitivity. It became one of several episodes withheld from regular broadcast by the

Several kids are at a party thrown by Lucy Fernandez. As Christine "Spike" Nelson and Shane McKay are kissing near the door of a bedroom, Joey Jeremiah and Derek "Wheels" Wheeler tease the two. Annoyed, Shane leads Spike into the dark bedroom. A short time later, Erica and Heather Farrell are leaving and call Spike from the room, but notice the door is locked and receive no answer.

Later, Spike arrives at Degrassi in a bad mood, fighting with her mother, and Mr. Raditch. During class, Shane grins at Spike, and receives a cold stare back; after class, Spike lashes out at Erica, Heather, and Shane, who tries to tell her about Lucy holding another party. Shane repeatedly refuses to disclose what occurred to Joey and Wheels. A shameful Spike confides to Erica and Heather about what happened at the party and Heather echoes a myth that you can't get pregnant the first time. Nonetheless, they console her.

At her mother's beauty salon, Spike asks her mother about the myth, which she rejects. The next day, Shane finally gets Spike's attention and asks her why she is giving him the cold shoulder, to which Spike reveals she may be pregnant. Shane backs away slowly, stunned. After school, Erica and Heather take Spike to Shoppers Drug Mart to purchase a pregnancy test. When she arrives home, her mother asks what she is hiding behind her back. Spike becomes nervous and runs to her room, followed there by her mother who questions why she has become so secretive. Spike accuses her mother of not caring about her and that she doesn't "know what it's like to be 14". Her mother gives up but returns when Spike throws the pregnancy test out the door and bursts into tears.

Later, at the clinic, Spike apologizes to her mother, and Shane arrives on foot across the street, which annoys her mother. The two then meet up and enter the clinic. Afterwards, when they exit the clinic, Spike confirms that she is pregnant, and she and her mother embrace as Shane looks on. Back at school, on a flight of stairs, Spike and Shane contemplate their options, including abortion, which Shane

Cast

Per the Paley Center for Media:^[4]

Production

In her 2022 memoir The Mother Of All Degrassi, co-creator Linda Schuyler revealed that the storyline was inspired by the experiences of her sister Barb, who became pregnant at 15 in the early 1970s, and was forced to go to a maternity home and hide the pregnancy from the public, something Schuyler found very problematic.^[5] She recalled: "Teen pregnancy was a subject very close to my heart. My younger sister, Barb, got pregnant at fifteen, and I saw firsthand how this changed her life...my sister inspired me to talk openly about teen sexuality and pregnancy".^[5] The storyline was then gradually developed from studies done by researcher Loretta Castellarin, who later co-authored a novel based on Spike.^[6]

The decision on which character would be given the storyline was not made immediately. Stephanie Kaye (Nicole Stoffman) was an early choice; a pre-production planning document contained an early version of "It's Late" with Stephanie Kaye in place of Spike, and Joey Jeremiah (Pat Mastroianni) in the place of Shane.^[7] However, Stephanie was eventually rejected on the grounds that the character was known for her skimpy sense of dress, and that giving her the teenage pregnancy storyline would be predictable,^[8] as they wanted to show that girls like Stephanie weren't the only ones susceptible to teenage pregnancy.^[6] In Schuyler's recollection, the final decision was made during a breakfast meeting with Hood and Moore; Hood rejected Stephanie for being "too obvious".^[9] Caitlin Ryan (Stacie Mistysyn) was put forward as another option, but Schuyler rejected it, feeling that the character wasn't ready for such a storyline.^[9] Moore then narrowed it down to Christine "Spike" Nelson, who was then a nameless extra played by Amanda Stepto. According to Schuyler, Moore explained: "[And] she's the best choice. Up to this point, we know little about her character. I say we go with her."^[9] In contemporary interviews, it was explained that she was chosen for the storyline because she was a "nice, quiet character that everybody liked" and wouldn't be expected to deal with such an issue.^[6][8]

When presenting an episode of the non-fiction docuseries Degrassi Talks, Stepto admitted in her opening monologue that she initially thought the storyline was unrealistic because of the wealth of information on sexually transmitted diseases and contraception.^[10] In contemporary interviews, she spoke of a perceived lack of sex education in Canadian schools.^[11] During the first readthrough of "It's Late", Stepto's castmates reportedly snickered at the script.^[11] Undecided on the outcome of the episode by the editing stage,^[1] and nervous about any potential backlash,^[3] two different endings were filmed for the episode; one in which Spike says she is pregnant, and one where she says she isn't.^[1]

BBC broadcast

"It's Late" was one of several Degrassi Junior High episodes withheld by the BBC from regular broadcast in the United Kingdom, due to parental complaints about its content. Around this time, Amanda Stepto, Spike's actress, was due to promote the show in the UK.

In Canada, the episode met a positive reception. In his review for The Globe and Mail, John Haslett Cuff stated that the episode "takes to the issue with remarkable intelligence and compassion",^[16] and particularly praised Kit Hood's writing, stating it "manages to weave enough different reactions to Spike's situation to provide its young audience with an informed but never moralistic sense of the dilemma."^[16] Jim Bawden of the Toronto Star was similar in his praise, remarking that "So-called adult TV movies have dealt with the same subject but never as sensitively".^[17] However, he cited the B-plot, of a younger student trying to impress a girl, as the episode's sole weakness.^[17]

In Australia, where Degrassi was also popular, the episode became notable for several scenes in which Wheels is seen wearing a sweater for the