Big School (TV series)

Big School
First series titlecard
Genre	Sitcom
Created by	BBC
Written by	David Walliams Dawson Bros.
Directed by	Tony Dow (2013) Matt Lipsey (2014)
Starring	David Walliams Catherine Tate Philip Glenister Frances de la Tour Joanna Scanlan Daniel Rigby Steve Speirs Jocelyn Jee Esien
Composer(s)	David Arnold Michael Price
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language(s)	English
No. of series	2
No. of episodes	12 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Mark Freeland
Producer(s)	Jo Sargent
Location(s)	Salisbury
Running time	30 minutes
Production company(s)	King Bert Productions BBC
Distributor	BBC Worldwide
Release
Original network	BBC One
Picture format	16:9
Audio format	Stereo
Original release	16 August 2013 (2013-08-16) – 10 October 2014 (2014-10-10)
External links
Official website

Big School is a British sitcom, starring David Walliams, Catherine Tate, Steve Speirs, Frances de la Tour and Philip Glenister. It is set in a secondary school and follows the comedic relationships of the teachers.^[1] The first series began airing on BBC One on 16 August 2013,^[2] and was met with polarised reviews. The final episode of the first series aired on 20 September 2013. On 2 December 2013, BBC One controller Charlotte Moore announced that Big School had been renewed for a second and final series, which concluded on 10 October 2014.^[3] In June 2015, it was officially announced that Big School was not to be returning for a third series.^[4]

Plot

The series follows Keith Church (David Walliams), a socially naive chemistry teacher at the fictional Greybridge Secondary School, near Watford, who falls for new French teacher Sarah Postern (Catherine Tate), who believes herself to be an inspirational teacher, in tune with youth culture and a beautiful woman. However, she is also getting attention from the arrogant and rude sports teacher Trevor Gunn (Philip Glenister). Other staff members include Ms Baron (Frances de la Tour) as the alcoholic 'no nonsense' headteacher, Mr Martin (Daniel Rigby), a music teacher with ambitions to be a singer-songwriter, Mr Barber (Steve Speirs), a geography teacher who is having a nervous breakdown and is employed as a caretaker in the second series and Mr Hubble (James Greene), the elderly and unwell head of science. The pupils at the school are portrayed as being mainly interested in social networking, texting and partying and as being bored by the attempts of Mr Church and Miss Postern to engage with them. The most prominent of them in the first series is a streetwise pupil called Manyou, played by Joivan Wade, who is asked for advice on how to succeed with women by Mr Church.^[5]

Production

The show was written by David Walliams (who had previously produced Little Britain), along with Dawson Bros., and directed by Tony Dow.^[6] Many scenes for the series were shot at Bishopshalt School, Hillingdon, West London.^[1] The pupils gave up their school holidays to come to the school and be extras.^[7] Other inside shots were filmed at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire.^[8] The titles were scrapped in Series 2 and were replaced by simple text at the centre of the screen.

Characters

Guest characters

Episodes

Series overview

Series 1 (2013)

Series 2 (2014)

Overnight ratings are not official and do not include views on BBC iPlayer, BBC HD or recorded catch up services. They are just a note of the number of viewers on the BBC channel at the time of airing, and therefore are not an accurate representation. Official accurate figures are released 10 days after original transmission by BARB.

Reception

The series was met with mixed feedback. Christopher Stevens of the Daily Mail commented: "If we were expecting old-fashioned comedy, we're certainly getting it. The traditional approach brings benefits. There's no wobbly handheld camera work, no improvised dialogue, no barrage of foul language, no filthy single entendres. Instead, there's a brisk script with plenty of jokes. This has the feel of a sitcom that will win viewers over."^[11] Dan Owen of MSN described it as "An amusing and pleasant way to spend 30 minutes",^[12] and The Guardian said of Walliams: "This performance, and his writing, gives the show good jokes and heart."

There was negative feedback to the opening of the series, with The Daily Telegraph stating: "A bit tired, perhaps, the school thing, but surely a straightforward setting for a sitcom" before concluding "Let's just put it this way: amusing it was not. Mission aborted."^[13] MSN UK said, "Like most BBC comedies aiming to please mass audiences, there were plenty of moments that didn't work, but the writing avoided being outright terrible. A family show like this (even one inexplicably broadcast post-watershed) simply can't please everyone all the time".^[12]

The series opened to 4.2m viewers. The second instalment scored 3.63m (17.4%) for BBC One, making it the most watched programme of prime-time outside of the soaps and news for the night.

DVD release

The first series of Big School was released on DVD on 23 September 2013.^[14]

The second and final series was released on DVD on 13 October 2014.^[15]

References

External links

• Big School at the Internet Movie Database
• Big School at BBC Programmes
  
• Big School at British Comedy Guide