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Teachers is a British television comedy-drama series, created by Tim Loane and originally shown on Channel 4. The series follows a group of secondary school teachers in their daily lives.[1]
| Teachers | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Created by | Tim Loane |
| Starring | Andrew Lincoln Adrian Bower Raquel Cassidy Navin Chowdhry Nina Sosanya Gillian Bevan Ursula Holden-Gill Lloyd McGuire Ellen Thomas Tamzin Malleson James Lance Vicky Hall Lee Williams Mathew Horne James Corden |
| Ending theme | The Boy with the Arab Strap by Belle and Sebastian |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language | English |
| No. of series | 4 |
| No. of episodes | 40 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer | Jane Fallon |
| Running time | 45–50 minutes |
| Production company | Tiger Aspect Productions |
| Original release | |
| Network | Channel 4 |
| Release | 21 March 2001 – 21 December 2004 |
| Related | |
| Teachers | |
In the first series, probationary teacher Simon Casey (Andrew Lincoln) is the protagonist; later series have an ensemble cast. The cast changes dramatically, with few original characters remaining by the fourth series. While some of these disappearances are explained, others are not.
The first three series are set in the fictional Summerdown Comprehensive, which merges with another school in the fourth series to form Wattkins School. The first three series were filmed at the former Merrywood School and the fourth was filmed at the former Lockleaze school in Bristol, England.
Teachers was nominated for six BAFTA awards between 2002 and 2004, and was nominated for Best Comedy Drama at the British Comedy Awards in 2003. In January 2005, after a muted reception to the fourth series, Channel 4 announced that Teachers would not continue for a fifth series. A short lived American version was aired in 2006.
Since mid-2020 the series has been available on UK and Australian Netflix. The series is also available on All 4 and PlutoTV streaming service.
Cast
editEpisodes
editThemes
editLike many sitcoms Teachers had certain themes that it maintained through every episode. These included:
- Appearances of animals, particularly donkeys, in unusual places. Others seen include lions, penguins and sheep. In all such appearances, the teachers and students are completely oblivious to these animals.
- A staffroom scene early in the episode, usually with an announcement by the head teacher Clare to set up one of the plots or premises of the episode.
- The name of the day written in a variety of ways in the scenery, a prop or a body adornment.
- Smoking: a lot of the scenes in all episodes, primarily through the first three series, feature members of the cast smoking as they banter
- The pub is the setting where nearly every episode of Teachers starts, usually with the teachers having immaturely themed conversations.
Every episode featured contemporary music, usually with clips of at least five songs (regularly including the bands The Bluetones, Terrorvision, The Soundtrack of our Lives, The Killers, The Darkness, Shed Seven, Feeder, The Dandy Warhols, Starsailor, Mercury Rev, The Hives, Athlete, I Am Kloot, The Libertines, Ash, and Supergrass), and the soundtrack to all four series has been released on CD by the shop of Channel 4.
The theme tune is the solo section of The Boy With The Arab Strap by Belle and Sebastian.
Reception
editRatings
editViewing figures available from BARB.[2]
| Series | Timeslot | Episodes | First aired | Last aired | Rank | Avg. viewers (millions) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Viewers (millions) |
Date | Viewers (millions) | |||||
| 1 | Wednesday 9:00 pm | 8 | 21 March 2001 | 2.65 | 9 May 2001 | 2.23 | N/A | N/A |
| 2 | 10 | 13 March 2002 | 2.62 | 15 May 2002 | 2.53 | 7 | 2.37 | |
| 3 | 13 | 6 August 2003 | 2.74 | 29 October 2003 | 2.32 | 11 | 2.33 | |
| 4 | Tuesday 10:00 pm | 9 | 26 October 2004 | 2.11 | 21 December 2004 | 1.80 | N/A | N/A |
Awards and nominations
edit- BAFTA TV Awards
- 2003: Best Drama Series – Jane Fallon, Rhonda Smith (nomination)[3]
- BAFTA TV Craft Awards
- British Comedy Awards
- 2003: Best TV Comedy Drama (nomination)
- Royal Television Society Awards
Home media
editVHS & DVD
edit| Series | Release date | No. of discs |
BBFC rating | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VHS | Region 2 DVD (Original) |
Region 2 DVD (Re-release) | |||
| Series 1 | 11 August 2003[9] | 11 August 2003[10] | 24 September 2007[11] | 2 | 15 |
| Series 2 | 29 September 2003[12] | 29 September 2003[13] | 24 September 2007[14] | 3 | 15 |
| Series 3 | — | 1 November 2004[15] | 24 September 2007[16] | 4 | 15 |
| Series 4 | — | 3 October 2005[17] | — | 3 | 15 |
| Collection sets | |||||
| Series 1–2 | — | 29 September 2003 | — | 4 | 15 |
| Series 1–3 | — | 1 November 2004[18] | — | 9 | 15 |
| Series 1–4 | — | 6 November 2006[19] | 2 September 2013[20] | 12 | 15 |
Soundtracks
edit- Teachers: A Class Soundtrack (15 September 2001)[21]
- Teachers 2: Back To School (15 April 2002)[22]
- Teachers 3: A New Term (2 December 2002)[23]
- Teachers 4: Top of the Class (8 November 2004)[24]
References
edit- ^ "Teachers". British Comedy Guide.
- ^ "Weekly top 30 programmes on TV sets (July 1998 – Sept 2018)". barb.co.uk. Retrieved 19 September 2023.
- ^ "Television in 2003". awards.bafta.org. Retrieved 20 September 2023.
- ^ "Television Craft in 2002". awards.bafta.org. Retrieved 20 September 2023.
- ^ a b "Television Craft in 2003". awards.bafta.org. Retrieved 20 September 2023.
- ^ a b "Television Craft in 2004". awards.bafta.org. Retrieved 20 September 2023.
- ^ "Royal Television Society Programme Awards Nominees 2002". broadcastnow.co.uk. 26 February 2002. Retrieved 20 September 2023.(subscription required)
- ^ "RTS programme awards nominations". The Guardian. 25 February 2004. Retrieved 20 September 2023.
- ^ "Teachers: Series 1". amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 19 September 2007.
- ^ "Teachers: Series 1 (Box Set)". musicmagpie.com. Retrieved 19 September 2023.
- ^ "Teachers: Series 1 (Box Set)". musicmagpie.com. Retrieved 19 September 2023.
- ^ "Teachers: Series 2". amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 19 September 2007.
- ^ "Teachers: Series 2 (Box Set)". musicmagpie.com. Retrieved 19 September 2023.
- ^ "Teachers: Series 2 (Box Set) [DVD]". amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 19 September 2007.
- ^ "Teachers: Series 3 (Box Set)". musicmagpie.com. Retrieved 19 September 2023.
- ^ "Teachers: Series 3 (Box Set) [DVD]". amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 19 September 2007.
- ^ "Teachers: Series 4". musicmagpie.com. Retrieved 19 September 2023.
- ^ "Teachers: Series 1-3 (Box Set)". musicmagpie.com. Retrieved 19 September 2023.
- ^ "Teachers: Series 1-4". musicmagpie.com. Retrieved 19 September 2023.
- ^ "Teachers: Series 1-4". musicmagpie.com. Retrieved 19 September 2023.
- ^ "TV Soundtrack - Teachers : A Class Soundtrack TV Soundtrack". wob.com. Retrieved 20 June 2023.
- ^ "Original Soundtrack - Teachers 2: Back To School Original Soundtrack". wob.com. Retrieved 20 June 2023.
- ^ "Teachers 3 - A New Term Various Artists". wob.com. Retrieved 20 June 2023.
- ^ "Original TV Soundtrack - Teachers 4: Top Of The Class Original TV Soundtrack". wob.com. Retrieved 20 June 2023.
External links
edit- Teachers at Channel4.com
- Teachers at IMDb