There's a 'must watch' series on the BBC right now which has garnered rave reviews and good comparisons to some legendary shows of the past.
Kids in school who are on the cusp of adulthood and trying to figure out who they are and what they're going to do with the rest of their life is a popular genre, and now there's another one to add to the list.
Boasting a 100 percent critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes, Boarders is a comedy-drama created by Daniel Lawrence Taylor, who previously created ITV2 comedy Timewasters.
If you're a fan of The Inbetweeners, then you'll have seen him as Adam in the episode where the boys go clubbing in London, as he ends up getting close to Carli and realises that Simon's shoes (which he swapped with a tramp) absolutely stink of p**s.
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Anyhow, back to Boarders, which follows a group of kids who are sent off to a posh boarding school, hence the series name.
We see Jaheim (Josh Tedeku), Leah (Jodie Campbell), Omar (Myles Kamwendo), Femi (Aruna Jalloh) and Toby (Sekou Diaby) packed off to fictional St Gilbert's.
From there it's up to them to navigate the social life of boarding school, and each character responds to their new environment in a different way.
Speaking to The Guardian about his series, Taylor explained that he'd got the idea from seeing in the news that five black boys from London had been sent to a boarding school costing £15,000 per term as part of a social outreach programme, and thought it would be a good idea for a TV show.
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He said: "When Black people are in white institutions, we deal with it in very different ways.
“That’s what I wanted to do with the characters. When you put them in these environments, how do they survive?
"Some try to assimilate. Some rebel against it. Some play it to their advantage.”
If you're one of those who has been keeping up with a number of shows via what I like to call 'Gogglebox osmosis' then you'll have already had a few sneak peeks of the series but according to the critics it's well worth watching for yourself.
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One reviewer compared Boarders to Skins, which is quite the flattering parallel to draw, while another said it was a 'very good example' of the genre and would likely help scratch the itch Sex Education fans had now their beloved show has ended.
More than one review praised the series for being 'witty', and Boarders was also given a thumbs up for the way it tackled the drama in the lives of the characters, so if you want a show that's going to be funny and substantial, this is for you.
Those who've seen it have already demanded a second season as they 'zoomed through the six episodes' and found it 'bloody brilliant' to boot.
Boarders is available to stream on BBC iPlayer now.
Topics: TV and Film, BBC
Joe Harker